Cowan left out of stacked NSW Shield side

At 35 what future does he have in our test plans? That's pretty easy to answer. He'll grind bowlers into the dust, to teach them how to bowl to a good experienced batsman. He'll keep an up and coming batsman out of the team as a lesson you need to MAKE MORE RUNS to make the team. The shield is about teaching mental toughness as much as anything.

I feel sorry for Paine, he is in the absurd situation of Wade deciding to switch States and despite most considering him to be the vastly superior gloveman, including the Tassie coach I think, he now has to give up the Gloves to suite Wade. It would be better for Tassie to have Paine with the gloves and Wade as a batsmen, but you know.

Agreed, he is supposedly being rested because of loading.

Behrendorff, however is not nearing retirement. It's close to restraint of trade.

The quotes in that article make for some farcical reading. The Behrendorff decision is particularly ludicrous. And if what the article says about CA looking to replace Renshaw with a more attacking opener is true, I just don't know what to say. However, a couple of notes: - The Cam White decision was line-ball. In my view it was more between White and Christian, and they went for the extra seamer. Finch has been in very good Shield form recently so he absolutely deserves to play - Batting Maxwell at 3 is interesting but there's nothing wrong with it. He averages just under 40 in first class cricket, there shouldn't be any issue with him batting at 3. I would personally swap him and Handscomb but it's really not a big deal. Fox is only making it a big deal because it's Maxwell - They're spot on about Paine except that Paine has been left out of Tassie's XI. I would've picked Paine but Doran is there instead

Klinger as well. Harts saw the writing on the wall me thinks.

Cam White also. It has gotten so out of control they are now openly stating their"KPI's" are about developing players, not winning games. https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/how-six-curious-shield-selections-were-shaped-by-australias-test-agenda/news-story/443ff0280cef56d190c9f5b27695fd54 The comp is now close to a joke.

The latest CA casualty is Jason Behrendorff. He has been left out of the WA side. WA selector, Kade Harvey, this morning explained; "We have had input from CA that they have been very happy with his white ball cricket." That was all but it was a very cryptic explanation of the reason for his omission. He is fit and needs to bowl. Go figure!

"At 35, what future does he have in our test plans?" I hope you didn't feel the same way about Chris Rogers or Adam Voges.

Pretty aggressive, considering all we said was that these incidences indicate the captain probably shouldn't have a stake in the selection process. Which he doesn't officially, "in case you hadn't noticed". And what, you think Kohli's captaincy is the biggest factor behind them being no. 1, or that it makes him the best captain? Who cares what they think? Me, for starters, since they've both demonstrated far more integrity and temperance than Kohli. Yes, he's retired, care to clarify why that's relevant? Any other insightful rebuttals, maybe to the other half of my comment you left alone?

You count funny.

36 isn't "close to 40". Marsh is a repeated failure at test level. He has never been able to bring consistency. Despite any FC, List A or any other format success which is not relevant for an experienced test player to be judged on, he has never been a consistent test performer.

Well, no. That's not what I am saying. What I am saying is what I actually said. You would need to contextualize these failures if you want to make a point. To have a Test average close to 40, there must have been way more successes than failures. That's probably why he remains a contender for selection. You have missed something worth watching over the past 15 years.

What happened to picking your strongest team? Do you not think opposition players would benefit from playing against a batsman who occupies the crease and scores more runs than the other batsmen in his side? On this high-stakes intensity business - do you actually believe Warner will play with intensity in shield? He'll be gung-ho like he always is, with no consequences.

So what you are saying is that none of that has resulted in his test form being successful enough to consistently retain him? Even his "piles" of runs you refer to in test cricket only result in a century 1 in every 10 innings. About on par with Ed Cowan. And 1 half century every 5. Again about on par with Ed Cowan. I don't care what he did in the JLT Cup. We are talking about test cricket.

Cowan is a limited but solid batsmen. At 35 what future does he have in our test plans? These shield rounds will be played as close to test intensity as one can get in terms of pressure on players to perform. Players should be playing that have a future in test cricket. One could argue that Cowan is unlucky. Not in my book. His absence is offset by test players returning to play high stakes cricket with national spots up for grabs. When the test players go off to play, he can return and score even more runs. We need to see who can stand up under this pressure and pick them. Hughes looks like he has a solid technique...scored a load of runs recently.

Mate, the reason I chose Virat, is because he is the leader of the No1 team in the world at present. In case you hadn’t noticed! Who cares what Kane or Misbah (who has retired) think! Get a clue mate.

Players need to prove themselves in grade and Futures cricket before they deserve to get elevated. If a team like QLD is struggling then promoting youth with talent is fine. But teams with stronger older players who are winning it is not ok to dump so some kid who they think"might have potential" can get game. I know Hughes and Cowan are close in ability but it has been stated that it was the national setup with Smith that interfered with the NSW selections. That is reducing the standard of the comp because they want to see if a guy performs over a guy who it seems was going to be picked in Cowan. We need to leave it up to the states to pick their teams unhindered by NSP interference and make their priority winning the Shield, not developing players. This is how it worked in the lead up and during our recent golden period. You can almost track the decline of the national team when they changed focus to player development. Many state players have the same opinion.

Averaging 36 in a batsmen's era - pop out the champagne. If it wasn't for his name, he'd have never been handed a Test cap.

If you don't want that conversation, don't join it. You are the one perpetuating it. Even you should be able to work that out. I'm happy to celebrate my favourite cricketer all day long. You keep giving me that opportunity. Thank you!