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England v NZ & Aust 2015

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Bairdy

Peter Fenwicke (45)
Where did I mention Shane Watson in any of that? I'm of the view that he should be replaced, but I'm not convinced that either Marsh is necessaroly the answer.
We know what Watson delivers, so why not give M. Marsh a chance to prove he is or isn't the answer?

We can always go back to Watto if Marsh struggles to make an impact, but not even giving the next cab off the rank a go at making the spot his own is conservatism on the part of the selectors. Hoping Watto will 'come good' now at 34 is farcical.

Anyway, Watto was not the be all and end all of our woes; the form of Clarke, Haddin, Voges - and with the ball, Johnson - is a concern. Smith could be forgiven for not firing this test but his failing only exposed the fragility of the middle order.
 

light

Peter Fenwicke (45)
Interesting that Jimmy Faulkner hasn't come into the equation yet.

Bloke scored 50 odd and took a 5/39 for in a recent county match.

Maxwell is also over playing county cricket (recent scores of 92* and 97 with considerable overs under the belt), as too is Joe Burns (he's scored 3 50's in the last two months for Middlesex). So there are options.

That said, M.Marsh has two tour match centuries to his name and did pretty well in his last test from memory.

During the test an interesting fact was brought up by Mark Taylor, that being Root was dismissed trying to attack Steve Smith in three innings down under. I wonder why capt Clarke didn't turn to him.
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
Where did I mention Shane Watson in any of that? I'm of the view that he should be replaced, but I'm not convinced that either Marsh is necessaroly the answer.

Whether you mentioned it or not, they are the two players in competition for that place in the team - that's just the reality which is why is responded in that way. Apologies if I misrepresented you, I had no intention of doing so.

If you look at the players in the squad who weren't in the starting XI in th first test, there are very few options and I've even go as far as saying that M Marsh is the only real option for Watson..

S Marsh, M Marsh, F Ahmed, P Nevill, P Siddle, P Cummins

The make-up of the squad is a different discussion - I believe that it doesn't have a balance of youth and experience. How Joe Burns was left out after the India series, so a 35 year old can make his debut boggles the mind. The selection panel have seriously mismanaged the generational change of the team IMO.
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
Interesting that Jimmy Faulkner hasn't come into the equation yet.

Bloke scored 50 odd and took a 5/39 for in a recent county match.

Maxwell is also over playing county cricket (recent scores of 92* and 97 with considerable overs under the belt), as too is Joe Burns (he's scored 3 50's in the last two months for Middlesex). So there are options.

That said, M.Marsh has two tour match centuries to his name and did pretty well in his last test from memory.

During the test an interesting fact was brought up by Mark Taylor, that being Root was dismissed trying to attack Steve Smith in three innings down under. I wonder why capt Clarke didn't turn to him.

Faulkner is in trouble for drink driving in Manchester and I think I read somewhere that Cricket Australia were going to sanction him for that.

Unless there's an injury they won't bring anyone in from outside the selected squad.
 

Brumby Runner

David Wilson (68)
Can anyone enlighten me as to James Pattinson's status. Is he injured? If fit, imo he should also have been in the squad and will one day soon become the spearhead of the Australian attack. Certainly, a better bowler (when fit) and more potential than Peter Siddle, and a better replacement than Patrick Cummins since his (Cummins) return from injury.
 

Lindommer

Steve Williams (59)
Staff member
And possibly Haddin. Watson should've gone long ago, but Haddin's probably been taken on one tour too many. Sad for such a loyal servant of Australian cricket; however, when the skills/timing/hunger/ability to compete at this level are gone there's no place for sentimentality. Otherwise the dropped Joe Root catch will, more than likely, be repeated.
 

The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
That's the report in the OZ this morning. Not before time if it's true. If we were belting all and sundry we could carry them, like we have other players previously, but in this case we're in a dog fight to win an important series. We can't afford any passengers.
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
Australia team for second Test: David Warner, Chris Rogers, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (c), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/the-ashes/ashes-2015-shane-watson-dropped-for-second-test-replaced-by-mitchell-marsh-20150714-giceu2.html#ixzz3fwC0uSB3


This team has much better balance than the team that played in Cardiff. The Voges selection isn't so bad when the youth of Nevill and M Marsh replacing the much older Haddin and Watson. I still think Joe Burns should have made the selected squad in place of Voges, but that isn't going to change.

In these times of highly paid, contracted professionals selectors need to be much more proactive in not keeping older players a year too long.
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
That's the report in the OZ this morning. Not before time if it's true. If we were belting all and sundry we could carry them, like we have other players previously, but in this case we're in a dog fight to win an important series. We can't afford any passengers.

Success often masks poor selections.:)
 

Pedrolicus

Dick Tooth (41)
So glad Siddle isn't selected. He's probably a top bloke but it's depressing watching him "try".

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T

Train Without a Station

Guest
QH I don't think there's any issue in "balance" based on age test to test. It's more a squad team and long term planning thing. I don't see the "balance" offering any immediate gain. The form of the players yes.
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
QH I don't think there's any issue in "balance" based on age test to test. It's more a squad team and long term planning thing. I don't see the "balance" offering any immediate gain. The form of the players yes.

I agree in the sense that if a player is and has been in the team for a while and is still performing well, he should definitely stay in the team. However, I think that when we have a number of older players, some of whom are underperforming, it makes little sense to bring in a 35 year old who has never played test cricket before when there is a 20 something in Joe Burns who is performing almost as well, but potentially has a decade of test cricket ahead of him. With no Watson and no Haddin, the Voges selection is less egregious, but he isn't really adding anything to the squad that Burns couldn't have done. The top runscorer in shield cricket argument doesn't hold any water as in the past 5 years Mark Cosgrove has been the top shield runscorer twice and hasn't been considered for selection.
 

Pedrolicus

Dick Tooth (41)
I feel like Australia need to win the toss badly. I heard some stat that said 12 of the last 14 English based ashes games were won by the team who batted first.

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The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
The top runscorer in shield cricket argument doesn't hold any water as in the past 5 years Mark Cosgrove has been the top shield runscorer twice and hasn't been considered for selection.



I think what's counted against Cosgrove has been his weight. He'd be a liability in the field at test level.
 
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