• 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.

Who will be Australia's next number three batsman?

Who should bat at 3?


  • Total voters
    23

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
Since Ponting slipped down to number four, the first drop position has been flimsily guarded.

Khawaja had a bit of a turn there, then Marsh had a bit of a turn there, and then in the WIs Watson had a bit of a turn there as well. Seems pretty unstable.

So what do we do?

Leave Watson there?

Move Ponting back there?

Give Khawaja or Marsh another turn.

Move Clarke or MHussey up there?

Give Forrest a turn?

Someone else?
 
Last edited:

Jager

International Debutant
Difficult period for Australian cricket. We need someone with big cajones, a David Boon type batsman. Forrest looks dreadful, Khawaja has deteriorated, Marsh looked a broken man this summer... Hughes at 3? At least he's a hard working player who is excellent at FC level. I don't care if he has flaws in his technique, he's a great talent, perhaps the best we have at the moment that has the maturity to play at test level.
 

AlanJLegend

U19 Vice-Captain
I assume Watson will be there next time we play. But if Cowan can't rack up some big scores this summer and gets dropped I reckon they'll put Watto back opening and bring in somebody else at 3, probably Forrest.
 

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
I think our best option is to be placing someone with an opening pedigree there, much like we did with David Boon. Unfortunately, our opening pair isn't settled on either, and I'm not convinced that Warner is a long term solution at the top of the order - rather, I think that he'd be more effective in the middle order.

There's too much up in the air at the moment about our batting order, and the top three is the key to sorting it out.
 

stumpski

International Captain
Hussey would be a good short term bet as he has plenty of experience in opening in f-c cricket. Not sure if he's done it recently, but as you're probably only going to get another 12-18 months out of him anyway it might be worth a shot. Hopefully when he goes Khawaja, who seems to have been earmarked for the slot, will be ready for another go.
 

Jager

International Debutant
Hussey would be a good short term bet as he has plenty of experience in opening in f-c cricket. Not sure if he's done it recently, but as you're probably only going to get another 12-18 months out of him anyway it might be worth a shot. Hopefully when he goes Khawaja, who seems to have been earmarked for the slot, will be ready for another go.
David or Michael?
 

Ruckus

International Captain
Would trust Ponting more at 4 where he is, reckon he should stay there. Need more time to see if has got any proper consistency back, and if he hasn't, then I doubt it would help him having to come in earlier against the new ball. Think Watson is the best pick for No. 3 atm.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
To be honest, I doubt Ponting would do a worse job than whichever name the selectors pick out a hat to be next in line for the position.
 

Ruckus

International Captain
Yeah he probably wouldn't, but it's about trying to get as much from him as possible. And I think no. 4 would be a safer bet at this stage. He only has a year or two left anyway, so I think it's a good idea to be trying to get someone else settled into the no. 3 position (preferably for the long term).
 

vic_orthdox

Global Moderator
What about getting someone into the team at 5 or 6, and having them comfortable in Test cricket, than shoehorning them straight into number 3?
 

Top