Cricket - AUS v PAK

[barbarian]

Whilst I would be surprised if the selectors drop North for the Chappell-Hadlee (he came in when we were 425 so hard to judge his performance), he certainly has left the door ajar for someone to put their hand up in the meantime. Especially in the one-day side- if someone like White or Hopes or Marsh can get a couple of big scores vs the Pakis or Windies then they might find themselves on the plane.

If not then I reckon North will stay, as there really arent any decent middle order batsmen knocking around at State level. It also doesn't help that they havent played Sheffield Shield for months so no-one has had a chance to make a few scores and get some form.

 

[Scotty]

Yep, North will stay. We don't drop players willy nilly like other nations do. If Hughes had done something in the last test there may be some consideration to dropping north and playing either Katich or Watson down the order, but that didn't happen so he will get at least one more series.

 

[Pfitzy]

Well, unsurprisingly, PCB politics killed off any chance of their team being competitive on a fairly tame deck. Well done to our blokes in the batting and bowling stakes, though Johnson seems to be having a quiet patch and will need to rev up a bit

 

[Lindommer]

yep clearly this team needs more Blues players.

The best next-best batsman in Oz the last few years has been Rogers, although at the moment there's not really anyone putting their hand up. For me, I would've had Hodge back in the Australian team in a flash.

 

[Moses]

yep clearly this team needs more Blues players.

The best next-best batsman in Oz the last few years has been Rogers, although at the moment there's not really anyone putting their hand up. For me, I would've had Hodge back in the Australian team in a flash.

You mean the Chris Rogers who was born in Sydney, has a Dad who played for NSW in the 60's and who is also the only Australian ever to score a double century against Australia?
As Noddy said, need more Blues.

 

[Scotty]

By that rationale I'm not sure you can claim Hauritz and Watson as Blues then.

 

[RugbyReg]

and Punter.

And Katich

 

[Lindommer]

By that measure we can claim Tim Horan.

 

[Moses]

Latham, border, inglis...

 

[Lindommer]

Good article by a Pakistani journo posted on cricinfo

Pakistan's fielding caught in a time warp: http://www.cricinfo.com/ausvpak09/content/story/444876.html?comments=all#comments

 

[Ash]

Rogers is 33 this year. Too old.

Hey Noddy, I bet that they will pull in more Blues (as you said) instead, because the Blues side has dominated all forms of domestic cricket this season...

 

[mark_s]

The states seem to be playing 20:20 and 50:50 only at the moment so its very hard to identify who might be enxt in line. I have heard promising things about the tasmanian captain (george baily?). In any event, North will stay in the team for the tour to NZ. The selectors have shown that they won't change a winning team.

 

[Scotty]

I think Ferguson showed enough in the ODIs before injury to have his name at the top of the list. He would suit perfectly the No. 6 position as he can play either push the ball around or play creative attacking shots depending on the game position.

 

[Pfitzy]

Yeah Ferguson looks good - is he going to play the ODIs or is he still injured?

 

[barbarian]

Nah, he's out for a while. Reckon he would be very, very close if he was fit at the moment. Definitely the next in line though.

 

[mark_s]

Nah, he's out for a while. Reckon he would be very, very close if he was fit at the moment. Definitely the next in line though.

Ferguson was next in line pre injury. But his knee injury has been a bad one and he looks like he will have close to 12 months out of the game. Unfortunately I think he will need to reprove his form when he returns. It certainly won't be in time for the NZ tour, and he will probably need to play some county cricket to prove form prior to the Ashes tour next year.

Steve Smith is the other one in the mix. He is very young but is the cloest we have for a direct swap for North in that he can both bat and bowl.