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Australia - should they field four quicks?
- Thread starter LongHopCassidy
- Start date
Adders
Well-known member
This, the Aussies have to play their 6 best batsmen and stop ****ing around with bits and pieces players in the No 6 position. The way their bowling attack is being talked up this shouldn't even be a discussion.
Tangles
Well-known member
It's not a discussion for most fans but after seeing Maxwell play test cricket we realize the selectors don't like simple solutions.
Tangles
Well-known member
Maybe if we had middle order bats crashing runs they would do what seems obvious? But since all our best bats not named Clarke are openers they want to get funky with bits and pieces players. Smith deserves a crack at 6 after what he did in India but he wasn't even in the original squad so he's a long shot for the 1st test I would think.
Adders
Well-known member
It's not just Maxwell tbf (although we was the biggest LOL......especially when he opened the batting and the bowling!!)
You've had a whole string of them going back to Watson mark 1 when he was a middle order allrounder. The only one that delivered a modicum of success was Symonds and that's debatable and was certainly very brief.
I think in this day and age with how well tailenders generally bat (and you've got some great ones, as have we) the necessity for an "allrounder" is overstated. Bloody nice if you have a Kallis but since no one but SA does, the rest of us just need to field our best 6 bats and best 4 bowlers.
Edit:
Sorry, I probably do Watson a bit of a disservice there, for the brief period he was scoring regular runs and bowling a few overs he was successful. But at the time he was good enough to be picked on batting alone.
Last edited:
Flem274*
123/5
I actually think with the fragility of the Australian bowlers that a durable allrounder at six or seven wouldn't be a bad idea as long as they're a test standard batsman, but McDonald is the only one I know of who might fit the bill and he isn't touring.
And I disagree somewhat on the basic make up of any test side. Within reason, you need to field your best eleven cricketers. A guy who is the eighth best batsman in the country and the fifth best bowler, assuming he isn't miles behind your number six batsman, adds more value than the sixth best batsman.
The necessity of an allrounder also depends on how good your keeper is at batting. If you don't have a test standard gloveman who can bat at seven or better, a good allrounder is vital for balance. Likewise for bowling, if you say have two good bowlers then the rest are a much of a muchness but one is an allrounder who isn't the best of the worst, stack the batting and aim to bat teams out of the game to give your two good bowlers and two or so meh bowlers as much of a chance as possible with the extra runs.
It really isn't as simple as some would make out.
In saying that, unless Haddin's batting has completely gone then looking at that squad Australia should go in with the six best batsmen, especially if Twatto is deemed one of them.
edit: in a fantasy world if twatto was actually durable I'd consider putting him at seven and bowl him first change. He's definitely a test standard bowler when he's fully fit. A lot has been made of him being a waste of talent with the bat but he is also a waste with the ball.
And I disagree somewhat on the basic make up of any test side. Within reason, you need to field your best eleven cricketers. A guy who is the eighth best batsman in the country and the fifth best bowler, assuming he isn't miles behind your number six batsman, adds more value than the sixth best batsman.
The necessity of an allrounder also depends on how good your keeper is at batting. If you don't have a test standard gloveman who can bat at seven or better, a good allrounder is vital for balance. Likewise for bowling, if you say have two good bowlers then the rest are a much of a muchness but one is an allrounder who isn't the best of the worst, stack the batting and aim to bat teams out of the game to give your two good bowlers and two or so meh bowlers as much of a chance as possible with the extra runs.
It really isn't as simple as some would make out.
In saying that, unless Haddin's batting has completely gone then looking at that squad Australia should go in with the six best batsmen, especially if Twatto is deemed one of them.
edit: in a fantasy world if twatto was actually durable I'd consider putting him at seven and bowl him first change. He's definitely a test standard bowler when he's fully fit. A lot has been made of him being a waste of talent with the bat but he is also a waste with the ball.
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the big bambino
Well-known member
I'd pick 4 pacemen as long as Watson is the 4th. Last time I saw 5 pace bowlers in an XI Michael Clarke made a billion. While I enjoyed it, it kinda put me off as a tactic.
hendrix
Well-known member
I'd say that if he averaged 40 and took a few wickets of some (set) batsmen, he will have done his job.
KungFu_Kallis
Well-known member
Lyon would do okish, but they really need to get the accurate away shaping Bird in there asap. And not wait till the 2nd Test when Pattinson & Harris will be injured.
KungFu_Kallis
Well-known member
Bird is Australia's Philander (accurate, nibbly, 130ish, godlike FC stats, average LA stats). And a killer start in Tests. And they're not going to pick him.
The Battlers Prince
Well-known member
Who knows what the selectors are thinking for the Aussies, possibly the don't want a revolving door situation, but I would like to Bird given a chance, Bird Harris and Patto would be good to watch for my way of thinking.
Burgey
Well-known member
He'll have a keeper who can catch this series. He'll do a lot better than that
Spark
Global Moderator
A ~40 average would be about par with Swann's Ashes performances thus far - and this time he has an actual keeper as Burgey notes.
We played 4 quicks + a spinner at Sydney as well. Sort of unbalanced and unsettled the side IMO, not a fan at all.
Maximas
Well-known member
That team was disgusting, and if SL had their best 11 available (and picked Randiv) they probably would have won. But that was different, the selectors realised how stupid rotation was and decided they couldn't drop anyone, which meant they had to play them all. This won't happen in the Ashes though, and if it does an actual all-rounder will play, not ****ing MJ.
LongHopCassidy
Well-known member
Nah ****, Forkers and Lyon are mutually exclusive. Smith will bat 6.