'Wicket looks similar': Swepson keeps Hazlewood out for series decider against Pakistan

Nothing in his record suggests he’d be a good wicket taking option on flat pitches though. That's a valid pov, but what's the alternative? You just keep on picking proven duds?

He is the hero for Pakistanis :laughing:

but it was. just because Lyon didn't take wickets doesn't mean the pitch didn't spin. it did. i saw it. and their tweaker got 6-for in the first test, providing some evidence that tweakerism works well in this context, well, less bad than the other methods. --- we won't agree and it won't matter anyway because the meatheaded muppets have picked the same XI, and my TARDIS is needed to transport Richmond back to 2020.

The earlier stats were in response to Don Freo's claim that Agar had improved and had a great season 3 or 4 years ago, when in fact he was talking about 2014/15. I must have been watching a different series in Bangladesh because those pitches definitely assisted spinners. Importantly with quicker turn and natural variation in the wickets. Yes, there were two scores in the 300s (in 7 completed innings), that's still a reasonably low scoring series and a world away from the Pakistan series where only one team has been bowled out for less than 450 so far (and in fact only one innings out of 7 with an average run per wicket of less than 45). In Bangladesh the spinners took 58 wickets in two tests at an average of 24. Compare that to 18 wickets at 67 in the first two tests in Pakistan. In the Karachi test there was very little spin off the main part of the pitch, there was more turn out of the footmarks. But it was all slow turn so not dangerous to decent players of spin, particularly when set - very little spat even out of the footmarks. I agree that Agar will be more effective on pitches which spin and so the straight ball and natural variation comes into play. I've said that multiple times. That's not the case with the pitches we've seen in Pakistan so far.

Many, many, many more ships are steered from the stern, not the bow. Fun fact for a fun Monday.

Oh, seeing as you were providing shield stats from earlier than that, I thought you must be unaware of the second 50-% of his strange little test career. In terms of Bangladesh, It didn’t spin that much. Teams were making 300+ regularly. It spunned last match, Swepson every now and then got one to grip and go halfWarne The thing about Agar will be the angle will support him even when it slides on straight. If it grips, it makes the next straight one even more dangerous. Like Jadeja, with worser hair

Just hope this is not another 5-day road -

Hazelwood clearly the third wheel of the big 3. They didn't select him for the ODI World Cup either. There would have been a thought that Carey did well enough to bat 6 and you could drop either Green or Head and play either Agar or Hazlewood to take the 20 wickets but being Australia it wouldn't have been a serious thought. Green only bowled 42 overs from a total of 464 overs so far. For whatever reason there seems a reluctance to use him as a full on 5th bowler.

Just not sure why Brian is surprised. It's been called the Gaddafi stadium for years.

bin Laden Cricket Ground maybe? Pakistan was his favourite hiding spot after all.

Wicket look similar to the last one we couldn't bowl out the opposition on, so keep the same four bowlers who couldn't get the job done. Great plan :silly:

I watched him bowl very well in his 5 most recent matches - all T20s. As always, very impressed with his bowling in that format of the game. Doesn't make him a good test bowler, anymore than it makes Adam Zampa, Adil Rashid, Sunil Narine, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Sunil Narine or any number of good T20 spinners good test/FC spinners. The skills required to be successful are very different. A lot of people with keyboards don't realise that.

I thought it was poetic

You show all the evidence of someone who has not seen Agar bowl for a very long time

Strange ship that you're in.

I'm aware of his performance in Bangladesh in 2017, which is why I stated he is a good option on spinning pitches (as they rolled out in that Bangladesh series). Those pitches bear no resemblance to what we have seen in the Pakistan series so far. In the 5 years since that series, he's taken his wickets at over 50 in the Shield on pitches which generally offer little spin. So I'm a little bemused as to why some people believe he'd be a great option on the flat pitches of Pakistan? There is almost no evidence in favour of it, only hope.

Mitchell Starc bowled just 9 overs on day 5. If he wasn't trusted to bowl the opposition out why are they bothering to pick him this test?

I guess it all depends on the vehicle being captained I suppose. If captaining a yacht, tanker or container ship then the skipper is at the stern of the boat. If captaining a cruise ship or ferry, then it would be at the bow. So, is Cummins captaining a yacht or a ship? Depends whether he needs to lead from the front or the rear! :silly: :silly: :silly:

He is very good at T20 cricket, I've never disputed that or claimed he is a moderate bowler. He's an excellent bowler in T20 and his record attests to that. I've played (and watched) enough cricket to understand the difference between a bowler who challenges your defence as a batsman and one who needs you to take risks to get you out. I haven't seen much evidence of Agar doing the former, and his record bears that out. I'm sorry to bring "facts" into the discussion, but that's what I prefer decisions be made on, not wild speculation that someone might have become magically better at red ball cricket whilst hardly playing it and not doing particularly well when they did.

It's getting a name change. Chill.