Caleb
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Jason Arnberger for me
Ian Harvey would definitely provide better mediums than Marnus.
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Would you make changes tor the 2nd test?? Or give them one more chance??
I know Iāve been savage and over the top. But gee wiz the coach really ā ā ā ā ā ā me off. Cannot stand him all his corporate talk. How poorly has he prepared and selected this team? And he let the bowling coach miss this test to be in India for the IPL auction.
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Perry would be a better option than Mcsweeney
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Slug Webster in and Vice Captain
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Ask the Perth crowd?
No6 for sydney test
Iād drop Marnus. Heās absolutely, irretrievably, out of form. He aināt turning it around this series.
The rest, if needed they can go on notice, but Iām not making wholesale changes. Theyāve shown in past they can turn it around pretty quickly.
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While this test is disappointing, this stuff happens to all teams. Hopefully they bounce back for the next test.
I am still perplexed that CA had about 12 months or so to plan for Warner retiring, it was very clear it was coming. But they havenāt seemed to have done anything about it except look for players they could force into the role. None of which has worked.
I think McSweeney should be at 3 however I am not going to judge his effectiveness in a test where some of the best batters have done nothing either. He deserves time to find his way into this.
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I just donāt know who they bring in.
Thereās also a large Cricket Aus factor in all this. Or at least, whoever scheduled a 20/20 and ODI lead in to the critical summer event - a five Test series - and/ or decided that the Test players would avoid shield cricket.
Hereās the Shield outings for this season so far (with four matches possible).-
Lyon 2
Hazelwood 1
Starc 1
Cummins 0
Carey 3
Marsh 2
Head 1
Smith 1
Lab 2
McSweeney 2
Khawaja 3
Itās all well and good to crap on about how the players are all feeling really fresh, but coming off months of zero first class cricket , Iād say only Carey and Usman actually played anywhere close to the required level of first class cricket befitting of the summers priority. (McSweeney gets a pass mark too as he also played the Aus A matches ).
Add to that , really only Carey found genuine form at Shield level. And in the Aus A matches, McSweeney looked most impressive batting at 4 , then we picked him as opener against arguably the worldās best current opening bowler.
Our batsmen look completely off the pace, and the Indian bowlers have been far more spritely and dangerous off the exact same deck on the exact same days.
Thereās a fair bit wrong in Australian cricket at the moment. And much of it revolves around priorities ( or otherwise) and trying to hammer square pegs into round holes. We look very poorly prepared, and this is compounded by a few players clearly on the downward slope to retirement.
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If it goes that pear shaped,we can always go āfk it, you guys might not be ready, but these guys arenāt getting it doneā. Bit like how some teams blood kids in the back of an AFL season. Itās learning more than expecting performance.
Thereās a few where we could do that with I think.
But I suspect this test will be an outlier. We will be more competitive going forward.
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Excellent post!
Those stats (facts) are damning. WOW
Imagine the red ball team not playing adequate red ball cricket in the lead up.
Itās stupidity.
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You keep going on about how bad selection was. What would your XI have been?
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Our batting hasnāt really surprised me in this test, but our 2nd innings bowling did
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Also Iām watching the IPL on auction on Kayo and this is more interesting than the majority of todayās play
The other thing I want to see at Shield level is what Greg Chappell talked about yonks ago - bugger off a bunch of these guys who are good at that level but no hope of playing test.
Keep a handful around to set standards, but otherwise, be far more aggressive in bringing in kids who might be capable of the next step.
Im sure they have played limited cricket leading into every summer not just this one.