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*Official* Road to 2013 Ashes

the big bambino

International Captain
Not picking Dussey I uunderstand. Never seen Butterworth but O'Keefe should atleast make the squad ahead of Doherty. Rogers missed out bcos his prime coincided with an era where there were many better players. They've all retired and I think they'd pick Rogers if he was 5 years younger. I think its his age thats keeping him out of contention now.
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
FC and Test are different though.

There is a reason why Rogers Dussey Butterworth OKeefe don't all feature in our Test team.

Just to make it more clear, I don't necessarily think all four should never be in the Test team but there is some method to the selectors madness most of the time.
Tbf

Rogers is in one category - not liked

O'Keefe in a second - not liked and may not be any better than a Doherty anyway

Hussey and Butterworth are in a third - uncertainty whether their games will stand up to test cricket

Rogers is obviously the hardest done by as he is, was and forever will be a better batsman than Cowan

The question for the selectors is whether at his age the difference in quality is still as massive as it used to be
 

chaminda_00

Hall of Fame Member
You clearly are having problems distinguishing between looks in terms of aesthetics and looks in terms of seeing a player and determining whether his weaknesses will be too big to be overcome.
Never claimed Rogers didn't have weaknesses or a limited game. Just don't believe they are too big to overcome at Test level to contribute to the current Test side.

I don't believe Rogers will average 50 at Test level. But he is capable of averaging in the high 30s, low 40s, if given a chance. Whereas the likes Cowan, Smith and Khawaja would be mid 30s at best, unless there is some major adjustments to their game.

Hughes and Warner will always be able to score match winning/series changing 100s.

Watson you would have to persist with unless the likes of the other three or others average 50 in FC cricket like Rogers for prolonged period.
 
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NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
Like I said there is a reason why they aren't in the team. Illustrating that you can't solely look at stats which is what Maximas was happy enough to do.
 

howardj

International Coach
Inverarity says the likely balance of Australia's Ashes squad would be seven batsmen, two spinners, two keepers and six fast bowlers, with perhaps an all-rounder taking one of the specialist spots.

Given this composition, I would go with

Clarke
Watson
Warner
Hughes
Usman
Smith
Ferguson

Wade
Hartley

Siddle
Bird
Starc
Pattinson
Harris
Henriques

O'Keefe
Lyon
 

wellAlbidarned

International Coach
This rogers **** sounds almost exactly like Fulton. Looks terrible, old, scores mountains of runs in FC, and everyone says he doesn't have the technique for the next level.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
Another point I think I should make is that I'm seeing a lot of doubt that FC runs can translate to test runs. Although FC bowlers aren't as good as international bowlers, the FC pitches are much juicier than they used to be - probably more assistance for the bowlers than test match pitches. So don't go around thinking test cricket is an absolute alien game to FC batsmen, given the pitches they play on they should be fairly well prepared.

Although Ricky Ponting went back and dominated the shield after a disappointing test series, Mike Hussey went back and only averaged mid 30s, but he was still playing really well just before he retired. And Kudos to the guy who mentioned Fulton, that's the point I'm trying to illustrate.
 

Maximas

Cricketer Of The Year
He's the sort of **** we need in the squad atleast imo. Anyone know if Bird's injury will keep him out of the ashes?
I couldn't find any recent news on Bird, although I hear he is looking for a county gig. His injury was described as 6-8 weeks and that was before the first test in India, given the Ashes don't start till July I think he'l be fine.
 

benchmark00

Request Your Custom Title Now!
@Jesse_Hogan: Interesting, instead of free-to-air TV seemingly. RT @NHoultCricket: ECB to show Ashes live on YouTube this summer for free. In Europe only.


Is this true?
 

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