Basically mine as well.

No Watto and no Marsh.

-PB

What if Harris fit? Does he play and in whose place? I say he plays instead of Johnson (tough decision though that is).

Also Nevill is batting far better than Haddin at the minute. I reckon it's time to change wicketkeepers (Haddin has been brilliant for a long time though).

What's the reasoning behind taking Harris though?

What cricket has he played in the last 12 months?

-PB

The thing with Harris though is he hasn't played because the selectors have been preparing him to be 100% for the first Ashes test. He's missed a potential World Cup win and 2 tests because the selectors said he was to important to risk getting injured before England. IMO it would be a low act by the selectors to leave him out.

The windies matches were not ideal prep but i reckon we can beat the poms.

Even so, he still needs to be playing prior at a decent enough level to me on point for something as important as The Ashes.

-PB

Agreed Harris to come in for Starc. Means we'll have three top class bowlers who have all shown they can single-handedly tear through a side.

Not necessarily, it depends on how mentally tough that person is. I stand to be corrected but Steve Waugh's and Mark Waugh's first series was the Ashes and Steve dominated while Mark tonned up on debut. If the person is tough enough then it's fine for them to make their debut in an away Ashes. James Faulkner made is debut last away Ashes and he was fine with it.

The idea of having played international cricket, of some format, in order to be ready for the Ashes is a bit tenuous, I think. It's more important that players do a good job in the Sheffield Shield than have success in T20s or ODIs. Nevill was outstanding in the Shield. Meanwhile Haddin can't buy a run. Unless Nevill does poorly with the gloves, there's not much chance he can do a worse job than Haddin overall in the Ashes, given Haddin is struggling so much with the bat. Don't forget how bad our batting looks at the moment. It still has the characteristics of a house of cards.

As for Johnson, the main argument for keeping Johnson is that he brings a psychological advantage after last Ashes. I think that psychological edge needs to be looked at in context. I think Johnson brings a psychological advantage over England's poorer batsmen and their tail. But I think those batsmen will really struggle against any Australian bowler so we don't need Johnson's psychological advantage.

Turn your attention to the two or three England batsmen who might be able to score big runs against Australia; Cook, Root and, maybe, Bell. Those three struggled against Harris more than they did against Johnson. They're all pretty good at dealing with express pace, playing off the back foot and dealing with the short ball. So Johnson's no more threatening to them than any other Australian bowler. In fact, he's less threatening to them because where they struggle is around the top of off stump, or (for Root) getting forward to yorkers and against swing. That's where Harris, Hazlewood and Starc are stronger than Johnson.

Edited by quickflick: 16/6/2015 02:34:23 PM

Mark Waugh, who's a selector, has said that he thinks Starc is the best bowler in the world at the moment. I can't see them dropping Starc. Hazlewood's not going to be dropped after winning player of the series in the Caribbean. So it's really a question of Harris or Johnson. But given that Harris has basically been wrapped in cotton wool for the Ashes, is ideally suited to English conditions and to dismissing England's two in-form batsmen and had the most success against the English top order last time (more than Johnson, even though Johnson got more wickets overall) I reckon Harris will be given the nod.

Edited by quickflick: 16/6/2015 02:32:51 PM

This.

He will swing the shit out of the poms on those green wickets lol.

Sif drop him for Harris.

-PB

Are Nein gonna show the Ashes on Gem?


Might as well watch it on Sky Sports Ashes HD.


Edited by griffindinho: 2/7/2015 11:50:39 AM

Harris having scans on his knee. Almost certainly out of the first test. Huge blow.

Yeh will be all in HD primetime on Gem, which isn't so bad unless you can't handle the commentators.

I'll be watching on Sky because the Brits are far far better.

-PB

I honestly don't know why they are persisting with Rhino, I get it he's a great guy and has done really well in the past, but he's made of glass nowdays and has had 0 practice in the lead up to a crucial test series.

-PB

Hazelwood and Starc are untested at this level. If the Poms can get into both or either of them in the first test suddenly our attack looks pretty ordinary. Clarke loves having a bowler he knows he can go to when we need it most.

I only have Foxtel play which isn't in HD, lel.


God i love IPTV \:d/


Edited by griffindinho: 2/7/2015 04:54:37 PM

Ryan Harris retires from all forms of cricket effective immediately. Pat Cummins called into Ashes squad to replace him.

This level?

As in Test cricket lol?

-PB

Ryan Harris has announced his retirement effective immediately. One of the best fast bowlers I've ever seen. Sad day.

Yep. Series against the West Indies don't count and our bowlers copped a bit against India this summer. Starc is famous for being better with the white ball, and Hazelwood has never experienced anything like an away ashes tour.

James Faulkner arrested in Manchester on drink driving charges.

Wankered :lol:

-PB

Faulker be all like:

[youtube]Lc0sA2WsCgY[/youtube]

Our bowling depth has just shattered :lol:

Would have been nice to have Rino and Faulkner available though.

Faulkner was only in the ODI squad, at least. Losing Harris is a blow though.

If he had been fit, he almost certainly wouldn't have played. Even though he didn't have much match time recently, Cricket Australia knew that was to be the case and he was still central to their plans. He has gone into matches and dominated before after little match time. He is one of the most accurate fast bowlers in the world. He can bowl over 90mph, but didn't need to take wickets. He can get the perfect amount of late swing, or seam the ball. He's tailor made for English conditions and to dismiss the best English batsmen. He had the potential to go down in history as an all-time great with McGrath, Holding, Walsh, Marshall and Hadlee. But for injury, he probably would have done. His bowling against South Africa on basically one leg. His wicket of Alastair Cook last Ashes. And the Shield final a few years ago on a wicket which was basically a road. There's a reason why guys like Michael Vaughan and Shane Warne, guys who can feel the heartbeat of cricket like few others can, are saying Harris was probably going to be Australia's most dangerous player this Ashes. It's a loss.

I know people will say we have Starc, Hazlewood, Johnson, Cummins, Siddle (and soon Pattinson, too).

But Australia's bowling has just lost a huge amount of control. Let's assume Mitchell Marsh will replace Shane Watson.

Harris, Hazlewood, Starc, Lyon and Watson

looks a hell of a lot different to

Halzewood, Starc, Johnson, Lyon and Marsh.

We've gone from having two bowlers with pinpoint accuracy and an all-rounder with an outstanding economy rate. In those circumstances, Australia had a huge degree of control of the flow of the game.

We now have one bowler with pinpoint accuracy. Two outstanding strike bowlers, but who both may go for runs. A solid off-spinner, but one who England can go after. And a batting all-rounder who will go for runs too.

POMs in trouble.

Not good dropping Root on naught. And Ballance is batting much better than I anticipated. I was hoping he'd be a walking wicket.

Starc and Johnson are struggling for rhythm. Johnson's bowling to Root in t he last half hour of the first session was very average. He played Root into the innings by bowling it to perfect areas for the cut shot.

Australia should be trying to have England all out for 250 on this wicket. We're going to struggle to score runs on it.

Clarke is really missing Harris. He'd be ideal in these circumstances. Clarke doesn't have nearly as much control as he did with Harris in the XI, and thus can't dictate the tempo of the match in quite the same way that he could before.