World Cup squad announced - Michael Clarke named

From all reports people who are putting Doherty in their first XI's are off the mark. Seems like a fast bowler will be pick in preference and Maxwell will handle the spinning duties.

The Clarke deadline is utterly ridiculous. In a tournament where there are 6 matches being played and you are virtually guaranteed a quarter final berth. The fourth match would have had more merit. That way he could get 3 matches under his belt before the quarter finals. The spinners spot is a worry, I probably would have gone with Lyon as he much prefers to bowl in Australia. I also wish they would play Haddin at 6 with Faulkner at 7. Our tail would still be decent with Johnson and Starc batting at 8 and 9. I can see Australia making the same mistake as South Africa in 1999 with Lance Klusener. Faulkner is good enough in the one-day games to bat 6 or 7, if he comes in at 8, he won't come in with enough oves left to do enough damage. I would hate to see him make 30 of 20 balls to then run out of partners like Klusener did in the 99 semi.

I'm a big fan of both Pup and Bailey as leaders. But both can't play. Clarke's ODI strike-rate of 78 is too slow for the modern error and transfers pressure to his teammates. Even when he gets a good score, his strike-rate only climbs to acceptable levels near the end of his innings, by which time pressure has mounted up the other end. (Shaun Marsh is a bit the same.) I'd be tempted to use the injury cloud not to pick him, but I think the batting line-up meeds his composure and experience. Bailey was fantastic 18 months ago in ODIs but his form in the past 12 months has been poor. Finch's last 18 months in ODIs has been excellent, but I still struggle to place him in our best 11, which out of the squad announced is: Warner, Watson, Clarke, Smith, Marsh, Maxwell, Faulkiner (our best player currently), Haddin, Johnson, Starc and Cummins / Hazlewood.

Perfect for your number 3 - it's the openers and closers job to lift the run rate, you want Watto and Clarke putting on 80 together in that 15 to 20 overs between the 20th over and the 35th, hopefully with over a 100 scored in both of those sections of the inngings... If you do that ever game you're gonna be hard to beat!

I intended to rubbish the selectors for picking Starc & Johnson while excluding Ryan Harris but a check of ODI stats indicate as follows: Starc: 28 ODI's batting ave. 32/bowling ave. 22+/economy 5+/best 5 for 20 Johnson: 114 ODI's batting ave. 16/bowling ave.25+/economy 4.8/best 6 for 31 Harris: 21 ODI's batting ave. 8/bowling ave. 18+/economy 4.8/ best 5 for 19 seems they balance out, so what Harris saves in runs, he loses as a batsman or has done before his new found form with the bat where is the adventure in the batting, will we rely on Faulkner? surely not Maxwell. Doherty goes for 39+ per wicket at an economy rate of 4.9 after 50 ODI's so that's setting the bar pretty low.

But WATTO is sooooooooo out of form it`s laughable.....Watch him continue to fail in this world cup.. He`s past it..

CLARKE CUMMINS HADDIN MAXWELL and DOHERTY??? OMFG... WE ARE GONNA GET PUMPED!!

with a strike rate of 89

Can't really see a problem with Watto's ODI record. If you can name a replacement who can equal the record below, then happy to discuss. Shane Watson ODI Batting record Mat Runs HS Ave SR 100s 50s 178 5421 185* 40.75 89.81 9 31 Shane Watson ODI Bowling record Mat Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 178 164 4/36 30.87 4.91 37.6

Watto averages 40 in ODI cricket with 9 centuries - he's a world class ODI all rounder!

Personally I would be dropping Doherty for Shaun Marsh. If you want some little offies then Maxwell would be just as effective. The batting is light as if I suspect Clarke doesn't make it then we are basically relying of Smith to anchor the innings. Finch, Warner and Watson(who bats where now? Six?) are all very good one day players but are very aggressive and we could easily be 3 for not much in an important game. If that happens we are basically relying on 5-11 getting 20 runs each to post a good score. I can see a game where Faulkner will be needed to get 50 of 20 in a semi-final to get us through against the saffers. We are still favourites, but I do not think that is our best squad. If you are going to pick a spinner pick one that can take wickets.

The big dilemma for the selectors will be who to leave out if Clarke makes the deadline and the others are all fit. The top three are unlikely to change and Maxwell, if he can find form, really needs to be at five or six. It would be a real tough one to leave Bailey out if they're winning and he's in good batting touch. Drop Smith? No place for Clarke? There's been a lot of healthy discussion about Test and first-class stats here recently. The great majority agree they're a pretty good indicator, particularly over an extended period, but the odd anomaly sneaks in. The short form figures are a different matter, a bit puzzling sometimes. Here, of course, it's Warner with his 31.4 average, just ahead of Watto (30.87) and a tick behind Smith (31.75), while Bailey, Clarke and Faulkner are all around 44. And Warner's 83.5 strike rate lags behind the other specialist bats while Haddin comes in at 81.77. But nothing like Michael Slater, who should have been a one-day star. 74 Tests @ 42.83, 14 centuries and 9 nervous 90s. One-dayers: 42 games @ just 24.07, S/R 60.4, highest score 73.

Cricket.com reports that the medics were planning to have Clarke ready -- on a tight deadline -- for the March 8 game against Afghanistan but Marsh's selection panel has put a Feb 21 cut-off on all players, skipper no exception. That takes us back to the original conflict in November when Clarke insisted he'd be ready for the first Test without a lead-up game but the selectors thought otherwise. He may not be happy about it again but this time he's copping it sweet. Here's his tweet from last night: "While you sleep, I train. While you eat, I train. While you party, I train. February 21 is my goal!'' Tough guy, eh. It might be worth noting the full one-day intinerary here. Tri-series Jan 16 v England SCG Jan 18 v India MCG Jan 23 v England Hobart Jan 26 v India SCG Feb 1 final WACA Practice match Feb 11 v UAE MCG World Cup Feb 14 v England MCG Feb 21 v Bangladesh Gabba Feb 28 v New Zealand Auckland March 4 v Afghanistan WACA March 8 v Sri Lanka SCG March 13 v Scotland Hobart Quarter-final: March 20 Adelaide Semi-final: March 26 SCG (or March 24 Auckland if NZ qualifies higher) Final: March 29 MCG So that's six games before the World Cup starts and 12 all-up (with Tri-Series final) before the knockout stage. With two of the Mitches (Johnson and Marsh) still having injury niggles, Kane Richardson and Gurinder Sandhu have been added to the squad for the early Tri-Series games. For those wondering where that leaves Rhino Harris, don't worry. He's too valuable for this and is being so he's right for the Ashes. He would have been the second bowler picked if they'd thought he could go right through. Looking at the schedule, Doherty will get plenty of chances to show his form early on but they might go with pace at the WACA and possibly the Gabba, with Maxwell for spin. Marsh said they might want Clarke to do some bowling and that could negate the need for the fellow leftie Doherty. And if there's turn and bounce (SCG, Adelaide), Smith could come in for a couple of overs. But would they go without Doherty for an MCG final? Three further points. There are three captains, Clarke, Bailey and Smith. One misses out. And three all-rounders, Watson, Maxwell and Marsh. Again, one left out. Three left-arm quicks, Johnson, Starc, Faulkner. But only two make it. Of course, things could change a bit by the final -- if they make it -- but here's a possible lineup. Warner Finch Watson Smith Maxwell Clarke (c) Haddin Faulkner Johnson Cummins Hazlewood

You need to look at his record in ODI's. It's very good. Maybe stick to the facts hey.

I can, Adam Voges and Cameron White.

Is Haddin really the best option for keeper? Good side but so does SA and NZ. SL also have some good players and a decent bowling attack.

Not so sure about that Don. Reckon NZ and SA are big chances

Just watched the interview with R Marsh and Clarke on the announcement of the team. Pretty clear Clarke doesn't take to kindly toward the deadline being imposed on him.

PS Watson figures he could be picked as a specialist batsman. This is ODI not test criket

lets hope Clarke stays fit and all the x factor players fire