Who will be Australia's next number three batsman?

[pup11]

Yes.

On a serious note what about Joe Burns. Surprised he is not mentioned in discussions. Got a pretty solid FC record.

Pretty sure people would have been saying the same thing about Lynn before the start of the last season, not saying he isn't talented though because whatever I've seen of him he definitely looks like a solid player, but runs scored by any Qld or Tas player needs to taken into context keeping in mind that these guys have somewhat of distinct advantage of not having to face their own respective bowling attacks.

 

[Jnr.]

Pretty sure people would have been saying the same thing about Lynn before the start of the last season, not saying he isn't talented though because whatever I've seen of him he definitely looks like a solid player, but runs scored by any Qld or Tas player needs to taken into context keeping in mind that these guys have somewhat of distinct advantage of not having to face their own respective bowling attacks.

That particular advantage is offset by the Gabba and Bellerive pitches, which have been very bowler friendly in recent seasons.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hughes is definitely one of those players at the moment who it seems an infinitely better idea to pick when he's out of the side than when he's actually in it. He's not in the side at the moment so fans grow frustrated with the moderately talented players in his place, look at his overall numbers, see him performing well at domestic level and wonder why on earth he was dropped. This will go on for a series or two before he gets recalled, gets repeatedly exposed again and becomes a recurring joke amongst those same fans. Rinse and repeat.

I'm not saying he won't ever come back a good player - in fact I'd be surprised if he didn't eventually - but as of right now he should not be in the frame. He wasn't dropped because he didn't know how to score oodles of domestic runs in a short time-frame or because he wasn't as gifted as Ed Cowan, so these things are factors that were already known the last time he was (deservedly) dropped. He needs to work on some technical issues before returning.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Phil "Mark Ramprakash" Hughes.

 

[Prince EWS]

Phil "Mark Ramprakash" Hughes.

Haha indeed. Possibly more Hick than Ramps though, and Ramprakash's issues were pretty much entirely mental.

 

[pup11]

Hughes is definitely one of those players at the moment who it seems an infinitely better idea to pick when he's out of the side than when he's actually in it. He's not in the side at the moment so fans grow frustrated with the moderately talented players in his place, look at his overall numbers, see him performing well at domestic level and wonder why on earth he was dropped. This will go on for a series or two before he gets recalled, gets repeatedly exposed again and becomes a recurring joke amongst those same fans. Rinse and repeat.

I'm not saying he won't ever come back a good player - in fact I'd be surprised if he didn't eventually - but as of right now he should not be in the frame. He wasn't dropped because he didn't know how to score oodles of domestic runs in a short time-frame or because he wasn't as gifted as Ed Cowan, so these things are factors that were already known the last time he was (deservedly) dropped. He needs to work on some technical issues before returning.

For a young player Hughes has not done as badly as people make it sound, in 15 odd tests he has 3 test centuries and a couple of 80's to his name all of which played a big part in Australia winning/saving games, now one also has to take into account that he has played most of his test cricket against two of the most potent attacks in world that too in helpful bowling conditions where most of the Australian batsmen failed, so why just single him out?

Of course he is an unorthodox looking batsman so every time he fails people would question his technique, but lets be honest here, which Australian top order batsman in the last decade has really had a water-tight technique? In fact most of them had massive technical glitches, but they found a way around them and scored massive amount of runs, obviously it helped that they weren't constantly playing to save their spots.

The roadmap ahead for selectors for someone like Hughes in particular should be to introduce him into limited overs cricket and help him slowly gain confidence as an international player, because its bleeding obvious from his domestic track record that his issues at the international level are mental.

 

[Prince EWS]

For a young player Hughes has not done as badly as people make it sound, in 15 odd tests he has 3 test centuries and a couple of 80's to his name all of which played a big part in Australia winning/saving games, now one also has to take into account that he has played most of his test cricket against two of the most potent attacks in world that too in helpful bowling conditions where most of the Australian batsmen failed, so why just single him out?

Of course he is an unorthodox looking batsman so every time he fails people would question his technique, but lets be honest here, which Australian top order batsman in the last decade has really had a water-tight technique? In fact most of them had massive technical glitches, but they found a way around them and scored massive amount of runs, obviously it helped that they weren't constantly playing to save their spots.

The roadmap ahead for selectors for someone like Hughes in particular should be to introduce him into limited overs cricket and help him slowly gain confidence as an international player, because its bleeding obvious from his domestic track record that his issues at the international level are mental.

You pretty much just proved my point with this post. Congratulations.

 

[pup11]

You pretty much just proved my point with this post. Congratulations.

The thing is all this could have been avoided had the selectors shown more patience and if one were to go by pervious experience then building Hughes' confidence would be least of their concerns, the moment he scores a few runs in domestic cricket he would be thrown into the test side straightaway and unless he scores a big hundred in the couple of chances he would be provided he would be dropped again, unfortunately this is the story of every talented player in Australia over the last 4-5 years and all the selectors are doing this way is sabotaging the careers of these players.

 

[Red]

Yep, and they did much the same with Khawaja.

Khawaja looks like the most likely player outside the test team to forge a decent test career.

 

[Dan]

You pretty much just proved my point with this post. Congratulations.

The problem with Hughes is that he doesn't learn. After the 'c. Guptill b. Martin' series, he's continued to play in exactly the same way. In domestic cricket, you can get away with it, but if he gets put up against a Steyn or an Anderson playing in Tests, he'd get murdered.

If Hughes was simply 'getting out', then he might have been kept on. But when you nick behind off Chris Martin in four consecutive innings, doing exactly the same thing, then you have a serious technical issue, and no right to a place playing for your country.

Cowan may not be scoring more runs than Hughes would be if he were playing, but at least he gets undone by good balls, not hitting the same ball to the same fieldsman every innings.

 

[NUFAN]

What about getting someone into the team at 5 or 6, and having them comfortable in Test cricket, than shoehorning them straight into number 3?

This is what we should definitely do unless the selectors feel as though a genuine number 3 like Marsh or Khawaja is good enough.

In an ideal world our top 3 would be Hughes, Warner and Khwajha, sure the selectors might have to bite the bullet eventually with these guys but this combo is mostly likely to produce solid long term results.

Anyways since the chances of selectors pulling off such a ballsy move are pretty bleak then the next best options are Finch and Maddinson, sure these two might not have done anything great in FC cricket so far but the talent is definitely there, they have the technique to keep the good balls out and range of strokes to push the bowlers on the backfoot which is what you basically want from your #3.

I've bolded two points that completely contradict each other. Finch realistically is struggling to make the Vic first class team after an appalling season. If you are talking about players with a chance of being in our team in say 2014 then I wouldn't completely disagree with you, but are you thinking sooner, I don't agree.



Cowan, Forrest, Bailey, Burns, Cooper, Davis, Klinger, Paine and Smith were all chosen on the A tour so perhaps whoever performs well will be close to a Test call up..

 

[uvelocity]

paine or bailey maybe

hey i just met you, and he is bailey, for next summer, bat 3 maybe?

 

[NUFAN]

paine or bailey maybe

hey i just met you, and he is bailey, for next summer, bat 3 maybe?

wtf?

 

[benchmark00]

wtf?

Should be group b& from cricket chat along with Spikey and robelinda until he provides more Cheeqs

 

[uvelocity]

 

[Ruckus]

paine or bailey maybe

hey i just met you, and he is bailey, for next summer, bat 3 maybe?

that song makes me want to drink battery acid

 

[uvelocity]

best meme though

 

[Ruckus]

haha needs one for Krejza now

 

[hazsa19]

M Hussey should obviously bat 3. He's got the best technique in the team, I can't believe he's gotten away with batting down the order for so long.

You then have your best batsmen at 3,4,5 rather than 4,5,6. Throw Khawaja or whoever into 6 until Hussey retires. If all goes to plan he'll be ready to make the step to 3.

 

[benchmark00]

M Hussey should obviously bat 3. He's got the best technique in the team, I can't believe he's gotten away with batting down the order for so long.

You then have your best batsmen at 3,4,5 rather than 4,5,6. Throw Khawaja or whoever into 6 until Hussey retires. If all goes to plan he'll be ready to make the step to 3.

This type of **** annoys me so much.

It is such a myth that your best batsman has to bat three, or what you've said, players 'get away with' batting lower down the order.

Hussey has been very successful batting where he does, so you want to throw him up the order which could reduce his effectiveness and bring in someone who is not as good as Hussey in that number 6 role? So it's a double whammy. Batting 3 and batting 6 takes different skill sets.

I'm not even Hussey's biggest fan, but how he bats with the lower order is exceptional, I have no idea why anyone would want to jeopardise that.