- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
I sit here procrastinating on whether to start a university assignment bemoaning the lack of day five action on the radio/television. It wasn’t meant to be this way!
It is a difficult time to be watching this Australian cricket team – we’ve now lost six in a row, and the last vestiges of summer 2012/2013 gave us a false sense of security with some downright flat-track bullying of a very mediocre Sri Lanka.
The last time we saw this many losses, ‘Weepy’ Hughes pulled the plug and A. Border took on the task of rebuilding a side, and on reflection we are in a very similar boat.
My first memories of cricket were of Marshall, Garner, Holding and Walsh destroying the 1984 Aussie team, and it was not a matter of simply losing batsmen in quick clusters, our batsmen were lucky to leave the field with body parts intact.
Luckily our present team only have to worry about the former.
I have seen a lot of press bemoaning the lack of skill, application and pride in the baggy green of recent, heaping scorn on our top six who have clearly been unable to play Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jimmy Anderson, and Swanny with any sense of competency.
This has led to calls for overhauls in Australian domestic scheduling, for the selectors to stop rotating players out of form, reducing the influence and length of the Big Bash, and putting the Shield in one sitting over summer so players can build into their season.
While these are all good suggestions, my first step would be to remove those ridiculous Madden brothers, who seem to appear with a lot of frequency on advertisements – particularly when we lose those wickets in clusters.
But I digress.
I have also seen countless social media and comment pages on sport websites, where Aussie fans attempt to pick their ‘First XI’ to solve this national dilemma. So on the old adage if you ‘can’t beat them, join them’, here is my attempt at nutting out an XI for the third Test next week.
To begin with – I have some automatic exclusions.
Shane Watson, who was brilliantly described by Gideon Haigh as the ‘Carl Hooper of Australian cricket’.
Phil Hughes, whose footwork looks like it has been crafted from a PlayStation dance mat. And David Warner – he should have been sent on the first plane home for that second indiscretion (even though people may argue Joe Root has a face that needs smacking).
Anyhow, here is my shot at an XI to take on the Poms in the Third Test.
Simon Katich (v/c)
This bloke is a leader, and one for the trenches. What is more, he is scoring a pile of runs in county cricket at the moment.
He has come out and said he never retired, so it is time to bring the man back – and time for Clarke to offer the olive branch.
Chris Rogers
Despite getting out at Lords the way I would usually in backyard cricket (missing a rank full toss from my old man), he deserves an extended second run to solidify the opening spot for a couple of years.
Usman Khawaja
He did enough in that second innings to suggest he can hold down what has been our Achilles ever since Punter’s eyesight to anything +140kilometres failed him.
Compact technique, and ability to play a range of strokes. Just needs to nurture a temperament that time in the middle can bring.
Jordan Silk
Silk is my smokey. This guy caught my attention when Kerry O’Keefe could not stop talking about his fielding one day when he was Australia’s substitute fielder.
His early Shield career is showing lots of promise, and he hit a couple of hundreds in the Tassie team that won the Shield this year.
Michael Clarke (c)
Our best batsmen should be at three – but Clarke seems to not be able to handle first or second drop.
I have kept him where he scores most of his runs – I’d prefer Katich as captain but that isn’t going to happen.
James Faulkner
This was the hardest spot to fill – befitting a nation bereft of batting depth. But I genuinely think this guy is the all-rounder we have craved.
He is a great foil for the three right arm seamers and his considered batting may improve with the responsibility and challenge of batting one place higher than he normally would.
Chris Hartley (wk)
Obviously unlikely with Wade as understudy – but this guy is Australia’s best technician behind the stumps, and is only 31.
He has a solid first class average with the bat in the early 30s, and has that classic Healy rear-guard feel about him that we need at the moment.
Being a Queanbeyan boy I hate to put down on Haddin, but he and Wade are costing us more behind the stumps than the occasional half century they provide.
Peter Siddle
The heart and soul – I feel a bit sorry for Sidds – the fast bowling fraternity’s First Vegan tearaway is grossly undervalued for charging in on flat decks and giving it his all.
Very surprised he was not in a lot of people’s team for the first Test and I’m glad he has performed well to date.
James Pattinson
Struggled in the second Test, but terrific raw aggression, coupled with some nice pace, and one who values his wicket with the willow in hand.
Nathan Lyon
I feel this guy has been very hard done by. We need to accept our spin bowling stocks are thin – but this guy certainly isn’t a token selection. He performs admirably in very difficult finger spinning conditions in Australia and should be given a continued stay. I know everyone loves Ashton, but his time will come soon enough.
Jackson Bird
He has all the attributes to be our workhorse and metronome, and he is a beautiful foil for Pattinson. Very surprised he did not play at Lords.
There you go. My apologies to Ryan Harris (12th man) – who I think is a fantastic bowler, but you cannot fit them all in and I still sweat on his durability.
So this is a side I think that can bring home the bacon and make it 2-1.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.