*Official* Road to the 2010/11 Ashes

[Spark]

Nice to see that he's actually willing to state it though. Don't think anyone in the C9 box was going to.

 

[Ruckus]

Selectors risk Ashes flop | Fox Sports

Preaching to the converted, though.

... although his other options sort of dilute his message

Except for the bit about Ferguson replacing Hussey, I think he is pretty much on the money. However, I don't know when these comments were said "He's out of form, and the succession plan should have begun way before now, but there is no way Michael can play the first Test", but just last night in that ODI he proclaimed Hussey was back to form

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Selectors risk Ashes flop | Fox Sports

Preaching to the converted, though.

... although his other options sort of dilute his message

Does he read CW as that is basically what 90% of people on here have been saying over the last few weeks.

Can see why Ferguson is wanted,bit like Morgan for us,there is something about him that looks right mentally for international cricket.Still not sure they'll pick him though.

If the selectors were going to drop Hussey they would have done it already and he would have announced his retirement from test cricket but made himself available for one dayers heading into the WC.

 

[Spark]

Except for the bit about Ferguson replacing Hussey, I think he is pretty much on the money. However, I don't know when these comments were said "He's out of form, and the succession plan should have begun way before now, but there is no way Michael can play the first Test", but just last night in that ODI he proclaimed Hussey was back to form

Presumably he meant back to ODI form.

 

[Ruckus]

Presumably he meant back to ODI form.

If he did mean that, thats even more strange, because he hasn't been out of form in ODIs. He has averaged around 48 for the last two years, and his last two ODI knocks were 69 and 79?

 

[Spark]

He didn't have a wonderful series in England. Probably the difference between us winning that series and losing.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

He didn't have a wonderful series in England. Probably the difference between us winning that series and losing.

Can't remember him bowling at Cardiff.

To be fair i thought his career was over after the ashes in England,certainly wasn't expecting him to still be in the side now just before the next series.

As i said somewhere else,the selectors can't rate the younger players that highly,or perhaps they had the usual ashes/world cup transition in mind all along.

 

[treamcast34]

I don't know what you Aussies are trying to do. These kids - Smith, Hughes, Khawaja, Hazlewood - they're genuinely good. The first three all average well over 50 at FC level, and while Hazlewood's just a baby he looks as good a bowling prospect as you've had in a decade. I don't get it - your champions of the last era are all gone bar Ponting. You've got a middle of the road side, it's not as if you're agonising over whether to drop an aging Matthew Hayden or Adam Gilchrist; we're talking about guys like Marcus North; how can your selectors not be game to take a punt on a couple of these young lads?

 

[Ruckus]

I don't know what you Aussies are trying to do. These kids - Smith, Hughes, Khawaja, Hazlewood - they're genuinely good. The first three all average well over 50 at FC level, and while Hazlewood's just a baby he looks as good a bowling prospect as you've had in a decade. I don't get it - your champions of the last era are all gone bar Ponting. You've got a middle of the road side, it's not as if you're agonising over whether to drop an aging Matthew Hayden or Adam Gilchrist; we're talking about guys like Marcus North; how can your selectors not be game to take a punt on a couple of these lads?

Because they are conservative bastards who have personal connections with the has-beens that should have been ejected from the team years ago.

 

[morgieb]

I don't know what you Aussies are trying to do. These kids - Smith, Hughes, Khawaja, Hazlewood - they're genuinely good. The first three all average well over 50 at FC level, and while Hazlewood's just a baby he looks as good a bowling prospect as you've had in a decade. I don't get it - your champions of the last era are all gone bar Ponting. You've got a middle of the road side, it's not as if you're agonising over whether to drop an aging Matthew Hayden or Adam Gilchrist; we're talking about guys like Marcus North; how can your selectors not be game to take a punt on a couple of these young lads?

Too conservative. They're looking at Hughes, Khawaja and Smith, so it's not like they're getting totally ignored....

 

[vic_orthdox]

Haha, from the Fox Sports article with Slats...

Khawaja, in an exclusive interview with foxsports.com.au, described the prospect of Ashes selection as "freakin' awesome".

 

[andyc]

Haha yeah, so much better than 'it'd be a great honour.'

 

[Prince EWS]

Khawaja seems like a real character. In a good way.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Khawaja seems like a real character. In a good way.

Yep,lets hope he doesn't lose it as he gets older.Need more characters in the game.

 

[Ruckus]

Khawaja seems like a real character. In a good way.

haha yeh but c'mon, what 20-something year old doesn't say stuff like "freakin' awesome".

It'd be a bit more irreverant if he said something like "****in' sick-ass" though.

 

[GotSpin]

haha yeh but c'mon, what 20-something year old doesn't say stuff like "freakin' awesome".

It'd be a bit more irreverant if he said something like "****in' sick-ass" though.

Usually they say 'what an honour' or soemthing

 

[Spark]

Can't remember him bowling at Cardiff.

To be fair i thought his career was over after the ashes in England,certainly wasn't expecting him to still be in the side now just before the next series.

As i said somewhere else,the selectors can't rate the younger players that highly,or perhaps they had the usual ashes/world cup transition in mind all along.

Meant the most recent ODI series - should've specified

 

[Prince EWS]

To be fair i thought his career was over after the ashes in England

He scored a ton in the fifth Test though. You don't drop someone who's literally just made a ton unless they were only playing as a caretaker, otherwise he would've been gone. He probably should've been gone before he had the chance to make that ton, but there was no case to drop him immediately after it.

It's also precisely how we've backed ourselves into a corner re: North's selection for the first Test. He could've been dropped for the tour of New Zealand after failing against Pakistan and the West Indies at home (although it was fair enough he wasn't).. and then he should've been dropped for the tour of India after failing against Pakistan in England.. and then should've definitely been dropped for the second Test in India. But he wasn't, and he tonned up, so now we're stuck with him.

As i said somewhere else,the selectors can't rate the younger players that highly

I don't think it's that. I think it's just that they have a hard time differentiating between poor form and genuine decline, in Hussey's case at least. They keep thinking he's going through a tough period and he'll come out the other side when he regains confidence, but it's not really poor form - he's actually not as good a batsman as he used to be. They just don't see it like that.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

He scored a ton in the fifth Test though. You don't drop someone who's literally just made a ton unless they were only playing as a caretaker, otherwise he would've been gone. He probably should've been gone before he had the chance to make that ton, but there was no case to drop him immediately after it.

The thing is it was in a losing cause when the game was virtually gone and the pressure was off in a way.Given his age and poor previous form i thought he'd be a goner,credit to him he did well in the Aus summer but in doing that they now find themselves in a very awkward situation of either sticking with an out of form old player or putting in a youngster.The selectors are in a no win situation now should whoever plays fail as the public will say 'Hussey/Khawaja/Ferguson should have played instead'.

 

[Prince EWS]

The thing is it was in a losing cause when the game was virtually gone and the pressure was off in a way.Given his age and poor previous form i thought he'd be a goner

They picked him for that match though. He certainly didn't fail in it, so they had no case to drop him. You don't pick someone, watch them perform and then drop them for the next game unless you're desperate to change the balance or you have a player returning from injury. If they thought his performances before that much were unsatisfactory to a point of dropping then he wouldn't have played the match to begin with.