JFM white ball only from now on
We literally have no options left!
Kelvin Smith - done
Daniel Drew - has to be dropped, has lost all confidence, LBW every innings
Jake Lehmann - past it three years ago, never again
JFM - white ball only as you say
Nielsen - terrible average for a keeper, sure he values his wicket and will stick around, but 10 off 70 balls every match is painful
Options:
Tom Kelly - is a white ball player too, will be picked next game but not the answer
Liam Scott - added to squad this match so will play also next match, but had so many chances and not up to this level
A few rookies who are not ready
Tim Nielsen stuffed up the balance of our squad , we have 9 pace bowlers who are all pretty handy, only needed about 6-7 and should have targeted two decent extra batters, or heaven forbid a decent back up keeper who can bat.
The blame can lay fairly and squarely at the Board (both current and past) and also Gillespie for not standing up to Nielsen and basically allowing him a free reign over everything. This is a poor indictment on how local talent has not been developed over the past 5-10 years. Yes we can all blame grade cricket but the talent has been there in amongst it. Papering over the cracks with short term fixes with recycled interstate failures. In fact the whole place has a poor culture, with players bullied, some ridiculed about their mental health, instances of a coach rocking up to training smelling of booze. No accountability whatsoever.
They need to start playing some of these younger players (e.g. Kelly, Brazell?) and give them as many innings as others have been gifted. If they're not good enough, at least we'll know. No idea if they are or not unless they get some game time to prove themselves (or otherwise)!