Pick your 30!

[honestbharani]

Well, admittedly they selected 39 players so all bets are off really, but 25 of my 30 made it into at least one squad.

Attapattu, Cairns, De Villiers, Fleming & Oram were the unlucky men.

How come NZ have been so roundly ignored? They are arguably the 2nd best ODI team in the world.

As unfair as it is, it is probably because it is a rather small country and cricket is not that popular there.... I am pretty sure that commercial interests dictated quite a number of the selections.

 

[tooextracool]

Boucher?????? na sorry Tooextracool i doubt very much that Boucher would be able to make it in Australia. His record isnt too flash and there are better keepers in the squad combined with batting talent which would force Boucher not to be selected. Sangakarra for me as the keeper not Boucher, who is not a good enough player imo to be selected

i was referring to the 30, not to the final squad.

 

[King_Ponting]

sorry my mistake

 

[blockbuster]

and what if bell scores big runs against australia? or pieterson blasts the aussies all over the park in tests?
and to put tendulkar down as a certainity is a joke, given what hes achieved recently.
i do however agree with you about hoggard, i dont see hi doing well in australia. but i think the selectors arent smart enough to figure that out. so if hoggard has a blast, you can almost guarantee that hed make the test side.

I'm telling you, the middle order is set:

3 Dravid
4 Lara
5 Tendulkar
6 Kallis

There will be no bolters in there. If Pietersen or whoever makes runs against Australia, he won't climb over the aforementioned, and get into the team. They are looking for a particular type of player, who they know has had success in Australia (Dravid, Lara, Tendulkar) or someone who is absolutely world class and has proven his mettle over a long period of time (Kallis).

 

[SJS]

Are they going to carry all the 30 players around or will they screen further ?

 

[vic_orthdox]

I'm telling you, the middle order is set:

3 Dravid
4 Lara
5 Tendulkar
6 Kallis

There will be no bolters in there. If Pietersen or whoever makes runs against Australia, he won't climb over the aforementioned, and get into the team. They are looking for a particular type of player, who they know has had success in Australia (Dravid, Lara, Tendulkar) or someone who is absolutely world class and has proven his mettle over a long period of time (Kallis).

What about one dayers? They also exist!

And I think that if Flintoff has a good-to-fantastic Ashes, and even more so with the bat, then he's a very good chance of knocking off either Tendulkar or Kallis, because (especially if they play Shoaib) the World XI will want/need 5 bowlers, and I'm still not convinced that Kallis is still a bowler of enough class to be deemed an "all rounder" in a World XI side. In addition, when you've got a middle order comprised of the best batsman in the world, you can afford to compromise one of these middle order batsmen (especially when you have Sangakarra/a batsman-keeper at 7) for an all-rounder of better bowling ability and slightly less batting ability in order to manufacture a victory.

Even though it is 6 days, the chances of a draw are still not all that low IMO, especially if we see a pitch like that in 2003/04 vs India. And because its a 6 day test, we won't be seeing any declarations, especially those of the generous persuasion, either. They have 6 days to use, chances are they might try to use them all.

 

[Zinzan]

That's the thing. The form they displayed against Australia could have been a deciding factor.

If that was the case H Marshall and Oram would probably both sneak into the greater squad.....wouldn 't they??

Still can't believe the non-selection of Cairns in the oneday team.

 

[Steulen]

I'm telling you, the middle order is set:

3 Dravid
4 Lara
5 Tendulkar
6 Kallis

There will be no bolters in there. If Pietersen or whoever makes runs against Australia, he won't climb over the aforementioned, and get into the team. They are looking for a particular type of player, who they know has had success in Australia (Dravid, Lara, Tendulkar) or someone who is absolutely world class and has proven his mettle over a long period of time (Kallis).

I'm guessing Tendulkar will be moved up the order to open alongside Sehwag so Flintoff can play at 6 in the Test.

 

[chaminda_00]

My guess is that Kallis is the most likely to get dropped out of those guys as he has the worst record aganist Australia. Tendukar form hasn't really been that bad, he averages 45 (not including Bangla) and 50 aganist Australia. I would say the side would be something like this:
V Shewag
A Strauss (any of the openers in the squad could get this spot really)
B Lara
S Tendulkar
R Dravid (c)
K Sangakkara
A Flintoff
S Pollock/D Vettori (depending on the pitch and the form of the other quicks)
Murali
S Harmison
S Akhtar

 

[SJS]

The bowling standards in the game are badly exposed during this excercise.

 

[chaminda_00]

The bowling standards in the game are badly exposed during this excercise.

I think we might see that the bowling standards aren't that low it just that top bowlers are spread across the team. If guys like Murali, Pollock, Ahktar, Harmison, Vettori or Kumble get to bowl together then they would probably be as effective if more effective then the Australian 4-forsome, when you add in Flintoff

 

[vic_orthdox]

The bowling standards in the game are badly exposed during this excercise.

they would probably be as effective if more effective then the Australian 4-forsome, when you add in Flintoff

The fact that you have to say "probably", in my opinion, illustrates SJS's point.

 

[chaminda_00]

The fact that you have to say "probably", in my opinion, illustrates SJS's point.

I say probably cus none of these bowlers have never had the abilty to bowl with the type of quailty bowlers around them. There is no way you can be certain but their is great chance from what they showed by themselves to date they will be.

 

[Arjun]

You've got Flintoff and Pollock, both bowlers capable of scoring more than a few runs. Why not sneak in a genuine keeper? Kamran Akmal, for instance?

 

[chaminda_00]

You've got Flintoff and Pollock, both bowlers capable of scoring more than a few runs. Why not sneak in a genuine keeper? Kamran Akmal, for instance?

Cus of Gilchrist and Murali

 

[vic_orthdox]

But if you look back through time, maybe excluding the 1980 West Indies side, surely there's never been another time when one side's bowling attack has been comparable to that of the rest of the world's, which is what is seeming to be indicated here.

 

[vic_orthdox]

You've got Flintoff and Pollock, both bowlers capable of scoring more than a few runs. Why not sneak in a genuine keeper? Kamran Akmal, for instance?

Because I can't see Flintoff playing as part of a four man bowling attack. If he makes it, it will be as someone batting 6 (or 7 with the keeper above him). And if this is the case, then after already compromising the batting a little bit for an extra bowling option, then further compounding that problem by playing an Akmal instead of a Sangakkara would only give the batting less depth, one would think. Something that will probably take on extra importance given its a six day match, and runs from the middle/lower order will become extra vital.

 

[tooextracool]

I'm telling you, the middle order is set:

3 Dravid
4 Lara
5 Tendulkar
6 Kallis

There will be no bolters in there. If Pietersen or whoever makes runs against Australia, he won't climb over the aforementioned, and get into the team. They are looking for a particular type of player, who they know has had success in Australia (Dravid, Lara, Tendulkar) or someone who is absolutely world class and has proven his mettle over a long period of time (Kallis).

and im telling you that a squad of 15 members consists of more than 4 middle order players. they can look for all the players they want, but you can almost guarantee that if flintoff has a great ashes series, he'll be the first player picked for the final squad.

 

[tooextracool]

I'm guessing Tendulkar will be moved up the order to open alongside Sehwag so Flintoff can play at 6 in the Test.

nope they wont make tendulkar bat out of position.

 

[tooextracool]

I think we might see that the bowling standards aren't that low it just that top bowlers are spread across the team. If guys like Murali, Pollock, Ahktar, Harmison, Vettori or Kumble get to bowl together then they would probably be as effective if more effective then the Australian 4-forsome, when you add in Flintoff

thats arguable indeed, especially in the case of pollock(whos record on flat pitches in the last 4 years has been ordinary, not to mention that the last time he toured aus he got absolutely hammered) & harmison who we're probably assuming too much by saying that he is going to be bowling anywhere near his best.