Cricket thread

[one-eyed]

Marsh actually bowling well and has two wickets  .

If we hadn't dropped 3 catches  , England could have been nearly bowled out by now.

[Diocletian]

He's taken four wickets so far -which probably says more about England's batting than anything- but in typical Marsh fashion looks to have pinged his hammy again....

Bizarre decision to bring in Siddle...was as expensive as Starc probably would've been but Starc most likely to get Buttler out when he tees off and most likely to get through Leach's brick wall defence - our best yorker bowler on what's been good wicket for those lengths...also a bizarre decision to bowl first on a good deck coming off a three day break between tests...luckily England haven't really capitalised ...yet...

[one-eyed]

Again it's Smith vs England after another batting collapse around him .

After getting a 5-for with the ball, Marsh then gives ammo to his critics with the way he threw away his wicket with the bat.

[mightytiges]

Next time Paine unless it's a bright green pitch and overcast you bat first when you win the toss. His captaincy was good at Old Trafford and he deserve credit for the win there but in this test he's had a mare.

We could've forfeited our first two wickets during this Ashes series and we wouldn't have noticed the difference. Warner averaging 9 this series (even a lower 5 against Broad). Then add Harris also averaging 9 and Bancroft 11 who was dropped. Khawaja averaged 20. I think you have to go back to the dark times of the mid-80s when so many batting spots in the national team were up for grabs. Anyone who makes runs early on in the new Sheffield Shield season is a good chance of 'earning' a baggy green.

Smith showed he is mortal. He eventually was going to miss out with his teammates failing around him and expecting him to save the day every innings. At least Wade is fighting it out today by going on the attack.

As for Mitch Marsh getting out to such a soft delivery from part-timer Root . That's why his critics bag him.

[Diocletian]

All over red rover, Aussies still hungover. 

First Test v Pakistan

Best two performing shield openers who aren't Harris or Warner
Labuschagne
Smith
Wade (c)
Pucovski
Anyone but Paine wk
Starc
Cummins
Lyon
Hazlewood

12th Man James "Dale Steyn" Pattinson

 

[WilliamPowell]

All over red rover, Aussies still hungover. 

First Test v Pakistan

Best two performing shield openers who aren't Harris or Warner
Labuschagne
Smith
Wade (c)
Pucovski
Anyone but Paine wk
Starc
Cummins
Lyon
Hazlewood

12th Man James "Dale Steyn" Pattinson

 

You're going to be disappointed

Paine won't be dropped, nor should he be

Wade won't be captain, luckily for him he made a ton or he would likely be dropped more for his pathetic sledging than anything else. Obviously, Matthew still doesn't get that one of the reasons he was dropped previously outside being an average keeper was because of his boorish on field antics.

Take away his 2 centuries and Wade was found wanting too

[Diocletian]

Yeah take away Wade's two centuries that no-one else besides Smith could manage....

Paine should be dropped - utterly incompetent captain, completely useless batsman and his keeping has gone to shyte...

[Tiger Khosh]

Probably agree that he won’t be dropped by why shouldn’t he be dropped WP? He failed with the bat in all but 1 maybe 2 innings and his captaincy apart from in the 4th test was poor to say the least. Give Carey a go with the gloves I say. I know it was a different format but he was excellent in the World Cup and you’ve really got nothing to lose output wise.

Agree with dio you can’t just discount Wades 2 centuries when no1 other than smith made any at all. Although not sure why he’s plonked the C on him. Obvious one would be Cummins although you generally don’t see ballers named captain anymore. This is obviously excluding the obvious obvious choice which I doubt the selectors will consider just yet.

Labaschagne, Smith, Wade and the balling brigade all retained but every other spot should at the very least be considered.

[Diocletian]

Wade gets the captaincy due to experience, because specialist bowlers rarely make good captains and tend to over bowl themselves and because Smith can't do it again until March.

[mightytiges]

Paine today scored his second first-class century 13 years after his first  .

So that'll keep him in the test side and as captain. Carey scored a ton too albeit on a road.

[Dougeytherichmondfan]

Paine today scored his second first-class century 13 years after his first  .

So that'll keep him in the test side and as captain. Carey scored a ton too albeit on a road.

So did about 7 other blokes. That pitch was a disgrace. Unfortunately for selectors next to nothing can be gleaned from that match.

[mightytiges]

So did about 7 other blokes. That pitch was a disgrace. Unfortunately for selectors next to nothing can be gleaned from that match.

True. Looks the like the only change to the test squad will be due to Mitch Marsh being an idiot and busting his own hand.

[one-eyed]

Cameron Bancroft has come from the clouds for the second straight series to join Joe Burns, Travis Head and Michael Neser as borderline picks for the first Test in Brisbane.

AUSTRALIA’S 14-MAN SQUAD FOR FIRST TEST

David Warner, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (capt), Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Michael Neser.

PAKISTAN SQUAD

Pakistan squad: Azhar Ali (c), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan Snr, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/cricket/joe-burns-to-be-picked-for-first-test-at-the-gabba-against-pakistan/news-story/9fde56f7a5287ff8a256ecf8bab0a6ba

[Dougeytherichmondfan]

Cameron Bancroft has come from the clouds for the second straight series to join Joe Burns, Travis Head and Michael Neser as borderline picks for the first Test in Brisbane.

AUSTRALIA’S 14-MAN SQUAD FOR FIRST TEST

David Warner, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (capt), Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Michael Neser.

PAKISTAN SQUAD

Pakistan squad: Azhar Ali (c), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan Snr, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/cricket/joe-burns-to-be-picked-for-first-test-at-the-gabba-against-pakistan/news-story/9fde56f7a5287ff8a256ecf8bab0a6ba

Ugh, really, Cam Bancroft needs to be turfed into the dustbin of history. We immediately looked better when Harris came in to open in the Ashes. I know he's not the answer, but he's better than Bancroft - and he doesn't have the greatest cheating effort in Australian cricket history on his resume either....

[mightytiges]

Yep, I'm not sure why they keep going back to Bancroft . It's not as though he's done anything at test level even before the cheating scandal unlike Smith and Warner.

Pattinson meanwhile has made the selectors job easy.