YOUR 1ST TEST TEAM AT GABBA

[Senor Moto Gadili]

Aussie bats on fire in Shield cricket today

Watson 6
Katich 1
Ponting 7
Clarke injured
Hussey 0 (first ball)
North 17
Haddin 10

Lulling the poms into a false sense of security???

Hussey got an 18th ball quacka!

Apologies, so he did....what a fighting knock that was!!!

[Hondo]

I reckon Hussey will get in to the test side but if it were me I would take the risk and blood someone new. If the selectors said this round of matches would decide the team but then pick Hussey anyway then they were always going to pick Hussey so why give the false hope to the others? Although, if the new guys haven't scored either then

[Senor Moto Gadili]

I reckon Hussey will get in to the test side but if it were me I would take the risk and blood someone new. If the selectors said this round of matches would decide the team but then pick Hussey anyway then they were always going to pick Hussey so why give the false hope to the others? Although, if the new guys haven't scored either then

Your last point is the key. Anyone that made a decenet score would have a case, but no one in Australai A is putting their hand up....and that is against England second string attack.

[interested observer]

I reckon Hussey will get in to the test side but if it were me I would take the risk and blood someone new. If the selectors said this round of matches would decide the team but then pick Hussey anyway then they were always going to pick Hussey so why give the false hope to the others? Although, if the new guys haven't scored either then

Your last point is the key. Anyone that made a decenet score would have a case, but no one in Australia A is putting their hand up....and that is against England second string attack.

Fair bowling strip though..
Wait until you see highlights..
They could hardly get bat on ball early on..
The ball was decking both ways..

[The Cadet]

What it will be

Watson
Katich
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
North
Haddin
Johnson
Hauritz
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger

12th Siddle

What it should be

Watson
Katich
North
Clarke
Ponting
McDonald
Haddin
Johnson
Hiffenhaus
Bollinger
Cameron

12th Doherty

[Rik E Boy]

BWAHAHA North at three? Can't bat mate.

regards,

REB

[Booney]

What it will be

Watson
Katich
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
North
Haddin
Johnson
Hauritz
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger

12th Siddle

What it should be

Watson
Katich
North
Clarke
Ponting
McDonald
Haddin
Johnson
Hiffenhaus
Bollinger
Cameron

12th Doherty

Have you forgotten how many 000's of runs Ponting has made at 3?

Watson and Ponting are the best "fighters", like Steve Waugh used to be, in our current team and we need these two blokes to have massive summers.

[wycbloods]

Everyone suggesting Mitchell Johnson shouldn't make the side are crazy.

he is currently not out on 92. He should be batting about 4 or 5 .

[Rik E Boy]

Everyone suggesting Mitchell Johnson shouldn't make the side are crazy.

he is currently not out on 92. He should be batting about 4 or 5 .

Great news. Hopefully some runs in the bank will give him a shot of confidence as we know he is going to be selected regardless.

regards,

REB

[Booney]

Everyone suggesting Mitchell Johnson shouldn't make the side are crazy.

he is currently not out on 92. He should be batting about 4 or 5 .

Great news. Hopefully some runs in the bank will give him a shot of confidence as we know he is going to be selected regardless.regards,

REB

And so should he be. He is out only potential match winner with the ball IMO. Not sure he will ever cost us a match but as we know he's good at leaking runs too.

Must play. He is our long term future frontliner and needs to be backed, and he can bat.

[wycbloods]

Everyone suggesting Mitchell Johnson shouldn't make the side are crazy.

he is currently not out on 92. He should be batting about 4 or 5 .

Great news. Hopefully some runs in the bank will give him a shot of confidence as we know he is going to be selected regardless.

regards,

REB

It would be good if he does get a bit of confidence out of this and then comes out and rips the Vics a new one with the ball.

[Gingernuts]

Agree with comments on Johnson, must stay in the side IMO.

This is how I see things for the selectors ATM:

Watson
Katich (a slight injury concern)
Ponting
Clarke (a medium injury concern)
Hussey (spot up for grabs - depends on Shield/Aust A performances)
North (spot up for grabs - depends on Shield/Aust A performances)
Haddin
Johnson
Hauritz (spot up for grabs and Smith making a case - depends on his performance with the ball for Aust A)
Hilfenhaus
Bollinger

[CoverKing]

IMO Hussey is gone. For who? i dont think it matters, i think he is goneski!

[Gingernuts]

IMO Hussey is gone. For who? i dont think it matters, i think he is goneski!

I reckon it depends on the 2nd inning of the Aust A game. If someone scores 70+ he's done. If not then it's a real line ball decision for selectors, and they may choose to play safe with the 'devil they know'.

[CoverKing]

Give Smith a go. The kid is a freak. Hussey is just a wicket guaranteed to fall for less than 10 IMO. Swann bowls way better to left handers than right handers, so Smith or the Ferg in.

I honestly think even if Hussey makes 30 odd in the second innings of the shield game, and no one else makes runs, he is out!

[westcoastpanther]

Give Smith a go. The kid is a freak. Hussey is just a wicket guaranteed to fall for less than 10 IMO. Swann bowls way better to left handers than right handers, so Smith or the Ferg in.

I honestly think even if Hussey makes 30 odd in the second innings of the shield game, and no one else makes runs, he is out!

If your choosing between Smith and Ferg simply as a batsmen it has to be Ferg doesn't it? Ferg will play tests for Australia as a batsmen, I think Smith will also play tests for Australia but as a batting allrounder, and he should wait until he is good enough to do so. He is not yet good enough simply as a batsmen, everyone getting way too excited at the moment IMHO

[CoverKing]

Give Smith a go. The kid is a freak. Hussey is just a wicket guaranteed to fall for less than 10 IMO. Swann bowls way better to left handers than right handers, so Smith or the Ferg in.

I honestly think even if Hussey makes 30 odd in the second innings of the shield game, and no one else makes runs, he is out!

If your choosing between Smith and Ferg simply as a batsmen it has to be Ferg doesn't it? Ferg will play tests for Australia as a batsmen, I think Smith will also play tests for Australia but as a batting allrounder, and he should wait until he is good enough to do so. He is not yet good enough simply as a batsmen, everyone getting way too excited at the moment IMHO

Well really IMO everyone is getting to excited about Ferg aswell (im one of them). Look at his stats in first class cricket, they are not that good, Smith has got a lot better stats than him. Yet Ferg is being talked about because of his ODI form. So why not use that same formula and pick Cameron White?

If Hadding is to bat 6 and Smith 7, than have either 4 quicks or 3 quicks and a spinner. I really dont know what they should do because they are in big trouble!

[wycbloods]

In test matches this year.

RT Ponting (Aus) 8 15 0 700 209 46.66 1209 57.89
SM Katich (Aus) 7 14 1 699 106 53.76 1482 47.16
MJ Clarke (Aus) 8 14 0 623 168 44.50 1150 54.17
SR Watson (Aus) 7 14 0 545 126 38.92 1047 52.05
MEK Hussey (Aus) 8 15 3 442 134* 36.83 962 45.94
MJ North (Aus) 8 14 1 421 128 32.38 821 51.27
TD Paine (Aus) 4 8 0 287 92 35.87 666 43.09

They are the leading run scorers this caledar year.

IMO only the top 4 on the list should be safe with the other two spots 5(Hussey) and 6(North) up for grabs with Ferguson, Khawaja and Steve Smith possible candidates.

[mal]

Too many pessimists
Where are the optomists ?

Sure the batting is a lowlight
But the highlight is that the 2 most lethal new ball bolwers AU have are baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
HARRIS destroyed TA with a 10 wicket + haul last week
DOUGGIE 3/25 v TA yesterday when resuming from injury

Also Nathan Hauritz had a very good day in the TA first dig, he didnt bowl ....

[valleys07]

Also Nathan Hauritz had a very good day in the TA first dig, he didnt bowl