Boxing Day Test

[krunchie]

dont you know that when you get your "Baggie Blue" when you Debut for NSW, you get a "Baggie Green" in a brown paper bag.

[Des]

Watson out for 6 months - stress fractures

Hilfenhaus will come in

[bennymacca]

australia's era has come to an end

does anyone else think that this is a good thing?

i really hope the aussies bounce back and win the series in south africa,

it has actually become a battle to win a test - which is awesome

[benschke]

As an avid Australian Cricket supporter there is no way it is a good thing that their dominance has come to an end. The import thing for Australian Cricket is that they remain competitive during the next few years of rebuilding.

You see it all the time in many different sports & even though I used to love winning Test Matches within 3 days I always new that the dominance wouldn't last forever.

My preference is for Hayden to stay in the side but as each day goes on I think that is very unlikely. What I do want to see the selectors do though is to pick a young player & stick with them like when Michael Clark started playing for Australia.

There have been too many times when players are making their debuts in their late 20's & early 30's. Grab 'em when they are young & stick with them. It has worked for other countries but it is something we don't do very well here. Some examples.... Smith - South Africa, Sharma - India.

Anyhow... Bring on the footy (I am really a sore loser.... lol )

[maccatak11]

http://cricket.com.au/default.aspx?s=ne ... y&id=14907

Yeah watson is screwed.

I was thinking, Australia has a few openers and top order batsmen performing really well in the sheffield shield (rogers, hughes, klinger, marcus north) but assuming symonds might not be fot for the next test match, who would be next in line for a middle order spot?

Would we go back to hodge? David hussey? Adam voges?

It would be an interesting selection. Who do people think is going to be our next number 6 batsman?

[David]

There have been too many times when players are making their debuts in their late 20's & early 30's. Grab 'em when they are young & stick with them. It has worked for other countries but it is something we don't do very well here. Some examples.... Smith - South Africa, Sharma - India.

Thing is, that's due to our dominance! Because the team has been so strong for so long, players were *were* probably good enough in their early 20s, end up playing shield cricket into their late 20s. Then a spot opens up due to injury or whatever, and they are picked. Can't blame the selectors for that.

If anything, it's GOOD for Australia to be able to pick players who are well traveled in the local competitions.

We are sort of lucky now, in that we have to look around for the next generation. Phil Hughes is 20 - I can't remember the last time we had a 20 year old in the side (Clarke was older I think?) so that's definitely a good thing. The reason India, England, South Africa etc are getting strong now is because they were forced to look to the young generation, and it is paying off now. AB De Villiers is only 24 for crying out loud - which is less than the average age for an Aussie débutante in the last 10 years.. and he's been playing for 5 years!

Have to be careful dropping Hayden. We aren't saying "go back and get form and then play again"... it's "goodbye". A player at that stage of his career doesn't get dropped for form and expect to come back.

We have a lot of players 28 - 33 who could have easily played a lot of tests if we weren't as strong, and who could walk into a lot of sides throughout the world. But such is being dominant in a team where you select 6 specialist batsmen in theory - many many people will miss out.

[krunchie]

The number 6 must be able to contribute with the ball, so that will limit numbers to just a few, i like hussy, but he out of form at present.


Last 20 year old to play may have been Ponting, he debut at 19 i think.

[Scotty]

And even he got dropped for a period after debuting at an early age.

[Bacon]

Dave I agree in principle, but I also think the selectors held players in the side while out of form too long, only to see them get one good innings, then struggle again.

Wonder if Ryan Harris could take the allrounder spot that seems so important.

And just look at this series for an example of playing youth... Duminy wasn't selected for the first Test, only came in due to Prince's finger injury from Ntini. And he's shown a fair bit.

I'm not a fan of bringing in Hughes, but if they choose to, then I'd be happy, as long as they give him the same extended run as they do for the experienced players.

Macca, my preference would be towards David Hussey, but Voges should be looked at (given he can bowl too??)

[krunchie]

Husssy is quite a handy off spinner