Cricket

[Brodders17]

I'd add Lee as a rival for most important. Bowled very well in most outings.

i rate watson as way more important because beside being our best bat, he is our only true all rounder.
with him opening we can afford to have a D. Hussey or Smith batting at 7 and being a part-time bowler.
If he misses we either rely on those guys bowling 10 between them, or bat Johnson/Hastings at 7.

If Lee misses we have other fast bowlers who can do his job, maybe not as well but it wont throw the structure out as well.

 

[Brodders17]

Yeah they probably could L&D. But at full strength Navy wouldnt have Smith in the side & would play Hussey in his spot at 7.

But ideally on a lot of those pitches taking pace off the ball is king. Really need more than 10 overs of slow bowling if possible.

Navy likes Huss, will prove an excellent choice over there. As navy pointed out to a bit of angst at the time of his selection certainly better than Hodge for the role they need.

Fields exceptionally, plays slow bowling extremely well, when in form can score very freely when first at the crease & reckon he can give you 6 or 7 cheap overs most matches. All that makes him extremely valuable for a World Cup on the sub continent.

As an aside if at full strength & Hussey bats higher than 7 to fit another bowler in he takes White's spot in the side navy would think.

agree with that, (except the little jibe about hodge- best one-day bat in oz ;D)

also not sure about smith. he may have played himself into the best 11 this series. be batted well late in the series and picked up wickets, tho a lot were cheapies. It will be interesting how he goes in India at a tournament that matters.

team will look something like:
1: Watson
2: Haddin
3: Ponting
4: Clarke
5:
6:
7:
8: Johnson
9: Lee
10: Hauritz
11: Tait/Bollinger

So 5,6,7 is out of White, D & M Hussey and Smith, assuming M hussey will be fit. Hopefully they have some games against quality opposition before he is ready to give the others a chance to earn the spots. If Hussey isn’t fit his replacement misses out. It would be a big call to leave White out, but he would appreciate some runs early over there.

Other possibility is Hasting plays at the expense of Tait/Bollinger but I cant see that happening unless they both get belted around, or injured.

 

[Leysy Days]

Reckon you have those 8 guys all pegged right in your side.

Think the Hussey bro's are both certs if fit. So the two options to nayy's eye are -

5. White
6. M.Hussey
7. D.Hussey

or

5. M.Hussey
6. D.Hussey
7. Smith

A lot could depend on Hauritz/Doherty coming up. If not it could tip the scale's in Smiths favour.

 

[Brodders17]

Reckon you have those 8 guys all pegged right in your side.

Think the Hussey bro's are both certs if fit. So the two options to nayy's eye are -

5. White
6. M.Hussey
7. D.Hussey

or

5. M.Hussey
6. D.Hussey
7. Smith

A lot could depend on Hauritz/Doherty coming up. If not it could tip the scale's in Smiths favour.

it will be a tough one for them, especially if white has a big score early. i think the selectors would like his hitting, especially in a middle order of ponting, clarke and the husseys, on the other hand the selectors seemingly love smith. they continually picked him when form didnt warrant it, now that he has started to contribute they would be loath to drop him. could clarke be in trouble? doubtful but possible?
or play smith as the spinner. big risk. they may then have to rely on clarke doing some bowling.
or have a 2 man pace attack, play watson as the 3rd seamer, then have hauritz, smith and hussey bowling 20 between them. that would depend on the wickets i guess.

 

[jb03]

Reckon you have those 8 guys all pegged right in your side.

Think the Hussey bro's are both certs if fit. So the two options to nayy's eye are -

5. White
6. M.Hussey
7. D.Hussey

or

5. M.Hussey
6. D.Hussey
7. Smith

A lot could depend on Hauritz/Doherty coming up. If not it could tip the scale's in Smiths favour.

No room for Paine?

 

[mld]

Two Test centuries, two Allan Border medals. Don't want to take anything from Watson, but it has been a pretty weak field.

 

[poppa x]

Two Test centuries, two Allan Border medals. Don't want to take anything from Watson, but it has been a pretty weak field.

He now has as many AB Medals as centuries.
This sums up our predicament.

 

[Leysy Days]

Harsh on Watson. Whilst its true he didnt have nowhere near as much to beat as in the past his performances would have won most years.

In Tests - 847 runs @ 44.57
- 16 wickets @ 29

O/D - 858 runs @ 40.85
- 20 wickets @ 26

Those are excellent results across the board.

 

[Sintiger]

To me the selectors have obviously erred by picking 4 quicks . we should have taken another spinner like Doherry or Kresja or even another bat in Ferguson instead of Bollinger or Tait . Only two quicks should play in any game in the sub continent . The bowling attack should be 2 quicks , 2 medium pacers who can take the pace off the ball and 2 spinners . Hastings will be important in those conditions . I don't rate Smith on slow low pitches and his batting is suspect for mine . Bollinger , Tait , Paine and Smith miss out . It's not necessarily the best team in Australian conditions but is in the sub continent. Its also important to bat deep as well as we are fragile as we know. Personally I would play paine ahead of Haddin as well but I know that won't happen . So my number one team would be
1. Watson
2. Haddin
3. Ponting
4. Clarke
5. White
6. M Hussey
7. D Hussey
8. Johnson
9. Hastings
10 Hauritz
11.Lee

 

[lukeanddad]

Harsh on Watson. Whilst its true he didnt have nowhere near as much to beat as in the past his performances would have won most years.

In Tests - 847 runs @ 44.57
- 16 wickets @ 29

O/D - 858 runs @ 40.85
- 20 wickets @ 26

Those are excellent results across the board.

Watson will have to carry some baggage due to his injury-prone years. However, he is a very good player these days. Outswing, reverse, great batting technique, powerful hitter. He lacks a bit of concentration in test condiditions, but far more positives than negatives around him

 

[Brodders17]

Hussey and Hauritz are out of the world cup.
Doherty and Ferguson in.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/story/499890.html

makes picking the starting 11 a little easier.

 

[Leysy Days]

geez, big blow Hussey missing. Big Blow.

Picking the 11 easily is not what we want either.

Also says Krejza's in & not Doherty who navy assumes was ruled out through injury as he is a far superior one-day bowler than Crazy.

 

[lukeanddad]

geez, big blow Hussey missing. Big Blow.

Picking the 11 easily is not what we want either.

Also says Krejza's in & not Doherty who navy assumes was ruled out through injury as he is a far superior one-day bowler than Crazy.

Hussey is a huge loss. Brilliant finisher. His brother will have that job, but nowhere near as quick between the wickets as Mike.

Crazy had a rubbish field set in Perth. I hope he is smart enough and strong enough to tell the skipper where he wants them. (No way that Ricky would know how to set a field for a spinner.) This also means that Hussey and Smith become more important (Read: need to produce an extra 5-6 overs between them) in India.

I reckon Crazy will do ok in India. He just needs to be a little less attacking (more darts like Yardy).

 

[Leysy Days]

Agree with the field he had set in Perth. Was terrible wasnt it L&D. Had next to no protection.

He's improved his control in the shorter versions no doubt & absolutely loves bowling to left handers.

Still he's a way off Doherty. Has come from absolutely nowhere to get a world Cup berth. Amazing stuff.

Agree with what you say on Hussey, is just about the best finisher in the game who will be missed.

 

[evo]

good to see Doherty in. Underrated on this board.

Hang on he isn't in.

 

[Punxsutawney Phil]

Agree with the field he had set in Perth. Was terrible wasnt it L&D. Had next to no protection.

He's improved his control in the shorter versions no doubt & absolutely loves bowling to left handers.

Still he's a way off Doherty. Has come from absolutely nowhere to get a world Cup berth. Amazing stuff.

Agree with what you say on Hussey, is just about the best finisher in the game who will be missed.

I couldn't really tell what field he was bowling to on the TV, but he seemed to bowl too short in the main.

Hussey missing is a big big blow.

 

[lukeanddad]

I couldn't really tell what field he was bowling to on the TV, but he seemed to bowl too short in the main.

If an offie is turning and bouncing, you need to have a mid wicket and a sq leg (and possibly a short fine) - and someone deep as well. Cam took a while to put in the short fine - and didn't protect the leg side at all. You really want the batsman to try and hit inside out when you can turn your offie...

 

[Leysy Days]

Agree with that. On a pitch with bounce the first place an offie needs for a right hander is deep backward square to gove him some protection. Especially one that can extract turn as crazy often can.

Saying that agree with Phil that he did bowl too short at times.

 

[mld]

Harsh on Watson. Whilst its true he didnt have nowhere near as much to beat as in the past his performances would have won most years.

In Tests - 847 runs @ 44.57
- 16 wickets @ 29

O/D - 858 runs @ 40.85
- 20 wickets @ 26

Those are excellent results across the board.

I didn't intend my post to be harsh on Watson, I intended it to be harsh on the rest of the side.

 

[Leysy Days]

Fair enough MLD,

The next edition of the PRE grudge match resumes tomorrow when table leaders Tasmania host 2nd placed Victoria at Bellerive.

Both teams well understrength, with Tasmania's depth understandably weaker than Victoria. That's balanced out by Tasmania having the wood on Victoria in recent times. Should be a good match with the winner likely to host the final.

Also navy would like to wrap up a young keeper from the North West Coast of Tasmania on debut, Tom Triffitt. Was behind the wickets in Tasmania's under 19 World Cup win that contained Hughes, Hill, Hazlewood, Smith & Marsh. Has huge wraps on the apple isle.