Isn’t there an Australia A v English Lions game in the meantime?
Yep, think Graeme Smith was only in his 7th or 8th test when made skipper of the Saffers but I’d doubt we will see one on debut again.
Be it as a keeper or just a batter Carey must play first test. This has a bit of the Michael Hussey feel about it where he was one of the best 3-4 bats in the country and didn’t get selected until the series was pretty much done and dusted. My worry is we will be 3 or 4 down in the series before they pick him
3 Likes
I agree. He’s a quality bat and his form is good enough to justify batting 6th
I thought this was the case but nothing listed on cricket.com.au so not sure.
It’s on 13-16 July in Canterbury
2 Likes
The beginning of the end of our tournament with the loss to Sth Africa. That meant we finished 2nd after the group stage, a semi-final match-up against the Poms rather than New Zealand. We had players lose form and momentum at the wrong time, Khawaja has his critics but his injury threw us into chaos deciding who to draft into the team. They pulled the wrong rein with Handscomb, once again found wanting technically, whilst the in-form Wade was overlooked once again. Stoinis and Maxwell in bad form severely weakened the middle order and left too much to the openers and Smith. We saw in the tournament a dominant opening stand setting up a platform to really launch and score near 400 getting frittered away by a middle order collapse. So the signs were there, we were just able to get away with it due to our excellent bowling and fielding. Last night to be 3 down so early put massive pressure on Smith, who I thought batted well and fought his way to a score. Carey has gone up seriously in my estimations for his fighting knock, hopefully a sign of things to come when he eventually gets a baggy green.
Now all the focus has to be on the Ashes. I’m just hoping that the WC was enough of a glorified net for Smith and Warner to adjust back to international cricket.
4 Likes
That net session that broke Marsh’s arm and injured Maxwell was also weird, probably unsettling and certainly far from ideal. The last week of the tournament was a shambles.
2 Likes
I thought they were great signs from Smith with the Ashes in mind. Happy to see a real fighting knock from the likely test No4.
Carey had a great tournament with the bat, no doubt. 1st class runs in the warm up games would certainly make selection interesting.
2 Likes
One of the reasons we lost so badly is we were winning with out of form players who were retained, and in form players were over looked. As soon as Stoinis was injured he should’ve been replaced with MMarsh, as Stoinis hasn’t made runs for a long time. The All Blacks stay at the top for many reasons, one is they are ruthless with selection, and will drop a captain if there is another player who has passed them.
Carey is batting as well as any one in the country and his keeping is good. It’s time. It won’t happen because of non-performance reasons. I really like Paine, but the other guy is better. We needed to be bold with selection during the World Cup and take advantage of Australia A form, but we went conservative. We’ll do the same in the Ashes.
1 Like
Just seen a stat on Twitter, the average amount of balls per dismissal for Australia for the 4th/5th/6th wickets in this WC was 23.26, so that’s a tick under 4 overs per wicket in the middle stages of the innings. Last, and by a considerable margin too.
1 Like
How a brutal 30 minute net session ultimately cost Australia the World Cup
- Match report: England crush Australia to make final
- Carey channels McCosker with incredible knock
- Roy lands heavy fine over x-rated show of dissent
- Player ratings: Smith digs deep, Stoinis falls short
Australia’s World Cup disintegration traces back to one fiery net session.
The team that was steamrolled by England by eight wickets in a forgettable semi-final at Edgbaston arrived at Old Trafford for a routine training run on top of the world.
It was July 4 and, at 7-1, they were also on top of the World Cup ladder, having won 15 out of their past 16 ODIs in a sharp turnaround sport has rarely seen.
The Aussies had just smashed semi-finalists England and New Zealand at Lord’s, the venue for Sunday’s final, and were short odds to dismantle South Africa in the tournament’s final group game.
Despite David Warner’s efforts, defeat to South Africa indicated of a loss of momentum for Australia.
Then, in 30 minutes, everything changed. Steve Smith and Jason Behrendorff clutched at fingers during fielding drills, but that quickly became a side issue.
FULL CIRCLE: Edgbaston’s vital role in England’s ODI revolution
SHOCK FOR THE AGES: Kiwis dig deep to knock out India
Shaun Marsh and Glenn Maxwell were rushed to hospital in Manchester for X-rays, having been struck on their right arms by Patrick Cummins and Mitchell Starc respectively.
While Maxwell was cleared, Marsh broke his arm and was sent for surgery the next day.
Shaun Marsh was ruled out of the tournament with a broken arm sustained in the nets.
A calm team had become rattled. Momentum was lost and, with a mindset that shrewd tournament play would deliver Australia its sixth trophy, that was oh so costly.
Coach Justin Langer promised repeatedly that his team wouldn’t get complacent.
“One thing you will not have to worry about from where we have come from over the last 12 months is the Australian cricket team being complacent,” Langer said.
“Do not lose one second sleep about it.”
But perhaps some restless nights were needed. Because the Aussies were off against South Africa, and the wheels fell off.
Cricket World Cup: Australia stumble early against England in their ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final, with Aaron Finch a…
“We had a pretty average game. Not enough of us turned up,” Langer conceded after the 10-run loss.
Marcus Stoinis suffered left and right side strains, Usman Khawaja ripped a hamstring and Australia dropped to second, forcing them to travel to England’s Edgbaston fortress instead of staying at Old Trafford for a date with New Zealand.
Glenn Maxwell failed to deliver on his huge talent in Australia’s middle order.
Squad changes were made. Peter Handscomb replaced Shaun Marsh, Matthew Wade eventually replaced Khawaja while Mitchell Marsh trained with the squad but never officially made it in due to Stoinis’s healing powers.
Glenn Maxwell’s short-ball weakness became so infuriating for Langer that the electrifying allrounder was nearly dropped out of the team, and ultimately dropped down the order.
It is England who will now face New Zealand for the ultimate prize, at Lord’s on Sunday.
The kings of tournament play appeared to have peaked too early, a fear that was realised early in the semi-final surrender.
Patrick Cummins has taken 3/220 from his past five games.
Aaron Finch raised his bat and helmet after striking a memorable World Cup ton against England at Lord’s.
Since that moment Finch has batting figures of 4/11. Stoinis and Maxwell never got going while even Starc tailed off.
Cricket World Cup: Jason Roy lost the plot in the World Cup semi final against Australia after copping this umpiring how…
When Australia defeated England by 64 runs at Lord’s the pressure piled on the home team. Opener Jonny Bairstow blued with Michael Vaughan publicly and a killer instinct was created.
The threat of missing semi-finals again, having failed to qualify since 1992, jolted captain Eoin Morgan’s team into action.
Since then they have pummeled India, New Zealand, Australia and they will now face New Zealand again in the final at Lord’s.
And it looks like, for the third consecutive time, the World Cup trophy is staying with the hosts
So let’s talk captaincy then. If Paine is moved on, and presuming Finch isn’t in the Test side (shouldn’t be?) , who becomes Test captain? Bearing in mind all the sandpaper stuff that will flood pommie media with Smith and Warner? Cummins? Khawaja?
Nah, I don’t see it. It will - and should - be Paine.
1 Like
I agree they won’t change captains, but if they did I would go Lyon over Cummins.
As long as we are comfortable with the fact that a nice guy who brings sledging and fielding to the table is only there because he is captain then sure.
Smith should never have missed the 12 months, let alone be banned from being captain. FFS Faf has actively tampered himself. We jumped the shark and we’ll be f**ked a long time because of it.
Unless we win the ashes.
2 Likes
Also, Jason Roy can’t legitimately think he has a hope of being available for the final after that carry on.
1 Like
A poor display in the Ashes from Paine and he won’t be skipper by our summer
1 Like
Would they hand it straight back to Smith? Would he ever be considered for the captaincy again? There’s a dearth of quality candidates right now…
Very disappointing way to end what has been an excellent period rebuilding our ODI form. Hopefully they can take the positives and transfer them into the Ashes campaign. And they take the disappointing finish to spur them on for the Ashes.
1 Like
We should pick the best 11 based on ability, form etc, then nominate the captain. 2 guys don’t qualify because of media/hierarchy hysteria and penalties, so that still leaves 9 to choose from. Fields can and are set by the captain together with the bowler. What is critical to every sporting team is leadership on and off the field. The actual label of captain is overrated. Grant Thomas got that bit right.
We need collective leadership from Langer, Smith, Warner, Lyon, Hazlewood, Kwaja and Carey. They’ll do fine. But cricket is defined by conservative thinking and of course this won’t happen.