Aaron Finch, Mitchell Marsh set to be dropped for Sydney Test

Im not betting with you.No idea who you are.Iv got my own little bet on and will be cheering him on from my lounge.

Looks like Handscome is our last saving grace.I love all these experts that are so harsh on cricketers.Id say they all deserve our support.Not putting them down at every opportunity.Handscomb is a good player.Lets hope he can get 100 and help us get out of jail

So Handscome is getting closer to that 50????

At 4/300, I reckon another bowler and a half would be useful. Any of Handscomb, Marsh (x2) etc don’t add much anyway. With better batsmen picked and Cummins in at 7, you have to back them to score some runs.

I would have agreed on Finch if he was just struggling with pacing an innings or surviving the new ball, but when you play the shot he played 4 balls in to a second innings, it is a shot he would have played batting any position and in any position it is unacceptable. So dropping becomes fair enough IMO.

Mon, We'll just have to disagree. I accept my mate's reasoning. Maxwell is averaging 26 from 7 tests. Poor. He has taken 8 wickets at 41.5. Also poor. His 1st class batting average is better at 41. He averages one wicket per game but at an average of 44. Poor. There's nothing compelling about why Maxwell ought to be recalled.

That is such a weak and illogical reason for Maxwell’s snubbing. Your buddy is wrong and you are foolish to take that as gospel. If Maxwell is proving himself in the domestic red competition, the same competition that we here all champion, then what other proof does he need that he deserves a fair shot? ‘Temperament as a test cricketer’ is a lazy cop-out for reasons that frankly anyone else besides the selectors know.

Bfc, What a load of rubbish. On the basis you disagree with Chappell et al, you think you know better. My walking buddy, & ex-schoolmate, has two sons on the periphery, desperately trying to break into 1st class cricket, one in Tassie & the other in SA. He is also one of the more astute observers of things sporting. I asked this morning his thoughts on the Australian team selections, & I specifically asked him about Maxwell. He replied that Maxwell didn't have the temperament for test cricket. He wasn't a test batsman, & while he could hold an end down, he wasn't a penetrative bowler. The only thing he could bring to test cricket was his brilliant fielding. So that answers the Maxwell question in my book. On Finch, he said he wasn't an opener & perhaps the selectors should have thought of dropping him down the order. Of course, as we now know, Finch is punted out of the team. Burns' omission is more difficult to understand, although Renshaw's omission less so. Burns is averaging just under 37 from 14 tests & Renshaw 33.5 from 11 tests. Neither have grabbed their previous opportunities with both hands. It's one thing for you guys to disagree with the selectors. But that doesn't make you any wiser & smarter. We will just have to hope the guys chosen for this final test will dig deep & level the series.

The selection of Australian teams has been poor for some time but was papered over a bit by having some champion players available to cover the nonsensical decisions. Now we are left with a landscape where the players are serviceable rather than world-beaters so our selection surely has to be far more reliable and sensible. Trevor Hohns and Greg Chappell, no matter what you think of their performance as selectors, have been great servants of Australian cricket, in fact they have devoted their lives to it and I appreciate that and respect that. But clearly, they are both well past their used by dates as administrators of the modern Australian cricket team and need to be replaced. Chappell is one of the greatest players ever to walk onto a cricket field but he last played Test cricket nearly 40 years ago and Hohns isn't much better. It comes into sharper focus when you hear some of the new voices in the commentary box, incisive, knowledgeable ex-players who are far more recent participants in the international game. Surely a few of theses guys are prepared to put their hands up for a selection gig? There is clearly an agenda, or at least a theory about the type of player who should be selected and if you are not in that narrow little corridor then you need to be making a lot of runs to force your way in. Trouble is there is not as much first class cricket now to press your claims and it seems they want to sabotage someone like Maxwell by not giving him any sort of red ball cricket at all. It's all very strange. Hopefully there will be a new high performance manager soon who can blow this mess out and implement a much better strategy for selection than the current shambles allows. As always I will be hoping for the best for our national team today but I live in hope rather than anticipation.

So they're not inept and negligent? CA is a joke.Truth hurts huh? But got your cheerleading guru backing you I see.

Difficult to argue with the call to drop Finch and M.Marsh, but it feels like we are just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. It is a shame that no fringe players have really put their hand up with Smith and Warner out

So batting is our weakness and you send us in a batsman short. No.

They won't play Maxwell or Burns because it would make CA look stupid if they play well and Australia win. They certainly don't want Maxwell or Burns to succeed because Bancroft, Warner, Smith and Marsh boys positions would be in question.

I think likely XI (without MMarsh or Finch) is actually a slightly stronger XI than we had in Melbourne. I would certainly have dropped both MMarsh and Finch - but for other replacement top six bats! :) Strange with Labuschagne mooted to be batting #3 though....

Trite to say but we must take 20 wickets to win the match. There are no obvious stand out batsman. I’m picking the following: 1. Harris 2. Khawaja 3. Ferguson 4. Maxwell 5. Head 6. Paine 7. Cummins 8. Starc 9. Lyon 10. Hazelwood 11. O’Keeffe.

nooooo! we need them badly…please drop Lyon and Cummins. Thank you.

With you 100% on that. Some of the comments, particularly from Mark Waugh, show a lack of knowledge that isn't easy to hide from the public.

I'm, not having a go at you, Vicboy, but what i have seen over the course of the 4th Test leads me to believe that things are not what they seem... and that the Team Heirarchy are activeliy planning our defeat, and that the players are active participants. Why else would Paine allow himself to be Pantsed?

Obviously a snipe - he is seriously nowhere near Warne or he'd be in all the papers.

Handscobe currently 8.00 with SB for top 1st innings runscorer and $21.00 for mom. Happy to take you on. Say for $500.00 liability each bet. Both bets or none. Happy hunting.