Wouldn’t surprise if they went that way James.
In regards to Handscombe I’d play him in India ahead of Head. I know that’s controversial after this summer, but he had the same kind of Australian summer last year against the Poms and then went to Pakistan and Sri Lanka and looked like a tail ender. Handscombe plays spin as well as Smith and Labuschagne so I’d be picking him at 5

Seriously mate, do you think it could have been something to do with him playing his 100th test?

And if he had of been dropped his replacement in Marcus Harris was on track to grab that record

“A good flat track knock at the MCG” ask the South Africans how flat it was

It feels like the future is looking better than what it did after the 2006 edition though Sheek. I don’t follow soccer as closely as some, but in 2006 we probably had 6 or 7 stars coming to the end, where this version it feels like we have 6 or 7 stars about to start on a 10 year journey

That’s because they have an awesome job and they stay on for as long as they can so eventually they are going to be sacked. And my name isn’t Einstein

So people didn’t whinge, as much

Man, you’ve lost it Rellum

Maybe this happened. The players went to Langer and said, mate, we can’t handle your mood swings anymore, we are all walking on egg shells and you’re really hard to approach face to face and you’ve created an uncomfortable working environment. We need you to take a step back and let Andrew McDonald to take more of a hands on approach. Langer then says to himself, right, my contract expires in 6 months, I have to do this or it’s the end for me. So he steps aside, McDonald does more of the hands on stuff, and bingo, Australia win the World Cup and belt England in the ashes. Then contract talks resume, the board thinks to themselves, if we offer him a 2 year extension, knowing him as a person and his controlling ways, will he just go back to the way he was, and how things were, knowing he’s got 2 to 3 years security. The board speaks to Cummins and they come to the conclusion that they just can’t trust that he won’t go back to his old ways, because if we do we are stuck in a crap environment for the next 2 or so years. They then say, he has done a lot of good stuff for Australian cricket, he deserves to defend the 20/20 title, let’s give him that opportunity and offer him a 6 month extension. That’s what me crystal ball says for what it’s worth

Go and watch the documentary from the 2019 ashes ‘the test’ Marty and see what Langer is like when he does get honest feedback. One of the things he was big on was having open and honest discussion in regards to feedback. Khawaja tells him what the boys are thinking when they are together as a group and you can nearly see the hairs on the back of his neck stick up. He is absolutely bristling. No wonder the players never fronted up to him. It was only going to cost them some heartache. Maybe even there careers. He’s one of those guys that wants to have the open and honest brutal type feedback, but there is a catch. Only he’s allowed to do it. I absolutely loved Langer for a long time but I’m over him. Glad he’s gone

Hey Jeff, i did know his stats had not been good in this format for a long time. I just think his best position is opening in this format with the field up, so when he plays ‘good cricket shots’ he gets value for them with boundaries. Batting after the power play his good cricket shots are singles which brings pressure if he’s also had a few dot balls. I’m sure batting at 3 and 4 he would have had times where he did bat in the power play but if he was in at 1 or 2 for 20 in the third or fourth over he’s probably looking to consolidate more than hit boundaries. He’s been very successful in 20/20 cricket before, I just would have loved to have seen Finch out and Smith opening, not just for the World Cup but for a few of the lead in games, to get some form and confidence, once it was obvious Finch was shot

The smart thing to do in my opinion was to drop Finch before the World Cup and install Smith as opener with Warner. A big reason for our slow starts were because Finch was completely out of sorts. Smith bats in the right position in test matches at 4. He bats in the right position in one dayers at 3. But in 20/20 cricket I think his best position is opening. He’s not a power player. He’s a finesse player smacking balls backward of point and fine leg glances for 4. He also plays proper cricket shots along the ground. When he comes in at 4 those shots go straight to deep cover or backward square leg for a single. Because he places the ball better than anyone in world cricket those shots are going for 4 in the power play. He could have been the guy that opened and you said to him make 75 off 60 and the let the other blokes power from nearly ball one. I think now though with 2 years until the next World Cup Green has to be given the chance to open and work out his game between attack and noodling singles, because at the moment he hasn’t nailed that area of his 20/20 game up the top.

Can you imagine if cricket Australia had of done this. Had half the team made up of players half the general public have never heard of. Pierson, Hardie, Ellis Manetti etc. With cricket apparently on the nose right now, sending out a team of no name players and resting the stars
Would have caused more harm than good

I would have had him opening a month ago with Finch out. He play’s conventional cricket shots Smith so I just reckon he’s suited to that position. All his cover drives cut shots flick off his pads go for one when he’s batting at 4. A lot of them would go for 4 in the power play

Team selection has been terrible right from the start. Agar had to play all tournament. And I just can’t believe Kane Richardson played instead of Starc in a game we had to murder the opposition. Starc either bowls 4 overs 1 for 40 or 4 overs 4 for 25. Had to take the punt and hope for the latter. And Steve Smith has been picked for the first time all tournament when he should have played every game apart from this one

“But if he has one percent doubt come game time, Finch will withdraw.”Well when you strain a hamstring on a Monday and you want to play cricket and sprint in the field and sprint between wickets with 3 days between games it is not possible to be 100 percent positive you’ll get through. It just seems like no one is prepared to make the touch decision. Finch should be out regardless because Green has to play and open, in the hope we can be 70 off the first 6 overs instead of the norm so far of 1 for 35 off 6. This decision should have been made days ago and new captain announced so they can get on with it and get behind the new captain.

He played that brilliant innings in the final last year against Australia but they seem to be one in a blue moon. I thought he paced the innings really well last night and they were in a good position with 6 overs to go. But when it came time to go for it towards the back end, he just didn’t have that next gear and got out. Smith, Williamson Kohli and even Root, can play that anchor role nicely but only Kohli is able to shift into 4th and 5th gear when it’s needed

McDonald was the preferred choice by the players to be coach because of the calmness he brings to the job and the relaxed atmosphere he creates. That’s fine, but you also have to make tough decisions. It’s clear Cummins has to go for Agar. We can’t be fooled by Cummins’s figures tonight. He was ordinary and has been all World Cup. Our quicks bowled 11 overs 4 for 95 tonight and our spinners 6.1 overs 4 for 43. I think every Australian cricket supporter is watching this team at the moment and knows it isn’t playing well enough to win the World Cup. We need to show some balls and change a couple of things because we are no chance at the moment

So what does all this mean. I’m guessing if New Zealand beat England, and Australia beat both Ireland and Afghanistan then we are in with New Zealand, unless Sri Lanka beat both New Zealand and England. If England beat New Zealand then it’s going to come down to net run rate. I suppose with England already playing both Ireland and Afghanistan they may not improve there net run rate that much. If we can beat one of Afghanistan or Ireland by around the same margin as New Zealand beat us, then we will be a big show of making it to the semis. Hopefully that’s about right

They were battling to make the 158 so they had to be conservative. They were only close to making the duck worth score because Moeem Ali hit 14 runs off the last 3 balls before the rain, and I don’t think he was doing that because he could sense the rain. He was doing that because they needed over 50 odd off the last 5 overs

He might because it means Australia have beaten England on Friday who are ranked second in the world. Not sure Matthew Mott would though.
It’s worked well this result for Australia. Prior to this result even if Australia beat England they still needed results to go there way to make the semis. Now potentially, if Australia lost to England, and England lost to New Zealand, and Australia smashed Ireland and Afghanistan we could still make it. You couldn’t completely rule out New Zealand losing to England and Sri Lanka that they could possibly miss out. Who knows, after watching England today they could lose to both the kiwis and Sri Lanka. Traditionally, England save their worst for the big tournaments so anything is possible. Certainly adds some excitement to every game now

Who are you talking about Matt? Richardson Tye or Behrendorf?

On second thoughts I’d go with Smith instead of Green. Smith is more than capable of opening and batting through the whole inning. Say he faces half the balls, you’d back him to make 75 off 60 balls. That would allow Warner, Marsh, Maxwell, Stoinis, David, and Wade to go hard at the other end knowing they have a rock batting with them. Smith is suited to opening in this format. Can hit 4’s with good cricket shots with the field up in the power play, runs quickly between the wickets so plenty more 1’s and 2’s and even 3’s.

“Had they made a game of it they could well have snuck in assuming they were to win all their remaining matches.
England will have little trouble in disposing of them so it’s curtains for Australia truth be told, while I reckon Ireland could well put them to the sword as well.”
Ok, well that made a lot of sense. lol

I think that is the right team. Finch out, Green in. Cummins out, Zampa in. We can’t win with how things are now. Our bowling is to predictable. 3 blokes running in at 145. Pakistan have 3 that do the same, but they are new, and batsmen haven’t seen enough off them yet. The best batsmen in the world know what our 3 are going to deliver now. I don’t think I’ve seen a bloke in worse form in white ball cricket than what Finch is in now. Warner, Marsh and Maxwell all got out because Finch put to much pressure on them. The 8th, 9th and 10th overs Marsh and Maxwell scored about 40 runs which took all the pressure off going into the break. Then the 11th over Finch nearly played out a maiden. 6 dot balls and a wide which was just crazy. All of a sudden the pressure was back on. I’d also love to know how many 2’s the Sri Lankan team made in there innings compared to us. My guess is they would have doubled us for 2’s. When Finch is at the wicket, we lose runs because he is so slow. I’ve been a big supporter of his white ball cricket, but if Australia are to be any chance this tournament he has to step aside