Mennie on his way home to play for the Redbacks this weekend after being overlooked

Love the way they do this whenever possible now. All the "cricket was better in my day" fuddy duddies love to tell us how bowlers don't play enough cricket but they seemed to always want the next best fast bowler sitting in the rooms when they were running the show.

daysofourlives wrote:So can anyone tell me why the drug taker would get less penalty than the guys involved in the cover up?

A playing career tends to have a max of 15 years for the very best while it can be a 30-40 year career for people off field. That's even if you don't care about age of people involved etc.

Reckon Cartwright would be a massive show. They'd be picking him mostly as a batsman, but one who can bowl a few overs. Has a first class average of 44, so it's not all that far fetched, even if it is a fairly short career thus far.

If they don't pick him, then we're talking Wade (who averages 30 overall in tests and 14 in international cricket since he reclaimed his test spot), Agar (first class average 26) or O'Keefe (first class average 29) batting 6. None have shown anything near what you'd expect from a test #6. Have as many blokes who average 25-30 as you want batting 6-11, if the top 5 blokes don't score enough runs then the lower order are likely to far even worse.

My inclination here is to drop Bird. I love what he's done and the variety he brings but if you're picking 2 spinners then you don't need 3 front line seamers. If things are dire then Cartwright is not the worst back up option but shouldn't be needed.

As for who that second spinner is, O'Keefe is a million miles ahead of Agar. 2 tests for Agar he took 2 wickets at 124. O'Keefe played 3 and took 10 wickets at 35. In first class cricket, Agar averages 40. O'Keefe 23. O'Keefe is also more experienced and a better bat. Agar is awfully young and there's always the hope he turns into a seriously good cricketer but test sides should be picked on the here and now.

The one thing I'll say in defence of Warnie is that Lyon tends to bowl better and more aggressively when he's used better, and when he's brought on earlier and not treated as an afterthought. He's looked more confident in Melbourne and Sydney and has taken more wickets that he would otherwise have, IMO, because Smith has thrown him on earlier and more often, something that we haven't seen much since the days when Michael Clarke was captain.

I think that's more Nathan Lyon's fault than Steve Smith's. And being thrown the ball is so rarely an "afterthought". If you have 3 seamers all bowling well it's not unreasonable to use them for the bulk of the first 40 or so overs in an innings. From there you might even start to think about reverse swing. If the captain doesn't think you're the right type of bowler for that moment, then it doesn't mean he doesn't rate you. Saw a scorecard the other day when Ian Chappell was captain and Ashley Mallett was his spinner. First innings, 102 overs and Mallett didn't bowl at all. Other times Chappell would rely on his spinners. You use the best bowler at the time and all the bowlers need to be ready and able to do the best they can when that call comes.

Play whoever we like in those conditions, how are we going tk get guys like Kolhi, Pujara, Rahul and Vijay out?

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Got to back in Starc and Hazlewood. Both are good enough to get something out of any pitch IMHO. I think we also tend to get carried away thinking the Indians are flawless against spin. Just got to be smart with our selections. I think Lyon is a bowler who needs the ball to bounce to be effective. If he can't get that then perhaps he isn't the man. O'Keefe doesn't need a lot of movement on the ball to be effective so he might in fact be the best option over there. The extra spin he'll get should make him more effective.

Reckon it fails to recognise the difference between the formats. West Indies are a darn good T20 side but a rubbish test side. Even if they had their T20 players available to tests, Sammy, Pollard, Bravo aren't test class. Even Narine I don't think would be a hit in tests. Would also have some serious challenges fitting this into a schedule.

Anyone writing off O'Keefe based on the fact he doesn't turn it much is an idiot and just doesn't understand bowling in general, let alone spin bowling. Batsmen at test level hit the spot they aim for with incredible accuracy. Watch those tracking replays and the number of times the ball without movement would have hit the middle of the bat is pretty darn impressive. They even manage to adjust to deviation a lot. The trick is to make the ball move more than they expect, later than they can adjust to or too little for them to notice. For a spinner, it's definitely possible to turn it too much. When it turns square the batsman will never underestimate the turn. But if the ball's movement varies between an inch and an couple of inches, that can be huge. An inch and a half away from the middle is an edge. An inch is a mishit. You'd bowl 20 balls just trying to get either one.

Reckon in Indian conditions that his subtle variety will work more. The best over there have tended to be guys who turned it less. The big turners just got predictable.

If they are willing to pay 700k per year then he is worth a first rounder

How much we pay him has nothing to do with it, as Ive said we could get him via PSD anyway

I don't reckon Polec and his management would go to the Draft. Different scenario I know but I'm pretty sure Free Agency compensation is based on the value of the contract

Not a free agent. Could go for nothing if Port demand too much, not sure who else might be wanting to pick him up ahead of North for the money he's talking about. If that happens Port get zilch. Likely will make a trade for a late second or even early third round pick. Out of step with the contract but North would hold all the cards and really any trade they offer would have a touch of charity, given the fact they probably don't have to part with anything.

Also wouldn't make sense to pay Polec overs initially and also give away valuable draft assets. The strategy would be to pay Polec up front, then as their drafted lads demand more, Polec's wage decreases thus allowing the space required.

16 a side fixes everything in a much simpler manner. No new rules or procedures at all, a little more space all over the ground and would increase the average skill level with the two worst players taken off. Also means the rule can be implemented at all levels of the game without any trouble. The thought that the number someone came up with 150 years ago with a mob of unfit amateurs having a bit of fun is still the ideal number is just breathtakingly short sighted.