• 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.

End of the Test road for Symonds

Is its over ?


  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .

Bonnie Prince C

U19 12th Man
I would be surprised to see him play test cricket again. However, maybe ODI's.

I never rated him that highly in the test arena and do not think Australia will/would miss him.
 

oitoitoi

State Vice-Captain
needs to get himself to england and do well in county cricket, then when watson get's injured (he ain't getting through 5 consecutive tests) and the ashes are on the line we'll see how ballsy the australian selectors really are.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
There is no way of telling that he is not a promising player just by virtue of 3 matches. His FC record suggests he has it in him, to be a good allrounder. He did not start brightly, but against the best test team in the world, he has bagged 9 wickets at 33, and has made his runs @ 21, which is hardly unpromising. He might not have the traditional Aussie swagger one associates with premier allrounders like Symonds and Watson, but I think he will be a quite useful option for them at No.8 or even No.6. Besides he is just 27 which is youngish by Aussie standards as well.
McDonald's First-Class record suggests he has it in him to be a decent state player. Not a lot more.

Thus, to describe him as extremely promising is over-expectation in the extreme.
 

oitoitoi

State Vice-Captain
McDonald's First-Class record suggests he has it in him to be a decent state player. Not a lot more.

Thus, to describe him as extremely promising is over-expectation in the extreme.
Agreed. His bowling will never really be test quality, it's not penetrative enough and he's pretty much bowling as well as he can right now. His batting is of the useful tailender variety too. Symonds at 27 was a totally different prospect, his incredible power as a batsmen, fielding, useful bowling marked him as someone who just had to improve on existing skills, macdonald just doesn't have the foundations to turn into a test quality player. I guarantee that Australia will regret his selection this summer when Watson goes down injured (which I also guarantee to happen, knowing his luck it'll be in a tour match).
 

Smith

Banned
McDonald's First-Class record suggests he has it in him to be a decent state player. Not a lot more.

Thus, to describe him as extremely promising is over-expectation in the extreme.
I don't think we can find many allrounders who average less than 30 with the ball and more than 35 with the bat in Aussie cricket these days, if not any. That in itself suggests the guy has talent. And considering he is "only" 27, and yet to peak, he is a good prospect.

Nobody called him the second coming of Gary Sobers or Keith Miller. But he is going to be a very handy addition to the baggy greens if he can really challenge himself at this level. Do not forget that Aussie FC is the toughest in the world also.

Find me allrounders who average more than him with the bat and less than with the ball in World cricket today, if you please.
 

Smith

Banned
Agreed. His bowling will never really be test quality, it's not penetrative enough and he's pretty much bowling as well as he can right now. His batting is of the useful tailender variety too. Symonds at 27 was a totally different prospect, his incredible power as a batsmen, fielding, useful bowling marked him as someone who just had to improve on existing skills, macdonald just doesn't have the foundations to turn into a test quality player. I guarantee that Australia will regret his selection this summer when Watson goes down injured (which I also guarantee to happen, knowing his luck it'll be in a tour match).
He has hardly started playing test cricket and people seem to be in a hurry to trash him. First of all he is not the exact replacement for Symonds. Symonds is a hard hitting lower order batsman who is quite useful with the ball. Essentially a batting allrounder. McDonald on the other hand is a handy lower order batsman who can bowl his quota every day without being punished exorbitantly. They both are different players to facilitate any direct comparison per se.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I don't think we can find many allrounders who average less than 30 with the ball and more than 35 with the bat in Aussie cricket these days, if not any. That in itself suggests the guy has talent. And considering he is "only" 27, and yet to peak, he is a good prospect.

Nobody called him the second coming of Gary Sobers or Keith Miller. But he is going to be a very handy addition to the baggy greens if he can really challenge himself at this level. Do not forget that Aussie FC is the toughest in the world also.

Find me allrounders who average more than him with the bat and less than with the ball in World cricket today, if you please.
McDonald presumably does indeed have far more to offer at Test level with the bat than he's shown thus far. Nonetheless, as a bowler he is not someone who is ever going to take particularly good figures. He just doesn't really do much - wanders up and bangs it down on a decent line and length. That's it.

McDonald just does not have enough in him to be a Test-standard player. His batting could undoubtedly be better than it has been thus far, though there is no guarantee it will be of massive use, and his bowling is not going to offer anything more than he has thus far.

And at 27 most all-rounders would expect to be hitting their best years.
 

oitoitoi

State Vice-Captain
Basically macdonald reminds me of the kind of player England would have picked in the 90's. Not particularly good at anything, but a solid honest trier.
 

pasag

RTDAS
Would be awesome if he could justify a position in the top 6. However he can't and there's no point playing him at 8. There are better specialist bowlers. It's a stupid defensive pick ala Cameron White in India.
 

Top_Cat

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Some serious misunderstanding of McDonald's role going on here.

Look, it's so easy to bag him. Prima facie, he bowls dibbly meds and sets the pulse racing to marginally above death when he bats. But it misses the point of why he was picked. Ever since his debut, there have been noises all over the place from the other players about how well he fills in the gaps in the team. He's a decent field, can bat well, excellent tactician, brings leadership experience from a successful team domestically and his meds are under-rated (quite dangerous on a deck or conditions offering something).

He's no world-beater but he's not there for that. He's the Swiss Army Knife of the team. There's absolutely no point in complaining that he's no Henckel. The team loves him and they're doing better with him than without him. Reason enough to keep him in the side, let alone that his game seems perfectly suited to English conditions anyway.
 

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Some serious misunderstanding of McDonald's role going on here.

Look, it's so easy to bag him. Prima facie, he bowls dibbly meds and sets the pulse racing to marginally above death when he bats. But it misses the point of why he was picked. Ever since his debut, there have been noises all over the place from the other players about how well he fills in the gaps in the team. He's a decent field, can bat well, excellent tactician, brings leadership experience from a successful team domestically and his meds are under-rated (quite dangerous on a deck or conditions offering something).

He's no world-beater but he's not there for that. He's the Swiss Army Knife of the team. There's absolutely no point in complaining that he's no Henckel. The team loves him and they're doing better with him than without him. Reason enough to keep him in the side, let alone that his game seems perfectly suited to English conditions anyway.
Agree totally.
 

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Agreed. His bowling will never really be test quality, it's not penetrative enough and he's pretty much bowling as well as he can right now. His batting is of the useful tailender variety too. Symonds at 27 was a totally different prospect, his incredible power as a batsmen, fielding, useful bowling marked him as someone who just had to improve on existing skills, macdonald just doesn't have the foundations to turn into a test quality player. I guarantee that Australia will regret his selection this summer when Watson goes down injured (which I also guarantee to happen, knowing his luck it'll be in a tour match).
If we can do ok with him in SA against SA I reckon he can do the job against England.
 

pasag

RTDAS
Some serious misunderstanding of McDonald's role going on here.

Look, it's so easy to bag him. Prima facie, he bowls dibbly meds and sets the pulse racing to marginally above death when he bats. But it misses the point of why he was picked. Ever since his debut, there have been noises all over the place from the other players about how well he fills in the gaps in the team. He's a decent field, can bat well, excellent tactician, brings leadership experience from a successful team domestically and his meds are under-rated (quite dangerous on a deck or conditions offering something).

He's no world-beater but he's not there for that. He's the Swiss Army Knife of the team. There's absolutely no point in complaining that he's no Henckel. The team loves him and they're doing better with him than without him. Reason enough to keep him in the side, let alone that his game seems perfectly suited to English conditions anyway.
Honestly, it's simple - if you're at 8 at Test cricket you should be one of the four best bowlers in the country. All the other little things are useful, at times (in other formats) but it's really the definition of a bits and pieces cricketer. What you've just posted is 'he does a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but nothing well.' For mine, it's an idiotic selection and that will become clearer over time. Don't get me wrong, he hasn't embarrassed himself with the ball so far at all, but the only place in the side he should play is at 6 and there's no way he's good enough with the bat, at this stage to play there.
 

pasag

RTDAS
If we can do ok with him in SA against SA I reckon he can do the job against England.
For mine we got very lucky in SA (in that Johnson and Siddle did the job themselves) and should never go into a Test series that bowling light again.
 

Top