Phil Jaques

[Jakester1288]

Will he play for Australia again?

The only way he looks like getting back in at the moment is Katich slotting down the order.

 

[brockley]

Question is will he get a cricket australia contract.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Would surely have to keep his contract. Will he be fit come the Ashes series, if they wished to select a reserve batsman?

 

[Jakester1288]

Would surely have to keep his contract. Will he be fit come the Ashes series, if they wished to select a reserve batsman?

Jaques or Hodge would be my reserve batsmen. Jaques can open and push Katich down the order, or Hodge can open or bat middle order.

 

[Andre]

Would surely have to keep his contract. Will he be fit come the Ashes series, if they wished to select a reserve batsman?

Nup - he had back surgery again and is out till the start of next summer. Hasn't even looked for a short term county gig to keep himself in the frame.

Anyone know when the contract list is released? Probably one of the more interesting lists in a while IMO.

 

[Noble One]

Will need a strong showing next domestic season for him to come back into consideration. His return after his back injury last summer was not positive, struggled for runs, and when they did come, looked totally out of touch and scratchy.

Terrible luck for Jaques. Probably matched every expectation of him whilst in the test opening position. Had served his apprenticeship well at Sheffield Shield and County Cricket level. Statistically one of the most dominant first class batsmen of this decade.

 

[andyc]

Jaques or Hodge would be my reserve batsmen. Jaques can open and push Katich down the order, or Hodge can open or bat middle order.

No he can't. Would much, much rather see Jaques down the order than Hodge opening.

 

[inbox24]

Jaques could definitely bat at 3 or 4, but it's hard to see selectors making such a decision with the established. Would be perfect to slot him at number six and fill that uncertain (for 2 years now) position.

Another option if Hughes fails is to put Jaques as opener and slot Hughes down at 6 to make it easier for him.

 

[Redbacks]

Another option if Hughes fails is to put Jaques as opener and slot Hughes down at 6 to make it easier for him.

ATM it looks like facing the new ball is definitely a strenght of Hughes, he might not be as effective against spin.

They need to give Jaques a contract, reward for his previous years of runs and also never should have been dropped in the first place!

Give Klinger a contract!

 

[Top_Cat]

ATM it looks like facing the new ball is definitely a strenght of Hughes, he might not be as effective against spin.

They need to give Jaques a contract, reward for his previous years of runs and also never should have been dropped in the first place!

That'd be fair enough if he was likely to play any time soon. But he's not. Should make it back into the NSW side before talking of CA contracts, I reckon.

 

[vic_orthdox]

ATM it looks like facing the new ball is definitely a strenght of Hughes, he might not be as effective against spin.

They need to give Jaques a contract, reward for his previous years of runs and also never should have been dropped in the first place!

Give Klinger a contract!

Hmm, I would say that he was "unlucky" to be dropped, rather than it being a bad decision. I think that it pretty much worked out as well as possible, looking back on things; barring Hayden's poor form.

That'd be fair enough if he was likely to play any time soon. But he's not. Should make it back into the NSW side before talking of CA contracts, I reckon.

In the end, he still made a hundred in his last Test for Australia which was in the course of the 2008. The only thing that is keeping him out is injury, and his form in only a couple of games back was seriously compromised by that situation. If you keep on pace bowlers and others because of injury, then you have to keep Jaques on a contract.

 

[NUFAN]

Nup - he had back surgery again and is out till the start of next summer. Hasn't even looked for a short term county gig to keep himself in the frame.

Anyone know when the contract list is released? Probably one of the more interesting lists in a while IMO.

Fox Sports last night said that the contract list will be released in the next couple of weeks.

My 25 Cricket Australia Contracted Players not in order
S Katich, P Hughes, R Ponting, M Hussey, M Clarke, M North, C Ferguson, M Klinger, P Jaques, D Hussey, S Marsh, B Haddin, S Watson, A Symonds, J Hopes, A McDonald, M Johnson, P Siddle, S Clark, B Lee, B Hilfenhaus, N Bracken, N Hauritz, S Tait, D Bollinger.

Close to selection
G Manou, B Geeves, C White, B McGain, A Voges, B Laughlin, S Harwood, B Hodge, C Rogers.

Only 1 spinner and 1 keeper picked. I guess Klinger and Bollinger/Tait would have to make way if you wanted an extra keeper [Manou or spinner NFI].

 

[oitoitoi]

He's got to be one of the most unlucky players in world cricket, waited so long for his chance doing everything right, then got injured and overtaken in the pecking order. Still think the guy has an Ashes hundred or 2 in him. Ranks just behind Brad Hodge in terms of 'life not being very fair for a good cricket player', both proved themselves at the top level but for various reasons have been dropped.

 

[Andre]

Fox Sports last night said that the contract list will be released in the next couple of weeks.

My 25 Cricket Australia Contracted Players not in order
S Katich, P Hughes, R Ponting, M Hussey, M Clarke, M North, C Ferguson, M Klinger, P Jaques, D Hussey, S Marsh, B Haddin, S Watson, A Symonds, J Hopes, A McDonald, M Johnson, P Siddle, S Clark, B Lee, B Hilfenhaus, N Bracken, N Hauritz, S Tait, D Bollinger.

Close to selection
G Manou, B Geeves, C White, B McGain, A Voges, B Laughlin, S Harwood, B Hodge, C Rogers.

Only 1 spinner and 1 keeper picked. I guess Klinger and Bollinger/Tait would have to make way if you wanted an extra keeper [Manou or spinner NFI].

Yeah, I only caught the tail end of the discussion on Fox Sports last night and didn't hear when they were being announced. That list looks pretty right.

The current list is

NAME STATE AGE

Doug Bollinger NSW 26

Nathan Bracken NSW 30

Beau Casson NSW 25

Stuart Clark NSW 32

Michael Clarke NSW 27

Brad Haddin NSW 30

Matthew Hayden QLD 36

Ben Hilfenhaus TAS 25

Brad Hodge VIC 33

James Hopes QLD 29

David Hussey VIC 30

Mike Hussey WA 32

Philip Jaques NSW 28

Mitchell Johnson QLD 26

Simon Katich NSW 32

Brett Lee NSW 31

Stuart MacGill NSW 37

Shaun Marsh WA 24

Ashley Noffke QLD 30

Ricky Ponting TAS 33

Andrew Symonds QLD 32

Shaun Tait SA 25

Adam Voges WA 28

Shane Watson QLD 26

Cameron White VIC 24

I reckon out of that, Casson, Hodge and Noffke will lose them (rightly or wrongly). Voges, Tait, White, Jaques, Bollinger and possibly Bracken and Symonds will be under the pump to retain theirs. Obviously Hayden and MacGill have retired.

So basically, you've got:
Clark
Clarke
Haddin
Hilfenhaus
Hopes
D Hussey
M Hussey
Johnson
Katich
Lee
Marsh
Ponting
Watson.

13 from last years list that I'd say are certain to retain them.

Add to that:
Siddle
Hughes
North
Ferguson
Haurtiz
would be pretty certain to pick them up.

So there is 18 of the 25. IMO, you then have:
Voges
Tait
White
Bollinger
Bracken (most people would argue he's a certainty, but I just get the feeling he's starting to fade away Gillespie style)
Symonds (LOTS of variables with this one)
Jaques
McGain
McDonald
Warner
Geeves
Laughlin
Harwood
Klinger
Rogers
Magoffin
R Harris
Krejza
Hodge
Noffke
Manou

fighting out for the last 7 contracts, with guys like Burt ****ley and George Bailey the smokies for a deal.

So out of that group of 21 fighting for 7 contracts, I'd imagine that:
Tait
White
Bollinger
Bracken
Symonds
Geeves
Jaques

would win out for the last few contracts. IT's hard to say though - McDonald, Rogers and McGain would only get a Test rating from the selectors, Warner probably only a Twenty20 (maybe one day as well), Laughlin probably the same as well. So while those names might appear in various squads, they probably won't get enough points up to get picked on the initial list.

Having the specialists in all 3 forms makes it tough - they rank the players in Test, OD and now probably Twenty20 on a points scale, with Test being weighted the highest. With some many players in and out of the side though, there are a lot of guys who would rank on one chart and not on another. Hence why I think someone like Bracken might be in danger.

It's going to be an interesting list.

 

[NUFAN]

Do they name the 25 first and work out the pay scale or put down the list of the best Tests, ODIs etc and the 25 names up the top get contracts? I think they are slightly different things tbh.

Just a few comments Andre:
Bracken - Was injured for a fair bit of the Aussie Summer and will be back, he was number 1 in the world at the start of the year he'll be chosen for sure!
McDonald - Very unlucky to be behind Brett Geeves as he's still in the Test Match set up and has done quite well.

 

[Andre]

From memory they do something like write a list of the top 25 players in both forms of the game (now 3 forms I'd assume), work out a weighting for Test and ODI cricket, and narrow down the top 25 based on a points system. Hence why a player like Chris Rogers missed out on a contract this year - he wasn't playing OD for WA so he wasn't considered for that form, hence his point score wasn't as high as some other players - who arguably have less chance of playing for Australia. It had a lot to do with why he left WA at the end of last year.

Yeah look, I agree that Bracken will be chosen, but more what I'm getting at I guess is that I wouldn't be suprised if he was off the list in a years time. Considering he's not at all in the frame for Test cricket, his ranking wouldn't be as high as some others, and if his form continues to dip to the extent he's no longer a walk up start in the shorter forms, then he's probably going to struggle to be in the top 25 come this time next year.

McDonald was very close to my list, but Geeves had him cause he is in the frame for all 3 sides, where from what I can gather McDonald is only really in the frame for Test cricket - as highlighted by him being left out of the provisional Twenty20 WC squad. Hence, my guesswork tells me Geeves would have more points. In a fully fit (Clark, Lee etc back) squad McDonald would probably be ranked 13th or 14th in Tests, low in the OD side and obviously not in the top 30 in Twenty20. But Geeves would be around 15th/16th for the Test side and top 15 for the OD and Twenty20 sides, hence has more points and gets a contract. By my very amatuer maths at least anyway