The 4 pace idea - proven to be not good ?

[Josh]

4 quicks would be fantastic... as long as one of the 4 isn't Shaun Tait.

 

[irfan]

4 quicks would be fantastic... as long as one of the 4 isn't Shaun Tait.

Expresses my sentiments exactly. Hilf or Bracken would have been a better pick

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

One game. Tait isn't a writeoff yet.

He bowled pretty badly, but I don't think he was used well either, and there's something to the idea that he might have been struggling for fitness, or the heat might have got to him, or whatever. Both Hogg and Tait deserve another shot at some time in the near future.

 

[iamdavid]

Expresses my sentiments exactly. Hilf or Bracken would have been a better pick

Surely Noffke has to be next cab off the rank, would be very disapointing if he wasnt.

For all his potenital Hilfenhaus is having a mediocre season, I dont think Bracken has the weaponry to be effective at test level unless he gets helpful conditions, Bollinger is inconsistent and he fields like a muppet.
Noffke is the only one I would have complete confidence in were he to be picked for test cricket right at the moment.

 

[Craig]

Surely Noffke has to be next cab off the rank, would be very disapointing if he wasnt.

For all his potenital Hilfenhaus is having a mediocre season, I dont think Bracken has the weaponry to be effective at test level unless he gets helpful conditions, Bollinger is inconsistent and he fields like a muppet.
Noffke is the only one I would have complete confidence in were he to be picked for test cricket right at the moment.

Can he hold a cricket bat as well?

 

[Matt79]

Tait still streets ahead of all the alternatives here IMO, but he was poorly used, possibly unfit (I only recall seeing him break 150kph twice in the match, whereas he normally does that as a loosener), and clearly lacking work. He needs to go back to FC and get back his mojo, but I'd still have him as next cab off the rank.

 

[NUFAN]

Tait still streets ahead of all the alternatives here IMO, but he was poorly used, possibly unfit (I only recall seeing him break 150kph twice in the match, whereas he normally does that as a loosener), and clearly lacking work. He needs to go back to FC and get back his mojo, but I'd still have him as next cab off the rank.

Dirk Nannes is my next cab of the rank. Nannes is an old style cab though, should you go for the cab that is old but will perform it's role or go for the luxury cab like Tait which looks good although slightly unusual, but doesn't work always?

 

[Craig]

Reckon Noffke's batting would of been very useful in Perth. Had Clarke not had a brain snap, he could of stayed in and the prophet of Doom SS would of be right of Australia winning, if you chuck in Johnson's knock. But IMO Johnson probably thought the Test was over and just went for the tonk. If he got out, he got out. But had he came in, with a lot less runs needed to win, things might of been different.

 

[Matt79]

We've already got Lee and Hogg as bowling allrounders, plus Johnson who's quite handy. There comes a point where selecting another bowler on the basis that he can also bat a bit becomes a bit redundant - better if the openers make some runs tbh...

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

We've already got Lee and Hogg as bowling allrounders, plus Johnson who's quite handy. There comes a point where selecting another bowler on the basis that he can also bat a bit becomes a bit redundant - better if the openers make some runs tbh...

Noffke > Hogg, for mine. Don't care re: variety. Noffke will bowl you line and length unlike Tait.

EDIT: Also, re: Lee. Overrated as a batsman for mine. Needs to stop leading with his pad at everything, it's annoying. It's like he takes a pad out to bat instead of a slab of willow.

 

[Matt79]

Because a decent spinner wouldn't have come in at all useful in the match just finished, would it?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Hogg would've got carted. I have no doubts about that. His batting however, may have been useful.

 

[iamdavid]

Can he hold a cricket bat as well?

Probably about as well as you can, highest FC score of 31*, average 7

We've already got Lee and Hogg as bowling allrounders, plus Johnson who's quite handy. There comes a point where selecting another bowler on the basis that he can also bat a bit becomes a bit redundant - better if the openers make some runs tbh...

True, however in the case of Noffke I reckon his batting is irrelevant, because even if he never scored a run he is in my opinion atm a better bowler than Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Hogg, Tait (most days), Bollinger and Bracken.

 

[Josh]

I can't see Tait ever really being an effective test bowler. I read somewhere that only he knows where 2 balls an over are going, he just bowls without a plan and tries to scare batsmen. Doesn't always work that way.

Nannes I'm a huge fan of. 145 clicks on the spot from the word go. Take that over 150 clicks and all over the shop. That said I'd say Hilfenhaus, Noffke and perhaps as a longshot Bracken are still ahead of him in the pecking order. Might get his chance at T20 or ODI cricket, hopefully.

 

[iamdavid]

I can't see Tait ever really being an effective test bowler. I read somewhere that only he knows where 2 balls an over are going, he just bowls without a plan and tries to scare batsmen. Doesn't always work that way..

Mmm I really have my doubts aswell, the way this Australian team has always functioned in the field in recent years is to build pressure over sustained periods through restricting scoring and suffocate batsman into mistakes, very calculated.

Tait just really dosent fit into that, he relies on the unplayable delivery for his wickets rather than any sort of plan or bowling in partnerships or anything. When it comes off he looks great (despite the fact he'll still be bleeding runs and letting the pressure off inbetween), but when it dosent he's going to be useless against test batsman, just like in this match.

 

[deeps]

The Tait hype happened due to that twenty20 match, where NZ struggled badly against him. Does anyone realise that the reason they struggled was that they were trying to cart every ball out of the ground, and when it's coming at 155km/hr it's hard to do that.

Tell them to play their natural game however, and all of a sudden, it's not so hard for them.

4 pacers is a pointless thing really, as every single time, one will be under bowled.

They already have Lee and Johnson who can bowl 145+ and Lee who can turn it up to 155's, why do they need another?

Lee, Johnson and Clarke can operate together as they are all different bowlers. Johnson is left armer, Clarke is line and length with seam movement, and Lee is quick and swing.

Tait is just quick and all over the place.

Hogg would have been a far better option, and he would not have got carted. He is a better bowler than Symonds and Clarke, but was very nervous. Ponting constantly giving Symonds first crack bowling spin wouldn't have done Hoggs confidence any good either. If you are picked as the specialist spinner in the side, and then a part timer gets given the ball first, it's not a good feeling. Particulary playing in your first match back.

Hogg's batting is streets ahead of Taits, and so is his fielding.

Hogg add's SO much more to the Australian team than Tait does. I feel that if Hogg had played, the outcome would have been different. Hogg is virtually an extra batsman. He isn't just handy with the bat, he can actually bat well.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Lee, Johnson and Clarke can operate together as they are all different bowlers. Johnson is left armer, Clarke is line and length with seam movement, and Lee is quick and swing.

No, Clarke is SLA. Clark, however...

 

[vic_orthdox]

Nannes is supposedly out with an injury, and has provided most of his good performances in fifty or twenty over games.

 

[Josh]

The Tait hype happened due to that twenty20 match, where NZ struggled badly against him. Does anyone realise that the reason they struggled was that they were trying to cart every ball out of the ground, and when it's coming at 155km/hr it's hard to do that.

Tell them to play their natural game however, and all of a sudden, it's not so hard for them.

4 pacers is a pointless thing really, as every single time, one will be under bowled.

They already have Lee and Johnson who can bowl 145+ and Lee who can turn it up to 155's, why do they need another?

Lee, Johnson and Clarke can operate together as they are all different bowlers. Johnson is left armer, Clarke is line and length with seam movement, and Lee is quick and swing.

Tait is just quick and all over the place.

Hogg would have been a far better option, and he would not have got carted. He is a better bowler than Symonds and Clarke, but was very nervous. Ponting constantly giving Symonds first crack bowling spin wouldn't have done Hoggs confidence any good either. If you are picked as the specialist spinner in the side, and then a part timer gets given the ball first, it's not a good feeling. Particulary playing in your first match back.

Hogg's batting is streets ahead of Taits, and so is his fielding.

Hogg add's SO much more to the Australian team than Tait does. I feel that if Hogg had played, the outcome would have been different. Hogg is virtually an extra batsman. He isn't just handy with the bat, he can actually bat well.

I agree here. I'm not sure what people's reasoning on saying Hogg would have got smashed actually is apart from what happened maybe in the second innings at Sydney.

Do people realise Hogg is a Western Australian and has played the majority of his cricket and enjoyed his success at the very ground on the very pitch the last test match was played on?? I'd think it would have been a far more logical move for him to have played over Tait.

 

[Captain Cricket]

I actually suggested a four-man pace attack in another thread but now I regret that idea. It would slow down over rates dramatically and there would also be an unhappy player for not 'getting a go' (in this case it was Shaun Tait). Stay with three pace bowlers and two spinners, have a few part-timers just in case imo.