Group A - Australia, South Africa, Scotland, Holland

[Prince EWS]

Yeah, I hardly rate Hogg as a batsman at all, but he did the job Hussey was designed to do when Hussey went for under five.

Haha, but the point is, you can't expect someone to fire all the time, especially when they don't have time to build an innings properly.

 

[Athlai]

Haha, but the point is, you can't expect someone to fire all the time, especially when they don't have time to build an innings properly.

But after two poor performances against substandard teams. (And the next match being of high importance in an easy road to the semi's)

Wouldn't you prefer the man on fire in Hodge?

 

[Prince EWS]

But after two poor performances against substandard teams. (And the next match being of high importance in an easy road to the semi's)

Wouldn't you prefer the man on fire in Hodge?

No, no I wouldn't. I'd prefer the man who is a better batsman.

 

[pasag]

Hogg comes in last few overs to hit a quick six or two. Reaches 40 off 15 balls.
Hussey hasn't been firing like he usually does. 3 matches in a row.
Hodge was on fantastic form. Poor Hodge.

But then again Australia just has to many great players to be content with keeping the ones who are on form, and the ones who are generally the worlds finest.

The last time he got a proper innings, in NZ, he made 105. There he came in during the 12th over.

However in the WC, against Scotland, he came in during the 43rd over and was stumped, Netherlands 47th caught in the deep whilst smashing it and yesterday against SA he came in in the 46th and was out, caught on the boundary trying to smash it over. To say that arguably one of our most valuable OD batsman should be dropped because of that is mind boggling really. He goes in and sacrifices his wicket everytime in difficult circumstances and not much more can be asked of him. Can't belive I'm arguing this really.

 

[Athlai]

No, no I wouldn't. I'd prefer the man who is a better batsman.

I'm actually in two minds in it myself.
Hussey is the better batsman.
But he hasn't been hitting.
Hussey ended up getting 5 runs.
Hodge who was looked brilliant could have went for even less.

You just can't tell. Hopefully Hussey will shut me up and score something. Till then I will stand by with one eyebrow raised.

 

[Athlai]

The last time he got a proper innings, in NZ, he made 105. There he came in during the 12th over. However in the WC:

Against Scotland, comes in 43rd over, Netherlands 47th caught in the deep whilst smashing it and yesterday against SA he came in in the 46th and was out, caught on the boundary trying to smash it over. To say that arguably one of our most valuable OD batsman should be dropped is mind boggling really. He goes in and sacrifices his wicket everytime in difficult conditions and not much more can be asked of him.

And he made that 105 under a lot of pressure.

The 43rd over still leaves a fair amount of time to play some clever strokes.

 

[Perm]

I had noticed that Michael Hussey had been short of runs in the World Cup so far, but like pasag said he's hardly had the chance to build a decent innings and you can't expect him to come in with 5 overs to go and always score 20 or 30 runs, it's just not feasible.

 

[pasag]

Perm! Welcome back buddy!

 

[Perm]

Perm! Welcome back buddy!

I'll have to cut back from CW Football and Cricket but I'll be around Cricket Chat a bit more often now.

 

[Prince EWS]

Perm! Welcome back buddy!

Seconded.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I'll have to cut back from CW Football and Cricket but I'll be around Cricket Chat a bit more often now.

Brutal.

 

[Perm]

Seconded.

Cheers mate, I've missed you too. Enjoyed reading your posts though.

Brutal.

Don't have enough time to contribute a satisfactory amount I'm afraid.

 

[Prince EWS]

Cheers mate, I've missed you too. Enjoyed reading your posts though.

Thanks, definitely good to see you back in CC.

 

[Jono]

And typical Melbourne bias shining through again around here.

Honestly its irritating. I argue with my mates so much and they call me "Anti-Victorian". I guess I brought that on myself though when I cheered White's dismissal in the Ford Ranger Cup final, but that was because I was proving a point.

A mate was telling me purely as a batsman he'd take Hodge over Symonds in ODIs. I was like wow. Victorian bias ****s me so much. Its the World Cup FFS, who cares what state some player is from, when you're representing the nation it shouldn't matter.

 

[Perm]

Honestly its irritating. I argue with my mates so much and they call me "Anti-Victorian". I guess I brought that on myself though when I cheered White's dismissal in the Ford Ranger Cup final, but that was because I was proving a point.

A mate was telling me purely as a batsman he'd take Hodge over Symonds in ODIs. I was like wow. Victorian bias ****s me so much. Its the World Cup FFS, who cares what state some player is from, when you're representing the nation it shouldn't matter.

Thankfully, we don't have too much of this sort of thing in New Zealand cricket.

 

[Prince EWS]

Honestly its irritating. I argue with my mates so much and they call me "Anti-Victorian". I guess I brought that on myself though when I cheered White's dismissal in the Ford Ranger Cup final, but that was because I was proving a point.

A mate was telling me purely as a batsman he'd take Hodge over Symonds in ODIs. I was like wow. Victorian bias ****s me so much. Its the World Cup FFS, who cares what state some player is from, when you're representing the nation it shouldn't matter.

I'm probably the furthest thing from a Symonds fan possible and even I wouldn't go that far.

We don't really have the problem in NSW very much - especially with the younger generation - but it's not for good reasons - it's for the simple fact that most of the younger generation in NSW really couldn't care less about state cricket and hence have nothing to be biased towards. Of course, our media outlets are still as biased as hell - Jaques, MacGill and Clark are quite easily the three best players in Australia in both forms of the game if you're to believe the SMH...

 

[Jono]

Thankfully, we don't have too much of this sort of thing in New Zealand cricket.

Yeah, my theory is in countries which aren't blessed with such an abundance of int'l quality talent coming through, they'll take what they can get. I mean there are some whispers of regional bias complaints on CW here by Indian and English posters, but for the most part, if a player is good the fans want them in the team so they can actually win.

 

[_Ed_]

Thankfully, we don't have too much of this sort of thing in New Zealand cricket.

Very true, we have a bit of parochialism (Aucklanders cop a bit fielding on the boundary in Christchurch) but nothing like that.

 

[Perm]

Very true, we have a bit of parochialism (Aucklanders cop a bit fielding on the boundary in Christchurch) but nothing like that.

Too right, get into the bloody Jaffa's.

 

[Matt79]

I think Hodge is a cause celebre for Victorians in a period where we've been somewhat underrepresented in the national team (since Deano finished, there's been Warne and that's it). Looking at the results of the team over the last decade, its hard to point to who should have made way for a Victorian, but Hodge has been consistently one of the best cricketers in Australian domestic cricket for SO long now, and when he finally got a go, after even longer than Mike Hussey, he's done very very well, and yet he still can't hold down a spot in either the Test or ODI team. I'd suggest he should have got a go before Katich, and was unlucky to get dropped in favour of Martyn's return. He probably deserved a second go more than Clarke on the evidence available at the time, but obviously Clarke has taken his opportunity and established himself in the Test team for some time to come...

That said, I'm a proud Vic fan and big fan of Hodge as a cricketer, but I can't see a spot for him in the current ODI team, if Symonds is fit. He should definitely be the next cab of the rank should any of the top 5 bats be out however...