Australia's Future - The Real Tests

[vcs]

Their bowling is completely dependent upon Yasir ATM because Amir seems to have forgotten how to take wickets. Their other quicks have probably contributed more than Amir in recent times even though they themselves have been inconsistent. Hasan Ali is a great bowler though, if he turns out to be equally good in Tests, their attack will be excellent.

They don't have a good opening partner for Azhar, who would probably be better suited to No. 3 in any case. So long-term, they need to find two good openers.

 

[Slifer]

Think they will win in UAE, Pakistan's Test team has been on a steady decline since their heroic series draw in England. Without Misbah/Younis, they look mediocre ATM.

SA will be interesting, I'll be cheering for the home team. But historically, playing in SA is like a home series for Australia. So if they win both series, they will be clearly the best Test team going around.

The last sentence. That depends a lot on what india does tbh.

 

[Burgey]

Looks like OS is a Daemon multi afterall.

 

[Gob]

Lol at people getting so defensive over Smith. OP said absolutely nothing about Smith needing to 'prove himself'. Garbage posting.

Yeah felt the same

 

[flibbertyjibber]

The test for Australia isn't Smith, it is not relying on him alone on overseas tours to score the runs or just keep them competitive in games. The bowling looks fine as long as they stay fit though with some of the track records that may not always be the case. It is the batting that looks unsteady, no partner for Warner and despite the ashes successes of the Marsh boys they have never nailed down a place and Khawaja has a pretty ordinary record outside Australia. Not saying you can drop them all but they need to build on the last 6-7 weeks and perform more often. Big tours coming up.

 

[Niall]

Pakistan will be tough to beat if Amir and Hasan Ai manage to improve over the next few years. But their batting needs a lot of work. Azhar is the only world class batsman they have... I had hopes for Shafiq but he's seriously inconsistent.

Hasan still a test rookie, and Amir not set the world alight since his return. I think with the big beasts gone, Pakistan are going to need to find a second world beating spinner and hope that Shan Masood does not get picked, and obviously hope Azhar guns it.

 

[Spark]

i mean the main question in the uae is how we'll get wickets. those pitches are really not suited to lyon's bowling at all, and while he's obviously improved he'll have to improved a lot since the last tour to meet the required level

 

[Victor Ian]

Performances in Australia are no measure of potential overseas. I keenly await to see how they will go. For one, I am tipping a series loss in South Africa - granted, that means nothing coming from a pessimist. I'd hope with the vacant lead in that they do a similar boot camp for India in preparation for Pakistan and feel they could do well there. I'd like to see them win again in South Africa, but can they really keep doing this? I guess it comes down to bowlers and at least they have some very good potential on that front. Hopefully Cummins is ready to repeat former glory. Might Australia's dull pitches have left them unprepared for South Africa where they would otherwise have suitably gotten used to fast pitches by the time they tour there?

 

[Niall]

i mean the main question in the uae is how we'll get wickets. those pitches are really not suited to lyon's bowling at all, and while he's obviously improved he'll have to improved a lot since the last tour to meet the required level

You got wickets against India and even Bangladesh. Why should Pakistan be any different?

The spin bullies are gone, bar Sarfraz and to a lesser extent Shafiq.

I am not saying Pakistan have no chance, but right now I am leaning towards Australia, obviously Pakistan could unearth another spinner but that's not a cert.

 

[GotSpin]

Performances in Australia are no measure of potential overseas. I keenly await to see how they will go. For one, I am tipping a series loss in South Africa - granted, that means nothing coming from a pessimist. I'd hope with the vacant lead in that they do a similar boot camp for India in preparation for Pakistan and feel they could do well there. I'd like to see them win again in South Africa, but can they really keep doing this? I guess it comes down to bowlers and at least they have some very good potential on that front. Hopefully Cummins is ready to repeat former glory. Might Australia's dull pitches have left them unprepared for South Africa where they would otherwise have suitably gotten used to fast pitches by the time they tour there?

Im sure our bowlers will be loving it.

It depends. Bounce won't be an issue but yeah....swing and seam could see some three day tests otherwise

 

[Spark]

You got wickets against India and even Bangladesh. Why should Pakistan be any different?

The spin bullies are gone, bar Sarfraz and to a lesser extent Shafiq.

I am not saying Pakistan have no chance, but right now I am leaning towards Australia, obviously Pakistan could unearth another spinner but that's not a cert.

They really are unsuited to his kind of bowling. Zero bounce at all.

 

[Victor Ian]

Im sure our bowlers will be loving it.

It depends. Bounce won't be an issue but yeah....swing and seam could see some three day tests otherwise

Yeah. I was more musing about the batsmen with respect to not having preparation for the speed and bounce.

 

[Victor Ian]

Is O'Keefe out of the picture for the UAE? Who else will likely be partnering Lyon there?

 

[randycricfreak]

Australia lost to SL 3-0 in 2016.
Most bats looked clueless against spin.Khawaja was absurd, missing straight deliveries.
Smith looked the best.
Warner was alright.
SSC test where the batted the best had Shaun Marsh in it who scored a really good hundred.

SL team was really young in terms of batting

Stronger Sri Lankan teams were massacred by Australia twice in the post 2000s 3-0 to be exact.One in 2004 and the other in 2011,when we had better all round players compared to 2016.
SL had Sanga,Mahela,Dilshan,Samaraweera for both the series.
Further Atapattu, Jayasuriya,Murali,Vaas played in 2004
And Herath,Mathews in 2011.

These are not unplayable conditions.When AUS toured SL, in 2011,they had Lyon debuting, and Trent Copeland was a pacer,yet they bowled well against the likes of Sanga,Mahela, Samaraweera,Dilshan.
Hussey,Clarke, Ponting did the rest with the bat.

This AUS team has the potential, now we see that roles have been defined for them.So it's a good thing.Hopefully they do well in SC

 

[Himannv]

Australia lost to SL 3-0 in 2016.
Most bats looked clueless against spin.Khawaja was absurd, missing straight deliveries.
Smith looked the best.
Warner was alright.
SSC test where the batted the best had Shaun Marsh in it who scored a really good hundred.

SL team was really young in terms of batting

Stronger Sri Lankan teams were massacred by Australia twice in the post 2000s 3-0 to be exact.One in 2004 and the other in 2011,when we had better all round players compared to 2016.
SL had Sanga,Mahela,Dilshan,Samaraweera for both the series.
Further Atapattu, Jayasuriya,Murali,Vaas played in 2004
And Herath,Mathews in 2011.

These are not unplayable conditions.When AUS toured SL, in 2011,they had Lyon debuting, and Trent Copeland was a pacer,yet they bowled well against the likes of Sanga,Mahela, Samaraweera,Dilshan.
Hussey,Clarke, Ponting did the rest with the bat.

This AUS team has the potential, now we see that roles have been defined for them.So it's a good thing.Hopefully they do well in SC

That 2011 series was good fun. I remember Ryan Harris being ridiculously good during that tour and Watson was actually their second best bowler in that series IMO. Angelo Mathews batted brilliantly as well. We lost that series, but we certainly didn't play that badly, so "massacred" is really overstating things.

 

[Spark]

I think Aus were the better side throughout, but massacred is not a term that should be applied to any 1-0 series victory

 

[TheJediBrah]

Is O'Keefe out of the picture for the UAE? Who else will likely be partnering Lyon there?

Agar.

Also get the feeling that Holland and Swepson are ahead of O'Keefe, though still can't tell if the selectors are serious about Swepson actually playing a Test or just keep selecting him for the touring experience.

 

[stephen]

Swepson does seem to be on a perpetual Warne sponsored gravy train overseas test squad junket.

Holland has to be the next spinner in line.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Holland should be, but they've made it pretty clear that Agar is their boy right now

 

[Victor Ian]

Holland? Not a son of Bob is he?

(don't bother - let me google that for me)

I guess not - doesn't make any mention of being a relative which I'm sure would be written if so.

FMD - I can't believe that Bob Holland is dead. What a hero he was for me in the 84/85 series when I was first introduced to test cricket an endured the Windies destroying us on tv while my friend and I played Riverrun on the Atari for days on end. Cue, this old fart being picked and taking 10 wickets to stick it up the Windies in Sydney. Then he saves Australia from utter humiliation, allowing us to escape with humiliation alone when he repeats his 10 against NewZealand with rampaging Hadlee. They were great days!