Got a three day tour match 7-9 August with Worcestershire. Imagine we'll see Harris, Marnus, Starc, Neser and Hazlewood in this

123/2 currently. Harris out for 14. Bancroft out for 33. Khawaja 35* and Head 36*

we are really preparing well for this ashes. More than ever


I hope we prepare that well for every tour of india and England.

Good on you starting this thread, RK. 

Preparation no good for Harris. 

On another thread read one of Baggers, Mike or Paddles researched that Worst were close to last in Div 2. 

Not ideal competition! 

Head with a century but none of the other batsman made a claim for a spot. Starc and Hazlewood got 3 between them to have the opposition 3/31 at stumps

Good to see Head scoring more runs, but sale to hear about the other failures.

Massive problems overnight, with second last place Worcester in Div 2 County cricket DECLARING, yes that's right Australia's bowlers with over 100 tests between them (Starc, Hazlewood and Marsh) couldn't dismiss them. Here is the breakdown of the English batsmen

Tom Fell, the most experienced batsmen but has only ever played Div 2   Starc
Joshua Dell has only played 6 FC matches in Div 2 county cricket av 14    Hazlewood
Ferguson we all know him  Starc
Jack Hayes zero experience making his 1st class debut in this game   Hazlewood
Qld born Ricki Wessels wicket-keeper, a fair bit of experience at Div 2 county cricket but is now a limited over performer, his big scores are in T20  Hazlewood
Alex Milton wicket=keeper only 10 FC games av 20 scored 74 in this match Labuschagne
George Rhodes all-rounder av 21 only 20 FC games at the age of 25 (shows in and out of sides and this is Div 2)  Neser
Joe Leach the most experienced and has played Div 1 unlike the others FC batting 24 bowling 26 a good all rounder, Neser
Josh Tongue a bowler av 10 Labuschagne
Charlie Morris bowler never has scored a 50 in 78 innings FC level.... till last night 53 NO
Adam Finch Highest score before last night was 8, now he has a high score of 18 NO

For the record Worcester did not play Whiteley, Mitchell, Rutherford, D'Oliviere, Cox. These are the leading batsmen for Worcester this year, so this is really their reserve side especially in the batting.

Once again after Hazlewood and Starc had these "deer in headlights" 5/43 after 6/7 overs each, their next 9/10 overs each with the older ball were complete rubbish. Neser and Marsh came on with a 20 over ball, they never got any use of the new ball at all  (except 1 over from Neser the night before) and Neser still took 2 wickets in 11 overs with the older ball and Starc and Hazlewood bowled 17 overs combined with the older ball and couldn't take any. Reminiscent of their test careers.  I wouldn't be changing the test bowlers for the 2nd test. Especially considering the current bowling line up for Australia are capable of bowling England out for under 150, but these possible bowlers allowed a bordering on reserve grade Div 2 County cricket team to score 200. Ask Charlie Morris how he would compare Australia's bowlers to what is running around in Div 2, he'd laugh, the Div 2 bowlers get him out cheaply. Maybe Morris should be selected for England.

Baggers before you try to make out what a magnificent performance especially in regards to Hazlewood, and you will, remember these are reserve grade Div 2 county cricket batsmen, who never in their careers have faced bowlers that are capable of 140+ km/hr deliveries with the exception of Ferguson. It is dangerous for England to play these players. If England had these type of bowlers they would be playing Div 1 but there are very few in England that can achieve these speeds. Worcester were put in to face 8 overs after running around in the field for over 5 hours whilst the bowlers rested. The worst case scenario possible for these players. After a good nights sleep and the batsmen freshened up, this is what our bowlers did 

Starc 12 overs 1/32
Hazlewood 11 overs 1/32
Neser 11 overs 2/30
M Marsh 7 overs 0/24
Labuschagne 11 overs 2/37

Who exactly is the pick of the bowlers? Our experienced test bowlers with nearly 100 tests combined bowled 23 overs 2/64 against this side.

Batting 1st innings Head and Khawaja were the only ones to perform and 2nd innings Bancroft failed again with the bat but Harris performed well, maybe a change there, but with Langer as head coach, he'll give Bancroft every opportunity. Mitchell Marsh moving up to No 3 in the batting, giving Khawaja a rest or is Langer pushing an agenda, after Marsh was outbowled by Neser, possibly edging ahead of Marsh as all-rounder? Wouldn't make any changes to the batting line up either except Harris for Bancroft.

Thanks for a very detailed update, Mike.

Damn Mike, you got my hopes up more than 201/9 after the number 10 makes a 50 and yet declaring around 60 odd runs behind...