Usman Khawaja shows his teammates how to bat in T20s

In addition - re my assertions of Finch over Watson. compared to the (my previous post above re Finch) Finch home and away stats. For Watson Home=> 420 runs avg 42 S/R 156, dominated by the 124* v India. Away=> 980 runs avg 24.5, S/R 140, Home=>30+ avg v India, Eng and WI Away=>30+ avg v RSA (30.5), India (33.25) and Ireland 51. so - again - why oh why have we backed Watson in to open when his away T20i is a dull shadow of his home record (which outside his 124* is still just a tad under 30 at S/R 149 so reasonable - Warner class but not Finch class.

Mr.Lord - In T20 cricket - generally - you need to do what you do quickly. Get in, get runs quickly or get out quickly. Far worse is someone with an average of about 20 and a strike rate of about 100. They're actually more likely bogging things down and putting pressure on at the other end.

Australia is clearly missing its trump card in Mitchell Starc due to injury. Moreover, their approach of picking too many all-rounders and lack of specialists is hurting them big time. Where is George Bailey? He at least deserves a place in the World T20 squad considering his experience at Playing in the IPL. Coming tp Khwaja, he is having an incredible summer and undoubtedly is in the form of his life after coming back from the injury. As far as batting combinations are concerned, Warner and Khwaja should open the batting with Finch coming at No. 3. Finch surely deserves a place in the side. Watson, Smith and Maxwell can float at No.4, 5 and 6 to give Australian batting the required finishing touch in the death overs. Faulkner should retain his place while Marsh should be dropped, thanks to his inconsistency.

Swap Maxi for Watson in the order and I'd be happy with the selectors on that dose.

Well said Perry but it would still bat Khawaja at three.

Finch Warner Khawaja Smith Maxi Watson Marsh Paine/Neville Faulkner Zampa Boyce Unless you have an out and out strike bowler like Mitchell Starc that can blow away teams, the fast bowling of Watson, Marsh and Faulkner is plenty good enough in India and on many occasions will be better than specialist quicks. I firmly believe that Khawaja would be better at first drop coming in behind blasters in Warner and Finch. The above line up has plenty of batting and certainly enough wickets in them to win this World Cup.

Tom, that person is Shaun Marsh. Nevertheless, this team is fine. They'll do India and Pakistan and beat Windies or Kiwis in the big one. It doesn't matter if they play with Finch, Agar, Hastings or Faulkner, they'll win with any of them. These boys are all good enough.

So many Roarers think Hastings is an all rounder. It was so obvious Nevill had to come in then.

Mr.Lord Did you even watch the game last this morning? Maxwell was dismissed first ball of the 18th over - at that point, 9 runs required - 18 balls remaining. Maxwell had been partially aggrieved by the tv camera man behind the bowlers arm - seemingly getting agitated and next ball played pretty well his only rash shot (or attempt). At present Maxwell at least is out performing Smith, Watson, Warner.... #The Bush - sadly Mr.Lord is gunning for Maxwell rather than taking up the good-fight to get Finch rightfully re-instated.

My team that should be picked in my opinion; Finch Warner Khawaja Smith Watson Maxwell Marsh Faulkner Neville Zampa Coulter-Nile

So many stats and conclusions drawn from 2 20:20 matches. Meaningless

Nope, but I do blame him for playing a dumb shot (note in my comment above about how well he'd played up to then) when he's the last recognised batsman (Hastings isn't a batsman btw Don and therefore as a team man, you have to consider these things presevve your wicket and nail the win). This is why I think he will not make to test level - and that's going to be a shame. He'd make a great test batsman if he could just start to think a bit. P.S. Safety, in what was a knockout game, is passing the oppo total.

Lets not get carried away here, it was a good T20 knock but thats about it. Lots of dots as well. Hes nowhere near Finch or Warners level as hes only done ok over a small sample size compared to them. There will be a drought coming his way soon enough, which happens to everyone in the high variance landscape of T20. He should enjoy it while he can, his batting is certainly nothing we havent seen before.

David "Back in the sheds earlier" is just another way of saying he scores them faster. And you know the saying... lies, damned lies and statistics. You say Maxwell has failed to score 30 in 24 of his 28 T20I innings. I say Maxwell is more likely to score 26 or more than AB de Villiers. Go figure.

Massive difference in T20 between #3 and #5 in the batting order.

Just sick of the bias about it. I used to think it was just click bait comments by DL, but after this exchange it appears he actually believes this stuff. Perhaps he's just committing to the con for more clicks. Who knows. Smith has wandered through this tournament without a single bit of criticism from DL, whilst the second highest run scorer, who is also performing his role as an allrounder admirably, is constantly criticised for no reason. It is simply bizarre.

David, I won't respond again because all you're doing is picking on one of the star performers in the side based purely on bias. You provide no objective insight into the situation at all. Maxwell plays exactly as Maxwell needs to and is expected to. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it "bad". If any players deserves actual criticism about the last two games, instead of picking the guy who was third and then second highest scorer, where is the criticism of the captain, our supposed best batsman? If these scores only require a "steady head" (the exact opposite of Maxwell's role in the side), then the criticism must be leveled at that player, not Maxwell. To even suggest you would drop a batsman who is presently the second highest run scorer for the next game, whilst maintaining that this would actually improve our chances, shows that you simply cannot accept facts or debate this issue properly.

On form neither Maxwell or Smith should be in the side imho. Good one Lordy for dragging out those stats. That will make the Maxwell fan club button it. Inconsistent batsman, useful bowler, brilliant fielder. One out of three does not cut it.

Agree.