Who's in your Australian Test team?

One notable omission: Steve O'Keefe should definitely be listed as a "contender" for the spin bowling slot. He has a better first-class bowling average, better strike rate, and better batting average than Lyon.

Dan it always intrigues me why there are so many supporters of Klinger. He's like Shaun Marsh in that he has huge splashes of form but cant maintain it. That's why at 35 he is averaging under 39. To be clear about this and using Don's demands that we only use recent form, Klinger had an excellent season in WA last year averaging 58.11. But the year before that he averaged 35.5. And the year before that...he averaged 17.8. So his average over that period is 37.2. We get enamored by Klinger because when he scores a big one, its big. Bur he has lots of scores under 30. As I suggested a couple of seasons in a row performing consistently and well and he's worth a look. But not with those performances over recent years, even despite last years effort and his present score in the first Shield game.

I actually think they will have Burns opening with Warner, they tried it in the ODI's against England. They seem to love Khawaja too I think he's a lock, even though on current form you'd not be sure. It will probably be Warner, Burns, Smith, Khawaja, Voges, M.Marsh, Nevill, Johnson, Starc, Hazelwood, Lyon. With Bancroft and Pattinson in the squad. I don't really want to drop Mitch Marsh, I like Faulkner more as a player but I will keep him in. So my updated team. Warner, Klinger, Smith, Khawaja, Voges, M.Marsh, Whiteman, Johnson, Starc, Hazelwood, Lyon. I change my mind every day. Now I want Whiteman to get a chance ahead of Nevill (who would've been included moreso for his great shield season with the bat initially). I wanted Johnson out but not sure who would do a better job currently.

The thing is, raising the average age of the team that way will raise the amount of runs scored. Less nervous youngster jitters, or inexperienced fluffy shotmaking that can be the catalyst for a collapse. The selectors clearly want to risk more pathetic batting performances.

Matador cup was definitely fuel for your fire! I'll give you that. You know I think it's better :) In shield last year Klinger's runs were at 3, surviving the onslaught, Marshes came when the bowling had been dominated by Klinger and Voges (or Bancroft) and they had already given up the ghost! There is no way I could put Klinger ahead of Marsh in an ODI team right now but I think Klinger is better choice for longer form, especially against what is arguably a better team than us. It's slightly subjective I think. Shaun can look a million bucks but is almost mercurial, pulls 0's and 2;s out of the bag way too often in big matches to be worth the risk in a Test match again. Whereas you would have faith in his "classy batting" to shine through.

Do you really think Klinger's 50 plus acerage last season was better than Shaun's 60 plus average? Or The Matador this year? Maxi is great but Shaun is better.

Faulkner as a third pace bowler, considered an all rounder but more of a bowler that can hit well. I feel Johnson is too similar to Starc, and Starc is in the form of his life. If I was to add another pace bowler I'd give another guy a crack, A Behrendorff or something similar. The reason I keep putting Klinger into my team is sheer weight of runs. Shaun Marsh is always in the selectors thoughts but Klinger has dominated him for years and gets overlooked. Runs matter, gritty innings matter... and like for like replacement for Rogers that has another gear to go up to that Rogers didn't. I have a lot of time for Bancroft, I've watched WA closely because Klinger went there last season and I'm obviously a fan. I happy to put Bancroft in for Burns and move Klinger to #4 :)

Oz never needs to make 7 to 8 changes or to panic. We are in terrific shape and gave multiple options. There are more than 40 current players that would all do well if given tge chance. They don't need to over strategize.

He only played 8 balls. By the time a player is playing the ball, he is well and truly out of his stance. Stance is not a part of technique.

"A stance is purely a comfort thing" If your stance and balance at the point of contact when hitting the ball isn't considered technique then I would be curious to hear what you would consider technique. I did some research before posting. I'm guessing you haven't seen Mitch marsh bat this morning. When you get a chance Watch some highlights on YouTube, and pay attention to his balance. It has improved recently but he still tends to fall away to the off side more often then he should.

Don I completely agree that you should pick the best team for the series and not be anointing younger players with greatness before they have earned it. However the main issue with that is continuity is important. You wouldn't want to drop 7-8 people from your team because there were that many state cricketers in better form at the time. with Australia recently having lost so many cricketers to retirement, and few of the younger players tried in recent years not cementing their spot. In my opinion Australia needs a solid/stable middle order batsman for the next few years. I would personally be in favour of shifting Warner to 3 and smith at either 4 or 5 if things got desperate., as that would allow Australia to keep the burns/Kawaja opening pair intact or bring back the improved ed Cowan for a few more tests. But if both of them are going to bat in the top 3-4 then another stable middle order player needs to be found. Fergie just seems the best option (although none are great)

None of that waffle is technique. A stance is simply a comfort thing. Shiv Chanderpaul's technique is near classical. His stance is not. Marsh's front foot and back foot work is excellent and very flexible. His reading of a game is outstanding, hence his captaincy qualities. Very little of what you have described can be found in Mitch Marsh's game. His dismissals are errors or misjudgement...not poor technique.

Fair enough. Obviously a lot of modern batsmen do have a stance that is too wide and tend to plonk their feet down hard. ( Shane Watson immediately comes to mind) but to me marsh is often (not always which is why it's clearly a flaw.) standing too upright trying to free his arms and swing cleanly. Almost like a golf shot. It's also more pronounced the further he gets into his innings. Which means at the start of his innings he's thinking about his stance. But once he's in it tends to often regress to the upright stance (not every ball but more often then not ) which must feel more natural. But yeah game sense is my major issue. It's fine for his current stage of development. But not good enough to bat at 6 in the test team.

Disagree with all those comments on his technique as weaknesses. It is a modern trend to keep your feet wide apart but that limits your balance and ability to use your feet, against both quicks and spinners. Keeping your feet closer together allows you to easily get on the back foot or front foot with decisive movements that increase the range of the crease you use. If you go too far apart with your feet then you end up like Maddinson who basically has the same front foot lung for all shots. That will get him into trouble against good quicks on bouncy decks. I don't think there anything greatly wrong with Marsh's technique but more to do with shot selection and going to hard at the ball early in his innings, as you say my2cents it is more about game awareness than technical flaws.

Don Hopefully this answers your question The Main flaw in Marsh's Technique comes from his batting stance. He's a tall man yet even with the natural benefit of added height he further raises his center of gravity by keeping his feet close together during his back lift and trigger movements. This was probably developed due to playing on bouncy Western Australian wickets. Marsh's feet being so close together makes his movements at the crease deliberate and compact (which is good) but restricts his range of motion. It allows him to quickly get into position vs quicks, If he took a more central guard this would cause him trouble with LBW's and it does aid fast bowlers in trapping him at that awkward not forward, not back length. This is especially troublesome vs Spin. When Marsh has misjudged the ball he tends to try and compensate by swaying his upper torso and usually overbalances toward the off side. His Natural timing and excellent wrists allow him to hit boundaries while off balance however this is less then ideal and i'm guessing when he is out caught more often then not the ball is slicing off the bat as he tries to compensate for his weight being in the wrong position. By far the main issue with his batting (and virtually every other developing batsman) is that he has a poor game sense and looks to hit boundaries as a first option. (Scoring over 60% of his recent runs through boundaries) This causes him to face a lot of dot balls and can allow things to get either bogged down or increase the risk of his run scoring shots. This is especially concerning because as a future test number 5 he will often be required to bat with the tail and set the tempo of the innings as his tail end partners will be unable to do so. This is correctable. Often the best way is to pair the batsman with a good tempo batsman in limited overs cricket (ODI or T20) as those formats place greater importance on pushing singles and 2's ect