***Official*** Australia in India 2012/13

[Cevno]

Lyon was dropped because he wasn't bowling well and all that technical bullcrap was said just to make sure that Lyon doesn't end up getting marked as another spin discard by the media and the fans, Lyon should have taken the cue and repeated the same things that Arthur said about him in the media.

Think so since Rahane isn't playing

Rahane isn't playing?

Sounds like Rahane isn't playing.

Yep, Shikhar Dhawan in the presser today confirmed that he is playing himself and that Pujara is fit.

That leaves Rahane carrying the drinks for his 15th test unless they change the combination of the team and play 4 bowlers.

 

[Jono]

Who knows what this team can do tomorrow. Not like Australia could get much worse than the last test. This may be that moment when Australian cricket bounces back.

 

[harsh.ag]

One thing that we'll never know is how much the players talked between each other about the task. Does it give some insight to the level of interaction between the whole squad?

I mean, surely you'd talk about it with other guys? "What did you write?" - it wouldn't have been a state secret. There'd be some sort of peer pressure to do it, even just by knowing that others have.

One thing we definitely know for sure is how much international selections, to this day, depend on non-performance factors. Doherty over Lyon, Harbhajan over Ojha, Sehwag over Rahane, any good keeper vs Dhoni + Wade. Now Hughes gets another chance. This is just sad.

 

[silentstriker]

One thing that we'll never know is how much the players talked between each other about the task. Does it give some insight to the level of interaction between the whole squad?

I mean, surely you'd talk about it with other guys? "What did you write?" - it wouldn't have been a state secret. There'd be some sort of peer pressure to do it, even just by knowing that others have.

I don't know how much you'd talk to other guys about a random pointless piece of **** 20 minute exercise which no one cares about. Except maybe to bitch about it.

 

[Riggins]

Who knows what this team can do tomorrow. Not like Australia could get much worse than the last test. This may be that moment when Australian cricket bounces back.

that ad ****s me to tears. if you're product is about supporting big cans during exercise, show me some big cans. ****.

 

[silentstriker]

Yep, Shikhar Dhawan in the presser today confirmed that he is playing himself and that Pujara is fit.

That leaves Rahane carrying the drinks for his 15th test unless they change the combination of the team and play 4 bowlers.

Wtf


Wtf






Rahane opened for a large part of his career. It makes no sense. The wins are glossing over the ****tiness of our selections.

 

[Arachnodouche]

that ad ****s me to tears. if you're product is about supporting big cans during exercise, show me some big cans. ****.

It squishes.

 

[Spikey]

but having said that, if lyon can get dropped to work on a few things for someone the world thought would never play another test, why can't wade?

mainly because wade is yet to stink it up for 6 months like Lyon just did

kinda wanna bat hughes at 5

 

[Spikey]

The indications at training were that Maxwell would be the one to miss out. At the end of Australia's practice session, Maxwell looked downcast during a lengthy on-field chat with the coach Mickey Arthur, and he was not present at a sit-down meeting of the spinners shortly afterwards when the spin coach Steve Rixon chatted to Lyon, Doherty and Smith on the boundary edge.

maybe maxwell just forgot to attend, or is planning to attend the meeting 36 hours late.

 

[pup11]

Same can be said with Warne and his leg spinr itbt. No one is scoring more than 30-40 runs bar Clarke.

People like Maxwell and Smith have been brought to this tour not because they feature among top 10 batsmen in Australia atm, they have been brought here because the conditions are helpful for spin and the selectors expect them to chip in with the ball and support the front-line spinner(s).

Smith is a decent batsman and has a pretty decent FC batting record but he is certainly not good enough to play in the Australian side purely as a batsman not now and probably never will be, the main reason he made his test debut at a young age was because he was an unorthodox batsman who bowled decent leg spin, over the last few seasons he has found bowling spin on Australian FC wickets hard, so he decided to concentrate more on his batting instead which was a soft option which has stagnated his international career to a large extent.

I would love nothing more than him scoring a century and proving me wrong, but still the realistic long term role for him as an international cricketer is of someone who bats at #7 and bowls decent spells of wrist spin,and these conditions probably can set the ball rolling for him in that regard.

 

[Prince EWS]

People like Maxwell and Smith have been brought to this tour not because they feature among top 10 batsmen in Australia atm, they have been brought here because the conditions are helpful for spin and the selectors expect them to chip in with the ball and support the front-line spinner(s).

Nope, Smith was straight up selected as a batsman. You're right about Maxwell but Smith was not selected as an allrounder for his tour. He may send down a few anyway but that's not why he was picked.

You can disagree with me and the selectors until you're blue in the face, but they did not pick someone who had given up bowling for most of the season based partly on his bowling.

 

[harsh.ag]

People like Maxwell and Smith have been brought to this tour not because they feature among top 10 batsmen in Australia atm, they have been brought here because the conditions are helpful for spin and the selectors expect them to chip in with the ball and support the front-line spinner(s).

Smith is a decent batsman and has a pretty decent FC batting record but he is certainly not good enough to play in the Australian side purely as a batsman not now and probably never will be, the main reason he made his test debut at a young age was because he was an unorthodox batsman who bowled decent leg spin, over the last few seasons he has found bowling spin on Australian FC wickets hard, so he decided to concentrate more on his batting instead which was a soft option which has stagnated his international career to a large extent.

I would love nothing more than him scoring a century and proving me wrong, but still the realistic long term role for him as an international cricketer is of someone who bats at #7 and bowls decent spells of wrist spin,and these conditions probably can set the ball rolling for him in that regard.

Are you sure you are an Indian cricket fan mate?! Shouldn't you be saying that line about Dhawan instead

 

[Jono]

I don't think pup is an Indian cricket fan

 

[LongHopCassidy]

maybe maxwell just forgot to attend, or is planning to attend the meeting 36 hours late.

He was positive it would be discussed in the lead-up to the Test.

Very harsh.

 

[Jono]

but they did not pick someone who had given up bowling for most of the season based partly on his bowling.

Does pup11 know that Smith gave up on his bowling? Really doesn't sound like he is aware of this occurring.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Does pup11 know that Smith gave up on his bowling? Really doesn't sound like he is aware of this occurring.

Shut up ****s, you're interrupting the PowerPoint...

 

[Prince EWS]

Does pup11 know that Smith gave up on his bowling? Really doesn't sound like he is aware of this occurring.

Not sure. He did say:

"over the last few seasons he has found bow ling spin on Australian FC wickets hard, so he decided to concentrate more on his batting instead"

But what Smith did was a bit different. He actually gave up leggies entirely - refused to bowl - in order to let himself refresh them so to speak and then have a full offseason focusing on them. Even above his batting. But he wanted to take some time off so he stopped bowling completely for half the season. He didn't just focus on his batting; he stopped bowling. You're not going to be picked as an allrounder if you do that; he was picked because they thought he was next best batsman available.

 

[harsh.ag]

Nope, Smith was straight up selected as a batsman. You're right about Maxwell but Smith was not selected as an allrounder for his tour. He may send down a few anyway but that's not why he was picked.

You can disagree with me and the selectors until you're blue in the face, but they did not pick someone who had given up bowling for most of the season based partly on his bowling.

On that note, are there any better pure batsmen than Steven Smith in the Australian set-up, apart from Doolan and Katich?

P.S. If Pup is not an Indian fan, why is his location India? Here for a match?

 

[Prince EWS]

On that note, are there any better pure batsmen than Steven Smith in the Australian set-up, apart from Doolan and Katich?

P.S. If Pup is not an Indian fan, why is his location India? Here for a match?

Katich has retired from Australian cricket.

Smith has a pretty bad technical flaw for someone wanting to make runs in Australia in that he stays leg side of the ball and pokes at length deliveries from seam bowlers, but that's a flaw that is really quite easily papered over in India, relatively anyway. I think he's much more likely to succeed in these conditions than Khawaja or Doolan.. different at home, but certainly true here IMO.

 

[Cevno]

Wtf


Wtf






Rahane opened for a large part of his career. It makes no sense. The wins are glossing over the ****tiness of our selections.

Frankly, i don't have a problem with them seeing him as a middle order batsman in the long term tbh as he averages 73 or something in FC cricket not opening while averaging 45 opening.

But i do have a problem with them seeing him as a opener when there is a middle order vacancy and then reverting to see him as a middle order batsman when there's a Opener vacancy.

Decide ffs and stick with it and don't make him miss best part of 2 FC seasons sitting on the bench while not giving him a go. And then they make him open in ODI cricket and will probably drop him on that basis.

Anyways, i am not confident about Dhawan or Vijay being better openers than him anyways so wouldn't have been the worse thing for him opening here at home in this series either with the middle order full if Jadeja is playing at 6.