• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Martyn dropped from test squad

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
Well there doesn't seem to be a thread for this yet, so I thought I should start one.

Hayden was also dropped from the ODI squad, and Gillespie and Kasprowicz from both, all of which are understandable, but Martyn was, prior to the Ashes series, one of the best batsmen in the world, and dominated consistently last year.

His series averages before The Ashes for the previous year were outstanding:
55.50 vs Sri Lanka
50.75 vs Sri Lanka
55.50 vs India
41.50 vs New Zealand
103.33 vs Pakistan
78.33 vs New Zealand

Why does one poor series, in which he had some poor decisions as well, warrant being dropped from the team? Even dropping Hayden would have been a bit of an overreaction given his century in the final game, but dropping the guy who was the most in-form Australian batsmen a couple of months ago and has had four poor tests is simply inexplicable. I don't usually criticise the selectors, but this is surely the worst selection decision in recent memory, from any country.

Anyway, the test and ODI squads:

Test squad: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting (capt), Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Simon Katich, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Shaun Tait, Stuart MacGill.

ODI squad: Adam Gilchrist (wk), Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting (capt), Damien Martyn, Simon Katich, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson, James Hopes, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Nathan Bracken, Shaun Tait.

The good news is that Bracken has been returned to the ODI squad, and Watson to the test squad. Why Katich made the ODI squad ahead of Hodge I have no idea either.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
It does seem startlingly harsh to me. Martyn is being made to carry the can for a whole top 7 who didn't really perform (Langer possibly excepted). I think Hayden's ton @ The Oval has clouded the issue a bit. Yes, it was an admirable innings but it was made on the best batting track of the series & at a funereal (by Hayden's standards) pace. On day 4 the rest of the line-up basically had to try to score quickly in twilight with the ball swinging. Twice Langer & Hayden took the light when it was offered to them, despite an obvious need for rapid runs.

Personally I'd have said Katich should have been the one if Hayden was retained. Martyn is clearly the more fluent bat & has a proven track record. I guess the extra 3 (?) years have counted against Damien.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
BoyBrumby said:
Personally I'd have said Katich should have been the one if Hayden was retained. Martyn is clearly the more fluent bat & has a proven track record. I guess the extra 3 (?) years have counted against Damien.
Well yeah, assuming the selectors feel that Watson needed to be picked (and I agree), Katich was the man to go. Failing him, Hayden.
 

howardj

International Coach
FaaipDeOiad said:
Well there doesn't seem to be a thread for this yet, so I thought I should start one.

Hayden was also dropped from the ODI squad, and Gillespie and Kasprowicz from both, all of which are understandable, but Martyn was, prior to the Ashes series, one of the best batsmen in the world, and dominated consistently last year.

His series averages before The Ashes for the previous year were outstanding:
55.50 vs Sri Lanka
50.75 vs Sri Lanka
55.50 vs India
41.50 vs New Zealand
103.33 vs Pakistan
78.33 vs New Zealand

Why does one poor series, in which he had some poor decisions as well, warrant being dropped from the team? Even dropping Hayden would have been a bit of an overreaction given his century in the final game, but dropping the guy who was the most in-form Australian batsmen a couple of months ago and has had four poor tests is simply inexplicable. I don't usually criticise the selectors, but this is surely the worst selection decision in recent memory, from any country.

.
Someone was always going to pay the price for Australia losing the Ashes. The bottom line is that, regardless of past form, Martyn, Hayden and Gilchrist's batting, cost Australia the Ashes (among other things). Losing the Ashes is huge. I just don't see that it's such a big surprise that either Hayden or Martyn was left out of the Test side. Five Tests in which to show something, is ample opportunity. By the way, Slow Love, you owe me $20 :p
 
Last edited:

Emcee

Cricket Spectator
Once again CA prove they pick players based on who they like and who is more marketable rather than form. I'm all for Watson being in, but to drop Martyn before Haydern is a disgrace, espically with Jacques pressing so hard.
 

howardj

International Coach
I also think the fact that the selectors want to stagger the exit of the older players, was a factor in either Martyn or Hayden being dropped from the Test side.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
As I pointed out in the Super Series thread, this comes at quite a surprise to me. I was 100% sure the selectors would use Katich as a scapegoat and drop him from the test squad, as I figured Martyn's 2004-05 season form would keep him in the team, particularly his SL and India tours. Its amazing that three months ago people were debating at whether Martyn was in the top 5 batsmen in the world. Now he's not even in the Australian test squad coming up to take on the rest of the world. Amazing how things change after one series.

I disagree with the decision, but I am happy that they kept Katich in the squad as I still rate him quite highly. Maybe Martyn's age had something to do with the decision? Seeing as Katich is younger, it is a possible reason. I mean surely the selectors don't have such a short-term memory that they forget what Martyn did for them 12 months ago in India, and he wasn't poor in any test series after the Indian tour but before the Ashes was he?

So basically, Hayden scores one ton after how many innings (I've lost count) and is kept in the test team, whilst Martyn has one bad series (including 2 poor LBW decisions if my memory serves me correct) and is dropped. Amazing.
 
Last edited:

Slow Love™

International Captain
howardj said:
Someone was always going to pay the price for Australia losing the Ashes. The bottom line is that, regardless of past form, Martyn, Hayden and Gilchrist's batting, cost Australia the Ashes (among other things). Losing the Ashes is huge. I just don't see that it's such a big surprise that either Hayden or Martyn was left out of the Test side. Five Tests in which to show something, is ample opportunity. By the way, Slow Love, you owe me $20 :p
Ha, yeah, I posted to you in the Super Series thread about this (somehow I missed this thread).

As to this decision, I think it boggles the mind. You keep couching it in the terms "Hayden or Martyn", but the truth is, nobody would have been surprised by Hayden being left out of the squad. People might have been scanning the names to see if Martyn made it, but only because they couldn't believe the selectors would be so stupid about it. Really dumb decision in my opinion - I'm also a bit confused as to why he's been retained in the ODI squad - if you were going to drop him for one of these, wouldn't that make more sense? Although capable in the one-day game, I've always thought of Martyn as more of a test player.

And they can't pull any of this "we keep the form in those games seperate" business, because clearly they don't.
 

James90

Cricketer Of The Year
Martyn's exclusion was completely unfair however I still prefer that to the decision of Hopes over Hayden!

I think they could just have easily played Martyn as 12th man if they wanted to use Hodge, MacGill or Watson. I don't see the point of dropping him from the squad completely as he should DEFINITELY play against the Windies.

I don't know what the selectors see in James Hopes. He had a good season but isn't a good enough batsman or bowler alone to deserve a place for Queensland. Obviously his ability to open the batting was taken into account but I can't imagine him being affective against the likes of Pollock and whoever else is in the World XI team.

However, I do agree with the exclusion of Gillespie/Kasprowicz and the inclusion of Nathan Bracken
 
Last edited:

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
cricinfo said:
September 14, 2005

Nominees

Test Player of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Adam Gilchrist, Inzamam-ul Haq, Jacques Kallis, Younis Khan, Brian Lara, Damien Martyn, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Danish Kaneria, Kumar Sangakkara, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Shane Warne.
Idiots.
 

howardj

International Coach
Slow Love™ said:
Ha, yeah, I posted to you in the Super Series thread about this (somehow I missed this thread).

As to this decision, I think it boggles the mind. You keep couching it in the terms "Hayden or Martyn", but the truth is, nobody would have been surprised by Hayden being left out of the squad. .
It's couched in those terms because I think they wish to stagger the exit of the older players, and losing the Ashes (and Martyn and Hayden both struggling) has presented them with an opportunity (for want of a better word) to pension one of the older guys off. Previously, they couldn't drop anyone, as the runs were flowing as freely as the beer at Trafalgar Square last week.
 

James90

Cricketer Of The Year
I can't see the logic in playing two 30 year olds over a 33 year old just because of the age difference. Unless a huge group of young Australians mature into test cricketers in the space of 3 years they're just delaying the inevitable and ruining Australia's chances "now"

Martyn will still be going strong by the time the 2007 World Cup comes so this for me is a no-brainer
 

Craig

World Traveller
This is one of the surprising and unfair axing's that comes to mind, and one bad series means you are out, the one comparable case is Steve Waugh's sacking from the ODI team three years ago, but this carried on a precident, if you lose a big series then a big name player will take the fall even though he probably didn't deserve it, if Hayden got dropped he would have deserved it more then say Martyn.

If you are going to make sacking, how about Ponting's captaincy or the coach?
 

Burpey

Cricketer Of The Year
Horrible horrible horrible ... we lose our first series in over four years and we drop one of our best batsmen. Those selectors need a check-up ... also, he is still in the ODI team, which I feel he is not really contributing to much lately. Wake me up guys !!!
 

age_master

Hall of Fame Member
i couldn't believe they dropped Martyn. hes done poorly in 1 series in like the last 2 years..... Hayden hasn't had a good series for like 2 years. Selectors finally make a big call but not the right one for mine.
 

age_master

Hall of Fame Member
James90 said:
I don't know what the selectors see in James Hopes. He had a good season but isn't a good enough batsman or bowler alone to deserve a place for Queensland. Obviously his ability to open the batting was taken into account but I can't imagine him being affective against the likes of Pollock and whoever else is in the World XI team.

i dont think Hopes will open in the World XI games, Clarke, Katich or Martyn are more likley to i would say
 

greg

International Debutant
This is slightly O/T but isn't there an argument for saying that this Australian squad has basically killed the whole concept of the Super Series stone dead? It makes no sense unless Australia are picking their best team, and there can be no doubt that as things stand Martyn is part of Australia's best team.

FWIW it seems to me that the Australian selectors just don't like him and have jumped at the first opportunity to get rid of him. Of all the players who didn't perform in the Ashes it seemed to me that Martyn was the one most clearly in bad form, rather than having been "found out" or in long term decline. It was a classic formula, seen so many times before, of a batsman starting OK, getting a few dodgy decisions or inconsequential dismissals (the runout) and then failing to ever recover any sort of momentum.

Gilchrist just looked basically clueless throughout the series, and if Hayden has to score at 2 an over in perfect conditions with the ball barely swinging to have any success in his future career then one must ask if it's really worth him hanging around.

Anyway, as an Englishman I'm loving it!! :laugh:
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
The last 2 innings that Martyn played in the Ashes were amongst the worst I have ever seen him play and his form throughout the tour was ordinary at best.

However, his form over the past few years should have been his saviour. He is a very fine player that should have commanded more loyalty.

I applaud the selections of both Watson AND Hopes.

Whilst I have never rated the latter, he always seems to perform when selected and his 146 in unfamiliar conditions and position demanded consideration.

I just hope that this ushers in a new era of selectors picking on the basis of performance.
 

sqwerty

U19 Cricketer
8 tons last calender year obviously wasn't enough.

I'd say Martyn's been flicked as much for his lack of commitment as anything else. He's never been much of a team man by all reports
 

Dasa

International Vice-Captain
Geez I read this on Cricinfo and was flabbergasted...I can't believe Martyn has been axed for just one bad series. I fully expected to see Hayden get axed, but not Martyn. Like others, I can't see the logic of axing him only from the Test squad...in ODIs he's not 'great', and at any rate ODIs are a better medium for trying out new talent.
 

Top