Yeah, Hussey's innings makes my post look a bit stupid I guess, but I doubt Australia would've been chasing such a ridiculous amount had they played Ryan Harris in front of Clarke in first place given how much better the three specialist bowlers performed. Furthermore, while Hussey may have been batting seven, he certainly isn't the seventh best batsman in that team. If you're going to pick Clarke you probably do indeed need a proper batsman at seven.
Yeah, I did mention that in my post - at the time Watto wasn't fit to bowl.
If you've got five proper bowlers in the side anyway you can obviously play a specialist bat at seven, but I'm still not sure if I really trust either Watson or Smith to be one of the best four bowlers in a T20 team under pressure. I definitely think Harris would add a lot more to the team than Clarke, but then again so would Marsh, and I'm not entirely sure what sort of balance I'd want to go with given the choice. I guess it'd depend on the form of Watto and Smith, and the pitch conditions. The last match sort of showed up the former a little bit. The specialist quicks bowled reasonably economically early on but couldn't get the breakthrough, so then Watto and Smith were belted. Don't think the carnage would've been as bad if Harris played, although planning for your opening bowlers to go wicketless probably makes about as much sense as planning for your team to be 5/90.myself said:
Only a matter of time.
Only half SA tbh.
Yes, I am supporting England today too. They have been, imo, the best team this tournament, and I dearly hope they triumph in the final.
Laugh all you like Gelman. England ftw all the way!
Nah, pretty sure Windies beat us in the 2004 Champions Trophy final. In fact I'm convinced of it.
Best limited overs batsmen around, bar none. If you were building a robot to play LO cricket, you'd base it on Mussey.
Can field, too
Nah, too many bowlers and not enough bats for mine. I think the bowling is good atm, with three out and out specialist bowlers, two allrounders in Watto and Smith, and a good part-timer in Hussey. Ideal team for me would be pretty much what we're fielding atm, only with Hodge in for Clarke, and Bollinger as 12th man.
See, it's my opinion that you need at least 4 specialist bowlers in T20 - for all that the Aussies bowled well, they didn't inflict damage on the Pakistani top order which meant that the Pakistanis had freedom to go after the part time bowlers. Having a 4th specialist means that the pressure would have been maintained for a couple more overs - which could have seen Pakistan implode.
But on the other side, having the extra batsman meant that they had the luxury of Hussey coming in at number 7 to take them home. It works both ways.
