Australia staring at whitewash in Delhi

Sort of agree, but I believe that Micky Mouse is a pawn in the hands of Michael Clarke. I believe Clarke is the one with a problem with Khawaja and is using Mickey and Inverarity to stunt his career.

Micky Arthur needs to be held responsible for his handling of Khawaja. Surely the essence of the coach's job is to prepare his players and team in the best possible manner his ability allows. That Usman has been allowed to chill on ice without decent cricket for so long is a disgrace. In some ways it may have a flipside as sitting on his rear-end for months must have a detrimental effect on form. If he went out in the 4th Test and got a pair it would no doubt be held against him and, given the way he has been treated, cast doubt on his participation in the Ashes tour. I only hope someone in Queensland queries what is going on as it, along with the non-selection of Steve O'Keefe, one of the mysteries of the summer. These two guys seem to need someone in their corner.

nickyc, I stand corrected. England had beaten Australia 5-1 and not 4-1 in 1978-79.

But the five by england this year are coming.

Politics dictates that NSW and Victoria always dominate, Tassie gets a look because of Punter and WA because of Micky. Besides Micky wants to make sure Queensland doesnt succeed or any of its players succeed because Lehmann is the most likely to take his job. Why else didnt he allow Khawaja back to play the Shield final when it was obvious he wasnt going to be picked for the 4th test, yet other players are flying back and forth without a problem

if you look at the first class records of the top order at best average most dont play sheffield shield, i could see this coming when we lost to south africa here over 3 years ago, relying on either clarke or hussey to make runs, top order needs a rebuild the players i would look at putting in would be kwajaja, forrest, ferguson. watson shouldnt be in the team he is an indication of how bad we are going captain cant make a run isnt bowling, the experiment with maxwell henriques might be ok for one day cricket not test cricket both arnt up the standard, doherty shouldnt have been picked for india poor first class record, i would have picked zampa from nsw why not you cant get any worse he is young bowls leg spin looks not to bad, the english tour our bowlers will do well our batsmen same thing will come to england play bearly any tour games poor preparation and england will clean us up

Still no Queenslanders in the team. Even though there the best team in the shield. Insane.

Sheek, Totally agree with you re Barry Richards. The other member of that SA side who makes my all-time best team of those I've seen play is Mike Procter who took 26 wkts in the four tests @ 13.57 and averaged 34.83 with the bat. One of the great all-rounders and a wonderful fast bowler despite his odd style.

What a dogs breakfast

Its a disgrace Matt. How can you not select Khawaja, one of three best youngest batsmen in the country and a good exponent of batting against spin. This is shameful and should be looked into. If they weren't going to select him why didnt they left him go back and play in the Shield final. Sheer nastiness is the only reason I can come up with. They have something against this kid and it has no gone too far. Time for us to know why he isnt being selected, because Australia are hardly batting well at present. We want answers.

Precisely. And it's now 17 Tests since Khawaja was last dropped.

The Sydney centric world of Australian cricket knows no bounds, good point , ADrive.

Harsh on Smith alright. Batting has been our problem. Smith comes in and scores 92 and gets dropped ... PS I do not think Auistralia are staring at a whitewash. They are hiding from the whitewash under the dining room table with their eyes shut and their hands over their ears chanting "there's no place like home!" PPS I like the team that has now been chosen (except the lack of Clarke), except Khawaja for Maxwell. Khawaja can even bowl a bit of handy spin, which can;t be much different to Maxwell's version.

First Qld-born Australian captain since Bill Brown in 1946.

Thanks AD.

Sheek, Clarke is out, Watto is captain, with Wade in charge of vice. Johnson's in, final XI at the toss.

Kersi, Reports out of India are that Clarke missed training on the last day before the test. Surely he cannot be fit enough to take his place for a five day test. Presumedly the test will go five days! Watson should return as captain. Has Haddin done enough to be retained? Perhaps they might wish to play him to help Watson? Australia's bowling lacks such penetration that India should have little trouble passing 350 at least. Consequently, we need five bowlers to spread the carnage. I'm thinking this as a possible lineup: Warner, Cowans, Hughes, Watson (c), Khawaja, Haddin (k), Maxwell, Johnson, Siddle, Pattinson, Lyon, Smith (12th). It's tough omitting Smith after his 92 in Mohali, but I think Khawaja must have a run. Ditto Johnson. Maxwell is needed to provide 5 bowlers, although I guess Smith could also fill that role. And Haddin gets another start mainly to support stand-in skipper Watson. This is not a line-up to put the fear of God into the Indians (or the English), but it's the best we can do at this present time. There are no quick fixes. Following Australia's 4-0 whitewash against SA back in 1970, the selectors used 19 players against England in 1970/71, including nine, repeat nine debutants. On the 1972 tour of England, another five debutants were selected. And by the end of the tour of the West Indies in mid-1973, yet another four players had been capped. So between November 1970 and April 1973 (30 months), Australia introduced 18 new players into the team. And of course, it got worse during the WSC years (1977-79) and rebel tour years (1985-87).

Kersi, You brought back painful memories of Australia's tour of South Africa in 1970. I have always believed part of the implosion was due to Australia touring India first. Back then any tour of the sub-continent was physically debilitating. Different climate, different conditions, different culture, different food. These all took their toll on mind & body. Then arrive in SA & have to readjust to conditions like back home, but not forgetting they've already been away for about 3 months already. By the time they got to SA, key fast bowler Graham McKenzie was a shot duck. He had a great tour of SA in 1966/67, being the only penetrative Aussie bowler, & he had done well in India with 21 wickets at 21 apiece. But in the Republic, he 'hit the wall', taking a single wicket for 333 runs in three tests! The batsmen struggled to readjust their technique from India to SA conditions. Chappell, touted by Lawry as the best batsman in the world at the time, also imploded - 92 runs from 8 digs! His scores were appalling to read - 0 & 13; 0 & 34; 0 & 14; 17 & 14. Of course, none of this is making any excuses. The Saffies would have still won the series, but it would have been a bit closer. Under different circumstances, the Aussies would have been good for one win, I reckon. Anyway, that's history. BTW, this was the only test series in which Barry Richards, one of the greatest opening batsman of all time, managed to play. His scores were as follows: 29 & 32; 140; 65 & 35; 81 & 126. That's 508 runs in seven innings at 72.57.

kersi the 5-0 drubbing of England by WIndies was a "blackwash" according to the Pom tabloids of the day

The first Aussie skipper to be sacked during a series, although he only found out from one of the other players (Keith Stackpole) as the selectors didn't bother to inform him themselves.