***Official*** Australia in South Africa

[morgieb]

Originally Posted by GingerFurball

Yeah, he only averages 40+ in the format.

No he doesn't. And he averages 17 in T20.

[Spark]

Originally Posted by iamdavid

Had an inkling they'd pick Cummins, premature yet predictable.

I think he's in a very similar situation to Brett Lee at the same age, in terms of ability and potential. It's a sign of the times that while the national setup were well aware of Lee and his potential as early as 1995, they didn't even seriously consider picking him until 1998/99 when he was 21ish. Whereas Cummins looks like he's going to be chucked straight in the deep end after about 3 good spells for NSW.

Is Hilditch still picking these sides?

Yep.

It really is bizarre - it's so obvious to everyone that the guy simply isn't ready yet. EDIT: Still confused as to why Ferguson isn't being brought along.

[Spikey]

Originally Posted by benchmark00

NSW > All.

yo dawg can you tell yr m8 barry to declare independence already. i'm sick of having to share our team with these other 5 **** states

[Sylvester]

Originally Posted by iamdavid

Is Hilditch still picking these sides?

Seems that way, he's the wrong talking about the decisions.

[Jono]

Hilditch is stand-in chairman until the new (full-time) selectors are chosen

[andyc]

Originally Posted by Spark

Yep.

It really is bizarre - it's so obvious to everyone that the guy simply isn't ready yet. EDIT: Still confused as to why Ferguson isn't being brought along.

Yeah, would have loved to see Ferguson in there.

The Cummins things annoys me greatly. He might be decent one day but he doesn't deserve to be picked simply because he can bowl fast for a young bloke, and he definitely doesn't deserve to get a national contract off the back of that.

[vic_orthdox]

Originally Posted by Jono

Hilditch is stand-in chairman until the new (full-time) selectors are chosen

Joy of joys.

[Spikey]

it's an odd one. On one hand, he's ****ing **** along with his gang. On the other, you don't want to rush the selection process of the uh selectors. Best thing would have been to repeat the Cooley-like thing and get 3 people willing to do it for the short-term but with no ambition to apply, probably.

[adub]

Best to just roll your eyes and accept it will be all over soon.

[howardj]

I think, barrring injury, Cummins wil go far. However, I would have liked to have seen him play strictly domestic cricket up until Christmas - especially considering that there are no FC games for 6 or 7 weeks while the BBL is on.

October-December would have been a good solid window to get some FC and domestic one-dayers under the belt.

[robelinda]

He needs to be playing more FC cricket than 20/20 or ODI's. Simple. And that aint happening any time soon. By the end of season he will likely have played bucket loads of meaningless slog matches and precious little FC cricket, not what Aus cricket needs.

[benchmark00]

Originally Posted by robelinda

He needs to be playing more FC cricket than 20/20 or ODI's. Simple. And that aint happening any time soon. By the end of season he will likely have played bucket loads of meaningless slog matches and precious little FC cricket, not what Aus cricket needs.

Possibly true, but do we want to be exposing our 18 year old quick bowlers to overs upon overs of bowling in longer form cricket when their bodies are still developing? Not sure.

[Spikey]

the whole problem for me re Cummins being picked is there's 2 T20's and 3 ODI's in the LO part of the tour. Let's take a quick look at the bowling options in the squad.

ODI squad:
Shane Watson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Xavier Doherty, James Pattinson, Patrick Cummins, Doug Bollinger.

Twenty20 squad: Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Steve O'Keefe, Brett Lee, James Pattinson, Patrick Cummins, Doug Bollinger.

Cummins ain't gonna do jack on this tour. And he's gonna miss two shield games, two OD games and a stack of grade matches. And Pattinson might not do anything either. Lee & Dougeh will probably play all 5 matches though Dougeh might get rested if he makes the test squad. So Pattinson might get to play in the T20's and the last ODer. It's just a complete lack of common sense. Why are we picking 5 fast bowlers for 3 ODers? As above you may as well just have Dirk Nannes there for cover.

[benchmark00]

Originally Posted by Spikey

the whole problem for me re Cummins being picked is there's 2 T20's and 3 ODI's in the LO part of the tour. Let's take a quick look at the bowling options in the squad.

ODI squad:
Shane Watson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Xavier Doherty, James Pattinson, Patrick Cummins, Doug Bollinger.

Twenty20 squad: Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Steve O'Keefe, Brett Lee, James Pattinson, Patrick Cummins, Doug Bollinger.

Cummins ain't gonna do jack on this tour. And he's gonna miss two shield games, two OD games and a stack of grade matches. And Pattinson might not do anything either. Lee & Dougeh will probably play all 5 matches though Dougeh might get rested if he makes the test squad. So Pattinson might get to play in the T20's and the last ODer. It's just a complete lack of common sense. Why are we picking 5 fast bowlers for 3 ODers? As above you may as well just have Dirk Nannes there for cover.

What is Dirk Nannes going to get out of touring with the Australian team though? Nothing. Having Cummins just around the team will be beneficial for him.

Cummins is only 18, he has plenty of time to play shielf cricket. A non issue for mine.

[Spikey]

Also just on this:

“Mitchell Johnson was not selected for the Twenty20 squad.

Mitchell has struggled in this format of the game to date. Most Twenty20 internationals have been at the start of tours and Mitchell has not always been at his best in these matches."

His two matches in SL weren't great but overall his T20 form is probably the best out of the three in the last two years isn't it? And won't the T20 and ODI squads be leaving at the same time anyway? Very minor issue of course.