Australian Test Selection Thread 2017 - 2018

[stephen]

Honestly guys I think it's obvious what's going on.

1) Starc is being rated so he's fit for the Ashes
2) It's in the subcontinent so we need 2 spinners
3) We're sending Lyon and 3/4 of the quartet plus another quick tba
4) Khawaja was picked but won't play.

This leaves an XI of:
Warner
Renshaw
Smith
Handscomb
Maxwell
Wade
Agar
Pattinson
Cummins
Lyon
Hazlewood

They intend to drop Lyon for Starc in the Ashes because quartet.

Holland was ignored because who the hell cares about spinners when you have the quartet (despite the fact that Australia have lost every time they've dropped Lyon since his debut and as custodian of the team song he's basically necessary and is the GOAT).

But this is the perfect squad to prepare us to unleash the quartet on the Poms.

Quartet!

 

[Starfighter]

Part of me dreads that playing the pace quartet will lead to us being two bowlers short during a match.

 

[honestbharani]

Honestly guys I think it's obvious what's going on.

1) Starc is being rated so he's fit for the Ashes
2) It's in the subcontinent so we need 2 spinners
3) We're sending Lyon and 3/4 of the quartet plus another quick tba
4) Khawaja was picked but won't play.

This leaves an XI of:
Warner
Renshaw
Smith
Handscomb
Maxwell
Wade
Agar
Pattinson
Cummins
Lyon
Hazlewood

They intend to drop Lyon for Starc in the Ashes because quartet.

Holland was ignored because who the hell cares about spinners when you have the quartet (despite the fact that Australia have lost every time they've dropped Lyon since his debut and as custodian of the team song he's basically necessary and is the GOAT).

But this is the perfect squad to prepare us to unleash the quartet on the Poms.

Quartet!

 

[TheJediBrah]

Honestly guys I think it's obvious what's going on.

1) Starc is being rated so he's fit for the Ashes
2) It's in the subcontinent so we need 2 spinners
3) We're sending Lyon and 3/4 of the quartet plus another quick tba
4) Khawaja was picked but won't play.

This leaves an XI of:
Warner
Renshaw
Smith
Handscomb
Maxwell
Wade
Agar
Pattinson
Cummins
Lyon
Hazlewood

They intend to drop Lyon for Starc in the Ashes because quartet.

Holland was ignored because who the hell cares about spinners when you have the quartet (despite the fact that Australia have lost every time they've dropped Lyon since his debut and as custodian of the team song he's basically necessary and is the GOAT).

But this is the perfect squad to prepare us to unleash the quartet on the Poms.

Quartet!

 

[Red]

If the "nice Gary" stuff ends for some reason, Ashton is much more KFC and CommBank marketable than Lyon also

 

[Spark]

Good from you

 

[Shady Slim]

Honestly guys I think it's obvious what's going on.

1) Starc is being rated so he's fit for the Ashes
2) It's in the subcontinent so we need 2 spinners
3) We're sending Lyon and 3/4 of the quartet plus another quick tba
4) Khawaja was picked but won't play.

This leaves an XI of:
Warner
Renshaw
Smith
Handscomb
Maxwell
Wade
Agar
Pattinson
Cummins
Lyon
Hazlewood

They intend to drop Lyon for Starc in the Ashes because quartet.

Holland was ignored because who the hell cares about spinners when you have the quartet (despite the fact that Australia have lost every time they've dropped Lyon since his debut and as custodian of the team song he's basically necessary and is the GOAT).

But this is the perfect squad to prepare us to unleash the quartet on the Poms.

Quartet!

this makes a lot of sense-nonsense and i reckon it's true

 

[GotSpin]

SOK is a numpty. Just getting on the piss and acting like a **** **** really. What does he expect really?

 

[Nate]

I'd say O'Keefe is a tad unlucky but I'm not totally surprised; he was the least effective spinner from both sides in the final 3 Tests and his limitations without a heavily spin-friendly track were shown up.

So over people sprouting this nonsense to fit their narrative. Please re-watch the Tests/re-check the scorecards. Thanks.

 

[Prince EWS]

So over people sprouting this nonsense to fit their narrative. Please re-watch the Tests/re-check the scorecards. Thanks.

There's a massive leap from what we were debating here (whether he bowled better than Lyon) and the debate the selectors seem to have had (whether he'd bowl better than Agar) as well. I actually disagreed with you when we had the original debate here, but the re-writing of history has gone much, much further than any of the 'anti-O'Keefe' if you like half of the debate did originally.

He's obviously been dropped primarily due to the off-field stuff; there's no other rational explanation for it. And it completely sucks.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah I feel there's been a lot of selective bullshit when evaluating SoK's performance in that series... some people like to pretend SoK was completely useless later on in the series, but his marathon at Ranchi doesn't get enough respect. It was a dead track and he handled a much higher workload than Lyon while not leaking any easy runs. Obviously this isn't as useful as what Lyon did in the first innings at Bangalore, but handling that huge workload is part of what makes a spinner valuable. Half the Australia attack would've been on crutches for the final test if not for him.

 

[Burgey]

Pretty stunned at SOK not being picked. Has to be off-field rather than on. He bowled fine in India imo.

I suppose Agar or Maxwell will definitely play, more likely Agar for #variation. I wouldn't mind seeing them play Cartwright if they're going to go with two spinners. I don't think that much of his bowling, but I do believe he could become a really good top order bat at test level. They may as well give him a shot, I think he's the best batsman out of any of the allrounders we have.

Looking ahead, if they're going to play the #pacequartet in the Ashes, it'll bite them on the arse because, quite frankly, our batting isn't good enough to carry five specialists, a bowling allrounder and the #fearsomequartetwhatgoesfor5.5rpo

 

[Burgey]

The best thing about this will be TJB's conniptions as the Lyon hatred gets dialled up to 11.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Nah I'm ok with it. If Agar becomes a genuine all-rounder and we can play the #quartet, then who needs Lyon

I mean come on, Maxwell/Wade/Agar at 5, 6, 7 looks solid as a rock

 

[vcs]

Nah I'm ok with it. If Agar becomes a genuine all-rounder and we can play the #quartet, then who needs Lyon

I mean come on, Maxwell/Wade/Agar at 5, 6, 7 looks solid as a rock

Sarcasm?

 

[OverratedSanity]

You think?

 

[TheJediBrah]

You think?

I literally had this exact same response written out

weird

 

[Nate]

He's obviously been dropped primarily due to the off-field stuff; there's no other rational explanation for it. And it completely sucks.

Except that Hohns said it's not. Mark Taylor's comments are ill-conceived too.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Except that Hohns said it's not. Mark Taylor's comments are ill-conceived too.

Oh he said it's not?

Well guess that's that, no way he could just be saying that for the media

 

[The Battlers Prince]

Agarrr