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***Official*** Australia in Sri Lanka

Nomanculture

Nomanculture

School Boy/Girl Captain
with the SL A team proving their worthlessness in england, future of SL cricket is looking bleak. even the much hyped senanayake couldn't do anything...
 
pup11

pup11

International Coach
NUFAN said:
I'm only rating Paine higher because I don't rate White or Smith's Test batting at all! Both are shockers, especially Smith. Yeah, yeah, he's young and is a potential match winner, but he just has a lot to learn before and I think that appears obvious just from watching his handful of Test matches.

Ponting, Watson, Clarke, Katich, Hussey, Khawaja, Hughes, Marsh, Rogers, DHussey are the 10 batsman who I would like to see our top 6 come from.

The likes of Ferguson, Lynn, North, Voges, Bailey, Maddinson, Warner, White, Smith, Paine, Finch, Cosgrove, Cowan, Wade are a level below, but could of course move up to the top tier through sheer weight of runs this year.

EDIT - I forgot about Jaques, not sure where I rate him really, because I don't know if he'll ever get back to his Test form.
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Not for a second am I saying that Smith or White should be in our current test side as batsmen but I don't agree that Paine is a better batsman than either of those two.

Paine has a copy-book technique which is aesthetically pleasing whereas White or Smith have their own technique which might not be soothing for the eyes but it has been pretty effective for them.

Also don't think its fair to read too much into Smith's test performances or blame his technique for his test failures, he was basically pushed into test cricket a bit too early and he therefore just looked a bit out his depth.

As for White I personally don't rate him much as a FC batsmen but still if he was given a longish run as the #6 in our test side he would have performed a lot better than most other guys that have had a gig at that position in recent times.
 
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Spark

Spark

Global Moderator
As would I. If anything else as a good message to Shield cricket that, yes, wickets do actually matter.
 
NUFAN

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
pup11 said:
Also don't think its fair to read too much into Smith's test performances or blame his technique for his test failures, he was basically pushed into test cricket a bit too early and he therefore just looked a bit out his depth.
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Why can't I blame his technique for his failures? I completely agree that he was pushed into Test Cricket too early, I'm not saying that he wont be good at some point in time, but like you say he looked a bit out of his depth and he hasn't played a single first class match since the Ashes, so he is still out of depth!

Looking forward (I think) to seeing the Test squad tomorrow.
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Sylvester said:
Sad thing is that wouldn't be the worst selection these selectors have made.
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Hmm. I actually think it would be tbh. You could argue Beer but none of the spin options really demand selection for a variety of reasons so at least competition was minimal. Starc's a much better bowler than Beer but the selection would be just as bad, IMO.

EDIT: Actually, Cameron White as a specialist bowler. That was worse.
 
Sylvester

Sylvester

State Captain
Prince EWS said:
Hmm. I actually think it would be tbh. You could argue Beer but none of the spin options really demand selection for a variety of reasons so at least competition was minimal. Starc's a much better bowler than Beer but the selection would be just as bad, IMO.

EDIT: Actually, Cameron White as a specialist bowler. That was worse.
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O'Keefe says hi! Also could have gone back to Hauritz who was killing it since being dropped. Then you have the Krejza selection and the White one you mentioned.
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Sylvester said:
O'Keefe says hi! Also could have gone back to Hauritz who was killing it since being dropped. Then you have the Krejza selection and the White one you mentioned.
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Well there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Krejza selection at the time. All the spinners in the country had absolutely terrible records at that point bar McGain (injured) and he was one they thought might benefit from more responsive pitches.

And while there's no doubt Beer was a poor pick, neither Hauritz or O'Keefe absolutely demanded selection as their good performances had been pretty short-term. Don't get me wrong - they definitely should've been ahead of Beer - but Hauritz failed to provide the role the Australian selectors wanted of their spinner and O'Keefe, while impressive, still hadn't played a lot. Picking a random unproven player ahead of someone like Copeland is a much bigger deal than passing up on Hauritz and O'Keefe IMO.

Agree that picking White trumps all though as he wasn't even bowling much for Victoria at the time.
 
Sylvester

Sylvester

State Captain
Starc over Copeland definitely isn't greater than Beer over O'Keefe. Beer is one of the most random selections based on a comment an ex cricketer mentioned. He had only played 5 FC games and done nothing to warrant selection while O'Keefe was the Australian A spinner and did nothing wrong in the match against England A and is the only spinner in the country with an average under 25. Yes Strac over Copeland will be bad but it isn't close to Beer over O'Keefe.

Krejza was another random one, averaging 48 done nothing in domestic cricket and replacing Casson who deserved his selection and did nothing wrong to be dropped.
 
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NUFAN

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
I like Starc, but don't think Sri Lanka is the best venue for him to make his debut.

But who knows? The selectors might be thinking about this match http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/446959.html

I would be picking him more as a 4th seamer at a GABBA or WACA type pitch rather than Galle.

Also, isn't it slightly bizarre that neither Starc or Copeland got a Cricket Australia contract if they are possible inclusions in the Test squad. You would think that any sane* selectors would only include players from the 25 man contract list when picking the first Test squad since the list was announced.


* I'm fully aware that the current selectors as a whole, are not.
 
Andre

Andre

International Regular
I reckon if there is a smokey, it will probably be James Pattinson over Starc and Copeland.
 
NUFAN

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
Andre said:
I reckon if there is a smokey, it will probably be James Pattinson over Starc and Copeland.
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Yeah he was the bowler I had in mind. He made the contract list, the other 2 didn't. If all 3 are fit, it would be bizarre if one of Starc or Copeland got picked.
 
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