It begins

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SilentBob

Bencher
The 20/20 crap is over, the ODI series against India for whatever cup it is this week is wrapped up and the real cricket starts in a few weeks. Who replaces Langer, Warne and McGrath?

The pace bowling stocks aren't looking as bad as they were 12 months ago. Lee, Clark, Johnson, Bracken and Tait are the main contenders Tait is on the back foot as he hasn't returned form injury yet, Gillespie held on to his contract, Hilfenhaus isn't far away from a start, Noffke and Cameron have started well this week too.

MacGill is the only choice to replace Warne for now but I have noted some commentaters giving Hogg a push even though he has struggled to play 1st class cricket for WA.

Jaques has 10 000 first class runs, he deserves a shot to cement his spot over the summer.

Jaques
Hayden
Ponting
Hussey
Clarke
Symonds
Gilchrist
Lee
Johnson
Clark
MacGill
 
Jaques 167 should see him tie up the openers spot.

They may go with 4 quicks in the gabba test.

Watson needs to finish a couple of shield games , at least, before he is considered for Australia again.
 
Agreed, Jaques for sure after that.

I wouldn't be against four quicks if the pitch looks like it will suit it. Mark Waugh and Border both picked four quicks in their sides and Border had Hussey opening with Hodge in the middle order.

Watson, the selectors love him, Ponting loves him, I agree with Ian Chappell, he needs to complete a full domestic season before being picked again, he's an average player amongst the Australian set up so no need to rush him back in.
 
The Indian series has been the best cricket playued in the last couple of years.

However, since it wasn't in Oz it was sh!thouse.

Ok - We won't lose anything without McGrath - Clark is more than capable of keeping it tight and picking up 2 or 3 wickets an innings.

Jaques is a certainty. McGill won't play until the SA/NSW tests.....the bowlers will be Lee/CLark/Johnson/Tait for the otehr tests.
 
Tait will be injured on and off, hes as bad as Watson.

Bob, check out Watsons world cup stats and you might be surprised.
 
Watson isn't my cup of tea in a 5 day format. He's too predictable with the ball and too irradic with the bat.

You can have 4 specialty bowlers and Symonds or 3 bowlers and 2 "all rounders"

IMO you can't have Symonds and Watson in the same team - it just doesn't work. 4 Quickies in QLD and WA are a must.

Although in saying that, Sheep Dog has bowled well in India. I'd love to see him get a run in the test team....although i can't remember the last time he played one for WA.
 
Tait will be injured on and off, hes as bad as Watson.

Bob, check out Watsons world cup stats and you might be surprised.

I checked his stats out...
8 matches
4 wickets @ 54.25 and a strike rate of 66.7
6 innings/5 not outs for 145 runs and 145 avg at a strike rate of 170, top score 65*

So poor bowling and some slogging at the end of matches when the work had been done. If you check out the World Cup stats 5/7 of the batsmen who would have been ahead of him most of the tournament all averaged over 50 so his work at the end of games was really just icing on the cake, not ground breaking game winning innings.

Not really surprised.
 
icing on the cake yes, the icing that turned average totals into very good ones, try watching some games before sputing junk like that.

At least Matt used his brain and said he wasnt suited for tests, and that he and Symonds arent suited to be in the same side.
 
You're the one who said check out his stats, I did that and they weren't all that impressive, you seem bitter that they didn't back up your memories of his World Cup form or something.

I thought you would have used your own brain and understood I was talking about Tests seeing as I started this thread to talk about them.
 
I agree with Bob, have never really rated Watson as a cricketer. None of his play really seems that natural, he looks a lot like a manufactured cricketer to me.

Read an article 1-2 weeks back saying MacGill may have blown his chance, some sort of on field incident on a tour with some younger players he was meant to be guiding, and read a couple of days back that Hogg may be in with a chance as the test spinner. Would be interesting to see him in the longer version

Interested on peoples views on Johnson. I always see him taking 4 and 5 wicket bags on the scoresheets, but when i actually see him play he doesn't deliver a lot and looks average. Is he the goods or not ?

Why does Bracken never really get a look in for the test team ? From the limited games he played last season Hilfenhaus really looked the goods, will be interested to see more of him
 
I agree with Bob, have never really rated Watson as a cricketer. None of his play really seems that natural, he looks a lot like a manufactured cricketer to me.

Read an article 1-2 weeks back saying MacGill may have blown his chance, some sort of on field incident on a tour with some younger players he was meant to be guiding, and read a couple of days back that Hogg may be in with a chance as the test spinner. Would be interesting to see him in the longer version

Interested on peoples views on Johnson. I always see him taking 4 and 5 wicket bags on the scoresheets, but when i actually see him play he doesn't deliver a lot and looks average. Is he the goods or not ?

Why does Bracken never really get a look in for the test team ? From the limited games he played last season Hilfenhaus really looked the goods, will be interested to see more of him

The first time I saw him play for QLd, I said he'd never play for his state again let alone his country!

He has talent but I reckon he has to become a lot more consistent before he plays tests.

Having said that, I'd love to see him let loose at the Gabba against the indians in the first test. If he manages to find his range he will scare the f#@% out of em.
 
There's an article in one of todays papers and MacGill talks about what happened in Pakistan, I don't think it will harm his chances just yet, mainly because there hasn't been a spinner stepping up in domestic cricket for a while, Cullen dropped off a lot last season and Hogg rarely plays the long form, it will only take one guy (there's 4 or 5 prospective spinners going around) to show some consistent form to put pressure on MacGill.

Johnson is a bit like Tait, whens he's bad he's really bad, when he's good he's great, not quite to the extremes of Tait though. They're both working on their consistency and it's working.

Not sure why Bracken doesn't get a look in, just one of those players who has been labelled ODI only for now. It may be his pace, he doesn't have the impact Johnson or Tait can provide.

I like the look of Hilfenhaus too, he'll get a run eventually and be one of the spearheads for Australia in both forms IMO, just a matter of time.

It all looks good for the future, all it will take is a spinner or two to step up and we will have around 10 quality bowlers to pick from.
 
Less than a week to go.

Tait had to pull out, Hilfenhaus in to the squad.

I'm not sure if they are seriously considering Hogg or if it's just to put some pressure on MacGill.

Johnson has been completely outplayed by Noffke for Qld over the last week, should get a spot though.
 

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