Please get Khawaja in, it’s unbelievable that Khawaja isn’t in the team on current form and pure class

Guys Smith did well as captain, the way Kohli was batting it wouldn’t have mattered who we bought on except for Starc and we didn’t have him. Lack of preparation cost us the world cup as we should have started preparation when we play 3 t20 matches against India in Australia but we rested their kye players pick lots of players play them end of the day that experiment fails they rested their key players because they wants to win test series against newziland. Positives are that we at least unravelled Zampa and Khawaja as they both did well for us. Now the real challenge will be to stay number in ODIs and Test cricket

Good comments Ronan, the death bowling really needs to improve and we were simply out played by Kohli and it wasn’t smith’s fault or anyones fault. that. This result with India chasing, however, was to be expected, after seeing the T20Is that India played in Aus. at the start of the year. The Indian team have got the idea of this format and Aus. is still getting its head around it. I can see that Kohli’s unconventional but highly effective shot making prove that he is actually in a different league. – he is the best batsman in T20I. For us Zampa did well with the bowl and is our future spinner in all formats, khawaja was our leading run scorer and continues to impress and his fast start yesterday was wasted. NCN and Faulkner were disappointing yesterday

If you actually read Ronan’s articles you will notice he has extensive knowledge not just on our team but on many international team and players. He is one of the best writers around

Well said steven, perry you really do pick on khawaja unfairly, did you watch the game where khawaja and smith came in 2 down for 5 against NZ and khawaja in particular hit a big one scoring 140, surely you have better things to pick on khawaja on. Also did you watch his shield innings in 2014 where he scored 150 on a green belreive oval track against Hilfenhaus, Faulkner, Bird where Tasmania scored only 110. One thing khawaja can do is score on tough tracks and he does this through a solid technique which very few possess, smith and warner are perhaps the only ones who can do it. Time for you to stop blindly putting finch’s name up just because your beloved player lost captaincy

Great points Lancey, moving khawaja for the sake of it is a big mistake, he is our best batsman at opener and teams will be hoping we move him down as he not only scores the quickest in the powerplay but knows how to go on and make big scores from it which is something we badly need. Overall it was a excellent victory for Australia this was second best match of the tournament , Smith and Watson showed how brutal attack can fetch the results on a under performing Pakistan team and it is always very difficult to chase over one hundred eighty runs in this format of the game .Well deserved win for Australia and match against India Australia should some how include second spinner so that he can work in tandem with Zampa though I don’t know who for as I am a fan of hazelwood and NCN. Very good team effort by Australia

All good points David but it doesn’t get away from the fact that in all the games khawaja has been the best striker in the ball in the first 6 overs and knows how to shred attacks by just playing good cricketing shots which is very frustrating for the opposition. Warner at 3 will work just fine or finch at 3 will work fine too. Also reading a lot on Afridi, no doubt Afridi is a good player but he had played for 20 long years now. Seen all the glories. Why so much of drama about his retirement? He hasn’t been consistent for long, both with bat and ball. Very fond of being captain but doesn’t do well. He should gracefully quit now. He has had his time.

I agree with Praveen, I also am a fan of finch but he succumbed to the first ball of spin he faced from Imad Wasim for 15 – his weakness against the turning ball the very reason why selectors were hesitant about picking him in Indian conditions in the first place. I hope he fixes this as we will get worse against India. But on khawaja he like any other world batsman found amir tough but got through his spell and was putting another very quick score in the first 6 overs and got out to a Yorker while trying to lift the run rate which was good to see as Finch looked to be batting more for his position and not playing the free flowing cricket we are used to him. Also great to see my favourite player smith show why he is the best batsman in the world in all formats and now we can end this stupid argument of removing smith as captain so we can reinstate finch as skipper, it has no merit.

now this sets up a quaterfinal between india and Aussies …. match to watch out for both champion teams fighting for a place in semis …. both the team knows records of past would hardly matter on that given day …. whoever plays better cricket would win…. both the team knows how to handle presuure so this would be a cracker of a game ….. C’mon Aussies lets fight till the end win or lost. As for the team I think we got it perfect yesterday as we need to open with khawaja who is our most complete opener and I don’t mind Watson going to the middle order to strengthen it like he did last night and smith showed why he is our captain courageous.

To be fair bailey retired himself from captaincy and finch was made captain before we knew that smith would take over from Clarke. So to correct that smith was rightfully made captain of all formats. If you think warner is being wasted then perhaps he can open with khawaja but you wouldn’t move khawaja from opening as he is our best batsman there this tournament and honestly has looked like he is batting on another pitch to his team mates. Why would you move him when he is our best bat there this tournament and he also averaged over 150 in the BBL as opener too striking at 160 odd.

Well the smart thing to do is strengthen our team with specialists. Hazelwood comes in for hastings as he will deliver a solid 4 overs for us. Finch for Marsh as marsh won’t be missed as much in the bowling and he is not as good as finch in the batting. So in keeping that you open with watson and khawaja as they have been solid so far espeically khawaja who is our most in form batsman. And then you can have warner, finch and maxwell making the middle order with smith at 6. Smith is our best captain so i hate hearing crap that he sholdn’t be because he actually skippered really well in the last game and the team is united under him very well.

Really like ronan’s suggestion on moving smith to 6 so he can hold the middle and lower order together while others blast. In this case you would have khawaja, watson, warner, maxwell, finch, smith as your top 6 assuming you drop one of the allrounders.

This suggestion makes no sesnse, so far in the 2 game khawaja has been our best batsman as opener and has a strike rate better then all other players yet you move him to 3. He is actually now an expert in getting quick runs reliably in the power play, in both games him and watson scored 50 or more of which khwaja has scored 80% of runs and yet you want to move him down. I don’t think people are actually watching the games because our opening partnership is one thing that is working, if you are going to bring finch in then bring him in the middle order for marsh but don’t break something thats working well already.

If we would like to progress in this tournament I would suggest Smith moving down the order and allowing the power hitters to come before him . Khawaja has done great in keeping the run rate up and is the main scorer in the power play but we need that to continue once watson or khawaja gets out. Both matches have seen Khawaja and Watson get on to a decent start only for things to slow down. We won’t have this luxury in the next couple of matches! One wonders what may have happened if Bangladesh had Taskin Sunny and Tamim. And i am tired of any talk of smith not being captain, he is the best man for the job in all 3 formats so lets get behind him.

Yeah i think its absolutely absurd taht you pick khawaja to be the lucky one out when it was watson who was dropped in the 6th over, and Hastings was dropped in the 18th over, khawaja was not dropped at any point and to pick on his innings is just plain absurd as he was a world above the rest. I also really can’t understand this team selection, i applaud the selectors in puting khawaja at opener and they did well there but Hastings does not deserve to be in the team over Hazlewood who could be a wicket taking bowler, i like hastings but hazelwood would be better . Happy for Khwaja and Zampa.I loved the intensity of smith as captain as he shows his emotions on the ground and shows alot of passion which is great.

Australia have dodged a bullet here with Tamim unwell and the two bowlers removed last week. The middle overs are being butchered with just plain dumb cricket. Agree with commenators last night as well. They need to keep khawaja at opener as he is clearly our best there and consider bringing in hazelwood and also look at reducing one allrounder for an extra batsman. We have too many bowlers And then not used them! The step up of needed wins is from Bangladesh to Pakistan to India. What we served up today wont get them past the second test and nowhere near the third. We are still alive but need a big improvement and it needs to happen now. Khawaja again was just outstanding and David really like your summary on him on how good his strike rate has been and how well he has hit boundaries with good cricketing shots

Zampa has a bright future ahead of him

Perry all good points and i have nothing against finch, but at this moment we can’t fit him in. Warner is our best ODI and T20 batsman, Finch was our best T20 batsman a few years back but he doesn’t have that form or class at present. Secondy he has a serious issue against spin bowling which is why so many IPL clubs have dropped him, IPL clubs don’t drop a player if they are number 1 in this format, now Kohli is perhaps the true number 1 in this format. And really the guy they picked(khawaja) on friday for Finch was by far our best batsman and he looked world class, had he not got run out i think you might have seen a match winning knock. Only way you can get him in is take a allrounder out which i am ok with but you can’t bring him in for any of the current top 4 as watson is needed for his bowling, khawaja was our clear standout batsman in the last game and hit more fours then everyone else combined, smith is our captain and warner overall is our best batsman in this format I do respect your views though

Lets be fair, smith is our best player of spin and the Indians got out the same way only a few days back and most would agree that they are world best at playing spin.

Khawaja’s cover drives, his midwicket flicks, his cut, his pull, all had a beauty defying the pragmatism of the format. In a telling number, Usman Khawaja struck six boundaries, and only one looked remotely risky.His ten teammates hit four between them.It says a lot about priorities and shows that guys need to learn from how khawaja batted

I like finch in T20, he is not a very good shield or test player due to lack of technique but he can hit in this format, but spin remains his achiles heal

Best coach is a understatement, Arthur left the team culture destroyed and team divided and Boof was the only man who could bring the team together which he has done. Guys like warner, khawaja, Strarc, Lyon are world beaters because of boof.

Annoyedofit your ranting on khawaja is getting old, i am not a fan of the one way traffic some of his fans put forward, but he has no issues with his running, the fielding on friday that got him out was top notch and he was our only batter who batted well and sensibily, how about giving his due credit

I think we are being a bit harsh on the team. We just lost one game that too a close one and suddenly then become worst team in the world. Other team no matter how inconsistent they are starts becoming favorites, I mean common guys, we all saw what kind of pitch it was, toss probably turned out to be decisive and everyone blames Aussie selectors. It is sad that now only either of Aus or Ind will go through the semis, but mocking us for one bad performance is plane rubbish. We have a solid captain in smith, warner and khawaja are in great form, zampa a very good spinner and we are packed with talented allroudners. We can still win the WC

Nothing wrong with team coach, management or selectors as these are the same people who have got the team culture needed to be number 1 in the other two formats. Boof and Waugh are just the guys we want there. I mean in all honesty they picked khawaja in the first game when i wouldn’t have and he was our best player so these guys often dont get the credit due. The big problem with Australia is they don’t have settle team in t20 cricket they settle their odi and test team but when they play t20,they always rest key players pick new players they don’t settle. Considering the target was well within our reach we somehow seemed very uncomfortable especially Maxwell, its as if he forgot to bring his skills to the pitch. Very unusual and uncharacteristic performance from us. If this is the way (self inflicted psychological pressure of playing on spinning tracks) they are going to play I highly doubt they will fare any better against the remaining teams in the group but i have confidence in boof and smith to get us there.