Team for Perth

[FlyingHigh]

Watson
Hughes
Ponting(He has to the end of the series regardless of what he makes or doesn't make and then off to the commentary box or something similar. When he leaves Khawaja moves into 3 and Ferg comes into the side)
Clarke
Hussey
Khawaja
Haddin
Smith( pick him and let him get spanked for the next 18 months but i believe he will develop quicket playing at this level)
Johnson
Harris
Siddle.

Like your line-up wyc, except Marsh instead of Hughes.

Hussey has to stay at 5. No coincidence he is back in form at 5 rather than 4. At 4 he played as thoguh he had to force the pace but ins't good enough At 5 he can either keep an innings going or backs-to-the-wall like Steve Waugh.

Regarding the spinners, seems to me whether we played Hauritz or Doherty in either the first two tests, we were playing a defensive spinner, rather than an attacking spinner which is what is required at Brisbane and Adelaide, and Doherty would be more suited to Perth, but now the selectors are virtually forced to get rid of him.
Other than Perth, agree with you WYC about Smith.

[UNDERthePACK]

Watson
Hughes
Ponting(He has to the end of the series regardless of what he makes or doesn't make and then off to the commentary box or something similar. When he leaves Khawaja moves into 3 and Ferg comes into the side)
Clarke
Hussey
Khawaja
Haddin
Smith( pick him and let him get spanked for the next 18 months but i believe he will develop quicket playing at this level)
Johnson
Harris
Siddle.

Like your line-up wyc, except Marsh instead of Hughes.

Hussey has to stay at 5. No coincidence he is back in form at 5 rather than 4. At 4 he played as thoguh he had to force the pace but ins't good enough At 5 he can either keep an innings going or backs-to-the-wall like Steve Waugh.

Regarding the spinners, seems to me whether we played Hauritz or Doherty in either the first two tests, we were playing a defensive spinner, rather than an attacking spinner which is what is required at Brisbane and Adelaide, and Doherty would be more suited to Perth, but now the selectors are virtually forced to get rid of him.
Other than Perth, agree with you WYC about Smith.

Yep, Likewise WYC. The only other possibility is to keep north in the side and bats at 8. What I have seen of the spin bowlers we have tried over the past 18 months or so since the great Warney retired is that I don't believe North is that far behind any of those grubbers and in fact probably flights the ball better than the current crop of spin bowlers. He bats at 8 behind Haddin and is mainly in the side for his tweakers. If not then certainly Smith needs to play and given plenty of time to develop at this level like warney did. With either of these two players coming in at 8 it certainly lengthens the batting line up which was obviously lacking today

[Trader]

Mighty_tiger, no room for McGrath?

In relation to those wanting to open with Haddin, given it's likely we will be in the field for 150+ overs, do you think it's the best idea to then make him open the batting?

[wycbloods]

Watson
Hughes
Ponting(He has to the end of the series regardless of what he makes or doesn't make and then off to the commentary box or something similar. When he leaves Khawaja moves into 3 and Ferg comes into the side)
Clarke
Hussey
Khawaja
Haddin
Smith( pick him and let him get spanked for the next 18 months but i believe he will develop quicket playing at this level)
Johnson
Harris
Siddle.

Like your line-up wyc, except Marsh instead of Hughes.

Hussey has to stay at 5. No coincidence he is back in form at 5 rather than 4. At 4 he played as thoguh he had to force the pace but ins't good enough At 5 he can either keep an innings going or backs-to-the-wall like Steve Waugh.

Regarding the spinners, seems to me whether we played Hauritz or Doherty in either the first two tests, we were playing a defensive spinner, rather than an attacking spinner which is what is required at Brisbane and Adelaide, and Doherty would be more suited to Perth, but now the selectors are virtually forced to get rid of him.
Other than Perth, agree with you WYC about Smith.

Yep, Likewise WYC. The only other possibility is to keep north in the side and bats at 8. What I have seen of the spin bowlers we have tried over the past 18 months or so since the great Warney retired is that I don't believe North is that far behind any of those grubbers and in fact probably flights the ball better than the current crop of spin bowlers. He bats at 8 behind Haddin and is mainly in the side for his tweakers. If not then certainly Smith needs to play and given plenty of time to develop at this level like warney did. With either of these two players coming in at 8 it certainly lengthens the batting line up which was obviously lacking today

Yeah i think the problem with our spinners is that playing 4 day games in Australia they don't get many wickets that are friendly to their bowling and as a result we end up with 'spinners' who don't toss the ball up and give it a rip because they don't get assistance from our pitches.

There are too many roads in our first class cricket, and if it isn't a road it is a really green deck in which they don't get a chance to bowl on because both sides are all out 130 odd. I think the best way for Smith to develop as a leg spinner is to bowl to the best batsmen in the world on pitches that will vary in assistance for him. The bonus here for the Australian side is that he is more than capable with the bat and is also a great fielder.

[CoverKing]

Some of the sides on here are nothing short of ******* hilarious!!

[FlyingHigh]

Watson
Hughes
Ponting(He has to the end of the series regardless of what he makes or doesn't make and then off to the commentary box or something similar. When he leaves Khawaja moves into 3 and Ferg comes into the side)
Clarke
Hussey
Khawaja
Haddin
Smith( pick him and let him get spanked for the next 18 months but i believe he will develop quicket playing at this level)
Johnson
Harris
Siddle.

Like your line-up wyc, except Marsh instead of Hughes.

Hussey has to stay at 5. No coincidence he is back in form at 5 rather than 4. At 4 he played as thoguh he had to force the pace but ins't good enough At 5 he can either keep an innings going or backs-to-the-wall like Steve Waugh.

Regarding the spinners, seems to me whether we played Hauritz or Doherty in either the first two tests, we were playing a defensive spinner, rather than an attacking spinner which is what is required at Brisbane and Adelaide, and Doherty would be more suited to Perth, but now the selectors are virtually forced to get rid of him.
Other than Perth, agree with you WYC about Smith.

Yep, Likewise WYC. The only other possibility is to keep north in the side and bats at 8. What I have seen of the spin bowlers we have tried over the past 18 months or so since the great Warney retired is that I don't believe North is that far behind any of those grubbers and in fact probably flights the ball better than the current crop of spin bowlers. He bats at 8 behind Haddin and is mainly in the side for his tweakers. If not then certainly Smith needs to play and given plenty of time to develop at this level like warney did. With either of these two players coming in at 8 it certainly lengthens the batting line up which was obviously lacking today

Yeah i think the problem with our spinners is that playing 4 day games in Australia they don't get many wickets that are friendly to their bowling and as a result we end up with 'spinners' who don't toss the ball up and give it a rip because they don't get assistance from our pitches.

There are too many roads in our first class cricket, and if it isn't a road it is a really green deck in which they don't get a chance to bowl on because both sides are all out 130 odd. I think the best way for Smith to develop as a leg spinner is to bowl to the best batsmen in the world on pitches that will vary in assistance for him. The bonus here for the Australian side is that he is more than capable with the bat and is also a great fielder.

Heard Chappelli on telly recently comparing Smith to Benaud, in that Benaud was ble to hold his own as a batsman whilst his spin developed, which took 3-4 years, and so they were only hoping he'd get 1-2 wickets an innings in that time.
Agree about the pitches wyc, used to love watching the Shield on telly when the spinners used to com into their own in the last innings at Adelaide, an Sydney obviously.

[Hondo]

Hughes out for 4 today. Another failure. He hasn't past 48 all season. I'm not sure now he is the right answer to replace Katich. What about Klinger? I know CoverKing likes Shaun Marsh on his home ground. I think I'd prefer Marsh over Hughes for now. Cowan maybe?

[CoverKing]

It's weird because I'm far from Shaun Marshs biggest fan, but I honestly think the selectors have screwed Hughes around big time and Shaun Marsh is in form! We need inform players in the Aussie side, simple as that!

My worry with him is his wattostring

[Pup]

It's weird because I'm far from Shaun Marshs biggest fan, but I honestly think the selectors have screwed Hughes around big time and Shaun Marsh is in form! We need inform players in the Aussie side, simple as that!

My worry with him is his wattostring

I don't think he is ready for test cricket and i have a horrible feeling we will will be 1 for not many more often than not and that exposes Ponting and Clarke very early to a in form Anderson. Not something we want.

[Pup]

Watson
Hughes
Ponting(He has to the end of the series regardless of what he makes or doesn't make and then off to the commentary box or something similar. When he leaves Khawaja moves into 3 and Ferg comes into the side)
Clarke
Hussey
Khawaja
Haddin
Smith( pick him and let him get spanked for the next 18 months but i believe he will develop quicket playing at this level)Johnson
Harris
Siddle.

And what happens when he has played 4 or 5 tests and averages over 80 with the ball and is not makin runs?? He will be replaced. Will do him more harm than good to put him in now. If he cant get wickets in Shield cricket how is he going to manage in Test cricket?

No thanks for me.

[Hondo]

My issue with Smith is that he is a batting allrounder and yet most want him in as the specialist spinner. I would have thought if he was seriously that good as a leg-spinner he would have given the batting away as he would need to be full time practising the craft to get anywhere near to Warney's level.

If he is a better batsman than a bowler he will never be anything more than part time on the job as a leg-spinner. Not what I think we need as the next long term spinner. If he's that good then the selectors need to get into his kit bag and burn his bats. I'm not sure he's that good. He's Peter Sleep!

[Courtney Fish]

Watson
S Marsh
Ponting
D Hussey
M Hussey
Clarke
Haddin
M Marsh
Johnson
Harris
Siddle

If we can't take any wickets might as well shorten the tail.

[Jim05]

Hence the reason i keep plugging okeefe. Bowling is his main forte but he is handy with the bat. He was australia a's player of the match by a mile against the poms and outbowled smith by so much it wasnt funny. He cant get into nsw because of hauritz and smith which is unfortunate because he is not getting his name put up infront of the aussie selectors. He could easily step in and play for australia

[Jim05]

Watson
S Marsh
Ponting
D Hussey
M Hussey
Clarke
Haddin
M Marsh
Johnson
Harris
Siddle

If we can't take any wickets might as well shorten the tail.

Mitch marsh out for a while injured.

[Media Park]

Now the thing is over:

S. Watson
P. Hughes
U. Khawaja
M. Hussey
R. Ponting
C. Ferguson
B. Haddin
S. O'Keefe
S. Warne
R. Harris
P. Siddle

[The Cadet]

Thought this over for some time, after todays result. Need to be aggressive in our selections if we are going to win two tests out of three.

S.Watson - Been in good form, just needs to convert his starts into big 100's
S.Marsh - Has been in top form for WA and deserves this spot in front of Hughes
U.Khawaja - Tell him he has the next 3 Tests, put him in at # 3 and see how he goes, the standout batsman of the new generation.
M.Hussey - Back from the dead and currently our in form bat.
M.Clarke - Drop him back to # 5, plays too loose when your 2/10.
R.Ponting - Getting towards the end, at his age time to drop down the batting order, maybe his last series, still has a couple of big knocks in him.
B.Haddin - Batting well but has too, to make up for his keeping.
R.Harris - Pick of the bowlers in Adelaide.
J.Krejza - He hasn't been in the best of form since the selectors screwed him around.On day 4 and 5 we need a spinner who can rip the ball and possiably run through a team, yes he may go for a few runs but we need to try and take wickets not contain.
P.Siddle - Last chance this series, needs to pitch the ball up like Brisbane instead of the short 5hit he bowled here.
T.Copeland - Has the record of the quickest 50 Shield wickets and is leading the comp this year, lets have a look at him, he's in form.

12th C.White - Hasnt been in the best of form the 2 shield games so far, but scoered a 100 against the poms playing for Aus A, and has been our premier bat in the ODI'S last 12 months.

[smithy]

Nic Maddinson to replace Katich anyone ?
I doubt Hilditch would be so bold.

I'm happy with either Copeland or Cameron into the side as well.
At the expense of erty.
We need strike bowlers.

Khawaja in for North.
hasn't had a great season but is young, talented and was on standby for Clarke in the 1st test.

[Killa]

[quote="smithy"]Nic Maddinson to replace Katich anyone ?
I doubt Hilditch would be so bold.

I'm happy with either Copeland or Cameron into the side as well.
At the expense of erty.
We need strike bowlers.

Khawaja in for North.
hasn't had a great season but is young, talented and was on standby for Clarke in the 1st test.[/quote]

Is he one of the leading run scorers this season and is known to go on with big 100's.

[Adelaide Hawk]

Watson
Hughes
Ponting(He has to the end of the series regardless of what he makes or doesn't make and then off to the commentary box or something similar. When he leaves Khawaja moves into 3 and Ferg comes into the side)
Clarke
Hussey
Khawaja
Haddin
Smith( pick him and let him get spanked for the next 18 months but i believe he will develop quicket playing at this level)Johnson
Harris
Siddle.

And what happens when he has played 4 or 5 tests and averages over 80 with the ball and is not makin runs?? He will be replaced. Will do him more harm than good to put him in now. If he cant get wickets in Shield cricket how is he going to manage in Test cricket?

No thanks for me.

Shane Warne says hello.

[Media Park]

[/b]quote]

Is he one of the leading run scorers this season and is known to go on with big 100's.

Khawaja sitting number one in the SS runs tally...

Second is Blizzard.