Test Match Cricket

There was a good chat on 5 live last night about the Ashes. Harmison was having a go at Vaughan for being critical of Cook in the media and twtter etc. Asking whether he had ever given him any advice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03m81wq

I’d love to see warne get the job though I’m not sure he’d take it. He seems one of the great cricketing minds and is a pundit of the highest class. To be honest I enjoy the analysis more than the cricket.

Will never happen, smart guy though.

Do you think he would take it if he were offered ?

If it gave him time to be close to Liz Hurley, I suppose so.

I’d imagine he’d have less time. He’d be all over the world. He is fairly popular with the old mcc crowd by all accounts.

Rankin has just been handed his cap, along with Borthwick and Ballance. Root dropped for Ballance apparently, presumably Bell will bat at three. I thought Carberry might get the chop with Root going back to open. On current form, it’s the right choice but it’s hard to see that Carberry is really up to it at this level. Nothing like exposure to Test match cricket to show up a flaw like his seeming weakness to round the wicket bowling.

There’s no future in Carberry past this series, but Root just might need a kick up the arse. Bar his 180 knock at Lord’s in the 2nd innings, when the test was already won, his form has been pretty dire both series.

[quote=“Fitzy, post: 880007, member: 236”]Well this is the thing with the Australian team isn’t it? Is it a false dawn? It is an old team and Watson and Harris in particular have serious question marks over their ability even in the short term to last a series. There’s plenty of decent players about, but are they test standard? I think Rogers and Bailey shpuld be done away with straight away, Rogers is too old, Bailey is useless, they need to start blooding some of the younger domestic players. James Faulkner, Jackson Bird, Alex Doolan, Aaron Finch, Moises Henriques, plenty others. Then there’s Phil Hughes (yes I know, but he continues to score serious amounts of runs in domestic cricket) and Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh. Maybe bring this current team to South Africa, try to get a result there and then Lehmann starts to build a team for the long term.
After a whitewash of England here, you’d fancy a good result in SA, but I can see SA murdering them. This England team are knackered and over the hill, Australia are revitalised, but too many cracks are being papered over here for my liking.[/quote]
Holy fuck, are you actually advocating dropping Rogers for Hughes? I really don’t get this too old argument. He just scored a century and has been pretty decent throughout both series. He’s good enough until he’s not good enough. I do agree that the Saffers will sort out a few of the weaknesses that have been hidden by England’s capitulation though.

Christ Braz. After the SA tour, Australia need to seriously look at the age profile of this team. Rogers at 35 is not a long term prospect and the earlier they build a consistent opening partnership the better. Likewise, the fast bowlers are all getting on and they may be found out in SA also, as they’ll be facing batsmen who actually know how to bat and have no problems dealing with short stuff.

Haddin has promised that the Aussies will “monster” Borthwick by the way. Should be interesting. Hope for his sake he does a better job than Kerrigan did on debut anyway.

But Rogers has given them stability at the top of the order that they haven’t had for years. He’s working as a partner for Warner, and I think Warner is improving batting alongside him. There’s no reason he can’t stay there for another couple of years. I wouldn’t go near altering the batting line-up (except probably Bailey at six) until I needed to. Let those younger lads continue to develop playing Shield, I can’t see how bringing Hughes in before he was ready on three previous occasions really helped his development.

On the bowling side, they have less of a worry. Bird, Pattinson and Cummins have all been blooded and looked the part. They just need to keep them fit for a while.

I don’t know anything about Borthwick other than that he’s a spinner, is he any good Braz? The SCG is generally a decent turning ground, but apparently its a green top at the moment, so he could get lamped all over the place. Ballance and Rankin appear to be in as well.

[quote=“braz83, post: 881370, member: 390”]But Rogers has given them stability at the top of the order that they haven’t had for years. He’s working as a partner for Warner, and I think Warner is improving batting alongside him. There’s no reason he can’t stay there for another couple of years. I wouldn’t go near altering the batting line-up (except probably Bailey at six) until I needed to. Let those younger lads continue to develop playing Shield, I can’t see how bringing Hughes in before he was ready on three previous occasions really helped his development.

On the bowling side, they have less of a worry. Bird, Pattinson and Cummins have all been blooded and looked the part. They just need to keep them fit for a while.[/quote]
You forgot my friend Mitchell Starc.

I hope that gangly treacherous bastard Boyd Rankin gets battered all over the SCG, the fucking cunt.

I did. They’re well enough stocked with fast bowling options.

I’ve never seen him play to be honest. His figures aren’t all that hot, but Durham wouldn’t be a very spin-friendly pitch. His batting was a revelation last summer though, scored a shitload and they promoted him up the order.

Cook chooses to field. Aussies name the same team throughout a five-match series for the first time ever.

Rogers at 45 will be a better option than Phil Hughes. Hughes can score all the runs he likes at provincial level. He’s been tried time and again at test level and the bottom line is he’s not up to it.

Borthwick plays for Durham and bats at three. his first class batting average is 31 and he has scored 4 centuries. He has taken 110 wickets at an average of…31. He is a part time spinner. Harmison was saying the other night that he does not bowl enough. He played 2 ODIs and scored 18 runs. the fear would be that he will get lambasted.

Good decision to drop Root, he was too comfortable in the clique. Don’t believe Warner was the only at fault for that incident in the summer.