Pretty amazing about Renshaw. 

Will he ever return to where he was when playing Test cricket when he was only about 20 years old? 

Renners has time on his hands. He will come good.

Labuchagne has now cracked the 1000 run season milestone. Posted double tons in his last match. Is now staking a big claim for an Ashes spot for sure.

Australia A went through the one-day leg of their tour unbeaten, but now things get really interesting with the red ball coming into focus and places in the Ashes squad to play for. They face Sussex and England Lions over the next couple of weeks before the selection showdown between two Australia teams in Southampton after which the squad will be confirmed. 

haven't rated labu but maybe he is slowly coming good

his batting average is fine if he can get his bowling average under 40

bowling averages for all rounders are usually inflated because they rarely get a crack at the tail. Averaging 38ish with the ball is elite so he's not that far off

travis head looks to be slowly coming good as well

matthew wades form has been incredible! Wish we could have him in the middle order!

Agree based on results.

Long term, not so good, but Voges and Rogers had  successful late careers.

Pattinson, Hazlewood, Bird and Holland will be the Australia A attack against Sussex tonite in the tour's first red ball match.. 
Following on from scores of 51 and 137 – his maiden List A hundred .. Will Pucovski will open the batting alongside Test opener Marcus Harris. Test incumbents Kurtis Patterson and Travis Head will bat at #.3 and #4 respectively, ahead of Matt Wade playing as a specialist batsman, allrounder Mitch Marsh and skipper/keeper Tim Paine.

Ta.

Hasn't Mitch Marsh been rushed into the World Cup camp as an injury replacement for Stoinis?

He has. Posted that before I knew of Marsh and Wade covering for injured players. Stoinis has been next to useless anyway so wont be missed.  Wondering if both Marsh and Wade would have preferred playing red ball cricket?

Just 33 overs were allowed after a long rain delay in Sussex in the Australia A match at the picturesque Arundel Castle ground.. Pattinson enjoying being back in Aussie colors with a three for. Sussex 5-118 at stumps.

Been looking for stream coverage. No dice so far.

Good to see Pattinson taking some wickets and with some kilometres in the legs.

It is definitely better preparation for the Ashes, Baggers.

pattison's record is mcgrath like, I hope he gets another go at the top level!

He probably only has to display a sustained spell of injury free cricket to gain selection. 

Very interesting overnight results for Australia A. Burns and Harris with a remarkable 200 opening partnership. But it is against a future league standard opposition (at best) as were the one day games. Burns and Harris need to play so I would have the batting line-up Warner, Harris, Khawaja, Smith, Head, Burns, then Paine and the bowlers and based on what we're seeing in the bowling Pattinson, Cummins and Starc great batting tail.

Pattinson great job with the ball surely has to be included in the first test. Starc has been incredible in the WC as leading wicket taker (9 matches 26 wickets Av 17 and SR 19) Cummins not so impressive (9 games 13 wickets av 30 SR 37) and batting has been poor as well. But Jason Behrendorff has been Australia's 2nd best bowler showing he is a genuine wicket taker (4 games 9 wickets, av 21 Sr 24). Surely he has to remain if fit. 

In contrast Josh Hazlewood playing against these club cricketers one day matches 3/141 av 47 SR 60, and yesterday 20 overs 0/46. Surely this has to re-inforce that he is not a genuine wicket taker and I don't believe he should even tour for the Ashes. Even Neser took 2/45, both bowled dismissals, so you know he is attacking the wicket. Not that I rate Neser personally but he appears to have leap-frogged both Bird and Hazlewood in effectiveness, but as I said only against club cricket/future league at best so you expect wickets at an effective strike rate.

My bowlers for the Ashes would be Pattinson, Starc, Cummins, Behrendorff, Lyons and Holland. They will probably have M Marsh selected but at least say goodbye to S Marsh, I hope.

Very interesting overnight play in the Australia A game. Burns finished as the highest scorer with 133 following his 180 in his last test outing. As Warner and Smith haven't played for nearly 18 months in the longer form so we don't know how they are going, though Warner does appear to be in a purple patch currently, one can argue that Burns is the number 1 ranked Australian test batsman, so surely he should be included for the first Ashes test. The current top 5 batsmen for Australia currently for Australia IMO would be Burns Warner Smith Khawaja and Harris........3 openers! one should play at No 3 or No 5/6, The incumbent openers are Burns and Harris. So what should Australia do?

In 28 test innings Burns has scored 4 centuries, comparatively Warner took 42 innings to score his 4th century and Smith took 35 innings to score his 4th century. Two of Burns centuries have been over 150, that is in only 28 innings (Warner took 82 innings to score his second score over 150 and Smith took 39 innings to score his second over 150)

Since Burns was wrongfully dropped from the side back in Sri Lanka, Openers Renshaw, Bancroft, Finch and Harris have played 55 innings combined and only Renshaw has scored a century. Time for Australian selectors to admit they made a mistake and leave Burns opening with no pressure of the axe, the others tried have been a failure in comparison to Burns.

However Joe Burns did not receive a CA contract so who thinks he will play in the Ashes series? S Marsh did receive one! Finch, Harris and Warner did receive one. The selectors will be forced to select from those that are paid the big bucks. This is to the detriment of Australian cricket.

Based on last nights performance Patterson has played himself out of the Australian side with a paltry 4 runs all scored from edges to 3rd man. Obviously Patterson has problems with the moving ball. His last sheffield shield scores against the Duke ball in Australia were 7 and 27 against Qld, 9 and 10 against Victoria 14 and 0 against Tasmania and 18 and 76 in the final against Victoria. That is an average of 18 against the swinging Duke in his last 9 innings. Obviously Patterson has technical issues that are exposed against any movement.

In comparison the mighty batsman Jackson Bird smashed a well controlled six with a mighty hook to get off the mark and followed it up with 2 classic drives for 4 in his little cameo. Showed more skill with the bat than Patterson,

With the bowlers making a mockery of the quality of the opposition, Holland with his 3/30 (6/79 for the match) has nailed down the 2nd spinner position and has put pressure on Lyon. Pattinson took 3/12 (7/74 for the match) surely is opening the attack in the first Ashes test. Bird bounced back with 3/18 (4/62 for the match). Neser, though many question his selection over many others such as Tremain and co, finished with 1/44 (3/89 for the match) so he probably justified his selection. And Josh Hazlewood finished the match with 0/53 from 25 overs. SSDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How can anyone seriously consider him for the Ashes is beyond me. This is against Australian grade cricket standard and he still could not take a wicket in 150 deliveries. Give Pattinson 150 deliveries he takes 7 wickets in the same conditions as Hazlewood bowled in. Send Hazlewood home now and give someone like Tremain and co. a go.

For the record of the 36 deliveries Hazlewood bowled in the 2nd innings the batsmen only had to play 14, scoring 7 runs, the other deliveries the batsmen let go through to the keeper with no danger in losing their wicket. In comparison Pattinson bowled 34 deliveries and only 5 went through to the keeper he made the batsmen play thus his 3 wickets.

But the real problem for Australia cricket currently is in all honesty Hazlewood contributed nothing in this particular game except give the opposition 53 runs he was not required and due to his inclusion the batting side was short one batsman and if you eliminated the openers contribution the rest of the side only made 131 runs 22 of which were extras. This is what we see at an international level,,,,the sacrifice of a batting position to cover the poor wicket taking ability of Hazlewood thus the need to play an all-rounder. The work was done by Pattinson, Neser, Bird and Holland, Hazlewood was a passenger making up numbers. For this he is paid nearly 2 million a year by CA. Pattinson has just received his CA contract and rightly so but the other 3 are on state contracts only. This money would be better spent on the grass roots development especially in the coaching department.

grazor. Reckon Pattinson is 'a lay down misere' to be in our Ashes attack. He had a strong Shield and Eng county season.. and has 7 wickets in this Sussex game.

The Hazlewood/Blues basher is back!!! CA will still want him in our Ashes attack.. I have to admit.. Haze does need to take wickets in these red ball warm up matches.. His economy rate tho is as miserly as ever.. pressure usually translates to wickets.. and there were plenty falling from the other end. I certainly would not be writing off Patterson after one failure in Pom conditions. Most of our batsmen struggle against the moving ball.

Hazlewood has NEEDED to take more wickets for years now. Disagree with your constant excuse of him being miserly which lead to wickets. 2nd innings He and Neser opened the bowling and the only wicket to fall during those 12 overs was Neser getting an LBW with accurate bowling, it wasn't the batsman throwing the bat to get the scoring rate moving and being caught. From there it was the Pattinson, Bird and Holland show, Hazlewood didn't bowl again in the innings, so he had nothing to do with any of the wickets to fall.

Let me ask you this Baggers. In all honesty the bowling attack for the Ashes should be Pattinson, Starc, Cummins and Lyon. Now you will argue Hazlewood for Starc, but Starc's record of 211 wickets from 51 tests puts him amongst the best bowlers we have produced and his form at the WC against the best players in the world is phenomenal. Hazlewood on the other hand from 82 innings bowled has 164 wickets compared to G Lawson, remembering Lawson was dropped from the Australian side who from 78 innings took 180 wickets. 

You may argue that Hazlewood for Cummins who has had a very poor WC with both bat and ball against the best in the world, and you could be right, but the difference is he at least took wickets against these elite players, Hazlewood couldn't take a wicket against a county side and there are 18 county sides, that's a lot of players most of whom would only play club cricket in Australia.

My argument is that Jason Behrendorff who you would agree is a genuine wicket taker, has opened the bowling with Starc in the WC, has taken wickets at a great average and Strike rate, is Australia's 2nd best bowler ahead of Cummins Richardson and others, has a superior record to Hazlewood at FC level, but most importantly is fit and raring to go should be selected for the Ashes. After all it is only a back up position in case of injury. And if Australia needs another bowler as back up to the back up then maybe Josh Hazlewood. but why waste the money for the 2 month holiday when they can fly someone over if something goes wrong.

As for Patterson he gets into the Australia side after producing 1 century in 2 years. Lucky he plays for NSW because if he played for any other state it would hardly be recognised let alone be selected for Australia, it just never happens. His record late in the season is poor, some blame the Duke but others would say that the century was just an anomaly and what we see now is the true Kurtis Patterson which is similar to what he produced for 2 years prior to his century. Same thing occurred with Nevill, selected for Australia after 1 good season and the rest has been garbage, even you would admit Nevill is lucky to be playing for NSW now. Patterson needs to prove for at least for another season of good results on the field at shield level.

Looking at the CA contracts the scary thought is that the probable batting line up could read
Warner, Harris, Khawaja, Smith, S Marsh, T Head T Paine.

And an even scarier thought is no S Marsh and Patterson in the side. Patterson Head and Paine could only contribute 58 runs against a "county" side which is only 40% of what Harris or Burns made, and Burns could be sitting on the sidelines, no CA contract for him, so the selectors will be guided where the money is. If Harris and Burns are not both selected, Australia is automatically on the back foot. because we are not playing our best and Harris and Burns showed us that they are head and shoulders above the rest in the last game. At least 3 positions are up for grabs Warner, Smith and Khawaja are the only certainties and Smith form at the WC has been poor. That was always going to be a problem for Australia, Smith will be selected based on reputation only with no form to show from the last 18 months, and he will be given time to prove himself but by then the Ashes could be lost. That's why we need our best batsmen and bowlers to play. So do you really want Hazlewood and Patterson in the side? I certainly don't want a proven in-effective wicket taker and a questionable quality batsman. I want to win the Ashes.... do you Baggers?

I would take Pattinson over any of our bowlers right now. The guy is a freak

Grazor are you that confident that the selectors won't go Hazlewood, Starc, Cummins and Lyons with a possible all-rounder to back Hazlewood up, as they are known to do that, for the first test. I would not bet my life, nor my house, nor my wife on Pattinson playing the first test.

We all know Pattinson is the best we have and he has to play, but if Hazlewood comes out and takes a bagful of wickets in the next Australia A game and lets be honest the opposition isn't that good, (thus I'm not crowing about Bird and Neser who outbowled our "ïnternational" rep in the last game), but Hazlewood couldn't take a single wicket in 150 deliveries against these guys (Pattinson took 7 wickets in 150 deliveries), and Hazlewood has 45 tests under his belt, the selectors will be crowing as will Baggers, regardless of his pathetic performance to date. If you're from NSW 1 game is all it takes to retain position. If Neser comes out and takes 10 wickets in the next game and I started commenting that he should be playing for Australia you would all lock me up in a funny farm, and rightly so.

I'm a big Neser fan from what I've seen of him bowling at Bellerive in the Shield, One Day and the international  game Aus A against Sri Lanka last season.

I think his action takes a bit out of him though.

A guy like  Copeland can bowl all day with minimal effort.

Last year's Test figures support your assertion, Mike.

Dorff has looked  innocuous as the pitch flattens out at Bellerive in the last few seasons.

Very good with the new ball though.

Copeland would be most useful in England, imo.

Yep me too. I would also have Behrendorff over Starc. Dorff has waited long enuff for a shot at a Test.. only concern is will his back take a five day game?

He would indeed. I was pushing for him to make our Ashes attack.. so was Michael Vaughan. CA simply does not rate him.

Smith form at the WC has been poor. That was always going to be a problem for Australia, Smith will be selected based on reputation only with no form to show from the last 18 months,

You are kidding. 375 @38 is not a bad WC. Many of Smith's runs came when the sluggers went early and he as per usual has to dig us out of a big hole. Just like he did in the semi. He was head and shoulders above any other Aussie bat in that game. Those types of players.. alla Steve Waugh are worth gold. Smith is the first player picked in my Ashes squad. Patterson deserves another shot tho his form since his Test ton has been patchy. Burns has been unlucky yet again. But I reckon that is because the selectors rate both Bancroft and Harris as better technicians over Joe. Bancroft has been piling on recent runs for Durham in the county league so he gets my vote as Warner's partner for first test.

Australia like to have at least 1 line and length bowler that can bowl long spells. Hazelwood has been our choice for that

can Cummins play the Hazelwood role?

For balance you need 2 line and length bowlers, a tearaway quick and a spinner. If your spinner performs well enough or you have a good enough all rounder maybe you can have 2 tearaways

so I don't know if starc and pattinson can play in the same team unless our all rounder can bowl a few more overs than normal

Pattinson just has to play though. How many have we had that averages 21 with the ball over a sustained period? Not to mention averaging nearly 30 with the bat....