[Richard]

Originally Posted by Matt79

Fairly different situation actually. a) he's someone who's come up through his country's own system, rather than parachuting in via a parent's passport or whatever, having failed to crack it in his 'own' country. b) he's, as you say, an up-and-comer, being a 23 year old in the early stages of his FC career, rather than a 29 year old journeyman, so there's at least some logic about testing him as a potential long term prospect and some prospect that the seasoning he'll gain will pay dividends. and c) I think Siddle's shown more than Pattison in the last couple of seasons.

I realise - indeed mentioned - that. But one thing remains: he's been selected on the back of 6 First-Class games. That is simply nowhere near enough unless there literally is no-one else performing, which there isn't.

He did enough to earn a spot on the squad, and maybe his youth helped in that regard, with the selectors having an eye to the future. Once on the squad, he did enough to impress the selectors and captain that he was a better bet in the conditions than the alternatives, so its hard to say that it's an appalling decision.

I don't think it is. Bollinger's done better than him (in the middle - and we all know this counts for more than in the nets) on the tour; and as I say, Noffke has done far more beforehand.

Unless your resources are obscenely thin, you've no excuse to go picking people based on 6 First-Class games.

And quite why it's supposed to be an advantage to Siddle to be in over his head before he's ready is a mystery to me. Playing before your time has come never did anyone any good, and will always remain a taint on your record to those (and you know full well they are many) who insist that games played which should not have been played are the same as games played that should have been.

Siddle is a much more reasonable selection than White, in terms of records justifying selection, although in White's case the selectors' hands were somewhat forced by the amount of injuries, thin-ness of the spinnings ranks, and Kresja's poor showing in the tour match coupled with his equally average record.

They weren't forced at all - there are many better-qualified candidates to play Test cricket for Australia as bowlers. Forget spinners - there is no rule that a specialist spinner has to play Test cricket. Picking Krejza and White is poor, neither of them deserve to come anywhere near international level.