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*Official* Fifth Test at the SCG

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
In an ideal world, I'd like to see him play perhaps another season of domestic cricket, a season in England and a couple of ODIs for international exposure before he gets given the baggy green, so when he does debut he's much more of a finished product. He's such an exciting prospect that I don't want to see his transition into Tests mismanaged. However, I do concede that he's probably one of the best bats in the country at the moment and thus has every right to be in the side, hence "begrudgingly".
I think it would be unfair for Khawaja if he had to play a couple of ODIs first when clearly the longer format is the one he is best suited to.

Khawaja has averaged over 40 3 seasons in a row, I think he is ready now especially when you have Smithers in the team!
 
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pasag

RTDAS
Except Khawaja in his short career so far has been horrible in one dayers, bar his recent ton domestically. In fact, just checking who's been doing what in the Ryobi Cup, Khawaja has scored 20 runs in his other 4 innings this season. Blooding him in ODIs is a stupid idea IMO - why should a failure there (which would be expected) preclude him from selection in the format to which he seems best suited at the moment? That sounds like something England would have done 5 years ago.
I'm not saying his Test inclusion should be predicated upon success in ODIs, I'd just like him to soak up some time in big stadiums and enjoy a little bit of less meaningful international cricket so it's one less thing he has to deal with mentally before he debuts in the real thing.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
I'm not saying his Test inclusion should be predicated upon success in ODIs, I'd just like him to soak up some time in big stadiums and enjoy a little bit of less meaningful international cricket so it's one less thing he has to deal with mentally before he debuts in the real thing.
But then that weakens the ODI side.

Getting international experience is fine, but what do you do if he has a few failures in the ODI side and fails in his first few Tests because being introduced to international cricket in the wrong format has knocked his self confidence?
 

pasag

RTDAS
But then that weakens the ODI side.
Depends who he replaces, really. That said, it would have to be after the world cup, because you don't chop and change your side in the months leading up to a WC.

Getting international experience is fine, but what do you do if he has a few failures in the ODI side and fails in his first few Tests because being introduced to international cricket in the wrong format has knocked his self confidence?
And what if he does that much better in his first Test because he's already done the media, knows most of the blokes and has experience playing in front of crowds with more than 50 people? I know what you're saying, but I think it's a sensible risk.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
I'm not saying his Test inclusion should be predicated upon success in ODIs, I'd just like him to soak up some time in big stadiums and enjoy a little bit of less meaningful international cricket so it's one less thing he has to deal with mentally before he debuts in the real thing.
A bit unfair on the ODI set up. If you want to dismiss ODIs as less meaningful that's your opinion, but the staff and the players don't see it that way. Sticking a player into a format he isn't best at and you don't even intend for him is pretty harmful to both his development and the streength of the team.

From an English perspective, taking Adil Rashid on tour just to get smacked around in T20 was the dumbest move Flower's admin did by some distance, it has sent him back two years at least and now he is miles away from the Test side.
 

pasag

RTDAS
A bit unfair on the ODI set up. If you want to dismiss ODIs as less meaningful that's your opinion, but the staff and the players don't see it that way. Sticking a player into a format he isn't best at and you don't even intend for him is pretty harmful to both his development and the streength of the team.

From an English perspective, taking Adil Rashid on tour just to get smacked around in T20 was the dumbest move Flower's admin did by some distance, it has sent him back two years at least and now he is miles away from the Test side.
Even within ODIs, there are some series that just don't mean much (esp next year four years out from the next world cup). Players are rested and no one seems to care too much whether they win or lose. Seven match monstrosities don't help much either. You mention Rashid, but I'd point to guys like Harris, Johnson and Hussey who had a much easier transition into Test cricket because of the international exposure. And look, he can't do much worse than Clarke in the format :ph34r:
 

Nate

You'll Never Walk Alone
I respect the right of the English members on this forum being allowed to post their Australian XIs. I can only assume that you're frustrated that Engand's line-up is so settled, so you're having a go at ours, despite knowing nothing about it and having barely ever (or never) seen the players you're talking about.

Get out of it and go play Bangladesh. :ph34r:
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
You'd imagine Khawaja would come in.

If the Ashes were still on the line, I'd be going with David Hussey, but as it's pretty much a dead rubber, it's the time to blood a newbie.

Haddin should captain IMO.
 

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Clarke's left handed, if anything losing Lara should have helped his top hand strength...
Yeah, you're right. Although, if he was spending long nights wishing Lara was still there he might have gone for the 'weaker hand feels like someone else' approach.
 

Nate

You'll Never Walk Alone
Usman will make the XI. He has the runs on the board, just hope his technique is up to Test Cricket.
 

pup11

International Coach
Makes little sense. Why was he averaging 60 per year after shelving those shots and 30 before?
Clarke was a green-horn back then and his shot-selection was the main problem, not to forget despite all that he had a good average and played some very important innings for Australia that pretty much single-handedly changed the game, after which his test career hit a rough patch.
Call me old fashioned but I've grown up watching previous Australian captains or big name players, come up with resilient performances when the team has been really under the cosh, young Clarke showed glimpses of that quality but these days that's hardly the case.
 

Spark

Global Moderator
Nah his average was terrible. I count three really good innings by pre-drop Clarke - two hundreds and the 90 at Lord's. In, what, 15-20 tests, that's not good enough.

Anyway most of his best innings came in that period from the start of the 2008-9 season to the 09 Ashes.
 

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