How handy would Michael Klinger be right now

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but experience & form is far more important than age. Don't forget... Aus A players currently doing well are doing well against young up & coming players from India & South Africa. Not experienced players who have been around for years who are dominating like Anderson, broad etc....

I respectfully disagree. My Bangladesh test team: Warner, Klinger, Smith, Burns, Voges, Faulkner, Nevill, Johnson, Starc, Sandhu and Ahmed What's yours?

There are plenty of younger players between 20 and 30 who have had more than just one good season. It is time to bite the bullet. Australia has a fascination with picking mid-thirties players and then seeing their reflexes and abilities desert them on national television. Klinger is a mistake.

But that's his average over his whole career spanning 15 or so years!! The last 7 years he's performed in every form of the game extremely well. Not only in Australia but in England too. All players have a slump in form. They are not machines! Look at Ponting, cook, Clarke, Hussey. All of them at some point in their careers had a slump. That's happened to klinger in his career but once he's bounced back it's been phenomenal! I'm not saying he's better than anyone else & yes, Bancroft & co are all extremely talented. But you can't ignore klingers form last season, this county season, the fact that's he's won the state player of the year Alan border medal TWICE, has been leading run scorer in big bash etc etc..... I don't think ridding the Aussie team of older blokes & bringing in every young kid that has had 1 good season will do the Aussie cricket team any good! Yes they can go to Bangladesh, not the strongest team & do well. But put them in a pressurised situation I personally think you need some experienced players who know their game well & are performing well.

And it is the wrong argument - pick and stick with the young guys.

Klinger has been playing for a ridiculous amount of time - and he has not performed at a high level - 38.9 average does not warrant a call up at 35 years of age. 8 tests - 2 in Bangladesh, 3 against NZ, 3 against the WI - pick and stick.

Burns is the only one close to being worthy of being in the test team ahead of Klinger.. you wouldn't Risk Bancroft yet, and put him in the moodswing yoyo that Khawaja and Hughes went through. Lynn still needs to find consistency since his return from injury. Maddinson is a flaky flog, the next S. Marsh. What's the harm in giving Klinger a 2 match test series in Bangladesh? Giving a youngster a debut on deadpan pitches with their modern flighty technique could be the death of their career. If it's the death of Klinger's career at least they gave him a shot on the back of years of great form. That's my argument.

What so Red Kev, you think picking a bunch of young kids who have had 1 good season will be able to handle the pressure of test cricket?? Look at the late Phil Hughes who got picked, then dropped, picked, then dropped, picked then dropped? Or Kawaja who had the same fate? Bancroft is a great player, but he's 21 & has had 1 good season! Klinger has played for a ridiculous amount of time, is making runs in every format & not just a small amount of runs!

It's you who should do some research mate: Klinger has 26 not outs in 275 innings, Hussey (not including his test matches) has 33 not outs in 349 innings. Both average one not out every 10.5 innings. Hussey also opened in the shield before being picked for Australia despite batting at no.6 in the national side. Yet Mike Hussey' FC average is higher than his test average at 52.3 compared to Klinger's 38.9. At 35 years old, Klinger is not even close to what the national side needs right now. Not a single player over the age of 30 should be handed a baggy green for the next three test series.

Grant you are spot on! Can you post this on cricket Aus, Darren lehmans Twitter & send to all the journalists who think picking young guys as young as 20/21 who have a once off season are the next best thing! I still maintain.... Pick your best! Klinger really deserves a shot & at the very least one shot!

How handy would Michael Klinger be? About as handy as a quadruple amputee in a tug-o-war contest.

I really hope Klinger gets an international cap in one format at least before his career is over. The Aus A team is more exciting than the test team atm, even if just for my SA bias (Ferg, Trav, and Zampa).

Should research more about Klinger. Played for Victoria at an extremely young age (after being the u/19's national captain - yes, captained Michael Clarke). His first few seasons were negatively affected by largely being forced to create fast runs for Victoria during a dominant period (sheffield shield matches are only played over 4 days, thus if leading & want the outright win, it creates #5, #6 and tail the need to play like a 20/20). This ultimately affected this "average" you speak of. Additionally, when played for SA as the opener and first drop, he consistently scored century after century, if my memory are correct, Mr. Klinger was named state player of the year, not once but two years in a row. Amassing in excess of 1,000+ shield runs per season. Many of his runs came when he was forced to play again at a faster intended speed due to middle order collapses and trying to enforce fast runs when trying to win for an outright win. Unlike batsmen like M.Hussey (who was a fantastic batsmen and are NOT having a dig at him due to being a favuorite of mine but his natonal average is distorted due to being not out on many instances and batting lower), however Klinger opens the batting or is first drop and is unlikely to be NOT OUT at the end of the innings. Thus NOT creating an inflated average. To top this all off, he has even amassed even further runs and i mean large 100+ scores in county conditions for an extended period: 10+ years enough? What has S.Marsh done besides be the son of a legend and commentators that state he is such a great talent? Time the selectors grow some balls and start actually selecting the best players in the nation as opposed to the favourites. This will be with or without Michael Klinger.........

And the other batsman that he mentioned, Burns, is from Qld. He has mentioned three players in his post, and neither of them are from NSW. Then he says,"Let’s try batsmen from outside the NSW shield team" Doesn't make sense.

Klinger's county runs this season beg to differ. Unfortunately I think he has hamstring tightness atm. I really think he would be a genuine option for the T20 team.. he would do ok in the test and ODI teams too, but his best chance is T20.

People always keep putting forward Klinger like he's some guy who's been averaging 60 in the shield for the last decade. But he has a career first class average of 38. Now with young players who are just coming good you can often ignore overall career average as it can be skewed by those first couple of years where they were just finding their way, and as they play more and more cricket the average will go up. Klinger is like a poor man's Voges, and we all know how he was a long way from the solid presence using all his knowledge of English conditions to play really well! He was just as bad as everyone else! No reason to think Klinger would fare any better!

You do realise Shaun Marsh is from WA right? As is the "35 year old on a long service reward" you speak of.

Everyone seems to have forgotten joe burns who has to now be celebrating the fact that he lost out to a 35 year old given a long service reward. Bring him and a few others into the side and cop any short term pain. Maybe NSW has a few top order bats who need a baggy green to go with their blue caps, seems to be the way the selections are made. Surely after this tour the Sean Marsh experiment has to end, his efforts are a total embarrassment for someone who has been given too many chances for his ability. Let's try batsmen from outside the NSW shield team and see if they can go any worse.

spot on! like voges ? lol no old boys burns & khawaja & lynn maybe

Ha ha tops Joe. Hot Lips might be a distraction.