***Official*** Australia in South Africa

[Prince EWS]

Haddin > McDonald with the bat.

Obviously, but the selectors have shown they'll be batting McDonald at 6 anyway.

 

[Prince EWS]

i would have picked jaques as well to use katich as cover for the opening and middle order positions, but i can't complain.

Hughes
katich
ponting
clarke
hussey
haddin
mcdonald
johnson
mcgain
siddle
bollinger

probably has the best balance for mine. If they contemplate playing 4 quicks, then i'd get noryth in for mcdonald and change the order accordingly./

awta.

 

[aussie]

Except for the fact they didn't pick McDonald as a bowling all-rounder.

I mean for the notion of chosing an "all-rounder" in the squad. Instead of picking McDonald as the batting all-rounder. Noffke should have been picked as the bowling all-rounder.

I dunno about you but the day I see Noffke coming in to bat at 6 is the day I know the selectors have completely lost it.

Haa & no Noffke would bat @ 8 as part of 4-man pace attack as i've said many times. Since regardless of the fact that McGain is best spinner available its HUGE risk to pick him as part of 4-man attack (3 quicks & 1 spinner) with Watson not available to bat @ 6.

 

[Top_Cat]

The fact that McDonald batted ahead of Haddin suggests that they have already lost it anyway. If McDonald plays he should bat at 7 behind Haddin. No questions asked.

There is the issue of workload, though. Haddin is struggling enough with the gloves right now without batting at 6. Myself, I wouldn't pick McDonald at all, prefer a specialist bat..

 

[oldmancraigy]

The fact that McDonald batted ahead of Haddin suggests that they have already lost it anyway. If McDonald plays he should bat at 7 behind Haddin. No questions asked.

There's certainly worse performers than McDonald with the bat...

He's being picked as a 'specialist all-rounder'.
Career first class numbers of 38 with the bat and 28 with the ball give him better numbers than a Freddie Flintoff.

Not to mention that McDonald has average mid 40s with the bat the last 2.5 seasons...

The beauty of a Brad Haddin is that he makes McDonald's selection possible - Haddin's a 40 average guy in test cricket; if McDonald can average mid 30s then he's done his job for the team - and then he can come out and bowl his line and length and frustrate the batsmen - OR (if conditions allow) he can provide some useful swing.

He rests our fast bowlers while still providing a wicket taking presence...

 

[Julian87]

I acknowledge all of that, but Haddin is a better bat, with more chance of scoring runs, hence I think he should bat higher.

 

[oldmancraigy]

I acknowledge all of that, but Haddin is a better bat, with more chance of scoring runs, hence I think he should bat higher.

Yeah - more chance of Haddin scoring a century - I completely agree with ya on that one!

I guess it's the selectors fearing that if they put him in the top 6, all of a sudden he won't be able to keep wickets anymore...

Either way, having them both in the team as 'all-rounders' is fine by me.

 

[aussie]

There's certainly worse performers than McDonald with the bat...

He's being picked as a 'specialist all-rounder'.

Yes but that clearly doesn't mean that he is.

Career first class numbers of 38 with the bat and 28 with the ball give him better numbers than a Freddie Flintoff.

Not to mention that McDonald has average mid 40s with the bat the last 2.5 seasons...

Good number yea, but not good enough to play as "specialist-all-rounder" in the Australian side under any circumstances. For NZ & WI maybe.

He would never replicate those numbers in test cricket.

The beauty of a Brad Haddin is that he makes McDonald's selection possible - Haddin's a 40 average guy in test cricket;.

In test history only Gilchrist, Sangakkara, Stewart, Lindsay, Parks, Waite have displayed the solidity to bat in the top 6 consistently with great success & solidity.

Haddin falls in the group of with the likes of Dhoni, Boucher, Dujon, Alexander, Knott, Engineer (although he opened) are good batsman but weren't/cant good enough to bat higher than 7 over a long period of time.

if McDonald can average mid 30s then he's done his job for the team - and then he can come out and bowl his line and length and frustrate the batsmen - OR (if conditions allow) he can provide some useful swing.

He rests our fast bowlers while still providing a wicket taking presence...

Unlikely to happen. He is likely to be a liabilty batting @ 6 while his bowling yea might give the bowling some rest but not wicket-taking at all.

Given the freshness of the attack the Saffies will surely try to blast him when he bowls, but at the same time they won't be erratic.

 

[Nate]

Fantastic to see Hughes and North selected. Just got to hope there are some injuries to McDonald and the pacemen now...

 

[pup11]

North's bowling being seriously overrated here. He's handy but he's no all-rounder, he'll get absolutely pumped if he has to to bowl more than 5 to 10.

Yeah, i think too expect North's bowling to be any more effective than Clarke or Symonds' spin bowling at the international is a bit too much, and i don't think neither North's FC form this season was screaming for him to be picked.

Would have been much more happier had David Hussey or Michael Klinger been picked, anyways North isn't the most atrocious pick either, as he certainly has the pedigree to be a very decent batsman.

Picking Hughes over Jaques too was a tough but at the same time a correct decision, Jaques is unlucky to miss out, but he hardly seems to be in any touch atm to be picked, whereas Hughes is going through a purple patch.

The rest of the squad is on expected lines, but i agree with the general mood in the thread that the bowling line-up has a seriously amateurish look to it.

Them not having enough test experience is one thing, but none of them are too high on FC experience either, that just makes the decision not to pick seasoned FC campaigner like Noffke or Bracken even more direr.

 

[social]

I would have picked Jaques as well to use Katich as cover for the opening and middle order positions, but I can't complain.

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Haddin
McDonald
Johnson
McGain
Siddle
Bollinger

Probably has the best balance for mine. If they contemplate playing 4 quicks, then I'd get Noryth in for McDonald and change the order accordingly./

My thoughts exactly

Anyway, congrats to the selectors (there, I said it!), they've actually picked a team on merit for a change and there really cant be too many complaints based on who is available

 

[pup11]

Yes but that clearly doesn't mean that he is.



Not to mention that McDonald has average mid 40s with the bat the last 2.5 seasons...

Good number yea, but not good enough to play as "specialist-all-rounder" in the Australian side under any circumstances. For NZ & WI maybe.

He would never replicate those numbers in test cricket.





In test history only Gilchrist, Sangakkara, Stewart, Lindsay, Parks, Waite have displayed the solidity to bat in the top 6 consistently with great success & solidity.

Haddin falls in the group of with the likes of Dhoni, Boucher, Dujon, Alexander, Knott, Engineer (although he opened) are good batsman but weren't/cant good enough to bat higher than 7 over a long period of time.



Unlikely to happen. He is likely to be a liabilty batting @ 6 while his bowling yea might give the bowling some rest but not wicket-taking at all.

Given the freshness of the attack the Saffies will surely try to blast him when he bowls, but at the same time they won't be erratic.

Look i don't agree with this theory the selectors currently have, that no matter what there should be an all-rounder in the playing XI, so for even if viable all-round options like Symonds and Watto aren't available, they are hell-bent on finding someone who could fall into that category.

McDonald to his credit is a decent enough FC cricketer as his figures clearly suggest, and if its an all-rounder the selectors want, then he pretty much is the next best option after Symonds and Watto in the country.

 

[Redbacks]

Good squad except Jaques in for Hughes, but then again Hughes has the runs on the board.

If Katman and Phil form a good partnership at the top Jaques could find it very hard to get back into the future sides even if he makes alot of runs.

 

[social]

Look i don't agree with this theory the selectors currently have, that no matter what there should be an all-rounder in the playing XI, so for even if viable all-round options like Symonds and Watto aren't available, they are hell-bent on finding someone who could fall into that category.

McDonald to his credit is a decent enough FC cricketer as his figures clearly suggest, and if its an all-rounder the selectors want, then he pretty much is the next best option after Symonds and Watto in the country.

The problem Aus faces is consistent with that faced by every test team

History reveals that only 2 teams have been consistently successful with 4 man attacks and when you look closer at those sides, it was because the worst bowler in those sides was an exceptional performer and all were basically tireless

No other sides have had that luxury and, as a result, ALL test teams need 5 bowlers

Naturally, the inclusion of 5 bowlers will lead to a ridiculously long tail UNLESS at least one of them can hold a bat

Hence the search for an all-rounder

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Interesting quote here from the CA website in reference to Phil Hughes:

Combining patience and timing with flashes of raw power, the left-hander collected State Player of the Year honours at this year’s Allan Border Medal and will look to fill the retired Matthew Hayden’s vacant opening spot partnering his state captain Simon Katich at the top of the order.

That's interesting. Mainly because he didn't win State Player of the Year. You'd expect better from CA's own site.

 

[social]

Interesting quote here from the CA website in reference to Phil Hughes:



That's interesting. Mainly because he didn't win State Player of the Year. You'd expect better from CA's own site.

It is CA!

 

[Top_Cat]

Haha, the black-listing of Victorian cricketers, even if they're now playing for someone else, continues unabated!

 

[pasag]

My thoughts exactly

Anyway, congrats to the selectors (there, I said it!), they've actually picked a team on merit for a change and there really cant be too many complaints based on who is available

Yeah, it's the right side and as long as they go with Julian's XI there won't be any complaints from me. I'd probably rather a better bat than McDonald, but you can't argue with the extra bowling he brings to a side that's struggled to take 20 wickets regularly over the past year.

 

[inbox24]

Pretty good squad except for McDonald and Hauritz, one's a half baked 'all-rounder' and the other is an innocuous slow bowler.

I wonder if they would keep picking 'all-rounders' if McDonald and Hopes were both injured?

 

[pup11]

The problem Aus faces is consistent with that faced by every test team

History reveals that only 2 teams have been consistently successful with 4 man attacks and when you look closer at those sides, it was because the worst bowler in those sides was an exceptional performer and all were basically tireless

No other sides have had that luxury and, as a result, ALL test teams need 5 bowlers

Naturally, the inclusion of 5 bowlers will lead to a ridiculously long tail UNLESS at least one of them can hold a bat

Hence the search for an all-rounder

Searching an all-rounder is fine imo, and tbh had Moises Henriques had a good time this season he could have been a very decent choice, but atm Aussie selectors really don't have any viable options in that regard.

McDonald used the SCG pitch really well to his advantage, and he kept the batsmen honest there, but i don't see him coming across pitches like those in every test match, and that's where his true value has to assessed.

I really can't see him doing well with the bat at no.6 and if he is going to only bowl 20-30 overs every game and taking a wicket or two, then i really don't see the merit behind his selection.

Australia would have been much better off either taking the punt of picking Ashley Noffke who could bat decently at 7 and be a genuine match-winning option with the ball or just play an extra batsman, because McDonald neither provides too much solidity to the batting side of things, neither he really strengthens or adds any variety to the bowling unit.