***Official*** Australia in Sri Lanka

[Spark]

TBF the pitch in Galle is reputed to be nonsensically biased towards spin (or, conversely, nonsensically biased against pace), so if you have two even somewhat competent spinners then you'd probably pay them here.

The "somewhat competent" is the issue though. There's no way I'd leave out Copeland for a spinner, for example.

It definitely looks like they're going for a "wait and see" tack based on both Watto and Clarke's columns but I'd really prefer if we went the 3 pacers + spinner + Watto + Clarke attack.

 

[Ruckus]

Yeah I just don't think we can rely on these spin bowlers yet to take a primary role in our attack. It highly likely they could be annihilated by the Sri Lankan batsmen, in which case we would essentially be one pace bowler down to rely on. Even if the pitch isn't conducive to pace bowling, I still think it would be better if we played to our strengths. It's not ideal, but it's probably the safest and best option we have atm, turner or no turner.

 

[Spark]

Yeah precisely. If the spinners were actually decent then I'd be in favour for a horses for courses selection here, but as it stands I just reckon we should pick a "normal" attack.

 

[four_or_six]

I still don't understand why one of the spinners with some experience isn't there - let's face it there are enough to choose from. Someone like Krejza you could put in with one of Beer and Lyon and it wouldn't be quite so nervewracking. Or, tbh, I'd play Marcus North or even Steve Smith instead of one of the new young batsmen, at least then you have some part time spin. Otherwise it's just Clarke and I don't reckon you want him to knacker his back and miss the next match.

 

[Ruckus]

Yeah precisely. If the spinners were actually decent then I'd be in favour for a horses for courses selection here, but as it stands I just reckon we should pick a "normal" attack.

Well I still actually think Lyon has the potential to do quite well and actually take wickets (Beer not so much), but at the same time it would be his first test and he could quite conceivably let the occasion get the better of him. Lyon just needs more time in adjusting to the longer format, but I think in the long run he will be a pretty successful bowler. Beer on the other hand, while he is a decent bowler, probably will end up fractionally better than players like Doherty/Krejza. If Copeland debuts I hope he isn't burdened by the occasion either, but from the looks of things he is a pretty cool customer.

 

[Spark]

I still don't understand why one of the spinners with some experience isn't there - let's face it there are enough to choose from. Someone like Krejza you could put in with one of Beer and Lyon and it wouldn't be quite so nervewracking. Or, tbh, I'd play Marcus North or even Steve Smith instead of one of the new young batsmen, at least then you have some part time spin. Otherwise it's just Clarke and I don't reckon you want him to knacker his back and miss the next match.

Clarke hates bowling himself tbf, I don't think there's much risk of that. It's a shame we don't have more part time options but that's the price we'll have to pay for a competent #6.

EDIT: I wouldn't be too surprised if Copeland is a bit nervous first up tbh. Apparently had a bad case of jitters on his FC debut, did something similar in the PMs XI game too.

 

[Ruckus]

I still don't understand why one of the spinners with some experience isn't there - let's face it there are enough to choose from. Someone like Krejza you could put in with one of Beer and Lyon and it wouldn't be quite so nervewracking. Or, tbh, I'd play Marcus North or even Steve Smith instead of one of the new young batsmen, at least then you have some part time spin. Otherwise it's just Clarke and I don't reckon you want him to knacker his back and miss the next match.

Yeah I'm not that keen on Clarke having to step in with his bowling. He is in great nick with the bat atm and he is crucial to any success in this series imo, and I wouldn't want it causing injury or taking focus off his batting. As much as I don't rate Steve Smith yet, he would have been quite handy in this side given the lack of spin options...he should have been dropped, but it's kind of unfortunate it was before this series and not some of the other ones (the Ashes *ahem*). Same deal with North really - in usual circumstances he doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the side, but he could have been very useful here. Don't rate Krejza at all though, would probably back Lyon to cause more trouble.

 

[four_or_six]

Clarke hates bowling himself tbf, I don't think there's much risk of that. It's a shame we don't have more part time options but that's the price we'll have to pay for a competent #6.

To be fair you do have Watto who is a cut above anything we have. The problem with Watto recently is that you don't know what kind of bowling he's going to come out with. Sometimes it's good, sometimes its rubbish. Plus bowling in three back to back tests will knacker him... and not only him I reckon. You'll probably need to use most of the bowling squad anyway.

 

[Ruckus]

EDIT: I wouldn't be too surprised if Copeland is a bit nervous first up tbh. Apparently had a bad case of jitters on his FC debut, did something similar in the PMs XI game too.

haha well he can be as nervous as he wants then, 8 or 9 on debut (or whatever it was) is nothing to be ashamed of.

 

[Andre]

To be fair you do have Watto who is a cut above anything we have. The problem with Watto recently is that you don't know what kind of bowling he's going to come out with. Sometimes it's good, sometimes its rubbish. Plus bowling in three back to back tests will knacker him... and not only him I reckon. You'll probably need to use most of the bowling squad anyway.

Disagree to be honest. Reckon Watson is always one of our more steady and consistent bowlers, just doesn't penetrate an awful lot.

 

[Nate]

If Copeland debuts I hope he isn't burdened by the occasion either, but from the looks of things he is a pretty cool customer.

Always gets nervous first up actually. His first over in St George's Grade Final was terrible. Think his first ball in FC Cricket was almost off the strip as well. Don't be surprised if his first ball in Test Cricket fails too.

EDIT: Worth noting that Copes ended up dominating on both these occasions.

 

[Burgey]

Disagree to be honest. Reckon Watson is always one of our more steady and consistent bowlers, just doesn't penetrate an awful lot.

Aske Lee Furlong



Surely to God we aren't going to play two rookie spinners here? The attack has lacked a steadying, consistent seam up bowler since Stuart Clark's fall from grace. Keep in mind Harris hasn't bowled in ages and is coming back from injury as well. If he plays with only Johnson and Watson as seam bowlers, and we rely on two rookie spinners, we'll get taken to the cleaners.

And I should say I think Lyon looks pretty good, from what little I've seen of him. But I don't think he's ready for test cricket.

A real shame Haurie isn't there. He aint a world beater, but he's decent and a steady enough bowler.

Really hope the attack is

Harris
Copeland
Johnson
Beer/ Lyon
Watson

With some part time stuff from Clarke if needs be, or even a little bit of Hughes.

How handy would Katman's part time Chinamen have been here? Just saying....

 

[Daemon]

****. Just dawned upon me that there are very, very few quality spinners in the world atm. No idea whether it's been like that all the time.

 

[Spark]

Yeah the quality of spin bowling around the world is as low as I've ever seen it in my life. Can't recall the last time it was this low, actually.

 

[Burgey]

****. Just dawned upon me that there are very, very few quality spinners in the world atm. No idea whether it's been like that all the time.

Mate there weren't that many about in the 80s. Really top quality I mean. The Indians had a few in the 70s of course, plus there was Underwood and Gibbs. But the Warne-Murali-Kumble era was very strong for spin by recent historical standards.

 

[Spark]

Yeah but even decent, Test-quality spinners going around. Swann is the obvious one, but Harbhajan is regressing kind of alarmingly and none of the rest of the Indian spinners look that great either. Bishoo looks talented but is far too new to make any judgements. Even more so with Tahir.

EDIT: Forgot Ajmal. I guess he's pretty good.

 

[howardj]

Can they just get on with it. Maybe bring it forward a day? I'm hanging out for test cricket!

i'm frothin' for it.

 

[Andre]

Yeah but even decent, Test-quality spinners going around. Swann is the obvious one, but Harbhajan is regressing kind of alarmingly and none of the rest of the Indian spinners look that great either. Bishoo looks talented but is far too new to make any judgements. Even more so with Tahir.

Reckon there is only a handful at best at the moment that you could consider world-class - Swann the obvious one, Vettori, Shakib-ul-Hasan. Potentially at a stretch you could add Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Ray Price and Rangana Herath. Harbhajan is losing the plot so to speak.

Pretty slim pickings.

 

[four_or_six]

Anyone in the UK know if these matches are on TV anywhere? I'd rather watch this than the T20/ODIs against India.

 

[adub]

Good spinners are usually pretty thin on the ground I reckon. As mentioned during the 80s was pretty thin. Qadir, Shastri, Emburey, and Qasim were the only spinners to take 100 wickets in the decade.

The last 15 years have been a bit of a golden age for spin and correspondingly weak for pace.