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West Indies vs Aus

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Peter Fenwicke (45)
IMO its only a matter of time before Glenn Maxwell becomes part of this discussion.

Between he, M.Marsh, (potentially Watto and Burns shorter-term) one of them has to emerge as our standout. I only say that because I doubt we will get away from the obsession with having an 'all-rounder' in the team.

We're going to lose some seriously good players in the next 12 months. Clarke and Harris are nearly irreplaceable. Add Rogers, Haddin, and Voges and that's the bulk of our experience.


Of the above, losing Clarke in the middle order is most concerning. His leadership is second to none. I reckon he may very well be passed it, and his back is fucked, but he's worth carrying for one more series after what he's done for Australian cricket.
 

The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
I'd go with Burns and Ferguson before anyone else. If Maxy can play as well in FC cricket as he has in the shorter forms of the game then I agree he will come into contention. He only played two Shield games last season and averaged 24 with the bat, which aint enough for now. Mitch Marsh is a very talented cricketer and still young and I back him to take the step up and be a top line test player. He's still a work in progress though.
 

Strewthcobber

Mark Ella (57)
I'd go with Burns and Ferguson before anyone else. If Maxy can play as well in FC cricket as he has in the shorter forms of the game then I agree he will come into contention. He only played two Shield games last season and averaged 24 with the bat, which aint enough for now. Mitch Marsh is a very talented cricketer and still young and I back him to take the step up and be a top line test player. He's still a work in progress though.
Is M Marsh fit at the moment (or at least on track to be back at some stage)? Missed a hell of a lot of cricket recently but he does solve a lot of problems.
 
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Train Without a Station

Guest
I don't think Marsh solves the problem of a top 7 batsman yet. He may develop to that, but right now as it stands, we'd be expecting him to do that development at test level.
 
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Train Without a Station

Guest
Not really. Faulkner has never scored a first class 100. You severely weaken your batting.

I don't see moving Haddin up as a solution. You try to play 6 players averaging 40+ and the Haddin. Moving him up merely means you are a batting option down.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
I've long been against having an all rounder in the test team as a matter of course. Pick your 6 best batsmen, best wicket keeper and 4 best bowlers. If one of those players also excels at something else then you get a bonus.

Watson can certainly stay in the team for now because I don't see any improvement to our batting by dropping him for Shaun Marsh.

With Rogers missing the second test we can assume that Marsh, Watson and Voges will all play.
 
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Train Without a Station

Guest
I think it comes down to who you have.

If your 6th batsman is Michael Hussey, Brad Hodge, Stuart Law, etc. who's been plundering 50 runs an innings for a decade, then what value is an all-rounder.

If your 6th batsman is Rob Quiney, Alex Doolan, Callum Ferguson who is averaging low 40s or less and hasn't shown to be a dominant Sheffield Shield batsman, let alone any chance of that at test level, then if you have a guy who bats on their level or near (actually better in Watson's case) and also bowls, it's probably worth looking at.
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
Smith has been in stellar form for a while and shows no signs of stopping. Really hard for teams to beat us when he can come in and turn the game around almost effortlessly. Windies aren't a great team, but it's mainly because their batsmen can't build an innings. Their bowlers are quite good and these pitches do a bit as well.
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
And with the indicipline of some of those Windies batsmen, you don't have to do too much to get a few wickets.
 

Brumby Runner

David Wilson (68)
Look at the best FC career batting records in Australia. Watson if he's not in the top 6 will be in the top 10, though I'm pretty sure he'd still be in the top 6. None of the competition can bowl.

Who are the All-Rounder alternatives? Faulkner and Marsh.

Watson averages 43 with the bat with 20 centuries and 29 with the ball.

Marsh averages 29 with 2 centuries with the bat and 29 with the ball.

Faulkner averages 31 with 0 centuries with the bat and 24 with the ball.

I'm not sure how it's even a discussion. The only way one can claim any superiority, is Faulkner with the ball. You can't even claim they are plundering domestic attacks and on the up. Only Marsh has scored a century and he has only 2 of them to his name.

TWAS I'm much more optimistic about both of Marsh and Faulkner. Even though MM has only two centuries, he's still just a boy compared with Watto, and Faulkner has only recently seemed to concentrate a bit more on his batting. I wouldn't be at all concerned if either was brought into the team in the near future in place of Watto who is definitely on the wane imo. He has had periods where he has been an absolute standout, but I don't see that sort of form continuing much longer.
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
^^^^^^^^^^ Spammers starting to quote actual posters now, there's something we could all do without, methinks....... much as I enjoy this chinglish stuff (or is it englese? hard to tell the diff these days) :)
 

Strewthcobber

Mark Ella (57)
Got them on the rack now.

Anyone see the Hawkeye reversal on Lyon's wicket late in the day? Had it bouncing way over the stumps. The ball track looked very dodgy.

I wonder how often it's just plain wrong. Not just inaccurate (they claim +- 2mm).
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
Windies 2/16 stumps day3 still need 376 runs to win.

They'll probably make it to lunch on day 4 but I suspect it will be all over by tea time. Day at the beach day 5.

Such a pity that their batsmen can't bat with discipline and build an innings. Their bowlers aren't too bad and this would have been a competitive series with a half decent batting lineup.
 
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