*Official* Road to the 2010/11 Ashes

[aussie]

I think on the Anderson debate, we all recognised how crucial he can be in the right conditions for his style of bowling, that is swinging conditions. I would suggest he is the best in the world when conditions are stacked in his favour, and we also appreciate the fact it is when the going is not so good that will define exactly how good a bowler he is.

Thought that was one thing Hilfenhaus did in India, proved the ball doesn't have to swing round corners for him to do a more than efficient job for his side. Changed his tactics and was still effective. Jimmy must show he is capable of doing a similar job for England this winter.

Exactly.

[Craig]

Major ugh @ some of the XI's mentioned here

Do these people srsly watch/follow cricket? There's a few who mentioned "dropping Katich, usher the young blood in asap!" As for Ferguson, am a huge fan, but he hasn't played any cricket, let alone 4/5 day stuff for quite some time (due to injury), nevermind his issues re: converting. Same applies to Smith on a bowling front, no way is he a better spinner than Hauritz. Oh, and of course after a very small poor patch (4 tests ffs) there's a few claiming Clarke's spot should be under the microscope...

And people think the Selectors have no clue....

Cosgrove and Klinger

I think PEWS would go postal if Shaun Marsh ever played Test cricket.

[Noble One]

Some terrible line-ups suggested in the above list.

The idea that so many want Ferguson in the side makes me cringe. It is sending such a bad message to every young cricketer. You don't need to score runs to make the Test team, just look classy. I hope he makes it one day, but players like Khawaja deserve a spot so much more. Ferguson needs to go back to SA and score 700+ runs to be considered a chance.

Also a massive laugh at those suggestion that Krejza return to the Test team. He was truly horrible last season. What is the point of turning a big off-break when half your deliveries are long hops and the other half are pitched up on the half-volley.

[Son Of Coco]

Does Hughes really have a claim to the next vacancy too? It seems like you can't get a team in the link Clapo provided without either Hughes or Ferguson in it for the most part. Reading those teams it would seem like we only have three potential replacements should we eventually drop North and/or Hussey.

Hughes has been out injured hasn't he?

[aussie]

Also a massive laugh at those suggestion that Krejza return to the Test team. He was truly horrible last season. What is the point of turning a big off-break when half your deliveries are long hops and the other half are pitched up on the half-volley.

Didnt see Krejza bowl, so i cannot comment on the accuracy (which never was his strenght anyway) of his bowling last season . But its not as if Krejza was picked on strong FC form,

He was picked with the hunch that outside the AUS selectors, only PrinceEWS on the internet or anywhere that i heard saw an ability to be effective againts international batsmen in certain conditions & they where proven right.

Although i advocate AUS not playing a spinner from now in most tests. Krejza should be one used from now on in a 5-man attack if a real turnning pitch comes about i.e SCG.

[robelinda]

Does Hughes really have a claim to the next vacancy too? It seems like you can't get a team in the link Clapo provided without either Hughes or Ferguson in it for the most part. Reading those teams it would seem like we only have three potential replacements should we eventually drop North and/or Hussey.

Hughes has been out injured hasn't he?

Still, Hughes has a 60+ average in FC cricket, thats awesome. Last test he played he blazed Aus to victory. Gotta be given a run to prove himself, he could be amazing. Seemingly too good for shield cricket IMO, like Hodge, Lehmann etc.

[Noble One]

Didnt see Krejza bowl, so i cannot comment on the accuracy (which never was his strenght anyway) of his bowling last season . But its not as if Krejza was picked on strong FC form,

He was picked with the hunch that outside the AUS selectors, only PrinceEWS on the internet or anywhere that i heard saw an ability to be effective againts international batsmen in certain conditions & they where proven right.

Although i advocate AUS not playing a spinner from now in most tests. Krejza should be one used from now on in a 5-man attack if a real turnning pitch comes about i.e SCG.

When you concede > 200 runs in the one innings, I would hardly class that as being effective. But I do get your point, he is a bowler who does take advantage of spin friendly conditions.

I really like Krejza. I remember watching his first couple of OD games for NSW and thinking that he was a special talent. He is the only decent spinner in Australia who has the capability to be a true world-class spin bowler. The issue is he lacks so many of the other attributes needed to compliment what he does well. He is still only 27, I believe he will return to the Test team at some stage, but at this moment he should not be near the selector’s radar until he starts to show some improvements in the core basics of his game.

I will be very frustrated if Krejza starts talking about his doosra again this season. Bowl an accurate off-break, and then things will change.

[Son Of Coco]

Still, Hughes has a 60+ average in FC cricket, thats awesome. Last test he played he blazed Aus to victory. Gotta be given a run to prove himself, he could be amazing. Seemingly too good for shield cricket IMO, like Hodge, Lehmann etc.

Yeah, possibly. Didn't really fill me with confidence against England last time around though. Couldn't hurt to give him a go I guess, if he puts a few innings together after being injured. Would be nice to see that he'd work out his issues against the short ball too.

[vcs]

I don't understand how Hughes has such an amazing FC record with a weakness against the short ball.. isn't Australia exactly the place where such a weakness would get ruthlessly exposed and exploited? From what I've seen of him, he seems very partial to the cut shot so I'd hardly call him weak against the short pitched stuff..

[Noble One]

I don't understand how Hughes has such an amazing FC record with a weakness against the short ball.. isn't Australia exactly the place where such a weakness would get ruthlessly exposed and exploited? From what I've seen of him, he seems very partial to the cut shot so I'd hardly call him weak against the short pitched stuff..

It's more a weakness to 'good' short pitched bowling. Hughes scores the majority of his runs through the region from third slip to point. Not many bowlers can bowl 140 kmh + bouncers direct at the batsman on a consistent batsman. Hughes tears any bowler apart who doesn't bowl a good bouncer.

[robelinda]

I don't understand how Hughes has such an amazing FC record with a weakness against the short ball.

Bevan. Mightve had a weakness but not many bowlers here in most teams that could sustain a barrage. Hughes has no such weakness IMO.

[social]

Bevan. Mightve had a weakness but not many bowlers here in most teams that could sustain a barrage. Hughes has no such weakness IMO.

Bevan's weakness was mental IMO - he became a strokeless statue when he played test cricket and simply couldnt get out of the way of the ball

[Matt79]

Plus he played all of one full FC season before debuting, so there hadn't been a whole lot of time for opponents to work that out - especially as ill directed short balls got belted.

[Son Of Coco]

I don't understand how Hughes has such an amazing FC record with a weakness against the short ball.. isn't Australia exactly the place where such a weakness would get ruthlessly exposed and exploited? From what I've seen of him, he seems very partial to the cut shot so I'd hardly call him weak against the short pitched stuff..

Yeah, as someone mentioned, Bevan didn't get sorted out at state level either. And, good sort-pitched bowling (Flintoff got stuck into him if I recall correctly) seemed to cause him a few problems in England. Mindlessly bowling short stuff, ala the South Africans, didn't though.

[Spark]

Yeah, as someone mentioned, Bevan didn't get sorted out at state level either. And, good sort-pitched bowling (Flintoff got stuck into him if I recall correctly) seemed to cause him a few problems in England. Mindlessly bowling short stuff, ala the South Africans, didn't though.

Yeah, that's what makes it so bizarre. Dale Steyn has a wicked bouncer as Michael Hussey will attest, and Morne Morkel is more like a tree than a normal human being WRT height. I suppose it doesn't help that the former was off-colour and the other was in "bowl ****" mode.