Bryce Mcgain- Should he tour SA?

[TT Boy]

Hmm, but on the other hand when they toured India they violently mauled them on the seaming track then were violently mauled on the turning track.

Yeah that was because the track was square turning on day 1 and I must have been asleep when the seaming test was played. Game where AB scored over 200 and India got decent runs second innings, wasn't it?

India beat South Africa on a fast bowlers paradise in Jo’Burg yet lost the deciding game on a slow, low Cape Town wicket. Pakistan with Shoaib dicked the South Africans at PE (as did the Windies) on a surface where it wasn’t only swinging but seaming both ways. Pak then go on to lose on decidedly good test wickets where Paul Harris stars.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah that was because the track was square turning on day 1 and I must have been asleep when the seaming test was played. Game where AB scored over 200 and India got decent runs second innings, wasn't it?

India beat South Africa on a fast bowlers paradise in Jo’Burg yet lost the deciding game on a slow, low Cape Town wicket. Pakistan with Shoaib dicked the South Africans at PE (as did the Windies) on a surface where it wasn’t only swinging but seaming both ways. Pak then go on to lose on decidedly good test wickets where Paul Harris stars.

Tbf, I've shouted down people (particularly Dicko) for calling the pitch for the second test in India a "seamer's paradise" on CW before. It was designed as a sporting pitch- something for quicks on day one, something for the spinners on a non-existent day four and five.

But AB scoring 200 doesn't mean the pitch wasn't seaming, check out who the fast bowlers India played that day were.

 

[TT Boy]

Tbf, I've shouted down people (particularly Dicko) for calling the pitch for the second test in India a "seamer's paradise" on CW before. It was designed as a sporting pitch- something for quicks on day one, something for the spinners on a non-existent day four and five.

But AB scoring 200 doesn't mean the pitch wasn't seaming, check out who the fast bowlers India played that day were.

I don't have to, I watched the test series. It was a great innings from AB but the wicket wasn't 20 overs all-out which the Indians made it look to be. Just an anomaly, terrible batting, overconfidence from the previous test and one or two unplayable balls from Dale (got Dravid with a snorter).

 

[Uppercut]

I don't have to, I watched the test series. It was a great innings from AB but the wicket wasn't 20 overs all-out which the Indians made it look to be. Just an anomaly, terrible batting, overconfidence from the previous test and one or two unplayable balls from Dale (got Dravid with a snorter).

Well yeah, India batted like **** and SA bowled brilliantly. But it couldn't have happened in Chennai. It wasn't a 20-overs all-out pitch (I've only ever seen one of those and the match was abandoned) but it was as much of a seamer as, say, the Gabba in the recent Aus-NZ match. RP Singh and Sreesanth made it look like a flat deck every bit as much as Steyn and Morkel made it look like a wild one, and the truth is somewhere in between.

 

[aussie]

Interesting point from TT Boy. I haven't watched every single SA home test series since AUS 06, but i have always got the feeling that, you get some of the most seamer friendly pitches over their.

Test like the India Jo'Burg win, WI win last summer, Akhtar going through the top order in a test.

 

[Burgey]

Provided he proves his fitness (which is what one can say about roughly 5-6 potential tourists) and doesn't bowl complete mud a la MacGill in his last few months, then he has to go, surely.

 

[Julian87]

He should be the first spinner picked. His record (albeit limted) shows he really is better than any other options in the country.

I know people say one tour at a time, but for Australia to win the Ashes, if Warne doesn't come back, they need McGain to be taking 20 wickets or more there. Because any number of our finger spinners will be rubbish over there.

 

[Uppercut]

He should be the first spinner picked. His record (albeit limted) shows he really is better than any other options in the country.

I know people say one tour at a time, but for Australia to win the Ashes, if Warne doesn't come back, they need McGain to be taking 20 wickets or more there. Because any number of our finger spinners will be rubbish over there.

No they don't. There's no test at Old Trafford, Headingley doesn't turn, Edgebaston doesn't turn until day five (sometimes not at all), Lord's doesn't do anything for anyone, the Oval offers far more for quicks and Cardiff is a wild card (but it's the first test of the series so probably won't turn either). McGain performing would help but they don't need 20+ wickets from him any more than they needed 20+ wickets from Hogg to beat India at home.