5th and 6th best long-form batsmen in Australia

[NUFAN]

Strauss and KP should probably be in contention to as they are in Australia.

#pedantic#

 

[Debris]

No Mitchell Marsh option?

 

[Prince EWS]

No Mitchell Marsh option?

Definitely not. He has 200 odd First Class runs at 17 FFS.

 

[Johnners]

Dussey (not a fan, but imo he's comfortably the best middle order batsmen not in the team) & Hughes. Not seen enough of Usman to make me rate him better than Hughes yet.

 

[Julian87]

Pity Brad Hodge retired in a huff.

Reckon if he had have kept on keeping on there would have been ****eloads of pressure to pick him for this series.

 

[Noble One]

Dave Hussey will never play Test cricket for Australia, but he is easily a level above the competition. He was fantastic again today, the only Victorian batsman who looked comfortable against a handy WA attack.

 

[Uppercut]

I'm in no way even remotely qualified to comment on this.

But since openers are included, why is Michael Klinger not rated particularly highly? Hasn't he been averaging around 70 since before Khawaja even played a FC game?

 

[Noble One]

I'm in no way even remotely qualified to comment on this.

But since openers are included, why is Michael Klinger not rated particularly highly? Hasn't he been averaging around 70 since before Khawaja even played a FC game?

You will find few cricket fans that don't love Klinger in Australia. His past two seasons have been incredible since switching to South Australia.

A variety of factors mean Klinger isn't being pushed hard for Australian selection. They include his three games this season have been below par. He is another cricketer in that 30+ age bracket. The past two seasons may well just be purple patch, he has been around the scene for a long time and never come close to matching his recent form. Klinger also bats as an opener, and that's the one area that Australia have depth in.

 

[Prince EWS]

You will find few cricket fans that don't love Klinger in Australia. His past two seasons have been incredible since switching to South Australia.

A variety of factors mean Klinger isn't being pushed hard for Australian selection. They include his three games this season have been below par. He is another cricketer in that 30+ age bracket. The past two seasons may well just be purple patch, he has been around the scene for a long time and never come close to matching his recent form. Klinger also bats as an opener, and that's the one area that Australia have depth in.

Klinger usually bats three TBH, and he's batted everywhere throughout his career really. I definitely wouldn't pigeon-hole him as an opener.

 

[Noble One]

Klinger usually bats three TBH, and he's batted everywhere throughout his career really. I definitely wouldn't pigeon-hole him as an opener.

Sorry I had that fact wrong. Klinger will never make the Test side regardless (unless he scores four centuries in the remainder of the season).

 

[Nate]

That's twice you've made an error in the last week Noble One. Don't let it happen again.

 

[Noble One]

That's twice you've made an error in the last week Noble One. Don't let it happen again.

Standards are slipping.

 

[Uppercut]

It's odd how people are so willing to believe that a young batsman such as Hughes or Khawaja has entered FC cricket for the first time already fully capable of being a top-class test batsman. Yet they're naturally entirely unconvinced that someone who's been floating around the circuit for a while can have finally reached the level of a top-class test batsman in his late twenties after working on his game hard at state and FC level for ten years.

Not that this directly impacts the debate much if Klinger's playing badly anyway. But people really have no faith at all in the ability of FC cricket to improve a player.

 

[Prince EWS]

It's odd how people are so willing to believe that a young batsman such as Hughes or Khawaja has entered FC cricket for the first time already fully capable of being a top-class test batsman. Yet they're naturally entirely unconvinced that someone who's been floating around the circuit for a while can have finally reached the level of a top-class test batsman in his late twenties after working on his game hard at state and FC level for ten years.

Not that this directly impacts the debate much if Klinger's playing badly anyway. But people really have no faith at all in the ability of FC cricket to improve a player.

Klinger was always a good player who merely needed to be shown some faith. Victoria never gave him a run in the team and he always playing for his place; he's blossomed at South Australia with more security surrounding his place and more responsibility.

 

[Uppercut]

How good would he have been had he had a good run in a side earlier?

At least Gelman's a fan.

 

[Prince EWS]

How good would he have been had he had a good run in a side earlier?

I'm honestly not even sure he's improved that much. Obviously he's improved a bit but whenever I saw him bat for Victoria he looked class despite not scoring many. As a kid he was extremely highly rated (Australian Under 19s captain, plundered runs as a teenager in club cricket) and he probably made his First Class debut just a little too early and as a result was always under the pump after 'another' recall. I always thought similarly of Graeme Rummans who flips a coin each year to decide whether to top the run aggregate chart in Sydney first grade or Victorian premier cricket.

At least Gelman's a fan.

Klinger's Jewish. This may or may not have something to do with it.

 

[Noble One]

How good would he have been had he had a good run in a side earlier?

At least Gelman's a fan.

Very hard to judge. Klinger was highly rated as a junior cricketer, I remember reading a number of articles about him when he was playing underage representative cricket for Australia.

Victoria gave him a fair crack early on in his career, he was a permanent member of the side for two seasons I believe when he was around the age of 20-21. He didn't perform, and remained largely a backup player for the remainder of his Victoria career.

Very few on this forum, or anyone in the know was all that shocked by how well he has played for South Australia. It is such a shame it didn't click a decade ago when his career was in the fledgling stages.

 

[NUFAN]

A bit of trivia for you all..

from the 08/09, 09/10 and the start of this current season only 3 batsman from the list above have averaged over 40 in Australian First Class Cricket in each of the seasons - guess who??

 

[Prince EWS]

A bit of trivia for you all..

from the 08/09, 09/10 and the start of this current season only 3 batsman from the list above have averaged over 40 in Australian First Class Cricket in each of the seasons - guess who??

Pretty sure Dave Hussey and Andrew McDonald have. Cosgrove? Voges?

 

[NUFAN]

Pretty sure Dave Hussey and Andrew McDonald have. Cosgrove? Voges?

You have 2 correct Mark Cosgrove and Dave Hussey

Hussey only just squeezed in last year averaging under 41.

McDonald only averaged 32 last year and Voges averaged just 22 in 08/09.