Nick Larkin has saved his bacon with his debut Shield century.

Just saw an Indian cricket fan on social media suggest that Chris Lynn's BBL and JLT success is an indictment on the failings of Australian domestic cricket - thoughts?

Tbf - his IPL numbers are not horrid. 

This deck looks far better than the score indicates. Perhaps there is some moisture under the surface?

Which deck?

Lynn does not have the technique to succeed in red ball cricket imho. Or rather he has not been tutored well as a junior.. so naturally gravitated to the shorter formats as he had the skills to succeed in white ball cricket. Coupla years ago he posted a Shield double century..245 if memory serves..plenty sang his praises as the next big thing. But he did little after that. Then he was struck down with these shoulder injuries and his career stalled.

A Blues declaration is imminent.

Alex Doolan has pushed himself to top of the list of outside candidates with a polished 94 today.

I never asked you about Shield - merely JLT and BBL vs IPL :P

No idea. Dont follow IPL.

The easy way Burns is getting his runs before stumps tells me the Blues declared too soon.

A couple of  incumbents have scored second innings runs. Are they sufficient to keep away the wolves..namely Doolan or Harris.

The Marshes have sort of redeemed themselves in the 2nd innings, Shaun currently not out for 68.

You watch he will get picked for the First test now..after showing a lack of leadership in the UAE.

Last day footmarks could help the Blue spinners. I expect Sangha will get a deal of bowling today.

Joe Burns done by a good one from Hazlewood. Looks to be Burns final shot at a return to the test side.
Can the talented Sam Heazlett repeat what he did two rounds ago. 

No he can not. Bulls now imploding. 

If Mitch Marsh fails to cement his spot against India.. I would be asking for Jack Wildermuth to be blooded in his place for the Sri Lankan series. He is making a lone stand against the Blues Test attack.

Lyon (5) and Hazlewood (4) combine to smash the Bulls for 216 and a 167 run victory.

Good form leading into the Indian series for these two. Cummins is coming along while Starc still looks well below par.

You still believe M Marsh is droppable?  One does not simply drop Mitch Marsh. What kind of sorcery do you know of to get him out of the test team? 

Cos his career test batting average is 26, his bowling average is 42, this year he has gone 23 with the bat and 50 with the ball. 

Sure, he's slightly down on form vs career, but that's to be expected every now and then, next year he may go at 29 with the bat and 40 with the ball to make up for it. 

It's a sad state of affairs but honestly right now no one is deserving to take his place on shield cricket form. Our batting stocks are absolutely laughable right now.

Definitely no to Wildermuth, he is not good enough. Not even averaging 30 in first class cricket

Very tongue in cheek. 
As you know I rate Mitch. He is currenly averaging @35 so there has been a significant change in momentum last 9 months. Mitch has talked the talk now time to walk the walk.

Another I rate since I saw him take Australia to the final of  the 2012 Under19 World Cup.. is Will Bosisto. I admire his determination and willingness to bat for very long periods to secure his wicket. It has been a difficult journey for the stylish right hander but he now looks on top of his game and primed for a possible elevation to the national squad. He is certainly putting himself on the CA radar.  He has given vital support to SOS Marsh with  the Warriors now taking out this match.

What do you rate Marsh as? Because Steve Waugh averaged 37 with ball. Allan Border 39. And Mark Waugh 41. This is all better than MMarsh's bowling average.

Surely there is a batsman who can roll their arm over 5 overs a day if needed. Some filthy Ricky Ponting mediums will do the trick. Sure his bowling average was north of 50, but so was his batting average. I think Punter is the better allrounder than MMarsh tbf. And definitely better batsman.

How good does Marcus North look compared to MMarsh now? Batting average 35 - same bowling average. He's got him beat easy. Say waht you will about Greg Mathews 48 bowling average, he averaged 41 with the bat and still got a 10 for.

This current Australian obsession with an allrounder is Flintoff's fault because of 2005 (and I can prove this on the balance of probabilities - but S Watto  was better than many give him credit for anyway). And it has infected further countries because England and Australia have continued with it. It is a tumorous growth that needs to be cut out - because not all teams have a Flintoff, a Holder, a Jadeja, and not all teams need one!

Dev, Khan and Hadlee used to bat 7 or 8 with the wicket keeper at 8 or 9 - and they were the all-rounder. The game is now losing the plot at times.

England is still doing it because their batting stocks do not exist. Their best batsmen are either all-rounders or wicket keepers - so they have 3 sometimes 4 keepers in a team (Pope, Burns, Buttler, Bairstow, Foakes, Billings), and a  stack of Ali, Curran, Stokes, Woakes, Rashid because they have noone else who bats well. Curran wants to be a batsman and the ECB has announced that Stokes and Ali are batsmen!

Mitch would be lucky to get 10/12 overs a match. Probably over three or four spells. You can not get any rhythm from that.
As for his batting when he is good he is very good.. but he can also be horrid.. two many small scores. He says he has worked his bum off during his lengthy time away.. now we need to see some consistently. He needs to nail this India series and show he belongs at this level otherwise be jettisoned for good.


Dev, Khan and Hadlee were bowling all rounders. Marsh is a batting all rounder with the potential to be a genuine all rounder ala Kallis, Botham, Sobers. imho. But you can only live on promise for so long. 

You have to admire the way the Tigers have got themselves well back into this match after their deplorable first innings. Vital knocks, by Doolan, Silk and Wade have them in with a good show now with a day still to play.

Wade is now putting himself in the frame for a batting spot. 

I have a feeling Tassie will regret going into this game without a specialist spinner.

I'd take Khan with the bat anyday over Botham to bat for my life tbf. Botham slogged more hundreds than Dev - but they were both filthy sloggers. Khan simply had an aversion to conversion.

Caught most of  Tas Tigers v Vic yesterday.

Tigers ended with 476 after making only 81 in the first innings .

Both Doolan and Silk scored 90 plus each in a big opening stand. Paine scored a good 40. Jackson Bird reached 50 and Wade made 137.

Wade and Doolan are two of the top run makers in the Shield with averages of over 50 and 80 respectively.

Pertinently, Pattinson didn't bowl yesterday.

Victoria need 282 to win in their second innings.

Clive Rose told me Bellerive is very difficult to bowl spin on.

Being a bit generous with Beefy. He was very hit and miss.. 14 tons 22 fifties from 102 matches is fair.. compared to Khan's 6 18 from 88 matches. The Pakistani had the better average. I will be content if Marsh becomes Australia's best all rounder since Nugget Miller. His record is much under rated. 7 13 from 55 @36 better than Beefy, Dev and Hadlee. 

DC do you give Doolan any chance for a recall?

 Is vital Tigers get early wickets. Letting Vics settle in means the game is gone.

If Harris gets another 50 he has to be a huge chance for the First Test.. given Renshaw is stuttering when he should be scoring big runs.

The Birdman strikes. Will it be his day. He needs a brace of wickets to put pressure on Tremain as Australia's  reserve bowler.

DC tell me a bit about Meredith.  He has impressed me. Good to see the TCA using a home grown boy.