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***Official*** Australia in the West Indies 2012
- Thread starter Spark
- Start date
Spark
Global Moderator
He's only kept his place as an all-rounder in the last year. If he wasn't bowling - who knows, maybe Khawaja would be playing, maybe he wouldn't (probably not, I suspect they'd have kept him). His bowling is why there has been no discussion of dropping him. His batting simply has not been good enough.
In and of itself it's not an issue, everyone has periods of bad form. But that's why you have to cash in when you're in good nick.
It's so bloody frustrating because it's blatantly obvious that he could average in the mid 40s if he really knuckled down in the middle, which coupled with his bowling is a massive asset to have. But he just does idiotic things at the wrong times and as a result his test average still starts with 3.
In and of itself it's not an issue, everyone has periods of bad form. But that's why you have to cash in when you're in good nick.
It's so bloody frustrating because it's blatantly obvious that he could average in the mid 40s if he really knuckled down in the middle, which coupled with his bowling is a massive asset to have. But he just does idiotic things at the wrong times and as a result his test average still starts with 3.
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Ruckus
International Captain
yeah that's fair enough then if you think that, because at least if true it would be a genuinely good reason to drop him (again, as a batsman). I personally disagree though. I think he is (and will be) far better than a mid 30's average batsman. Obviously just one of those things though were only time will tell.
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Ruckus
International Captain
Even if his bowling weren't part of it, I really doubt there would have been much discussion of dropping him (and rightly so imo). His ****ty 2011 average is basically just a result of the back end of the Ashes where his scores low (his actual Ashes series was far better than the most of the top 7, bar Hussey. Think he averaged close to 50 for the series from memory) a tough series in SA where practically every other batsman sucked as well, and an admittedly very poor tour of Sri Lanka. So given that, any talk of dropping him on his batting alone would have been basically just from one failed series (which we happen to have won anyway). Hardly seems a priority to me.
Spark
Global Moderator
Again though it's the manner of dismissals which is irritating. Yes the pitches were difficult. That doesn't make pulling a long hop down deep square's throat when well-set any more justifiable - in fact it's even worse, as tough pitches are the ones where you have to cash in on a start the most. Nor does it entirely excuse his astonishingly bad leave in the Jo'burg chase. Granted, not playing against India can't have helped but even so, it's not good enough.
Valer
First Class Debutant
Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo is useful here.
However being injury prone doesn't really help your case for long term... Even taking it as far back as the start of the 2010 tho he still averages mid 30s which is going to pushing your luck after that much time.
Edit:
Spark is making the rest of the case for me.
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Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Caught.
Burgey
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Bummer.
Spikey
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typical
smash84
The Tiger King
wow...australia won the match.....I thought this match was heading to a draw
Burgey
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Yeah he played well in the conditions, most of them did tbh. It's good to see them prepared to play a bit of risk-reward and chase the total hard.
NUFAN
Y no Afghanistan flag
Does anyone else think this Test was a perfect example of why averages can be a load of **** and why a positive mindset is looked upon more favourably when judging players?
How many other countries would have went for the win, not many at all.
I just quoted Burgey as I'm pretty sure he'll agree. Smali, what would Misbah have done? I'm guessing if Hafeez got out for a similar score as Warner, draw would have been the teams goal.
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Ruckus
International Captain
Yeah absolutely.
NUFAN
Y no Afghanistan flag
BTW Ruckus, I just noticed that you asked me about Watson. Basically my post was one made in the heat of the moment late at night during play.
Watson's batting is a worry, but he's clearly in our best XI. I don't really buy into the fact that he was Australia's leading run scorer from the Test. I believe he should have been lbw early in the first innings padding up and in the second innings Sammy dropped a relative sitter and then Watson went all ODI and did well.
Watson's batting is a worry, but he's clearly in our best XI. I don't really buy into the fact that he was Australia's leading run scorer from the Test. I believe he should have been lbw early in the first innings padding up and in the second innings Sammy dropped a relative sitter and then Watson went all ODI and did well.