The Ashes Discussion

[1910]

Border’s Gabba XI: Matt Renshaw, David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Matthew Wade, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon

 

[Unbreakable]

Swap Wade with Nevill and that'd be my XI as well.

Not a fan of Marsh, but we need to secure our batting in the middle order for the Summer, I can't handle any more 5/20 batting collapses in the middle order.

 

[Sproj]

It shouldn’t be Marsh, it should be Cartwright. Second choice Maxwell and I’m not entirely sure he’s done enough to actually be dropped anyway.

 

[1910]

Khawaja 99* and 40
S.Marsh 63
Cartwright 61
Maxwell 7
Coulter-Nile 42 and 0/11
M Marsh 36
Stonis 9 and 0/9
Carey two catches and 12 runs
Nevill 3*

 

[Sproj]

Peirson could be a Smokey you know if he does well. Wade failed AGAIN.

So far for the side:

1. Warner - Very good
2. Renshaw - He’s in trouble
3. Khawaja - Very very good so far
4. Smith - He’s having probably his first ever lean trot, he’s fine
5. Handscomb - Is he becoming an enigma? Poor
6. Maxwell - Poor, nice lack of technique that you’ve supposedly improved
6. Cartwright - He is the future of the middle order with Smith and Handscomb, pick him
6. Stoinis - No idea why he is even in contention
7. Wade - Yet another failure, He’s done but who replaces him? Carey/Nevill/Peirson/Handscomb
8. Starc - Looking good
9. Cummins - Looking frighteningly good
10. Hazelwood - Not playing and if he doesn’t come good injury wise, Bird/Coulter-Nile/J Richardson/Copeland/Sayers are all handy
11. Putting his feet up knowing he is the third player picked behind Smith and Warner

 

[Unbreakable]

I'd say the #6 spot is out of S.Marsh & Cartwright, we have no real use for Maxwell's spin, would much prefer either a specialist batsmen or pace bowling all-rounder.

 

[1910]

Warner
Renshaw
Khawaja
Smith
Handscomb
Cartwright
Carey
Starc
Cummins
Hazlewood
Lyon

Sayers 12th man.

Based on round one that's what I'd pick for the 'Gabba.

Cartwright 61 and 99 for WA batting at 3.
Carey didn't bat well but I just like the way he moves and keeps.

 

[Sproj]

Warner
Renshaw
Khawaja
Smith
Handscomb
Cartwright
Carey
Starc
Cummins
Hazlewood
Lyon

Sayers 12th man.

Based on round one that's what I'd pick for the 'Gabba.

Cartwright 61 and 99 for WA batting at 3.
Carey didn't bat well but I just like the way he moves and keeps.

I don’t think you can argue much with that side. Though given Handscomb is keeping again for Victoria in some forms at least, there is a strong argument to make him keeper and pick an extra batsman or all rounder isn’t there?

 

[Sproj]

And 1 1910, Richardson hey? ;)

 

[Unbreakable]

It's pretty sad how awful our wicket keeping stocks are when we're keen to throw a guy in to game 1 of The Ashes with virtually no runs under his belt at first class level.

How do we not just have ONE good keeper / batsmen in Australia? They're all either not making enough runs with the bat (Wade, Nevill, Carey, Peirson).. not good enough behind the stumps (Handscomb, Bancroft).. or injured (Whiteman)

At this point we probably just have to stick with Wade.. I absolutely hate the idea of another summer of him, but there's literally just nobody else pressing their claim.

 

[1910]

It's pretty sad how awful our wicket keeping stocks are when we're keen to throw a guy in to game 1 of The Ashes with virtually no runs under his belt at first class level.

How do we not just have ONE good keeper / batsmen in Australia? They're all either not making enough runs with the bat (Wade, Nevill, Carey, Peirson).. not good enough behind the stumps (Handscomb, Bancroft).. or injured (Whiteman)

At this point we probably just have to stick with Wade.. I absolutely hate the idea of another summer of him, but there's literally just nobody else pressing their claim.

That's a bit hard on Carey- 594 runs last summer from 11 games with five 50's and set a record for dismissals and was the fourth guy ever to get 500 runs and 50 dismissals. Hardly dire. His fighting 50 in the Shield Final was class.

Peirson wasn't even the Bulls' keeper last year and Nevill scored 625 runs with three 100's.

Round one is important but it is still round one, under lights with a pink ball and batsmen struggled Starc 8/73, Tasmania all out for 63 and South Australia all out 92.

 

[Sproj]

It's pretty sad how awful our wicket keeping stocks are when we're keen to throw a guy in to game 1 of The Ashes with virtually no runs under his belt at first class level.

How do we not just have ONE good keeper / batsmen in Australia? They're all either not making enough runs with the bat (Wade, Nevill, Carey, Peirson).. not good enough behind the stumps (Handscomb, Bancroft).. or injured (Whiteman)

At this point we probably just have to stick with Wade.. I absolutely hate the idea of another summer of him, but there's literally just nobody else pressing their claim.

Yep the keeping thing is a HUGE problem. Can you persist with Wade any longer though? If he comes out and cracks a ton in the next game, you could argue it for sure but anything less than that, he HAS to be gone. The problem is, you can't just give the spot to a guy who just hasn't earned it. Therefore (and I know I've been on this bandwagon for as long as I can remember), you give it to Handscomb and pick another batsman/all-rounder.

Thus something like:

1. Warner
2. Renshaw (he really is also in simply due to no one else putting their hand up which is not a good thing either but at least he is certainly worth persisting with)
3. Khawaja (the one guy actually batting well at the moment)
4. Smith (c)
5. Handscomb (wk)
6. Cartwright
7. Maxwell / Agar (Speaking of which, how come he didn't play last round?) / SMarsh / Turner / J Richardson ;) / Patterson / Lehmann
8. Starc
9. Cummins
10. Hazelwood
11. Lyon

 

[1910]

One day form can sort of maybe be used- Carey 265 runs opening with two 50's. So he's had a great summer, started with a good One Day comp and had a terrible round one.

 

[1910]

Yep the keeping thing is a HUGE problem. Can you persist with Wade any longer though? If he comes out and cracks a ton in the next game, you could argue it for sure but anything less than that, he HAS to be gone. The problem is, you can't just give the spot to a guy who just hasn't earned it. Therefore (and I know I've been on this bandwagon for as long as I can remember), you give it to Handscomb and pick another batsman/all-rounder.

Thus something like:

1. Warner
2. Renshaw (he really is also in simply due to no one else putting their hand up which is not a good thing either but at least he is certainly worth persisting with)
3. Khawaja (the one guy actually batting well at the moment)
4. Smith (c)
5. Handscomb (wk)
6. Cartwright
7. Maxwell / Agar (Speaking of which, how come he didn't play last round?) / SMarsh / Turner / J Richardson ;) / Patterson / Lehmann
8. Starc
9. Cummins
10. Hazelwood
11. Lyon

Are you worried about the byes and missed chances? Just pick the best keeper. To me you pick a guy that might score 50 but he lets through byes and missed chances you might as well have picked the better keeper and him get 30.

Poor keeping could cost you Cook or Root getting 200.

 

[1910]

Agar has a broken finger.

 

[Battler]

Maxwell deserves a shot in Aus after his form in Asia, but the selectors only give the Marsh bros and Wade millions of chances. Carty will be there.

I reckon Carty also needs to be batting up the order, maybe at five to begin with, while Handscomb (who isn't in red hot form himself) drops back to 6.

 

[Unbreakable]

Maxwell averages more with the bat in T20's & ODI's for Australia than he does in Test's, that should give you a rough idea of how useless he has been.

Cartwright for mine.

 

[Battler]

Maxwell averages more with the bat in T20's & ODI's for Australia than he does in Test's, that should give you a rough idea of how useless he has been.

Cartwright for mine.

He's played all his tests on the sub continent, a fair few of our blokes would have similar or worse averages over there. His ton in India against Ashwin and Jadeja was very good.