***Official*** Australia in England 2012

[Prince EWS]

IMO, there is nothing Doherty can offer that splitting overs between Smith, Hussey and Clarke wouldn't achieve.

Never looked like a threat.

I probably wouldn't follow cricket at all if every spinner bowled like Doherty, but he's as mean as cat**** throughout the middle overs. A Clarke/Smith/Dave Hussey combination would probably yield a negligible loss in wicket-taking ability but they'd leak runs and give the batsmen ten overs to really target. When you consider that Watson isn't the ODI bowler he once (IMO) it'd give Australia a fairly week attack all for the ability to add an eighth batsman.

 

[Kylez]

Have to laugh at Watson saying the Aussies have a better balanced side with more batting. That may be so but England don't have a completely useless twonk batting at 6 who isn't good enough as a bat or a bowler but he can field a bit.

Should win the series even without Anderson. Looking forward to the next game more than I expected I would. Seeing Aussies get beaten easily is never hard to watch.

Easily? England have only won 2 of their last 10 ODI's against Australia and they only won the recent game by 15 runs. Kieswetter is pretty usless for England when batting at number six, so I wouldn't be talking too loudly about Smith.

Strange post.

 

[Dan]

I probably wouldn't follow cricket at all if every spinner bowled like Doherty, but he's as mean as cat**** throughout the middle overs. A Clarke/Smith/Dave Hussey combination would probably yield a negligible loss in wicket-taking ability but they'd leak runs and give the batsmen ten overs to really target. When you consider that Watson isn't the ODI bowler he once (IMO) it'd give Australia a fairly week attack all for the ability to add an eighth batsman.

Didn't realise just how low his economy was - thought it was well above 5 an over. Point is, however, that I don't rate Doherty at all. I'd much prefer we played Lyon in ODIs as well.


More pressingly though, we need someone who can bowl at the death.

 

[uvelocity]

Strange post.

Netted himself a kylez itbt

I'm out how many did Doherty leak. He's only super tight on slow decks like the MCG imo

 

[Ruckus]

Didn't realise just how low his economy was - thought it was well above 5 an over. Point is, however, that I don't rate Doherty at all. I'd much prefer we played Lyon in ODIs as well.


More pressingly though, we need someone who can bowl at the death.

Yeah I agree. Doherty isn't a bad OD bowler by any means, but what he offers in terms of bowling is too one dimensional imo. Think we can do better.

Result here was pretty disappointing though. A very chasable total on a good batting deck against bowling that was fairly tight but really not particularly threatening...just too many lazy, silly errors like poor shots, run-outs etc. Don't really think there is much wrong with the team selection (although I wouldn't have Smith in there), it's just a matter of simply performing better.

 

[Spark]

Yeah indeed. We probably could use a slightly beefier middle order but these teams look pretty well-matched.

 

[Ruckus]

There were obviously a few areas you could pinpoint as the reasons for the loss, but if I had to pick one it was Watson. Had a shocker of a match with both bat and ball. He has too much talent to let this stuff happen. Really just has to master the mental side of his game.

Wondering with this upcoming match as well whether perhaps Pattinson should replace Doherty. Read it's going to be a hard surface, and surely Smith, Clarke, Hussey etc. are decent enough cover if some extra overs are needed.

 

[greg]

Why the inconsistency in selection from England? Surely considering the set-up of the side, and general match strategy, the obvious candidate to replace Anderson is Graeme Onions?

 

[vic_orthdox]

Not rated in short forms, is he?

 

[Burgey]

Yeah I agree. Doherty isn't a bad OD bowler by any means, but what he offers in terms of bowling is too one dimensional imo. Think we can do better.

Result here was pretty disappointing though. A very chasable total on a good batting deck against bowling that was fairly tight but really not particularly threatening...just too many lazy, silly errors like poor shots, run-outs etc. Don't really think there is much wrong with the team selection (although I wouldn't have Smith in there), it's just a matter of simply performing better.

Should be better for the run.

Except Smith.

 

[NUFAN]

I probably wouldn't follow cricket at all if every spinner bowled like Doherty, but he's as mean as cat**** throughout the middle overs. A Clarke/Smith/Dave Hussey combination would probably yield a negligible loss in wicket-taking ability but they'd leak runs and give the batsmen ten overs to really target. When you consider that Watson isn't the ODI bowler he once (IMO) it'd give Australia a fairly week attack all for the ability to add an eighth batsman.

Yeah I agree. Doherty isn't a bad OD bowler by any means, but what he offers in terms of bowling is too one dimensional imo. Think we can do better.

Why pick a spinner? In England we should play 4 quicks plus Watson and if we want a few overs of spin well Smith, Hussey and Clarke can provide them. Also, if one of the quicks is Johnson, he makes our lower order stronger too.

Watson is still a good ODI bowler IMO, but he just looked how he look last Ashes in England. The English batsman play him so much better compared to every other country (without looking up statz).

It's pretty bizarre but I'm actually starting to become a little bit of a Steve Smith fan. Before I wanted him to fail, now I want him to succeed. I actually think we'd be better off if we batted at 3 in this current setup so its: 1) Watson 2) Warner 3) Smith 4) Clarke 5) Bailey 6) Hussey 7) Wade 8) Johnson/Pattinson 9) Lee 10) Cummins/Pattinson 11) Mckay/Hilfenhaus.

So cliffs: Stick with Smith and bat him higher, play Lee every game and the 5 other quicks fight it out for 3 bowling spots.

 

[social]

Thought Bailey looked pretty good at Lords so dont see them dropping him down but agree that the team would be better off with him at 6 and Johnson at 8

I would rather see Wade open as he is a fine player and it improves balance of the side

Would also rest Cummins from this game as there is no need to play him every match at this stage

For today, I'd pick

Warner
Wade
Watson
Clarke
Dussey
Bailey
Smith
Johnson
Pattinson
Lee
McKay/Doherty

However, if they have no intention of bowling Smith then replace him with Forrest and juggle the order a bit

 

[Spark]

Cummins is out of the tour anyway, so that solves that problem

*sigh*

 

[Flem274*]

Was looking forward to watching Cummins and Pattinson tonight.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Bloody hell, lad is a crock. play once and break down seems the way. Hope he is just having an unlucky run but it would be a worry.

 

[Top_Cat]

tbh, I don't think there's any way you can prevent a young quick picking up injuries like that, especially ones with any pace. Part of the territory. Most quicks' bodies don't stabilise until they're in their mid-late 20's.

 

[Burgey]

What happened to him?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Bloody hell, lad is a crock. play once and break down seems the way. Hope he is just having an unlucky run but it would be a worry.

TBF to the boy, because he's such a big, solid lump it's easy to forget he's about twelve still.

I imagine he hasn't finished growing into his body yet.

That said his action does look several injuries waiting to happen.

 

[social]

tbh, I don't think there's any way you can prevent a young quick picking up injuries like that, especially ones with any pace. Part of the territory. Most quicks' bodies don't stabilise until they're in their mid-late 20's.

See Jason Gillespie who had a bowling style not entirely disimilar to Cummins

 

[BoyBrumby]

What happened to him?

Side strain, or so Walt Allott (reporting a Jim Maxwell Tweet) has just said on Cricket Writers on TV.