Yep, Paine should definitely retire on a high. Captaincy is a bit of a quandary but you can easily have someone as the nominal captain while Smith is helping run the show from first slip.
Why would you mess with Smith? Just let him bat!
Yep, Paine should definitely retire on a high. Captaincy is a bit of a quandary but you can easily have someone as the nominal captain while Smith is helping run the show from first slip.
Yep, would go along with that. Clean house and get some new players into that batting order. Burns would help shore up the top order and Pucovski looks a super talent. Patterson needs some runs early in the FC season though, because he tailed off at the end of last season.
From what I’ve observed he’s been directing a lot of the traffic from first slip this series anyway (making suggestions for field placements etc.). It raised a few eyebrows in the first test because some thought it was making a mockery of the ban. I don’t think it’s a bad time to anoint someone who would normally be considered too green when you have someone of his experience and stature to assist.Why would you mess with Smith? Just let him bat!
I think it's hard to say we should bring in Player X, or Y into the batting lineup at this point.
What we are going to see is the mother of all Sheffield Shield bat-offs, with as many as four spots up for grabs.
If you were a Shield batsman of any quality, you'd be thinking 'I'm just three hundreds away from a baggy green'.
Guys like Burns, Patterson, Pucovski etc. have claims, but if they don't score Shield runs then I doubt they make the squad for the first test.
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Why would you mess with Smith? Just let him bat!
What is Patterson's test average, as a matter of interest?
Certainly think Burns, Patterson and Pucovski must come into calculations, I would also expect both Khawaja and Warner to get among the runs again once they get back home.
We're gone here. England are effectively 2/204 and we're not looking crash hot. The thing that makes me mad is how we've inflicted most of this on ourselves, from selection, to bowling first, to dropping catches, poor use of the review and generally being shit with the bat.
Well what a shite end to the series. The selections really came home to roost. Time for a change these guys are clueless.
True enough. It was a great series with a lot of twists and turns and a draw was probably about right.Jeez, crack a smile you blokes - we retained the Ashes on English soil. And some of you want to dump the coach?
I mean, I know we're on G&GR here, but still.
It's been a successful few months. If someone in June offered you a CWC semi-final and a 2-2 Ashes series, you'd take it 10 times out of 10.
Remember how shithouse we've been in the last 12 months? Just losing series for fun, at home and away. So to come out and retain the Ashes away from home is a pretty good turnaround.
I grant you it's not an all-time triumph, but it's still pretty bloody good.
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The issue with Warner is that it's not like the opener at the other end did anything. Bancroft played 2 tests and then got dropped averaging 11. Marcus Harris came in for the last three tests and was even worse.
Clearly Joe Burns should have been in the squad. They opted not to select a player who scored 180 in his last test opening the batting and then we went through a series without having an opening partnership over 20.
I fully expect Warner to keep his place next Summer. His career record has earned him time that the other people competing with him and failing aren't owed.
I definitely think Australia made poor selections and then a poor decision to bowl first in the final test. It was certainly a disappointing way to finish a great series.