Who are the best 6 batsman in Australia now?

[Riggins]

to be fair he might be saying that it's either cossie or rogers, and whichever one it isn't doesn't deserve a spot in the top 6.

 

[Prince EWS]

to be fair he might be saying that it's either cossie or rogers, and whichever one it isn't doesn't deserve a spot in the top 6.

Yeah but the process wasn't "name your ideal top 6", it was "name the best six batsmen in Australia", and given he put Clarke at #1 he clearly wasn't just ignoring instructions and naming a batting lineup like Murphy did.

You can't say "Cosgrove is the second best batsman in Australia but if he drops dead then Rogers jumps from ninth to second" .. makes no sense. You can say you see Cosgrove and Rogers competing for the same spot but that's a different thing altogether.

 

[Maximas]

Rogers
Cowan
Khawaja
Clarke
Joe Burns
Hughes (Only in Eng/Aus/SA/NZ, Steve Smith for the sub-continent/WI)

Just for ****s and giggles the rest of the order:

Wade (sub-continent makes for some impossible keeping - wait till England before dropping him)
Siddle
Patto
Starc
Fawad Ahmed (Ashton Agar until Ahmed qualifies)

 

[Justo]

I reckon below are the best 4 batsmen available for Australian selection(in order of how I view them).

Clarke
Hughes
Rogers
Warner

After these 4 I struggle to find the rest of my lineup with there being little to separate Cowan, Dussey, Cosgrove, Voges, Watson, Burns, Khawaja, Smith, Doolan and Bailey when considering career performances and recent form.

As such all up my team would probably be the below although 4 and 6 definitely change based on my mood.

Watson
Rogers
Hughes
Voges
Clarke
Watson (if bowling) or Smith (based on recent performance)
Wade
Pattinson
Harris
Bird
Lyon

Reserve Batsmen: Cosgrove or Cowan.

Reserve Keeper/Batsmen: Haddin

Reserve Bowlers: Siddle, Starc and O'Keefe.

I don't consider Burns to be too far from national honors. Currently has 5 centuries(the same as Smith and Doolan) while having played far fewer matches. I see him as the medium to long term number 4 for Australia if he kicks on.

Rogers takes Cowan's spot due to his experience, career performances and current form. Voges takes number 4 since he bats there in the Shield, has experience in England and also provides a SLA spin option. Watson or Smith take up 6. Watson gets it if he bowls otherwise Smith gets it due to doing well in India.

The bowling attack features 3 pace bowlers(when fit) who can keep things quiet while still destroying lineups. All are more than capable with the new ball so Pattinson and Harris would probably take the new ball and start with shorter spells. Lyon keeps the spinners job but if he truly struggles(2-3 bad games) O'Keefe gets a shot.

All in all the team balances experience and youth. By the time Rogers and Voges retire or get dropped hopefully at least 2 of Hughes, Warner or Smith are settled in the team. Then Burns and the next batch can stake their claim in a slightly more settled lineup.

 

[kingkallis]

Whats the issue with Khawaja? I mean even CW members tend to write him off. What exactly happened?

 

[Prince EWS]

He can't bat. I don't even care if he does his homework. I've seen a lot of his batting now and it's too flawed as it stands. He has serious potential but needs serious work on a few things and doesn't have the mental strength of someone like Hughes to get past weaknesses and make the opposition pay when he's set.

 

[uvelocity]

where have you seen him bat since bbl?

 

[Flem274*]

where have you seen him bat since bbl?

spycam in the showers

 

[Prince EWS]

where have you seen him bat since bbl?

The few ODIs he played and the 60 odd he scored for the PM's XI I guess.

But that's not where I got my opinion from; it's been the same for a while now and well publicised on this forum.

He's just unfortunate in that it's painfully, painfully easy for any good bowler to bowl to a plan to him that will tie him down and threaten his wicket at the same time. A lot of the time you have to bowl to or close to a batsman's strength areas to also find their weakness areas - Hughes for example is savage on width but is dismissed regularly with the ball just outside off, so if you look to exploit his weakness there and get it slightly wrong he'll murder you. To tie him down you have to bowl a lot straighter and he rarely gets out like that. With Khawaja though, his weakness area is the same in both attack and defence, and to top that off he struggles to get off strike. Full outside off and you'll tie him down until he edges one because he's poor on the drive and loose in defence outside off. Too easy for Test bowlers.

 

[uvelocity]

hey i didn't say you were wrong. but i dont think those odi's meant much. if you saw the pm's game well i didnt see that. hasn't had any opportunity since

 

[Prince EWS]

hey i didn't say you were wrong. but i dont think those odi's meant much. if you saw the pm's game well i didnt see that. hasn't had any opportunity since

Yeah, I didn't base my opinion on the ODIs, or the PM's game.

 

[NUFAN]

1. Michael Clarke
2. David Warner
3. Mark Cosgrove
4. Usman Khawaja
5. Phil Hughes
6. Chris Rogers

Sydney Thunder bats FTW.

Rogers only just squeezes in, I don't particularly think he'd do that well in the test arena but still finds a spot in my top 6.

I think the second best RH bat in the country is George Bailey.

 

[adub]

He's just unfortunate in that it's painfully, painfully easy for any good bowler to bowl to a plan to him that will tie him down and threaten his wicket at the same time.

Yeah, massive potential, but needs much more work. I think he will figure it out, but he's not there yet. Hughes still has his weaknesses, but you can see how much work he has put in, especially on his leg side, to open up more scoring areas and make it harder for bowlers to just pepper his weak area until he nicks off. Uzi has to start the same process.

 

[Red]

1. Michael Clarke
2. David Warner
3. Mark Cosgrove
4. Usman Khawaja
5. Phil Hughes
6. Chris Rogers

Sydney Thunder bats FTW.

Rogers only just squeezes in, I don't particularly think he'd do that well in the test arena but still finds a spot in my top 6.

I think the second best RH bat in the country is George Bailey.

Forgetting the big man.

 

[Jarquis]

Cosgrove bats left handed...

 

[adub]

1. Michael Clarke
2. David Warner
3. Mark Cosgrove
4. Usman Khawaja
5. Phil Hughes
6. Chris Rogers

Sydney Thunder bats FTW.

Rogers only just squeezes in, I don't particularly think he'd do that well in the test arena but still finds a spot in my top 6.

I think the second best RH bat in the country is George Bailey.

What is it about Rogers you think will limit him in tests? Especially presuming by the high rating you give Cosgrove you see him as more likely to succeed despite his known weaknesses (such as a real inability to go on with it after his numerous starts).

If Rogers was 5 years younger I can imagine the abuse that would be heading Inverarity's way at him not being at least spoken seriously about. In other times it would be the right thing to look to younger guys, but seeing as it wasn't so long ago we were planning (foolishly as I have said for years) to be going to England with 38 year olds at 4 and 6, and even this week we've seen the coach all but plead for one of them to reconsider their retirement. In the place we find ourselves a 35y/o with 19,000 fc runs @ 50 who just came off a Shield season averaging 50 with 3 tons looks to me to stand head and shoulders above most of the other options.

Rather than struggle at test level I reckon he'd thrive. He's been around so long he knows his game inside and out. He certainly is far less likely to average 25 over an extended period than Watson. And best of all he would be up against England. Players and conditions he's totally familiar with and has dominated. With 20/20 hindsight it might have been better to go back to him 3 or 4 years ago, but I understand and at the time agreed with why we didn't. Now however...

If Rogers is not in the top 6 available bats in this country today then the ability to score runs consistently must be completely irrelevant to batting ability rather than the central focus. After Clarke I can't think of anyone who is available other than Rogers that I would feel a sense of 'it's ok, we've still got ----- at the crease' with. Other guys like Warner and Hughes you feel 'well if they can get in here' but you're worried that the stay will more likely be short. He'd provide a sense of stability to the side that Hussey used to provide, but better he'd be doing it at the top of the order. Simply a must pick for mine.

 

[NUFAN]

Rogers still made my top six, but I'm starting to think of him as a first class pro who isn't getting younger and would find the step up to Tests harder than some others. It's tricky though as I've named Hughes above him but I'm sure Rogers would have a better record if he played the same number of Tests.

If there was an upcoming series where Rogers would potentially be a viable option it would be over in England with a largely inexperienced squad.

My batting lineup would be:
1 Warner 2 Rogers 3 Hughes 4 Khawaja 5 Clarke 6 Cosgrove 7 Paine/Haddin.

I would justify dropping Wade because he is a useless **** with the gloves and we need another right hand bat.

Realistically though, Cowan is extremely likely to play in the First Test.

 

[Red]

Cosgrove bats left handed...

Street cred trashed.

 

[adub]

Rogers still made my top six, but I'm starting to think of him as a first class pro who isn't getting younger and would find the step up to Tests harder than some others. It's tricky though as I've named Hughes above him but I'm sure Rogers would have a better record if he played the same number of Tests.

Which is kinda my point. Most here seem to agree Hughes is one of our top couple of batsmen. I think you're right that after the same number of tests Rogers would have had a better record. Which is why I rate him above Hughes. He might not have set the world on fire, but at the moment a solid 40 average would look almost Bradmanesq.

I think we have to stick with the Cowan/Warner partnership though. Neither are averaging what you'd hope for individually, but as a partnership they aren't doing too bad. The problem hasn't been so much that we're losing the first wicket cheaply, but that the 2nd and 3rd have been following the first too quickly. That's why I think Rogers would make an excellent no.3 for us. Someone solid to increase the change of getting another partnership going after the first wicket falls. Hughes 4, then Clarke 5. They are our top 5 bats imho in the best order to maximise our chances of putting on a total in tests. 6 is then just whoever we reckon squeezes in as next best bat.

 

[Maximas]

I've never understood why Bailey is so well thought of in Australia - there are many shield batsmen outperforming him right now including Khawaja, Burns, Cosgrove, Rogers, Doolan and Steve Smith. Dussey is the same - he has been playing crap lately.