*Official* CW XI in Australia Tour Thread

[Jamee999]

It was always your Test batting for me, but you're getting back to the Blewy of old, worth his place as a batsman.

[Loony BoB]

Uhm. I really was referring to strike rate. How often you take wickets compared to how many balls you bowl, ie your wicket taking ability. If Thomas didn't take any wickets this year and bowled 0 deliveries, I wouldn't call that evidence that he has no wicket taking delivery, much like if someone was to bowl 10,000 overs and take 100 wickets, I wouldn't call that evidence that they do have a strong wicket taking ability.

If I wasn't referring to strike rate I wouldn't have been looking at the strike rate stats for the season.

Not once did I mention total wickets taken.

[Travis_Teh]

Basically, Towns, the moral of the story is that, personally, i'm kind of fed up with your pro-colts bias all of the time, especially when it is for selection of squads and the such.

  S/R    Player                       Wkts
 17.00   M.J. Pitt                       2
 30.80   K.J. Goughy                    10
 36.32   G.M. Thomas                    84
 37.40   A. Feeney                       5
 39.56   N.R. Hancock                   66
 40.06   D.M. Kennett                   67
 42.14   T.J. Demeza                    73
 42.35   L.A. Camps                     17
 42.71   H.G. Warwick                   52
 43.62   N.A. Borcich                   56
 45.38   G.M. Roberts                   24
 45.56   D.J. Watt                      73
 46.69   E. Clancroft                   13
 46.83   N.S. Hoy                       47
 46.85   K.S. Wright                    65
 47.53   X.P.A. Rose                    58
 48.21   R.E. Edmunds                   14
 50.33   C.D. McKern                     6

Seeing as Watt and Demeza played 16 games and took roughly the same wickets as Thomas & Hancock,....the difference from 39 (hancock) to 42 (demeza) & 45 (watt) is pretty much chicken feed.
Everyone in the league knows who is who, hearing the same names from the same mouth over and over gets rather boring. (nothing against Thomas, 84 @ 36 s/r is insane, and he is a top bloke)

[Loony BoB]

So you're telling me that it's bias to pick the people who have the superior stats? You know me, I almost always go for stats, it's the kind of guy I am. I didn't go around saying that Thomas should have been in the squad last year because he'd only had one season and I think people should (unless someone is being so Godly that they can't be ignored while everyone else is doing badly) be given more than one season. Now that Thomas has been given that extra season and has only improved, I happen to think he's the best choice. He has the most wickets, the best strike rate out of anyone who has played more than three FC games (Goughy is in his debut season too, so those three games are all he's got, I think?), the best average out of all the seamers, gives matchwinning performances on a regular basis when both in and out of pressure situations, a great attitude, doesn't rub people up the wrong way... what more do you want from him to say that I'm not just being bias?

It's notable that the player I have him replacing is a Colt, too, so how that means I'm bias towards Colts baffles me even further.

As for Hancock, his batting ability is what put him above Watt and yourself in my mind, given that otherwise you're pretty much all in the same area.

EDIT: You could essentially say that I'm targetting a Colts player as the one to be removed from the squad if you thought about things differently, by the way, as I haven't called for the removal of anyone who plays for another Dev League team from the CWXI. As for saying the same names over and over... I just happened to pick one name, and he happened to be a Colt. If we were talking OD games, I wouldn't mention any Colts at all - but we're not at that stage yet so I haven't taken the time. Liam asked who we thought should be in and out of the squad, I said (although in a drawn out fashion) that I think Thomas should come in for Wright.

[Jamee999]

Right.

Mørk and Mamesh to open, I reckon that, for now, neither of them deserve to be dropped, and unless they suffer a terrible run of form in Tests, than they should be the 2 openers, Mørk keeping.

H Mørk+
T Mamesh

Then, Brendon has done well, but I don't know if he's really a Test Number 3. Cloete is the best batsman that CWLand has ever produced, and he is probably the best candidate for Number 3.

H Mørk+
T Mamesh
AP Cloete

For me, Goffy and Buts are going to be Number 4 and 5, but the order is a bit "up in the air". For me, Butler, at the moment, should have a run at 4, to see if he has what it takes to be the next Cloete, something that he's going to find difficult to do at 5.

H Mørk+
T Mamesh
AP Cloete
CR Butler
BJ Goff*

Next, I'd have Liam Camps, who's in the form of his life with the bat, and doing damage with the ball, and would probably be on the fringes of being a specialist batsman worth his place

H Mørk+
T Mamesh
AP Cloete
CR Butler
BJ Goff*
LA Camps

The last batting spot is hotly contested, with Jasotharan, Fitzsimmons, maybe even Blackman trying to get David Kearsley's spot. Shan is a controvertial guy, and may not be the most popular guy in the changing-room, but his ego didn't score 1,263 FC runs in one season, he did, so is he ready to join U-19 teammate Mamesh yet? Fitzsimmons was dropped from the team a few seasons ago, but has come back in great style in the Dev League, to be pressing for a spot again. Blackman has also scored heavily at the domestic level. But really, in this case, the incumbent should stay, Kearsley has done well recently, and while all of the batsman mentioned above should go to Australia, Kearsley should start as first-choice.

H Mørk+
T Mamesh
AP Cloete
CR Butler
BJ Goff*
LA Camps
DA Kearsley

There are 4 bowling spots left in the team, and one is held by the spinner, Neil Pickup, and two by seamers, Nathan Hoy and David Kennett. The last bowling spot, would be in touching distance of Dave Watt, but he's had a charged up time of late (sorry), and after a falling-out with the coach, will not be going on tour. Greg "Geg" Thomas of the Colts had a great year in FC cricket, picking up the award for most FC wickets, and will surely be in the selector's minds. Kyle Wright has been showing less enthusiasm lately, and his poor Test form, may have ruled him out of the picture. Nick Hancock, Travis Demeza and Xavier Rose have also bowled well. But really, the selectors need to give Thomas a chance, and see what he's got, against the best batting attack in the world.

H Mørk+
T Mamesh
AP Cloete
CR Butler
BJ Goff*
LA Camps
DA Kearsley
NS Hoy
DM Kennett
GM Thomas
NS Pickup (vc)

The rest of my squad:

Simon Fitzsimmons, Shan Jasotharan, Alex Blackman, Nick Hancock, Travis Demeza, Xavier Rose, Dave Richards.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Some interesting discussion in here. Some interesting names being thrown about too.

[steds]

Originally Posted by Blewy

May i ask why?? People have questioned it for a long time but nobody has said why...

I captained the team to the World Cup Final..

How many Tests have you won, though?

[Blewy]

Oh so its me who loses the tests?? Im good enough to be in the team but not good enough to be captain.. how do you figure that?? My OD record as skipper has shown that i can do a job, and IIRC previous captains records were nothing to speak of.. This side has shown massive improvements in recent times and anyone who doesnt see that is BLIND.... People have been calling for my head for a long time, i know that, but i have been given a job to do and i will continue to do it until im told im no longer wanted...

[steds]

Originally Posted by Blewy

Oh so its me who loses the tests?

I never said that. I just suggested another point of view.

[Blewy]

Look i understand the captain is held accountable for the teams performances, however IMO we have made massive steps recently and i feel we are only a short way away from a BIG series win which will lead to consistency.....

[Samuel_Vimes]

Originally Posted by Blewy

Look i understand the captain is held accountable for the teams performances, however IMO we have made massive steps recently and i feel we are only a short way away from a BIG series win which will lead to consistency.....

Let's make that 20 days away.

GO WEBHEADS!

[Neil Pickup]

Originally Posted by dinu23

there's no question about Goff's batting abilities, it's his captaincy that is under threat.

That's absolute complete and utter rubbish.

The only reason there have ever been question marks over Goffy's captaincy is his Test batting average. Period - and with the recent series, his form has been massively improved. To me, there is absolutely no question over his place in the side.

[Loony BoB]

For such a young side, I think CWLand has a pretty good win/loss record.

Also, noticed another name mentioned for the first time in this thread - as much as I don't think Jaso deserves the much-supplied disrespect by other players, I do think some criticism is deserved and feel that he still has some way to go with regards to getting the right mentality to be in the CWXI squad. I'd be more than willing to coach him on his mentality if I could only get a working email or MSN name for him.

[bryce]

I'm hoping i'm still in the mix, I haven't done too badly at Test level so far and had a decent enough FC dev league season after missing the first lot of matches due to being away with the CW XI...

[thewizard1o1]

This is going to be a real interesting series i think, our recent performances have improved a lot and if we can 'hang' with a the Aussies for the three tests it could kick start a charge up the Tests Rankings. ODI should produce some great matches as well.