More fool the selectors for picking a guy reworking his game when he hasn't had a chance to finish the job then. Trouble is he will be mentally scarred by constantly failing now. Going to be tough to turn it round I think.
I believe it was PEWS who said Hughes in the Ashes was literally in the middle of changing it, and wasn't sure what to do in the tests
It's practically the same. At the end of the day, Hughes and North etc. have averages in the 30's, which just isn't good enough.
Yeah, I wouldn't hold his Ashes form against him. Picking a bloke who was both woefully out of form and reworking his technique was just never a good idea. Hughes probably did about as well as you could expect him to in those circumstances.
So does Watson.
Precisely.
Yeah Watson needs to up his game too. If Watson is allowed to focus on his batting, which I think he should be, then I'd be confident he'll produce good enough results soon. He at least has pretty solid technique to fall back on. I'd like to give someone like Warner a go before turning to someone like Rogers. He is really getting on in age, and it is too much of a stop gap solution for my liking. In any case, it simply just won't happen. If the selectors were considering a move like that, they would surely just bring back Katich.
I think that you'll find most Aussies were pissed off at the pace of change/inconsistent selection process and simply had no faith in any of their decisions.
Khawaja could easily open (as could Hussey for that matter).
straw man: 152 runs at 25.3
What do you think is good enough these days? Hughes, Watson, Khawaja and Haddin are all on the wrong side of 40. Remember when we used to have all our top 7 above 45? Those were the days!
Mine was pretty clearly not serious.
Hayden, Langer, Martyn to name three weren't setting the world alight in the formative stages of their careers either though. Long term I suspect the key to the whole thing is what role they settle on for Watson.
For a wicket keeper, I'm absolutely fine with anything close to 40. So Haddin is ticking that box atm (as long as he can keep it up). For an opener, we should have at least one of them averaging 45 or more. I really think Watson can average that as well, but his form has slipped in recent times. Reckon Khawaja will be able to average around 45 as well, he looks pretty solid from what I can see and just needs some more chances. I really don't think we should settle for more than 1 of our top 6 averaging much less than 40-45 tbh. The other top teams in the world (India, Eng, SA) haven't, so I don't see why we should have to. Sounds pretty spoilt, but I still think we have enough talent there yet to achieve that.
Do you have faith in him being able to sustain (injury-wise) being an allrounder though (regardless of where he bats)?
That's true but 'eye' batsmen like Sehwag and Gayle have flourished with minimal foot movement though admittedly get exposed in difficult conditions.
Interesting to hear. It definitely is easier said then done though. I don't know about that talent thing either. Not too many young batsman are catching the selectors eye in the Shield this year who you'd expect to average 40 if they were handed a baggy green.
