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Joined April 2018
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Tomorrow marks the beginning of one of the more interesting tussles of the World Test Series Championship. England and South Africa, historically good sides,…
Similar stocky build? Check. Similar technique? Check. Hundred on debut in Ranji, Duleep and Irani trophies? Check, check and never mind, let’s make up…
Should Steve Smith, Cameron Brancroft and David Warner be allowed to play County cricket, or domestic cricket in any other country for that matter?…
Patrick Cummins was already a highly-touted bowler for Australia following his remarkable debut six years ago but after this most recent tour, his prospects…
I’ve no idea why O’keefe isn’t rated as highly as he should be, given he has bowled credibly whenever he played and actually won Australia a test in India with his bowling, something which has proven incredibly difficult in the past 20-30 years, especially during Kohli’s reign. Even Lyon despite bowling superbly during that same series was not able to emulate the same.
Lyon remains Australia’s sole spinner with no other options putting their hand up
Good to see that Ashwin is getting his due credit for his vastly improved performance in the latest overseas cycle against SA, ENG & AUS. Given the brilliance of the fast bowlers he was playing with and the team’s game plan due to that, he was forced to play a holding role unlike what he would bowl at home, and that’s been reflected in his very low economy rate. Yet he has also taken crucial wickets and that too top order wickets, such as in Centurion and Adelaide
No room for Joe Root or Kane Williamson in my World Test XI of the decade
Carey not being elevated to the Test team yet might actually be in his favour, as it allows him the opportunity to focus on solidifying his white ball game in time for the back to back t20 world cups.
Carey building towards another World Cup starring role
While numbers wise your comment holds true, in reality Maxwell was given the short end of the stick. He did strike an important 45 in the third innings in Dharmasala where everyone failed, and in Bangladesh, only Warner really played decently and he shouldn’t have been discarded so quickly. While I agree that he didn’t set the scene on fire with his consistency, he should’ve been given more than the 4 matches he was given to have a real test of his worth. His scores while not great weren’t exactly horrible either given the conditions and team scores.
Ball-tampering sees Aussie outsiders rocket into Test contention
Hi Bill, very good piece on Mujeeb. Just a note, Kings XI Punjab won their first match against Delhi, they didn’t lose
Afghanistan's teenage wunderkind putting opponents in a spin
While I agree that Khawaja should be kept for the next 12 months, it’s solely because of the conditions and opposition faced during that period. Khawaja can smash weak opposition like Zimbabwe and anyone in home conditions, but he really can’t play decent opposition overseas. He needs to find a way to amend that, or he’s out once Smith returns. While Mitchell Marsh is a long term prospect, with his first test 96 especially impressing me where everyone else struggled to stay in for long periods of time, I struggle to support Shaun Marsh’s inclusion. Even Handscomb is a long term prospect for Australia given his age, but Shaun marsh is already 35 and still highly inconsistent. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh series should be used to blood new batsmen instead and maybe just keep Shaun in the squad for his experience factor.
Australia must stick with Khawaja and Marsh brothers
Thanks for the compliment, yes I too feel that we should focus on the cricket more, which in itself was disappointing after the extreme highs reached during the Ashes just a couple of months ago
Patrick Cummins: the find of the tour
Totally agree, the South Africans had a lot of positives, with Ab De Villiers, Markram, Elgar, Rabada, Philander, Morkel all standing up at various points of time during the series. I too feel Markram’s performance was the most impressive given his relative inexperience till now. His first century was especially important in standing up to the Australians and reminding the South Africans that the series wasn’t lost yet and that they still could fight back, which I feel was the turning point and gave the South Africans to believe in themselves and win.
Patrick Cummins: the find of the tour
I agree, I was similarly impressed with his performance on the unforgiving pitches in India, where he bowled with sustained intensity even when Pujara and Saha were going great guns and trying to tire the Australians out.
Patrick Cummins: the find of the tour
Thanks for the compliment Paul, yes I agree Paine performed admirably, but I feel that his contributions were just highlighted in comparison to his teammates’ below par performances, and did not particularly define or change the tune of any of the innings or matches unlike Cummins who regularly changed the rhythm of the game with his incisive breakthroughs, which is why I stated that he was their best player and find. However, yes Paine’s performances were no fluke either and should be very much applauded too.
Patrick Cummins: the find of the tour
Finch should be given the shorter formats captaincy back after he was unfairly robbed of it before the ’16 t20 world cup. Captaincy wise there are no other candidates anyway. Smith should however return to the team as a batsman in a role similar to Root for England, solely due to his batting capability, and no one else looks better than him anyway. Given lesser responsibilities Smith should be more relaxed and better able to perform for a longer periods of time without breaks.
Silver lining for Sandpaper-gate: Our ODI team may improve
Disagree. Khawaja should be solely used at home, and nowhere else. He hasn’t had a decent knock anywhere outside Australian shores, and he’s had numerous opportunities. While it’ll be tough to drop him given they’re already missing their two best batsmen, they should take the next 2 series as a trial to try out new batsmen like Lehmann, Maxwell, Cartwright and Ferguson and give them chances to cement their places.
The batting was poor, but heads shouldn’t roll just yet
Don’t think Blundell opening is going to make any difference, given how inexperienced he is in that position, and opening against Starc, Cummins & Pattinson IN Australia is just about one of the toughest initiations you can get next to opening in England against Anderson & Broad. The pace and skill of the pacers are going to take the pitch out of the equation for atleast the first session of the game and so I dont see Blundell being any different from Raval. Wonder whether NZ are bereft of good openers now and whether thats the reason theyre forcing Blundell in that unfamiliar position
Black Caps raring for biggest Test in years