Sheffield Shield

[1910]

Harris 250*
Lehmann 104*

 

[ZTop]

I wasn’t including any guys currently in the test side and I don’t rate Labuschagne as a batsman anyway, would love him to prove me wrong though.

You also have the wrong Short, I included Matthew Short, though I don’t really see that much in him either at present. The batting overall looks like it is going to be horrid for a while yet and especially so if Pucovski goes by the wayside which may very well happen.

That said, Pope and Green are the super exciting spin and pace superstars in waiting. If you get a chance to watch Green, do it.

Yep Green is an exciting prospect, he can bat a little to

 

[Unbreakable]

Lehmann might have done enough in the first 2 games to get the middle order nod, if he scores another big one I think he's a lock.

61, 33* & 126 so far.

 

[1910]

I wasn’t including any guys currently in the test side and I don’t rate Labuschagne as a batsman anyway, would love him to prove me wrong though.

You also have the wrong Short, I included Matthew Short, though I don’t really see that much in him either at present. The batting overall looks like it is going to be horrid for a while yet and especially so if Pucovski goes by the wayside which may very well happen.

That said, Pope and Green are the super exciting spin and pace superstars in waiting. If you get a chance to watch Green, do it.

Problem with Green is three games two years ago and then one now. It's worrying and hard to get any gauge on form when he has to just play as a batsmen for 12 months.

 

[Unbreakable]

Back to back 50's for Kurtis Patterson, throwing his name back in the ring.

 

[Sproj]

Problem with Green is three games two years ago and then one now. It's worrying and hard to get any gauge on form when he has to just play as a batsmen for 12 months.

Which Green are you talking about? The spinner? I’m talking about Cameron Green the 19 year old paceman. Very hard to play many games as a paceman when you are 17/18 anyway.

 

[Sproj]

Back to back 50's for Kurtis Patterson, throwing his name back in the ring.

Yes he is but guess who else is in the runs, the gift that keeps on taking - S.Marsh.

My latest XI because I love making cricket XIs.

1. Khawaja
2. Finch
3. Patterson
4. S.Marsh
5. Lehmann
6. M.Marsh
7. Paine
8. Cummins
9. Starc
10. Lyon
11. Hazlewood

I hope the bowlers are in good batting form.

 

[1910]

Which Green are you talking about? The spinner? I’m talking about Cameron Green the 19 year old paceman. Very hard to play many games as a paceman when you are 17/18 anyway.

Yeah WA quick- smashed the Tigers on debut with five. Played three games that year and then didn't play again until round one this season.

It's 22 wickets in five games which is great but was just putting it in perspective it's over two years so it's hard to get a feel for his game.

I think too they rush players, this PONI system just will burn guys out and force out older players. Makes the SS a step not a earned reward.

 

[1910]

Wade only player with four plus 50’s this season.

 

[Unbreakable]

Lehmann might have done enough in the first 2 games to get the middle order nod, if he scores another big one I think he's a lock.

61, 33* & 126 so far.

Another 50 today.

 

[Sproj]

Lehmann has got to be in, the least inconsistent of the inconsistent lot of youngsters Australia has.

 

[Big Pete]

Who are the other candidates?

I'm not as hardcore into Cricket as UB or 1910, but Lehman doesn't strike me as somebody who has to be in the team. He looked a prospect in 2015/16 where he scored 623 runs from 14 starts but he hasn't really gone on with it. In fact he only scored 536 from 20 starts last year.

'Desperate times call for desperate measures' but what am I missing? His innings against Queensland was a nice way to start the year, but he's got to go on with it.

 

[Big Pete]

Matthew Kelly removes Matt Renshaw for 89.

Big wicket for the Warriors.

Queensland 3/190.

EDIT: Probably belongs in the Bulls thread, close enough.

 

[Unbreakable]

Who are the other candidates?

I'm not as hardcore into Cricket as UB or 1910, but Lehman doesn't strike me as somebody who has to be in the team. He looked a prospect in 2015/16 where he scored 623 runs from 14 starts but he hasn't really gone on with it. In fact he only scored 536 from 20 starts last year.

'Desperate times call for desperate measures' but what am I missing? His innings against Queensland was a nice way to start the year, but he's got to go on with it.

It's a tough question to answer, Australian Cricket as a whole is in a really weird spot where our best 2 batsmen are banned, domestic 4 day cricket seems like the least important aspect of the Summer (Case and point, Maxwell staying in the UAE to carry drinks for the Test team and play a few semi-meaningless T20's instead of coming home, preparing & getting invaluable reps in the longer format), and nobody is scoring enough runs to warrant selection.

I'll try my best to answer though..

1 & 2 - Finch, Renshaw, Burns, Weatherald - Finch did just enough in his 2 test matches in Pakistan to retain his spot for the start of the Summer (However, 5 runs combined in 4 T20 Internationals doesn't exactly bode well for his form), the other spot should go to Renshaw, the score he posted today will go a long way to securing it. Burns (1x 50 this season) hasn't scored enough runs recently & Weatherald (1x 50 this season) is still a year or two of consistent runs away.

3 - Khawaja - No brainer if he's healthy, our best & most experienced Test batsman with Smith & Warner out of the team, probably deserves to be captain.

4 & 5 - Maxwell, Handscomb, Lehmann, Labuschagne, S.Marsh - For me it should be a 3 horse race for these two spots between Maxwell, Handscomb & Lehmann. Maxwell has the best FC record of the 3 and really should've been given more opportunities than he has, have no issue with him being given first crack. My personal selections would be Handscomb & Lehmann, Handscomb averages 43 in Tests and arguably should've never been dropped in the first place, scored a boat load of runs in the JTL Cup and has had an "ok" start to the shield season with a 48 & 27 in his only 2 innings, a couple of decent scores in the next 2 games should give him a good chance. Lehmann is the only person in Australia scoring semi-consistent runs right now apart from Matthew Wade, once again, no issue with him getting a crack, as guys like Maddinson have had previously. Labuschagne is the incumbent, but simply isn't scoring enough runs, no chance. S.Marsh has had more opportunities than almost anyone in Test history, we need to move on.

6 - Stoinis, M.Marsh, Neser - I'd probably lean towards Stoinis for the all-rounder spot to start the Summer, scored an 80 last week and has been taking a few wickets, has been a great performer for the Australian ODI team (Average of 45 with the bat) and has a better FC batting average than M.Marsh, once again, time to move on from the Marshes.

7 - Paine, Wade, Carey - Not as clear cut as it should be, Paine has been atrocious recently apart from the game saving dig in the first test against Pakistan, here are his other recent scores for Australia in Tests & ODI's - 12, 15, 5, 3, 1, 7, 3, 0. Wade is batting significantly better, and is 3 years younger than Paine, but has been exploited for his weakness with the gloves one too many times to be considered as a keeper. Outside chance to be picked as a batsman though at this rate.

 

[Big Pete]

Great post, thanks for the rundown.

no issue with him getting a crack, as guys like Maddinson have had previously.

But shouldn't Cricket Australia learn their lesson and avoid going with untested flakey players?

Let me rephrase the question, when was the last time that type of selection worked out well and won Australia a test series?

That isn't a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely curious.

 

[Battler]

It's a tough question to answer, Australian Cricket as a whole is in a really weird spot where our best 2 batsmen are banned, domestic 4 day cricket seems like the least important aspect of the Summer (Case and point, Maxwell staying in the UAE to carry drinks for the Test team and play a few semi-meaningless T20's instead of coming home, preparing & getting invaluable reps in the longer format), and nobody is scoring enough runs to warrant selection.

I'll try my best to answer though..

1 & 2 - Finch, Renshaw, Burns, Weatherald - Finch did just enough in his 2 test matches in Pakistan to retain his spot for the start of the Summer (However, 5 runs combined in 4 T20 Internationals doesn't exactly bode well for his form), the other spot should go to Renshaw, the score he posted today will go a long way to securing it. Burns (1x 50 this season) hasn't scored enough runs recently & Weatherald (1x 50 this season) is still a year or two of consistent runs away.

3 - Khawaja - No brainer if he's healthy, our best & most experienced Test batsman with Smith & Warner out of the team, probably deserves to be captain.

4 & 5 - Maxwell, Handscomb, Lehmann, Labuschagne, S.Marsh - For me it should be a 3 horse race for these two spots between Maxwell, Handscomb & Lehmann. Maxwell has the best FC record of the 3 and really should've been given more opportunities than he has, have no issue with him being given first crack. My personal selections would be Handscomb & Lehmann, Handscomb averages 43 in Tests and arguably should've never been dropped in the first place, scored a boat load of runs in the JTL Cup and has had an "ok" start to the shield season with a 48 & 27 in his only 2 innings, a couple of decent scores in the next 2 games should give him a good chance. Lehmann is the only person in Australia scoring semi-consistent runs right now apart from Matthew Wade, once again, no issue with him getting a crack, as guys like Maddinson have had previously. Labuschagne is the incumbent, but simply isn't scoring enough runs, no chance. S.Marsh has had more opportunities than almost anyone in Test history, we need to move on.

6 - Stoinis, M.Marsh, Neser - I'd probably lean towards Stoinis for the all-rounder spot to start the Summer, scored an 80 last week and has been taking a few wickets, has been a great performer for the Australian ODI team (Average of 45 with the bat) and has a better FC batting average than M.Marsh, once again, time to move on from the Marshes.

7 - Paine, Wade, Carey - Not as clear cut as it should be, Paine has been atrocious recently apart from the game saving dig in the first test against Pakistan, here are his other recent scores for Australia in Tests & ODI's - 12, 15, 5, 3, 1, 7, 3, 0. Wade is batting significantly better, and is 3 years younger than Paine, but has been exploited for his weakness with the gloves one too many times to be considered as a keeper. Outside chance to be picked as a batsman though at this rate.

We don't have an all rounder worthy of being picked on his batting or bowling alone so there's no point picking one IMO. Our batting isn't good enough to have a bloke averaging 30 in FC cricket at 6 (Stoinis/ Marsh) for the sake of a few rubbish overs. Finch is really a middle order batsman in long form cricket as well imo.

 

[Unbreakable]

We don't have an all rounder worthy of being picked on his batting or bowling alone so there's no point picking one IMO. Our batting isn't good enough to have a bloke averaging 30 in FC cricket at 6 (Stoinis/ Marsh) for the sake of a few rubbish overs. Finch is really a middle order batsman in long form cricket as well imo.

I think our batting will be enough in Australia with a M.Marsh or Stoinis at 6, the main issue right now is that we can't travel, all of our "50/50" type batsmen all fail overseas. I also wouldn't feel comfortable going in to a test series with just our 3 injury prone pacemen and no 4th option, we've tried that before and I'm pretty sure it ended in stress fractures and people being rested constantly. It's an unfortunate situation, but I don't think we can afford to play 6 specialist batsmen until we've seen Starc, Cummins & Hazlewood prove that they're capable of staying healthy for more than a month at a time.

 

[Unbreakable]

But shouldn't Cricket Australia learn their lesson and avoid going with untested flakey players?

Let me rephrase the question, when was the last time that type of selection worked out well and won Australia a test series?

That isn't a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely curious.

Renshaw I suppose? His FC numbers were alright, without being outstanding when threw him in the deep end after 1 season of shield. We were down 2-0 to South Africa when we blooded him, won game 3. We then had a 3 test series against Pakistan, which we won 3-0 with him. That's 4 consecutive wins with an untested 20 year old opening the batting.

I think you've gotta take risks sometimes, ideally I would've loved to have thrown Pucovski in the deep end like we did with Renshaw, but that obviously won't be happening any time soon.