***Official*** Australia in India 2013 Short formats

[Spikey]

I would pick Hughes but it's hard to shake the feeling that Lehmann doesnt have confidence in him

 

[social]

Nah you pick Hughes either way. The fact that he's not a great player against good Test bowling attacks doesn't mean any other useless **** who you care to name is either.

As I've said before, the great thing about Hughes is that when he actually is comfortable with the bowling and the conditions, his concentration and ability to build an innings is second to none. He's also great at punishing bowlers who target his weakness and don't quite execute perfectly, meaning you do actually have to bowl well to him to dismiss him, and it's not particularly easy to do so. Yeah he'll have periods of consecutive low scores where he looks really bad and yeah in an ideal world he wouldn't be in the Test side right now, but he offers far more than any of the alternatives with his ability to convert starts and make telling contributions.

Let's get serious - his "telling" contributions come about once every 10 innings

I like Hughes and think that he has made huge strides with his technique in the last year or so but at this stage, he is just as likely to become another Kambli as a top quality test bat

 

[benchmark00]

A rare error from the worlds greatest people.

 

[ajdude]

that was like the worst bit of cricket i've ever seen

 

[benchmark00]

Let's get serious - his "telling" contributions come about once every 10 innings

I like Hughes and think that he has made huge strides with his technique in the last year or so but at this stage, he is just as likely to become another Kambli as a top quality test bat

Hey social, who do you and Chappell think is the best shot at #6?

 

[Spikey]

No wonder Chappell refused to commentate here with fielding like that

 

[Spark]

best fielding side in the world and one of the greatest ever

 

[benchmark00]

Wow very strange, must be the two new balls. Wouldn't normally happen to the worlds best fielding side.

 

[Prince EWS]

Let's get serious - his "telling" contributions come about once every 10 innings

Which is about once per 10 innings more often than any of the potential replacements.

I like Hughes and think that he has made huge strides with his technique in the last year or so but at this stage, he is just as likely to become another Kambli as a top quality test bat

Even if so, "top quality Test bat" is not the benchmark for making the Australian Test side at the moment. In a bubble, sure, Hughes ideally wouldn't be in the side in the moment, but unfortunately for Australia you do actually have to pick a top six in Test cricket and Hughes is a far, far better option than Khawaja, Cowan, Wade, Bailey, Doolan, Finch (lol) or any of the other options.

I'm not proclaiming him as the great saviour. "Should be in the Australian Test side as a batsman" is really very faint praise.

 

[Spark]

god i wish that had gone for six

 

[Spikey]

reckon bailey would make a good addition to the test team

 

[ajdude]

even though jadeja's bowled out he'll still somehow take 3 ****ty wickets

 

[NUFAN]

Phil Hughes, the guy in his second last test match who made an 80 odd not out against the second best bowling line up in the world.

The kid averages under 20 against England. Every dog has its day against England too.

I'm not denying that FFS. The alternative to picking a few batsmen with massive question marks over their ability to perform against the top sides is picking a team with only four (if you're being really generous..) batsmen in it. You've gotta pick someone and Hughes offers far, far more than the alternatives presently.

Another possible alternative is to give other batsman an opportunity. I know we have tried a large number of options lately but there are still others who have the potential to contribute more against the better teams if our objective is to win Test matches now. The major problem with Hughes at the moment is that opener is by far his best position and there probably isn't an opener spot available for him. I dread the thought of Hughes with his inconsistent performances coming in at six in our Test team.

Really good partnership this.

 

[ajdude]

reckon bailey would make a good addition to the test team

if george bailey keeps up this form he could

 

[Spark]

You'd think Bailey is one good knock back home away from a 1st Test spot.

 

[NUFAN]

reckon bailey would make a good addition to the test team

Same! Hopefully Faulkner gets hit around a bit today and takes 1/75

 

[Spikey]

Darren Murphy ‏@murf1987 7m
@Jesse_Hogan Damien Martyn special. When Steve Waugh toured there he looked like a homeless bum lost in the desert #youtrulyarethekingofmen

 

[benchmark00]

n00fers looking fragile and weak here.

As well as this is going (and India have completely lost control), I'm not completely convinced this will be out of India's reach.

 

[social]

Hey social, who do you and Chappell think is the best shot at #6?

Well it's not Phil ****ing Hughes

From one end they would have a quick with 5 men in the cordon and from the other would be Swann - chances of him making a "telling contribution no more than 20%

BTW, I notice that you didn't mention that in Hughes' 80, he was made to look like a tailender by a debutant no. 11

 

[Spikey]

Australia should be looking to add about 7% to their total from here