Australia v Sri Lanka

Best innings by an Aussie bat I've seen in a long time...and he can't crack THIS test side, go figure.

Khawaja's 141 with footmarks v Abbas, Shah and Asif to save a Test in October beats a 72 over game with 14 players allowed.
 
Patterson was excellent but the same questions still remain, why can't he score 100 for NSW? Until he is peeling off 5 a year for the Blues why would he be able to do it for Australia?

He has scored two Shield 100's in the last two years, one against the Bulls in 16/17 and this summer. I was at that Bulls one and it was great under lights with Smith getting 100 too.

Those two are a third of his 100 since 2011.

But to me it's just more of the same, thinking we can take a guy and make him better at a higher level.
 
Pucovski I thought looked in control except against the short ball. That's how he got out too hooking and they had the man back. He looked uncomfortable.

The over before they pushed him back and then he took the bait, good bowling.
 
Last edited:
Doran is an interesting one, child prodigy I remember when he was going to play Tests in 2015. Signed a BBL contract at 17. Chappell was in love with him. Blues lost him and were filthy and he played against England in 2013 too.

Had a good SS last year and I thought that would be his break out year, but this year he's been pretty average again.
 
Khawaja's 141 with footmarks v Abbas, Shah and Asif to save a Test in October beats a 72 over game with 14 players allowed.

Key words - I’ve seen.
 
Patterson was excellent but the same questions still remain, why can't he score 100 for NSW? Until he is peeling off 5 a year for the Blues why would he be able to do it for Australia?

He has scored two Shield 100's in the last two years, one against the Bulls in 16/17 and this summer. I was at that Bulls one and it was great under lights with Smith getting 100 too.

Those two are a third of his 100 since 2011.

But to me it's just more of the same, thinking we can take a guy and make him better at a higher level.

Once again you are shifting the goal posts. If he was trying to crack the team of the late 90s-early 00s, your point is totally valid.

However this is a completely different era and there are no truly explainable ways where you can say he doesn’t deserve a chance over any of Finch, Head or Lableak.
 
Once again you are shifting the goal posts. If he was trying to crack the team of the late 90s-early 00s, your point is totally valid.

However this is a completely different era and there are no truly explainable ways where you can say he doesn’t deserve a chance over any of Finch, Head or Lableak.

How am I moving the posts? I constantly bang on about 1000 run years and averaging 60 for your State.

I talk about it ad nauseam how people think poor Shield form will just correct itself against world class attacks and how very rarely it has happened.

Moving standards down is not the answer. Ignoring flaws in games isn't the answer.

But if you wanted to raise a case the gap in the last 12 months certainly isn't what you're thinking.

Patterson 1100 runs at 40.74
Labuschagne 1087 at 36.17
Head 907 at 43

Labuschagne has two 100's in that 12 months- as opposed to one.

It's pretty even.
 
How am I moving the posts? I constantly bang on about 1000 run years and averaging 60 for your State.

I talk about it ad nauseam how people think poor Shield form will just correct itself against world class attacks and how very rarely it has happened.

Moving standards down is not the answer. Ignoring flaws in games isn't the answer.

But if you wanted to raise a case the gap in the last 12 months certainly isn't what you're thinking.

Patterson 1100 runs at 40.74
Labuschagne 1087 at 36.17
Head 907 at 43

Labuschagne has two 100's in that 12 months- as opposed to one.

It's pretty even.

Ok, so Head you could argue for given he has been around a long time and did seem to be getting better in the last few seasons before this one but Labarbeque has absolutely no right to be there.

4 more runs on average is nothing to sneeze at, especially when it combines with their overall records where Patterson is almost 10 runs ahead.

Plus, Patterson makes starts almost every innings then loses concentration, this is more fixable than a guy that makes a small ton or nothing.

Don’t get me started on Finch the opener. I haven’t even bought M.Marsh into either.
 
Another 100 for Patterson today. 50 for Labuschagne, 2 more failures for Burns & Renshaw.
 
Sucks for Burns. Looks like he will be left out now. Given he has been the best performing Shield batsmen for the last 2 seasons he should be a lock. But with the inclusion of Patterson he’ll probably be left out.
 
starting with the Sri Lanka series, i would probably go with a line up like:

1. Harris
2. Burns
3. Khawaja
4. Patterson
5.
6.
7. Paine
8. Cummins
9. Stark
10. Lyon
11. Hazlewood

not sure who out of Head, Labuschagne or Will Pucovski to fill the final 2 batting positions.

but one things is for sure, the selectors need to pick and stick to give these guys a chance to gel at this level (and in some cases learn what test cricket is all about). and that includes batting order.

they can't keep chopping and changing every test, I mean bringing back Handscomb for one test was complete BS. he clearly hadn't even had a chance to work on the area's the wanted him to work on.

the selectors seem to be treading water until the ball tampering bans (especially Smith's) have ended.
 
I actually wouldn't mind this batting lineup -

1. Harris
2. Renshaw
3. Khawaja
4. Patterson
5. Head
6. Burns

Leaving Labuchagne & Pucovski out for the time being, I think they're the least likely to cement a spot before Warner & Smith return.

5 left handers in a row is unheard of though, so you can almost guarantee that won't be what we go with.
 
Last edited:
starting with the Sri Lanka series, i would probably go with a line up like:

1. Harris
2. Burns
3. Khawaja
4. Patterson
5.
6.
7. Paine
8. Cummins
9. Stark
10. Lyon
11. Hazlewood

not sure who out of Head, Labuschagne or Will Pucovski to fill the final 2 batting positions.

but one things is for sure, the selectors need to pick and stick to give these guys a chance to gel at this level (and in some cases learn what test cricket is all about). and that includes batting order.

they can't keep chopping and changing every test, I mean bringing back Handscomb for one test was complete BS. he clearly hadn't even had a chance to work on the area's the wanted him to work on.

the selectors seem to be treading water until the ball tampering bans (especially Smith's) have ended.

Hazlewood is ruled out for the series.
 
Last edited:
Sucks for Burns. Looks like he will be left out now. Given he has been the best performing Shield batsmen for the last 2 seasons he should be a lock. But with the inclusion of Patterson he’ll probably be left out.
It does suck for Burns as everyone will score runs in this series and will probably book their flight for England. Probably not the greatest tune up for the Ashes playing the Lankans at home but that is just the way the schedule reads. The Aussies will get clobbered in Eng regardless of who is selected.
 
I'd certainly be going:

1. Harris
2. Burns
3. Khawaja
4. Patterson
5. Head
6. Pucovski
7. Paine (c) (wk)
8. Cummins
9. Starc
10. Richardson
11. Lyon

But I think Labookstore is the new M.Marsh and wil keep being gifted chance after chance after chance.

So will probably be:

1. Harris
2. Khawaja
3. Labarnacle
4. Patterson
5. Head
6. Pucovski
7. Paine
8. Cummins
9. Starc
10. Lyon
11. Siddle
 
It does suck for Burns as everyone will score runs in this series and will probably book their flight for England. Probably not the greatest tune up for the Ashes playing the Lankans at home but that is just the way the schedule reads. The Aussies will get clobbered in Eng regardless of who is selected.

Sri Lanka have some very good players.

Karunaratne- was one of the best performing openers all year- 158 v SA and averaged 46 in a year where the average for openers was poor- passed 50 in eight of his 17 innings. 743 runs.

Mendis- 176 v Australia last time. Second highest run scorer last year in Test cricket. Three 100's including 141 v NZ in NZ.

Perera- second for wickets taken 50 at 29. Last time we played Sri Lanka they won 3-0 and he took 15 wickets in three Tests.

Kumara- is fast and gets up to 140, he could cause problems if he can sort himself out.
 

Unread

Active Now

  • Morkel
  • KateBroncos1812
  • Fitzy
  • I bleed Maroon
  • winslow_wong
  • Galah
  • ivanhungryjak
Top
  AdBlock Message
Please consider adding BHQ to your Adblock Whitelist. We do our best to make sure it doesn't affect your experience on the website, and the funds help us pay server and software costs.