***Official*** India in Australia 2011/12

[sreeku7]

Still think the Aussies will win it despite their batting woes.

India's bowling abroad is on the verge of downright poor. When was the last time Zaheer completed a Test tour? And finger spinners in Australia have been almost besides the point in recent years.

Zaheer Khan was not a member of the the team which beat Australia at Perth in 2008.The Indian bowling consisted of Sharma ,Irfan,R P Sing and Kumble.So the absence Of Zaher will not be as big a handicap as it is made to look

 

[honestbharani]

I think it was the Melbourne test where they interviewed people entering the gate who said 'it's time other teams started winning, we've had our turn' when I thought cricket in Australia was ****ed for 5 or so years. People would accept mediocrity for a while which has saved our middle order.

Haha remember Buchanan talking about 'overseas' players for the weaker teams to even things up (worked for England tbf).

 

[social]

Zaheer Khan was not a member of the the team which beat Australia at Perth in 2008.The Indian bowling consisted of Sharma ,Irfan,R P Sing and Kumble.So the absence Of Zaher will not be as big a handicap as it is made to look

Ignoring the attitude of the Oz team in that match (which has been well documented), the pitch for that test match was very different to the current WACA pitch

Also,150 Sharma is very different to the 140 "all over the shop" Sharma of today whilst the others have either been dropped or retired

 

[social]

That's the thing for me, as dire as Ponting and Hussey have been there's nobody bashing the door down. One of the players to put up the biggest numbers in recent years is in the side already owing to injury (Khawaja) and he's hardly impressed in his limited outings.
That's why the calls for Hughes's and Haddin's heads are a lot more justified IMO, Warner hasn't put a foot wrong in his fledgling career and Wade's gone about the right way in making a massive case for his inclusion.

It's incorrect to say that Khawaja has "hardly impressed."

Everyone agrees that he looks the goods but he simply hasnt converted the starts that he has made in virtually every innings

 

[sreeku7]

Ignoring the attitude of the Oz team in that match (which has been well documented), the pitch for that test match was very different to the current WACA pitch

Also,150 Sharma is very different to the 140 "all over the shop" Sharma of today whilst the others have either been dropped or retired

Agree.My point was that the presence of Zaheer would not make much difference in Australia as in England

 

[NasserFan207]

Will be interesting to see how Zaheer does regardless.

 

[Furball]

It's incorrect to say that Khawaja has "hardly impressed."

Everyone agrees that he looks the goods but he simply hasnt converted the starts that he has made in virtually every innings

Unfortunately he hasn't done nearly enough to displace Ponting once Marsh and Watson come back.

 

[social]

Unfortunately he hasn't done nearly enough to displace Ponting once Marsh and Watson come back.

TBH, it really depends on the attitude of the selectors

If they adopt the same attitude towards the batsmen as the bowlers, then he plays and Hussey misses out

Harsh but maybe the best move for the future

 

[Jarquis]

It's incorrect to say that Khawaja has "hardly impressed."

Everyone agrees that he looks the goods but he simply hasnt converted the starts that he has made in virtually every innings

Well that's the thing, it's very much a results game. I'm a big fan of his and would sooner give him a slightly longer leash than stretch out Ponting's or Hussey's any further. One of them has to go IMO.

 

[Cruxdude]

The Indian bowlers' stock seems to be at an all-time low with the CW pundits here after one poor series with a demoralized team.

 

[Cruxdude]

For people who actually watched the WI series, Ishant was not the bowler who was spraying it around. He actually was pretty consistent.

 

[Daemon]

Yeah, he wasn't poor, just meh. Don't really want him with the new ball, tends to waste it.

 

[NUFAN]

Sharma is going to pawn Ponting.

It's funny Punter is exactly the type of player I would like to see do well in the big bash. I don't want his career record tarnished anymore and I want the selectors to start fresh like they did in the 80s and keep a group of around 15 ( but realistically 18 or so) with injuries and have some faith in the younger guys.

 

[stephen]

The thing that frustrates me about all this talk of dropping Hughes (and I know I've felt the same way) is that he's probably the one player that we should be persisting with. We know that he has the ability to make lots of runs. We know that he has a fantastic eye. We also know that he needs some time to come good. It actually annoys me a bit that Ponting keeps playing these ****tease innings and never goes on to convert but manages to keep his spot because he "looks like he's coming good". Let's not forget that Hughes was the third top scorer in Australia's second innings and made more runs than Ponting did.

Now that Ponting is not needed at #3, we can play Watson there, which to me appears to be a good spot for him - high enough so he shouldn't be starting against spin (and I don't mind if he has to if he's batting at 3) and not opening so that he can somewhat refocus after bowling.

Really, Australia's problem has been middle order collapses and the main culprits for that have been our numbers 3 and 4. The only player who has been playing there consistently is Ponting. He's 37 now, which makes him older than other, similar all time great players at their retirement. Richards and Chappell had both retired by that age. Ponting should be forced to do the same.

Let's not forget that it was Ponting's wicket that triggered the collapse in the second test against the kiwis. His head falling across the line and exposing him to lbws never used to be a weakness and would disappear once the man made 20 runs. Now he's getting out to it in the 70s. It really is time to go Ponting.

Hughes
Warner
Watson
Khawaja/Marsh (if fit)
Clarke*
Hussey
Haddin+
Harris
Siddle
Pattinson
Lyon

Is my revised team now that I've had time to cool down from the disgrace of the 12th of December.

 

[Jono]

Everyone agrees that he looks the goods but he simply hasnt converted the starts that he has made in virtually every innings

Khawaja has plenty of knockers/doubters among the Aussie fans. Just read the NZ tour thread.

I like him though. Needs to get some confidence up.

 

[NUFAN]

Stephen I don't necessarily think that Hughes is the exact type of player we should be playing. He's been downright dreadful (kayesesque) in the first innings of matches, so having Watson at 3 will see him opening pretty often. Give Cowan a chance, he's ticked all the boxes lately and he clearly has a bit of a technique and will value his wicket.

I'm happy that nearly everyone is happy enough with Siddle now.

 

[howardj]

Warner
Usman
Marsh
Watson
Clarke
Christian
Wade
Siddle
Harris
Pattinson
Lyon

 

[howardj]

It's like an alternative universe, the continued selection of Ponting, Hussey and Haddin

To my mind, we've been getting owned for 18 months with these guys in the team, let's see what it's like without them

If we can afford to get beaten with these three guys in the team, we can afford to get beaten without them

Who knows...you may just improve the team by going young...e.g. Warner, Pattinson, and Cummins

 

[Woodster]

g

The thing that frustrates me about all this talk of dropping Hughes (and I know I've felt the same way) is that he's probably the one player that we should be persisting with. We know that he has the ability to make lots of runs. We know that he has a fantastic eye. We also know that he needs some time to come good. It actually annoys me a bit that Ponting keeps playing these ****tease innings and never goes on to convert but manages to keep his spot because he "looks like he's coming good". Let's not forget that Hughes was the third top scorer in Australia's second innings and made more runs than Ponting did.

Now that Ponting is not needed at #3, we can play Watson there, which to me appears to be a good spot for him - high enough so he shouldn't be starting against spin (and I don't mind if he has to if he's batting at 3) and not opening so that he can somewhat refocus after bowling.

Really, Australia's problem has been middle order collapses and the main culprits for that have been our numbers 3 and 4. The only player who has been playing there consistently is Ponting. He's 37 now, which makes him older than other, similar all time great players at their retirement. Richards and Chappell had both retired by that age. Ponting should be forced to do the same.

Let's not forget that it was Ponting's wicket that triggered the collapse in the second test against the kiwis. His head falling across the line and exposing him to lbws never used to be a weakness and would disappear once the man made 20 runs. Now he's getting out to it in the 70s. It really is time to go Ponting.

Hughes
Warner
Watson
Khawaja/Marsh (if fit)
Clarke*
Hussey
Haddin+
Harris
Siddle
Pattinson
Lyon

Is my revised team now that I've had time to cool down from the disgrace of the 12th of December.

On the Hughes issue, I guess it depends how confident the selectors are in Hughes' ability to remain a constant in the Test team and overcome these technical issues. England had a similar thing with Alastair Cook who continually nicked off, yet they persevered with him because they backed him to find a way of dealing with this, of course he's still liable to get out in this manner but has neutralised this deficiency enough to continue scoring runs. Hughes, however, looks to be in a worse state, technically and mentally. It almost seems a matter of time before he gets himself so closed off and comes across the ball, there is more work to be done with Hguhes than there was with Cook, though he made several changes before going back to his original style.

Cook is also very strong on anything straight, off his hips, but at the moment Hughes looks bereft of any strokes to get him down the other end.

 

[Spikey]

Being adamant about dropping someone when you've no idea who should replace them is absurd.

yes well after 3 years of constant **** from the middle order it's about time we took a chance.