*Official* Road to 2013 Ashes

[vic_orthdox]

Not sure if you're aware of Mitchell Starc.

I was thinking of him with future series in mind, but not sure that he'll get picked unless there are some injuries.

 

[Spikey]

nathan lyon 'round the wicket obv

assuming he hasn't been dropped for doherty, anyway

 

[BoyBrumby]

I was thinking of him with future series in mind, but not sure that he'll get picked unless there are some injuries.

Made a decent impression up here for France, by all accounts.

Won't help him if he stinks out his domestic season tho, obvz.

Meanwhile Mike Selvey in The Guardian thinks Strauss is still the best man for the job, but how things go in India will determine whether he'll be in charge come the Ashes double.

 

[Prince EWS]

Made a decent impression up here for France, by all accounts.

Won't help him if he stinks out his domestic season tho, obvz.

Meanwhile Mike Selvey in The Guardian thinks Strauss is still the best man for the job, but how things go in India will determine whether he'll be in charge come the Ashes double.

I hate it when England and Australia obsess over the Ashes, but seriously I don't think England could plan it all any worse than sacking their captain (or having him resign) right before back to bash Ashes series. If they're still 50/50 about whether he'll be leading the team for the Ashes in England they should give him the arse right now.

 

[benchmark00]

Starc is absolutely smashing the door down. I expect him to overtake a couple of the incumbents within the next 6-12 months. Discussion for a different thread though.

 

[Spikey]

the whole not actually getting to play in the important aus a games was a huge bummer in that respect

 

[Spikey]

the nerve of this guy..

 

[vic_orthdox]

Starc is absolutely smashing the door down. I expect him to overtake a couple of the incumbents within the next 6-12 months. Discussion for a different thread though.

Agree, he's doing everything asked of him, and itwould be handy from one respect if the Sixers weren't taking him over to the Champions League.

But I'm just not sure that he's going to leap in front of enough guys to get there if we play three quicks plus Lyon.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Then why not let him play for us then, you know where he's a lot more likely to learn something from Gillespie and Ryan Sidebottom?

Irks me that were missing key players and in certain cases they're not even playing.

 

[benchmark00]

More like Sidebottom learning something from Starceh.

 

[MW1304]

He probably meant batting wise tbh.

Sidebottom.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Worried about Warner. Yep, gun Test record to date, but none of it has been earned against pants-****tingly good seamers, of whom only England (on form) and South Africa qualify at the moment. The best pace attack he's faced were the Windies and he averaged 28 in which conditions still favored spin over pace.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the series in England will be low-scoring since both bowling attacks look very good on paper, and both certainly have enough depth in pace stocks to find four bowlers in decent form. Can see the respective performances of Swann and Lyon dramatically affecting the series, given how much grief Swann's given us both home and away and Lyon's average against non-Indian teams is 25. The ECB's Murray Mints budget may well be decisive, though.

I would not be surprised at all to see a Hughes comeback if he develops the discipline this summer to tweak his offside game beyond catching practice. Australia has invested too much in him for him to be binned forever, and he's well on track to vindicate the time-honored policy of dropping players with potential only to see them forge outstanding Test careers when they bash their way back in (see: Hayden, Martyn, Ponting, Waugh, Langer, Clarke and Lehmann/Kasprowicz to a lesser extent). Same applies for Uzi if no-one else can nail down number 3 between now and then.

Am I the only Australian here that would prefer our side facing Finn than Onions?

 

[benchmark00]

Clarke > Hussey.

 

[Spark]

We don't have a guy who naturally moves the ball away from the left hander though. It's what you need to be doing to be effective from around the wicket.

Our left armer, the best candidate, was Johnson who slides it into the left hander.

I think they'll work on it with Patto. Noticed him going around the wicket once or twice vs. Gambhir and moving it away on occasion.

 

[uvelocity]

cantelope.

more worried about our batting, I can't see us putting 4 or 5 guys on the boundary and bowling short for 6 sessions again

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Clarke > Hussey.

Missed this ****.

 

[Spark]

Would also query as to your threshold for 'giving grief' re: Swann

 

[benchmark00]

 

[deathmonger]

Australia shouldn't get excited - England will still win next year's Ashes - Telegraph

Interesting article. Discuss.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Would also query as to your threshold for 'giving grief' re: Swann

I know his average doesn't strictly reflect it but he did seem to break a lot of partnerships in 2010-11.

He gave me grief, anyway.