morgieb
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Still injured IIRC.Why can't we just have Hauritz
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***Official*** Australia in Sri Lanka
- Thread starter Spark
- Start date
adub
International Captain
Haurie is coming back from injury. Might be ready for SA. SOK obviously should have been there, but...
Beer will keep his spot. Not because he's ever done anything to deserve being selected in the first place, but his competition hasn't done any better. Very hard on Lyon to expect he could go over there and perform. The guy's simply not played enough to be physically capable of bowling the long spells required and then back up. Could be a fine bowler in a year or two's time, but his selection was so bad it's makes the selection of Beer and Doherty look semi respectable.
Harris, Copes, MJ, and Beer can get the job done if Johnson isn't having a shocker, but I'd back Watson and Pup to take more wickets than Beer.
On Huss I agree he looks very susceptible and may not see out the summer. I argued before the Ashes that one of the 36 year olds at least had to be pushed and hoped it would be him. Luckily for him he found some form and Kat got injured so it ended up being Kat that paid the price for Hussey and Ricky's poor form over the previous 18 months. I obviously don't want to see Marsh anywhere near a test cap, but I think the real longer term replacements in Lynn, Warner and Maddinson are at least another year away. Lynn looks like a fantastic middle order bat but he needs to prove it wasn't a one summer deal by coming out and making runs again this summer. Same deal for Warner, but you get the feeling he is a genuine opener and bringing him in means pushing Watto down a spot or two (which I'm cool with, but he might not see it that way unless his form starts to fail).
Maddinson is probably 2 summers away. I saw his ton against Qld and like noted above, he's just so compact and correct. Waited for the balls he wanted to hit and left everything else. Incredible to think he was only 18. But apart from his tons he missed out a lot. Like Warner it might not be a coincidence that his runs came when he opened and he didn't do much lower down. There's no need to burn the kid. Give him a couple of seasons and let him prove he can be a consistent run maker before we start talking tests.
One really left field suggestion though is playing Hauritz at 7 and pushing Haddin or his replacement up 1. Again saw his ton against Qld and it was at least as high quality as Maddinson's. He'd score a ton the previous game against SA and was looking every inch the batsman. His driving in particular was top notch. He has clearly worked damn hard on his batting and had made some very handy scores for the test side previously. If he comes out and makes runs for NSW again it could really open up the idea of playing five front line bowlers with Hauritz, SOK and Johnson at 7, 8, 9. Obviously Smith if he regains batting form, or Glenn Maxwell who looks a prospect could also fit the bill as 6/7 bat and 2nd spinner.
Beer will keep his spot. Not because he's ever done anything to deserve being selected in the first place, but his competition hasn't done any better. Very hard on Lyon to expect he could go over there and perform. The guy's simply not played enough to be physically capable of bowling the long spells required and then back up. Could be a fine bowler in a year or two's time, but his selection was so bad it's makes the selection of Beer and Doherty look semi respectable.
Harris, Copes, MJ, and Beer can get the job done if Johnson isn't having a shocker, but I'd back Watson and Pup to take more wickets than Beer.
On Huss I agree he looks very susceptible and may not see out the summer. I argued before the Ashes that one of the 36 year olds at least had to be pushed and hoped it would be him. Luckily for him he found some form and Kat got injured so it ended up being Kat that paid the price for Hussey and Ricky's poor form over the previous 18 months. I obviously don't want to see Marsh anywhere near a test cap, but I think the real longer term replacements in Lynn, Warner and Maddinson are at least another year away. Lynn looks like a fantastic middle order bat but he needs to prove it wasn't a one summer deal by coming out and making runs again this summer. Same deal for Warner, but you get the feeling he is a genuine opener and bringing him in means pushing Watto down a spot or two (which I'm cool with, but he might not see it that way unless his form starts to fail).
Maddinson is probably 2 summers away. I saw his ton against Qld and like noted above, he's just so compact and correct. Waited for the balls he wanted to hit and left everything else. Incredible to think he was only 18. But apart from his tons he missed out a lot. Like Warner it might not be a coincidence that his runs came when he opened and he didn't do much lower down. There's no need to burn the kid. Give him a couple of seasons and let him prove he can be a consistent run maker before we start talking tests.
One really left field suggestion though is playing Hauritz at 7 and pushing Haddin or his replacement up 1. Again saw his ton against Qld and it was at least as high quality as Maddinson's. He'd score a ton the previous game against SA and was looking every inch the batsman. His driving in particular was top notch. He has clearly worked damn hard on his batting and had made some very handy scores for the test side previously. If he comes out and makes runs for NSW again it could really open up the idea of playing five front line bowlers with Hauritz, SOK and Johnson at 7, 8, 9. Obviously Smith if he regains batting form, or Glenn Maxwell who looks a prospect could also fit the bill as 6/7 bat and 2nd spinner.
Ruckus
International Captain
Pretty sure most people on here would have already seen him bowl tbh. Your point remains valid for the general population though (as judging by this comment on youtube "are those speeds right?! if so get him OUT of the squad haha im sorry but u cant succeed that slow..".
adub
International Captain
Just quietly I'm really ****ing pumped for this test series. More keen than I have been for several summers.
We have a new Captain who has shown creativity in the field and who looks like he's back to his best with the bat. Hughes is obviously in top form, and Hughes in form has always meant lots of runs in the past. Uzi looks like one of the most elegant and classical batsmen we've produced in a long time. He's also proven his ability to score big at FC level and comes into the series in peak form. We can have a fair bit of confidence that we are seeing a long term quality test player starting out. Harris comes into a series as fit and firing and has the opportunity to make the strike bowler role his own if the body holds up, and with Copeland coming into the side in supreme form all of the other bowlers can be confident that the pressure will be on up the other end when they are bowling with him. Having Harris and Copeland taking the new ball means Johnson has an enormous amount of pressure taken off his shoulders so with luck he will be able to keep his rubbish to a minimum. Lastly Ponting without the burden of leadership will be keen to start a renaissance for his batting. He's shown a bit of form lately so fingers crossed he can do it.
Spin, and the form of Hussey and Haddin are obvious question marks, but it's been a long while since we've had so many positives going into a test series.
We have a new Captain who has shown creativity in the field and who looks like he's back to his best with the bat. Hughes is obviously in top form, and Hughes in form has always meant lots of runs in the past. Uzi looks like one of the most elegant and classical batsmen we've produced in a long time. He's also proven his ability to score big at FC level and comes into the series in peak form. We can have a fair bit of confidence that we are seeing a long term quality test player starting out. Harris comes into a series as fit and firing and has the opportunity to make the strike bowler role his own if the body holds up, and with Copeland coming into the side in supreme form all of the other bowlers can be confident that the pressure will be on up the other end when they are bowling with him. Having Harris and Copeland taking the new ball means Johnson has an enormous amount of pressure taken off his shoulders so with luck he will be able to keep his rubbish to a minimum. Lastly Ponting without the burden of leadership will be keen to start a renaissance for his batting. He's shown a bit of form lately so fingers crossed he can do it.
Spin, and the form of Hussey and Haddin are obvious question marks, but it's been a long while since we've had so many positives going into a test series.
Spark
Global Moderator
An optimistic Australian fan?
I must be dreaming.
Or I've stepped into a time machine and it's 2009 again.
Ruckus
International Captain
Yeah agree wholeheardtedly adub. Actually excited about watching us play again. And at worst if we still don't get the results, at least it is somewhat comforting to know the squad is pretty close how it should actually be. Nothing more irritating than watching us lose when better players are on the sidelines.
adub
International Captain
I don't think too many South Africans hated Pollock bowling at 125km, nor too many Kiwi's watching Hadlee late in his career, nor Indians with late career Dev. Give me wickets over raw pace every day of the week.
Spark
Global Moderator
Think he's taking into account the way people talked about Praveen Kumar ftr.
NUFAN
Y no Afghanistan flag
Lets wait and see the XI first. If Khawaja and/or Copeland do not play in the First Test, I think a number of people will be unhappy!
Speaking of XI's, who's Sri Lanka going to pick?
The top 7 should pick themselves, but no idea of the makeup of the 4 bowlers. Pretty sure SL will go with 2 quicks and 2 spinners, but who? Possibly, Lakmal, Welegedara, Mendis and Herath?
I give Eranga a chance, looked good in the ODIs, get the feeling he would trouble Australia more so than Welegedara.
Speaking of XI's, who's Sri Lanka going to pick?
The top 7 should pick themselves, but no idea of the makeup of the 4 bowlers. Pretty sure SL will go with 2 quicks and 2 spinners, but who? Possibly, Lakmal, Welegedara, Mendis and Herath?
I give Eranga a chance, looked good in the ODIs, get the feeling he would trouble Australia more so than Welegedara.
Ruckus
International Captain
Pollock was a little faster than 125 tbf, probably around 130's most of the time. If lack of pace ever becomes a problem for Copeland I would be confident he could get it up to around the 130's consistently anyway. Begs the question actually, who was the last really successful medium pace bowler (average speeds between say 115-125)?
benchmark00
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Asif.
benchmark00
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In his latest stint of test cricket was regularly around 120-130. Would definitely class him as medium.
Ruckus
International Captain
The thing is though he had an effort ball around 140 I believe, don't think Copeland could produce that.
benchmark00
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Yeah but Akthar could produce a 100km/h slower ball, doesn't mean he wasn't express.
Ruckus
International Captain
Was just watching a comp of Asif and he varies his pace a lot between 140 and 110. On average would say it would be around 130, maybe even a tad higher. I'll rephrase the question anwyay, who was the last really successful medium pace bowler (average speeds between say 115-125) who couldn't amp up their speed beyond the low 130s?