Many questions to be answered this summer

Which it ain't.

Watson's been bolwed 4 times in addition to those 10 Lbs. I note that Punter got hit on the pads a helluva lot today.

Was Hodge a rabbit in the headlights during his brief Test career? What about when he made a fifty in the West Indies when called on as a one-off injury replacement? Watson's decent but I think Hodge and Ferguson are better. Remember Punter's favourite allrounder didn't set the world alight when batting at number 7 over 4 Tests in India. But then a disclaimer: my middle order (3-6) would be Katich, Clarke, Ponting and North. Proper openers opening. All of a sudden though, 3 half centuries (in which he was palpably LBW several times) sees him rated by some as superior to openers with Test centuries (Jaques, Hughes) and a run-machine with 5 tons in his last 5 first-class matches (Rogers). Puzzling. Favouritsm.

With you on all those points. Hodge is seemingly not Punter's glass of Cascade. Rogers neither.

Shane Watson is not an opener and it is foolish of the selectors/Ponting to want him to do this job. There is an element of the cheap-skate about the selection. The selectors want the cover of four fast bowlers when they play Nathan Hauritz, and they fit Watson in up the order to make the fit. The answer is to play a spinner who might take wickets, which is not Hauritz and only to play Watson batting down the order if his bowling is good enough for him to be the third fast bowler.

Fred, guys, both Ponting and Katich look very comfortable at lunch, Rampaul is getting some swing (into Katich, away from Ponting), but other than that the deck looks pretty safe and the runs are flowing quite well - just under five an over... I saw Watson LBW too, thought it was an outie, but it came back at him, and his bat was pointing at third man. Reckon it would have hit middle 2/3 the way up. Apparently that's 10 LBWs in 19 Tests, and I'd reckon Bowled wouldn't be too far behind. Not sure why the selectors marked Hodge NTBPA, but I gave him that classification after the endless "I was born to play Test cricket" comments. Have Hodge and Robbie Farah ever been seen in the same room??

Brad Hodge is about to turn 35, so don't waste your breath on him. I'm not a fan - flat track bully, rabbit in the headlights when the heat's on. I don't agree on Watson - he is a very good bat and would be at test level batting at 5 or 6, which is his rightful spot. He is not a test opener which everyone with half a cricketing brain seems to have realised. Only Ponting, Watson and the selectors have not. I agree on Ferguson though - he'd be my next middle order batsman picked. He makes it look easy when the others struggle and seems to have time. And has delivered under pressure many times in the one-day game. Aussies 35 in the last 4 overs after a dry spell! Katich went 4-6-4-4 on four consecutive Rampaul balls spread over two overs. Punter hits a 6 off a no ball on the stroke of lunch to bring up his 50. A 7 in fact, and the ball has to be re-bowled! Even with the over before going for only 1, the Windies have now conceded 48 in the 6 overs before lunch. Ouch! So lunch and Aussies are right on top at 1 for 114- Katich 56no and Punter 51no - and off only 24 overs (4.8 per over). WIndies need quick wickets or this could get ugly this afternoon.

1 Yes 2 No 3 Can't decide 4 One 5 Let's hope it is 6 No 7a Yes 7b Hopefully not 8 No 9 Who cares 10 No

That is pretty harsh on Hussey.

Hear hear. Neither Hussey nor Watson should be in the side. But Punter loves 'em, so...

Our "selectors" haven't worked out that opening in one-dayers is not the same as opening in tests. Fact is, they didn't have the guts to sack Hussey, so leaving Watson at opener was the easy way out. And forget Hughes - Jaques is the one who should be opening right now, with Kato.

I base that assessment as much on the dismissals and favourable umpiring decisions during the Ashes.

Watson as an opener looks like a walking LBW shout.

This is the issue with Watson as opener. Any batsman can open and will do well every so often. Consistency, though, is hard and this is where you need an experienced, trained opener like Rogers or Hughes.

It's hardly a fascinating summer of cricket. Better words to describe it are 'farce' or 'bore'. 1- Not really a fascinating question because everybody knows what the answer should be, this question just brings up frustration at the selectors. Hussey should have played his last test in the ASHES series, Watson should be moved down the order and Hughes should retain his position to inject some much needed youth into a very old Australian batting line up. 2- No. He's not an opener. 3- Yes, the selectors have been making poor decisions for a while now. 4- Don't know, depends I suppose. However, if two are used Steven Smith needs to be the second. Hauritz is nothing more than a stop gap. West Indies and Pakistan are not big names in test cricket at the moment. Good opportunity to blood the person who is most likely to fulfill the spinning duties for Australia into the future. 5- if this attack can't take 20 wickets against the WINDIES, I will laugh and laugh and point and laugh. There are only 2 quality test batsmen in the WINDIES line up, Chanderpaul and Sarwan. 6- No, but they're still pretty bad. 7- One of them should ideally still be in the side to help guide around what is a really young and inexperienced bowling attack. Hilditch is a Siddle fan though, and Johnson won't be kicked out of the team because of how much the current selectors favour all-rounders (Johnson could almost be called a bowling all-rounder right now). So I doubt it. 8- Don't care. Punter's a shitty Captain (who only succeeds in leading from the front) and Pup Clarke ain't much better. 10- Hmmm ,yes, I don't know about bringing in the crowds, but CA's innovation has again meant that the Associated Press will not cover the cricket being played in Australia. Good work CA. Top job.

Hi Fred, great to see you back in these circles. Some good questions here, I might try and add a little more detail than Freud: 1. Huss: probably, I think the Indian series and the break now will help him. 2. Watson: I doubt it. I think he'll be at 5 or 6 before summer's end (which possibly contradicts my answer to 1). 3. Hilditch? Hmmm, maybe. Time will tell. 4. At least one spinner, and probably the two you've mentioned. Right now, I can't think of a third banging down the door, and Krezja'a not exactly doing that anyway. 5. 20 wickets? Well, they've done it before, so they can do it again. 6. The Windies probably aren't as bad as is being made out, no. 7. Lee, yes I think so; Clark, maybe not. 8. I'd be surprised if Clarke is planning a coup. 9. Big Bash, not sure about being THE highlight, but there would be big expectations. A Friday night FTA showing would help ;-) and 10. Maybe not for the Windies series, but if the crowds are way down, they might need to do something for the Pakistan series. I don't know they'll change too much though, becuase they know next year is bascically a guaranteed sell-out. (btw, my tickets for Day1 in Sydney were the same as last year). For the Freud-summary, that's: Yes, No, Maybe, 1-2, Yes, No, Yes and No, Doubtful, Probably not, and Probably not again...

Yes, No, No, 2, No, No, Yes, No, No, No