Watson misses second Test, Starc 12th man

Adelaide is a track where bowlers need to be able to contain as well as attack. Starc may be one of the most likely to pick up a bag of wickets, but he's eqaully likely to go for plenty. Hilf won't. Given that Pattinson has shown he can go for a few and Lyon will inevitably be targeted, I don't think its a bad decision. I wonder if it'd have been the same if Watto was available..

Australia were 3/40. Then 3/a lot. It's not like much changed, other than they stop sucking.

There is talk about bringing Mitchell Johnson back for Perth as well.

I seem to have wiped it from my memory banks...

I suppose, Matt, that as a leftie, Starc would be coming straight into Rogers, which would make the horzontal bat shots difficult, whereas Hazelwood would be going across him. But then Douggy's a leftie as well, so there goes that theory!! :D

Hilfy worries me. He looked to be back to his form in the Ashes two years ago, and that's not good at all. The fact that he's apparently been rebuilding his action doesn't inspire much confidence either

Yeah, if Hilfy isnt bowling 135km plus, the ball swings straight away out of his hand, whereas when hes quicker, the swing is later.

The next NSW Shield match is from 27-30 November in Canberra and the Perth test starts on the 30th. They could always pull him out after day 2 but it's a long flight to Perth. I still think that he'll play in Perth regardless given how pace-friendly it's been over the last few years. edit - beaten to it!

That could be important in Adelaide, if Siddle and Hilf can bowl very tightly for an hour at some point it might induce a wicket or two. Starc is less liekly to provide that option. Its also possible Hilf has been working on some variety, which really is what is missing. I still think he was our best bowler on day one (not a big thing it must be said, as all bowled too short), but there is no doubt he was the flattest in the second innings - still not bad, but was not looking likely for a wicket either.

Hilfy can be a trundler at times and didn't bowl very well in Brisbane. I think the three who played the first test, plus two more (Harris and Cummins), are good test level bowlers. I'd put Starc 6th, though I don't know if we'll ever see Harris again. Starc is a beautiful bowler, but gets his line wrong a bit and over-corrects. He is potentially a very good test bowler, and needs to be brought along intelligently. Saving him for Perth, as I said, I'm comfortable with. The bowlers could get a lot of work in Adelaide, esp without Watto. Remember Sids and Hilfy were pretty useless against England last time. BOth have improved a fair bit, though Sids hasn't hit last season's form yet. Pattinson, Starc and Cummins could be a helluva bowling attack in 5 years though.

Except CA have stuffed up the scheduling. There should have been a full round fo Shield games in the weekend gone, and if Starc oir Hilf play the next Shield game they can barely play half a game before flying to Perth.

true James, but he also doesnt have Hilfys record with the red nut. If the ball isnt swinging for Hilfy, at least he is experienced enough not to bowl badly, I dont thinK Starc has learnt that yet.

He hasn't done anything with a red ball for a while because he hasn't played with one. As long as they let Starc go and play Shield cricket. Then bring him in for Perth.

Chris Rogers has one of the best analytical brains in cricket, so Id back his judgement. If its going to be hot and flat, you need spell bowlers, and Hilfy can do that. Yes, hes short of match fitness, but I reckon he will do well in adelaide. Lets face it, Starc has done next to nothing with a red ball, and picking a bloke just cos he is different doesnt always work.

Yes we all remember that day.........

It was interesting to hear Chris Rogers (who made a century against NSW last week) say that he had more trouble facing Hazlewood and Bollinger than Starc, even though Starc ended up with 4 wickets, one of which was ironically Rogers! He made the point that he always felt that he had to work hard for his runs when facng the other quicks but when he faced Starc he always felt like he could score off him. Now this could just be Rogers' game being more suited to a bowler like Starc than others but it could also mean that Starc still has that tendency to leak a few runs at first class level, which has been a trait of his in the past (not uncommon for a young quick.) His few Tests so far have shown that, while he can bowl some unplayable balls, he also tends to thrown down some loose ballsl frequently enough that he struggle to build pressure. This may have counted against him, particularly in Adelaide where fast bowlers have to work very hard for their wickets. Perth enables much more agresive bowling which suits Starc more. Of course I could simply be reading way too much into this :)

Matt it can change quickly too - I was oer there for the Ashes two summers ago, and basically from nowhere, a storm formed over the city and and absolutely dumped it down around 3pm on the fifth day. Unfortunately, the match had ended (in a big Englnd win) around lunchtime, but after the storm, the ground looked like a lake in parts...

Weather forecast shows no rain and temperatures in the late 20's to earl 30's over the 5 days, though obviously that could all change. Thankfully it doesn't look like we'll lose a whole day to rain again!

Starc should have been given a go. Something different for South Africa to deal with. Different angle going across the right handers and can bend it back into them also. I suppose we will see in the next few days if they have made the right call!

Starc will certainly be there in Perth, I’d imagine (unless somone else takes a Shield bagful in the next 10 days), but I actually thought they might’ve taken this week to give Hilfy a spell, work on some issues out the back, and let Lyon bowl into Starc’s footmarks. It could well be a draw if the warm weather comes back to Adelaide over the weekend. Expecting a big first innings total from one side, in the hope they’ll only need to bat once..