Summer of 16/17

[light]

Brings up the 150* in just his 4th test. What a talent.

Between he and the young openers coming through like Jake Weatherald and Cam Bancroft, you'd think S Marsh has played his last test.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

He's looking a million bucks out there right now.

 

[Highlander35]

Great day.

Hope there's a 200 for Renshaw and 100 for Handscomb tomorrow.

Would like to see Smith say to everyone, we're gonna bat till tea or 8 down (batting SOK and Lyon ahead of the seamers) so Cartwright and Wade aren't temped to to go slashing in search of quick runs.

 

[Quick Hands]

Great day for Australia. Pakistan fairly lacklustre in the field - many of them look like they are just going through the motions.

 

[Sully]

I heard one of the ABC commentators suggesting Marsh should still tour because of his experience on the sub continent. I say send the young fellas.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I'd be OK with SMarsh going as the extra batsman. He can play spin and his form up until getting injured was pretty good.

 

[light]

How big is the squad?

England played 3 spinners in all 5 of their matches v India.

If Cartwright delivers in this test and goes on the tour then I could see SMarsh missing out to another all-rounder option like Agar, Head, or Maxwell.

 

[Highlander35]

Imagine it would be 15 or 16.

That would need at minimum:

A wicketkeeper
9 Top 7 Batting options
3 genuine spinning options
5 genuine seaming options

And a way to get 5 bowling options into the side while still having a genuine top 7.

 

[Quick Hands]

I'd be OK with SMarsh going as the extra batsman. He can play spin and his form up until getting injured was pretty good.

We need to move on from guys like SMarsh. He's had his chances and while he's put in some good performances, there have been many more failures and injuries. He's now 33 years old, I can only see negatives in bringing him back.
Smith has now got a young team which he can mould as a unit and set up the team for years to come. Bringing in old blokes just upsets that dynamic.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I agree QH. Nice to see a side that has the courage to introduce three debutantes in the one match (even though one didn't contribute greatly) have success straight away. Not the sort of adventurous selections a lot of posters here want to see at any time, especially when the Wallabies are being mentioned.

Next players to be brought in should be the likes of Lynn, Silk, Patterson together with the return of Pattinson and Cummins. What we really need is for a couple of spinners, preferably wrist spinners, to come through. Don't think that is Zampa however.

 

[Highlander35]

Not a Silk fan. Admittedly haven't watched much non-vic shield games, but I've not seen anything to suggest he could step up in Matador Cup or BBL, and a first class average of 30ish after nearly 60 innings seems to back that up.

Head would be my first choice as the outright batsman at number 6 if that's the way they want to go.

He's in good form, with 362 runs at 60.33 in the Shield, he's played a lot of first class as 23, and a good number as captain.

In the ODI series against NZ he averaged 48.67.

Plus he's more than a part timer with his off spin, even if you can't really consider him an all rounder.

If he's not in soon I think he'll end up like Cam White and be unfortunately considered a limited overs players first, when he'd be a great number 6.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I agree that Head has the makings of a fine player and is in form. For me the biggest criteria with the extra batsman selection for this tour is their ability to play spin. I've not seen Travis in Shield cricket, so I can't make any judgement there, but whoever is in our top six needs to be able to deal with Ashwin or we're sunk.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Handscomb becomes just the second Strayan to make 50+ in each of his first four Tests. I've never heard of the other, one Herbie Collins, so it may not be that good a predictor of future returns.

EDIT: 19 Tests 1920-26, 1352 runs @ 45.06 with four hundreds & HS 203. Not a bad career, that.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/4602.html

 

[light]

Ability to play spin should be just as important as experience in the conditions. We know what to expect and having guys with proven success in India could make a big difference. I'd be far more comfortable with Lynn or Maxwell than I would with Agar or Head.

Batsmen: Renshaw, Warner, Khawaja, Smith, Handscomb, Maxwell/Lynn, Cartwright

Bowlers: Starc, Hazlewood, Bird, SOK, Holland/Lyon

Keeper: Nevill/Wade

 

[Highlander35]

Lynn's had a shocking time in India though?

Comparing the two, SMarsh has 2213 career runs at 40.98 in the IPL, while Lynn has only 89 at 22.25 (or at least that's what I can tell from the IPL sites).

Now either all three of the teams have been wrong and those figures aren't illustrative of his ability in subcontinental conditions, or they just don't have faith in him against the spin.

More than happy for him to be in the team, but lets wait for the home Tests or the rumoured Bangladesh series.

 

[Lindommer]

Handscomb becomes just the second Strayan to make 50+ in each of his first four Tests. I've never heard of the other, one Herbie Collins.....

Australia had a lot of outstanding cricketers immediately before and after WWI, Trumper and Macartney were two of them. The "Big Ship", Warwick Armstrong, was the captain of a magnificent team, some say the first golden age of Australian cricket.

There's an apocryphal tale about Macartney, who was nicknamed the Governor General: the real Governor General was being driven around near the SCG one day when he enquired of his driver why there were such large crowds about. The driver, a Sydney local, replied "they're going to see the Governor General bat". The real GG was somewhat bemused and instructed his driver to leave him at the ground so he could see who this "Governor General" was.

Ask Lee, he'll tell you all about them.

 

[Quick Hands]

Australia had a lot of outstanding cricketers before and after WWI, Trumper and Macartney were two of them. The "Big Ship", Warwick Armstrong, was the captain of a magnificent team, some say the first golden age of Australian cricket.

There's an apocryphal tale about Macartney who was nicknamed the Governor General: the real Governor General was being driven around near the SCG one day when he enquired of his driver why there were such large crowds about. The driver, a Sydney local replied' "they're going to see the Governor General" bat. The real GG was somewhat bemused and instructed his driver to leave him at the ground so he could see who this "Governor General" was.

Ask Lee, he'll tell you all about them.

Was Lee the driver?

 

[Quick Hands]

Ability to play spin should be just as important as experience in the conditions. We know what to expect and having guys with proven success in India could make a big difference. I'd be far more comfortable with Lynn or Maxwell than I would with Agar or Head.

Batsmen: Renshaw, Warner, Khawaja, Smith, Handscomb, Maxwell/Lynn, Cartwright

Bowlers: Starc, Hazlewood, Bird, SOK, Holland/Lyon

Keeper: Nevill/Wade

I suspect that they'll take Agar before either Maxwell or Lynn as he can bat and provides a spin option. I think that they'll also retain Lyon ahead of Holland. The rest of the squad you suggest I agree with 100%.

I'd rule a permanent line through Maxwell as he strikes me as a narcissistic egotist who puts himself before the team.

 

[light]

Lynn's had a shocking time in India though?

Comparing the two, SMarsh has 2213 career runs at 40.98 in the IPL, while Lynn has only 89 at 22.25 (or at least that's what I can tell from the IPL sites).

Fair enough that he's only played 5 games but I wouldn't call his time in the IPL shocking. He picked up man of the match in one of those games.

His FC average is also far better than SMarsh's, which I think is pretty important. Then there's the whole age factor and past chances etc.

About the only thing going for SMarsh is his performances in Sri Lanka. He hasn't exactly put his hand up in the BBL.

 

[light]

I suspect that they'll take Agar before either Maxwell or Lynn as he can bat and provides a spin option. I think that they'll also retain Lyon ahead of Holland. The rest of the squad you suggest I agree with 100%.

I'd rule a permanent line through Maxwell as he strikes me as a narcissistic egotist who puts himself before the team.

Is Agar a batting all-rounder or a bowling all-rounder though?

I don't buy into picking a bloke who averages 40+ with the ball and sub-30 with the bat on that grounds that he can sort of do both.
That bowling average needs to substantially improve before he's considered a genuine threat with the ball and his batting needs to be better if he's going to be coming to the wicket at 6 or 7 in any (let alone Indian) conditions.

While I think taking him to India is a good development opportunity, I think it's a wasted selection given we already have a left-arm slow orthodox option and leaves us potentially short on batsmen.