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Former promising junior left arm pace bowler turned couch enthusiast. My twitter is @TheFrenchCut
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Please, for the purposes of this article and any consequential discussion, momentarily ignore however surprising or unsettling such a revelation may indeed be for…
Provoking murmurs among the meagre crowd of students, cantankerous pensioners and break-seeking university lecturers, Victorian batsman Michael Hill walks onto the grass of the…
You've seen Shaun Marsh stride out to bat in a coloured Australian uniform. You've heard the commentators' repeated assurances Marsh is a man of…
Cricket Australia recently made the rather strange public concession, years after the decision was made, that Simon Katich's dumping from the Test side was…
The Sheffield Shield's most eagerly awaited season in decades begins this Wednesday, bursting out of the blocks with three simultaneous matches taking place at…
While the Australian one day team is playing India hoping to secure the ICC top spot, England's Ashes squad has already begun focusing upon…
The newly carnivalised Ryobi Cup - admittedly without fairy floss, yet possessing more than its fair share of clowns - concludes this week, with…
I had been playing indoor cricket for much of my short life, yet by the age of ten outdoor became the one true form…
In 2004 James Hird famously came under fire for comments regarding the umpiring of a game between Essendon and St Kilda, deeming their performance…
During the horrid time that was the Australian Test tour of India, I joked to a friend that I had realised the solution to…
One of the few knocks against Australian cricket over recent years has often been our exhausting lack of a genuine test all-rounder. England and…
Pattinson came back the same way for last year’s BBL (after re-modeling his action), then played a couple of ODIs, then made it through only a single test before breaking down again. As a few others are saying above me, it’s very early days and I honestly think I would have him steer clear of the world cup. Disregarding the fact that he hasn’t shown much in the ODIs he’s played already, I think it’s important for him to prove he can get through a greater bowling workload before we think about bringing him back into the test team. It’s as much for his own benefit as it is for the team’s.
Pattinson is just what Australia needs
I think captaincy plays a big part. India were on top for the first few days of the Brisbane test until Dhoni and the bowlers persisted with a strategy that didn’t work — bowling short to Johnson. Dhoni seems to too often miss a trick like this and momentum swings drastically.
As for the bowling, in their quest to getting a fully functional pace attack India seem to have read a bit too much into pace. Can you afford to have 2 or 3 bowlers bowling reasonably quick, and erractically? There probably needs to be a bit more balance. If one of the quicker bowlers (Shami for instance, but he’s been disappointing) can manage to hit a line and length more often, then this attack would be much more effective. However I should say, this bowling attack has competed much better than a lot of previous Indian attacks, so it’s at the least a step forward.
Merry christmas to you too Alec.
India have the talent, they just never bring it on tour
Phil Hughes certainly hasn’t always helped Phil Hughes out, but I think he’s been mismanaged. Sheltering him from the SA bowlers was hardly confidence building, and the constant chopping and changing of his status — he’s our long-term first drop, he’s an opener, he’s a middle order bat, he’s second drop — has hardly helped. Then lastly, they keep pulling him out of the shield so he can go into squads to sit on the sidelines. Both parties are culpable in my opinion.
A day in the life? You are Phil Hughes
Ah Dave Hussey. Seriously my favourite batsman (still) to watch. Absolute gun. His inside out cover drive is batting porn.
There seems to have been a lot of hunch selections in recent years, with Marsh being one of the latest. Luckily he had an okay series against Pakistan in very trying circumstances, however consistency will likely be his issue for the moment. It’s the same for other young players like NZ’s Corey Anderson. Started very nicely but expectation rose his performances stagnated a bit. Both will no doubt be stars eventually, but they’re probably a bit of a way off.
Hunch selections are fine to make, given selectors are selectors for reasons you and I are not, but surely we can reward more people who have great shield performances more regularly.
A day in the life? You are Phil Hughes
Given the form batsmen at the moment, I would say there’s more than enough room for Hughes to bat at 3 in the first test against India, with Rogers still opening.
A day in the life? You are Phil Hughes
Certainly wouldn’t say not to a batsman averaging 55 now.
A day in the life? You are Phil Hughes
That’s a really good point. And I didn’t know that about AB. The man can do everything.
It seems odd doesn’t it? If you bother to pick someone, surely you should have the confidence to believe they will make it. Then by not giving them much of a run, you’re really backing either of them or yourself.
A day in the life? You are Phil Hughes
I don’t know if AB is strictly the answer, but I’m with you on the latter point. While I never thought the Doolan decision was by any means terrible, the knock on him that’s been there for a while is that he doesn’t make the most of his starts enough. Personally I thought it was a shame they ditched him after the first test, because I felt he deserved the whole series to make his case. Whoever ends up with the first drop spot for the India series would struggle to find a better team to start off against, other than Zimbabwe or Bangladesh.
A day in the life? You are Phil Hughes
I can give you an answer, but I doubt any of them would be accurate. I can say though that I think it really just comes down to the selectors (rightly or wrongly) not having the confidence in him. They’ve been criticized a bit for continually picking Hughes early on and now they seem to be a bit worried. There’s nothing wrong with exploring other options, but the options they’ve chosen so far haven’t worked out too well.
The only other consideration I have for you is that the selectors may purely see Hughes as an opener (incapable of batting at 3) and are seeing him as an eventual replacement for Rogers.
A day in the life? You are Phil Hughes
Comments regarding Clarke are fairly premature in my opinion. There’s no doubt he had a poor series, and that his back is affecting him (either directly while batting, or in keeping him out of matches every now and then thus reducing his match practice) however it was our last test before this series in which Clarke scored a pretty incredible 150 odd against the best team in the world.
Regarding Hughes, you can’t deny that in a shield environment he is a step above the vast majority of other candidates. He makes 100s. While the trend is hopefully stopping now after the 1st round of this season’s shield, in previous years we’ve had a lot of potential batsmen who don’t even make multiple 100s in entire seasons. I’m far from a Hughes apologist or supporter, but even I have a hard time with how he’s been treated by selectors recently.
A day in the life? You are Phil Hughes
Some of the ill-will directed at the AFL is probably about the way it handles issues (ASADA investigation, Tanking Investigations, Ticket pricing, etc) as much as it is about the current congestion and kick-to-kick trend.
What a lot of people are missing, is the addition of the interchange cap. While it hasn’t yet stopped congestion, it has made teams more worried about being able to firstly play out a match, and secondly, play out an entire season.
A few weeks ago, Bomber Thompson was talking about how he’d changed Essendon’s strategy this year to focus more on kicking, saying don’t waste your legs carrying the ball when you can get it forward quicker and further via a kick. More teams are adopting a kick-to-kick approach (especially younger teams) because they’re worried about fitness issues, more than likely due to the installment of the interchange cap.
Footy fans need to stop whinging and enjoy the game
Bancroft’s played all year I think, so he’d be stiff. Hasn’t had a good return post BBL, but has been a part of some good partnerships with North beforehand. Niether Harris nor Turner have reached 50 in any of their innings. But as Marsh is a middle order bat, so the least disruptive thing would be to take Turner out? But wanted to hear from Ronan, since he might know what WA are thinking.
My Sheffield Shield Team of the Year
I can’t wait for a Mark Taylor speech about how switching arms is unfair for the batsman. And if Callum ever bowls to Dave Warner, imagine the possibilities for a switched arm delivery switch hit shot. Tubby would be all over it!
My Sheffield Shield Team of the Year
Ronan, slightly off topic but nonetheless, do you reckon Bancroft/Harris will hold their spots for the final this week? I heard Mitch Marsh is set to be back in which means that they’ll have to kick someone out of the top six. Is Turner safe?
My Sheffield Shield Team of the Year
The problem with having high draft picks of the same age is that their value is going to increase at the same time, and a lot of them will be out of contract at the same time. I reckon it’s highly unlikely they’ll be able to hold onto them for long.
Not the next premiers, but that Giant win is worth the hype
I had pegged myself as optimistic, since I said before the game that the Giants would be competitive. Hard to know whether they can sustain that level of performance, but it’s great to know that at their best they can knock off the best.
I have however said for a while that the Giants will win a premiership before the Suns, because their key position players (providing they’re not injured) are better.
Not the next premiers, but that Giant win is worth the hype
There’s more to it than just technique Showbags, it’s just as much about confidence (in himself and from the selectors) and concentration as well. Hill’s a good player to watch when he gets going, but against Tasmania and SA he just looked like a man who knew that if he didn’t score he’d be dropped. His dismissal where he left a ball that bowled him is a perfect description of that.
Michael Hill needs to take his chances
If it were a B team based on the shield performances from this season, it’d probably be…
Marcus North
Ryan Carters
Phillip Hughes
Tom Cooper
Peter Forrest
Glenn Maxwell/James Hopes (Depending on whether it’s a seaming or flat wicket)
Sam Whiteman (WK)
O’Keefe
Behrendorff
Feldman
Sayers
Captaincy would probably be out of Marcus North or Hughes.
Australia's number two Test team
Okay then, so surely by your standards, Harris’ position is in question as well, after he took 22 wickets, yet 8 of them were bowlers. This leaves him with 14 top 7 wickets, to Siddle’s 13.
Drop Peter Siddle for James Pattinson
A couple of ODIs and one touring match (which Patto probably won’t even play) aren’t enough after coming back from the injuries Patto’s had. He has a history of breaking down, as well as breaking down during matches, and he’d be way too much of a risk.
That and of course, Siddle provides better balance to the lineup and had a good series (as well as in England). This series he picked up 16 wickets as you know, but only three of those wickets were bowlers (two of which were Broad, who has in the past been an annoyance to us you may recall) while he picked up Pietersen, Bell and Cook 7 times.
Here’s the list of his dismissals if you’d like to see…
Broad
Bell
Pietersen
Carberry
Pietersen
Prior
Broad
Pietersen
Prior
Anderson
Bell
Cook
Carberry
Bell
Stokes
Bairstow
Drop Peter Siddle for James Pattinson
That is an absolute ripper of an article and I suggest others give it a look too. Good to see others agree!
Shaun Marsh's hall of mirrors
As a Vic I would love to see Hodgey get a game. And Hoggy’s in just as good a form as ever.
Shaun Marsh's hall of mirrors
You have a point, but Doherty bowled his entire spell in the middle overs when England just wanted singles. Maxwell bowled the 43rd over in which 15 runs were conceded as England were pushing harder. So if you were to take his first 5 overs (0/22) ecomony rates are pretty similar.
And I might add that Maxwell was given out when he clearly should not have been.
Australia should use Maxwell as sole spinner