Should we be alarmed by the second week of the Shield?

I agree with you about getting time in the middle and even making runs in very favourable conditions can kickstart some form. Long term though it's a recipe for disaster. Head averaging 42 from 17 tests is solid, with huge question marks over whether or not he can make runs overseas. Head has age on his side though, 27 in December, vs Wade 33 in December. Wade probably needs big runs against India to cement himself, because he's certainly earned the spot through shield runs. My qualm with head is he looks like another Shaun Marsh, producing a good innings every now and then but then disappearing when the going gets tough.

So you name one young player who had mental health issues and suggest that my argument isn't any good because I only named 2. I actually had others I could easily have named, just off the top of my head, and with time spent on research you could find plenty more, but the point wasn't to make a big list of players, it was that one young player with mental health issues isn't a reason to say that we should never pick young players.

Yeah what an asset to any team. A good no.6 who is also a genuine top level 5th bowler to take the pressure off the other 4. Who's the last genuine all rounder we had? Keith Miller? I think Green has the makings of being a test level bowler, for sure. And in the long run this time out of bowling may have helped his game longer term. Who are others? Botham wasn't really a test level batsman, nor Kapil Dev or Imran Khan. They were good batsmen for bowlers. I don't know that Kallis would have made the SA team as one of their 3 quicks, but I think he's closer to a true all rounder than the other 3. He's more of a top batsman who is also a very handy test level bowler.

You named 2 out of thousands. Will's health issues were probably exacerbated by the pressure placed on him following some terrific early performances. Let's be careful before we throw these kids in the deep end is all I am saying.

Pretty good fifth bowler to have hey! Obviously we haven't seen whether he can make the step up to test level yet or not, not have the length of time to see whether he can maintain over the long haul, but at this point he is definitely shaping up as one of the rarest commodities in cricket, a genuine allrounder. A player who could genuinely command a position in the team as either a bowler or a batsman. Looking forward to seeing how he develops, but right at the moment his stats show him as both an elite bowler and and elite batsman.

Pucovski's issues aren't age, he actually had mental health issues than need managing. Plenty of young people don't. Ponting made his test debut just after his 21st birthday, Steve Waugh when he was 20. There are many, many very good cricketers who've debuted in test cricket by Green's current age and gone on to do well. Just because there are some who aren't ready for it, doesn't mean others aren't. I personally think if he can get another good Shield season under his belt and be back bowling, maybe either get on a tour or a county contract during the off season and then make his debut next season, that could be good. But the way he's playing currently, he's the form batsman outside the current test side, it's hard to see who should be in front of him if an opportunity comes up, and that's just treating him purely as a batsman, let alone once he brings his bowling back into the equation.

Probably THE weakest ... at least in the mid 1980s we had Border.

That's what cost us that series against India last time: no Smith & Warner (Marnus too) meant one of the weakest top six batting line ups Australia's ever had.

Imagine if his bowling came back and he is remotely near as good as Cummins. He could be bowling accurate bouncy 150kmhs, nibbling it one way or the other - and batting at 6 and averaging 40.

Will Pucovski anyone ? We need to be very careful with these young fellas. Not sure too many 21 year olds are ready to cope with this !

I was curious about Wade also. Just found the article saying that Wade will miss the first two Shield rounds to spend time with his young family after being part of the Aussie squad that went over to England. So he should be in for their next match. It’s hard to think that Green wouldn’t be positioning himself as the next man in for the test side even if he wasn’t bowling and was picked purely as a batsman given how good he was with the bat last season and then he’s started this season with scores of 56, 11* and 197. I actually think this back injury that’s left him unable to bowl, and had him just playing as a batsman only for WA has been the best thing ever for him. It’s hard to imagine he would be batting at 4 for WA if he was still bowling all this time. But now, once he gets bowling again, you couldn’t see them dropping him back down the order. He should keep that #4 position and just transition into bowling also, just gradually increasing his workload with the ball. Pretty incredibly to be averaging 52 with the bat and 21 with the ball as a 21 year old!

I think he's just making the point that getting some time in the middle can be a good thing. It's different from just hitting them well in the nets. And even a good innings in easy conditions against a weak attack can sometimes be the thing to kick-start some good form. Head certainly has areas he needs to work on, and I'm not yet sold on him as a test player, but averaging 42 after 17 tests is a decent start. Will be interesting to see how he goes this summer. Head and Wade are really the only two spots in the side with question marks over them currently. How well they are able to go over the next series or two could determine how much more first class cricket Cameron Green gets before getting his test debut.

The pitches not taking spin as the game goes on certainly is probably more of an issue. Sometimes you get a bit more or a bit less on day 1, but as the match rolls on the pitch needs to deteriorate a bit, which can bring the spinners in and the quicks who know how to make use of a wearing pitch. I'm always concerned when batting still seems reasonably easy on the last day.

For sure. And I always lament when my cricket umpiring gets washed out because that costs me money. But the bigger picture ...

Sure it will be welcome Bernie. My brother in laws Brisbane backyard swamp from the weekend says it would be more welcome if not torrential, but we take what we can get in Australia, don't we?

Head, Paine and Labu went big. That's 3 of our top 7. Green too, who could be there, which would make 4/7. Warner and Smith in IPL. Where is Wade? And Joe Burns? OK, Burns has had one innings and failed - like Marnus could have if he didn't score 160.

No. It's two games.

A wetter than normal summer up here in Queensland will be a total 360 turn around from the depressing dry that has been our lot for most of this calendar year.

Small sample size with the belief that it’ll be a wetter than normal summer, so curators were erring on the cautious side possibly in a hub not normally producing Shield tracks. You excluded about 8 bowlers which doesn’t take into account the guys playing in the IPL either, so no massive alarm bells. If the right coaching is in place the young bowlers are being mentored for all conditions.

Disagree dB. It's bad enough now, but scheduling "...more games on the ‘lesser’ grounds" means that Oz players aren't going to get much (or possibly *any*) experience on the Test grounds.