A pink ball ashes test isn't necessary because the crowds will still show up. At other games the Gabba crowds have been very poor.

The Renegades and Stars lack good Pace Bowlers outside of Hastings,Boland and Tremain. Both teams are poorly put together.

Stars will lose Maxwell,Faulkner,Hastings and Maybe Stonis for The Aus Team in the One Day Series
Renegades will lose Finch,Wade


The 2 Sydney sides have put together great squads. Won't lose many players. Same with Adelaide. All 3 teams Have got good Bowlers.

Edited by somebody: 24/12/2015 11:04:57 AM

Edited by somebody: 24/12/2015 11:07:20 AM

To be fair to the Renegades when they were planning for this season they would've expected Pattinson, Siddle, Remmington, Boland & Tremain to play most of their matches.

If we're talking about dreadful bowling attacks look at the Heat. Badree is class and Steketee is a great young bowler as well (For some strange reason didn't play the last match) the rest of the attack are beyond woeful.

The Heat are horrible. The team looks very light on players compared to most teams. I know they wasted money on Johnson and Watson last year who never ended up playing. On the plus side Pierson,Floros,Lynn,Readon are good players.

They just keep making the same mistakes wasting money on test players and not utilizing our international spots well enough. Plus we don't want to sign any quality bowlers. :x

Burns (Provided he's cheap), Lynn, Reardon, Floros, Cutting, Peirson, Fekete, Steketee & Badree are a good core.

No idea why we let Stanlake play for Adelaide. :?

To early to make a call on Simmons at this stage. (Despite looking rather ordinary)

But Doolan, Forrest, Forrest, Hopes, Buchanan, Feldman and Lalor should all be cut.

Don't know enough of Swepson & Wildermuth but I doubt they'll play enough.

Frustrating considering Botha, Tait, Zampa, Sangakkara, White, Gayle, Tremain, Willey, Bird and McKay were all available to sign.

It is raining here and we usually get same weather patterns as Melb. Can't see the Test starting today.

Hopefully, the rain extinguishes those Victorian bushfires.

The Windies body language in the field in Hobart was terrible.:cry:

They look dejected.

The 20/20 scenario for the likes of Bravo, Gayle and Pollard, et al, is downright depressing for the future of Test cricket.

For anyone thinking Australia is a strong side, the Kiwis look like a tough proposition at home. They've resurrected the Test career of a left arm genuine fast bowler, called Neil Wagner, who exudes Hadlee-esque aggression . His 140 kilometre plus deliveries were too much for Sri Lanka. Impressive, body language too, unlike Boult, Southee and Bracewell in Oz. The Kiwis are a good bet to win at home.

The last Test ground for the Sri Lankan series in Dunedin is one of the most scenic in world cricket.


Edited by Decentric: 26/12/2015 11:26:49 AM

Edited by Decentric: 26/12/2015 11:27:22 AM

Most State Teams 2nd 11's could beat the West Indies.

The channel 10 commentary team is genuinely one of the most enjoyable out of any sport I've watched. Freddie is top shelf

the new ground they built in Christchurch is beautiful too. So is the Basin Reserve in Wellington. I was thinking of going over for one of them. It's one of the few countries where you can watch test cricket with a village ground atmosphere.

I've really been enjoying the BBL this year. Probably because the Windies have been so awful. But the commentary is genuinely better than nine. Better analysis.

Burns & Uzzie today. :d

Anyway the Heat were deplorable again, I really don't know how Forrest keeps getting games he's simply not a T20 player.

Felt for the Stek could've had a wicket but the catch was dropped and went for six instead. :(

So frustrating supporting Qld T20 sides apart from that one year where we managed to fluke a title every other year the Bulls (and now the Heat have been woeful).

Yep that game last night was shithouse.

-PB

good fight from the windies here

having said that I'm coming round to the view that drop in pitches have to go

and just as I say that lyon gets a wicket

misjudged the length by the looks of it reaching for the ball in front of the pads. perhaps lyon got a bit of overspin on the ball

Really thought Burns had caught that from that last shot, a shame as it was a great effort.

Stars with Kevin P 0-2
Without Kevin P 1-0

And New Zealand has smashed Sri Lanka, chasing 118 inside 9 overs

Marsh taking four wickets in the second innings isn't good news for us, simply shouldn't be in the team.

Don't get me wrong his bowling is great for an allrounder but his batting is simply not good enough to be coming in at six. We'd never of played Johnson or Starc as an allrounder to squeeze James Pattinson into the side so Marsh should be no different.

Agreed. I Would go with this team for the Sydney test

Burns
Warner
Khawaja
Smith
Voges
Maxwell
Nevill
Pattinson
Hazlewood
Boland
Lyon

Maxwell as a test cricketer? :roll: :roll: :roll:

Good 4 Day Cricketer.

I wouldn't trust Glenn Maxwell to feed my dog. He should not be anywhere near the test squad.

Mitchell Marsh is a very useful test bowler and should keep his spot. He's good enough to be the 3rd seam bowler at the moment. Keep him in there until his batting comes good.

Looks like Siddle is going to be injured, so O'Keefe can come in on a spinning SCG pitch. If Hazelwood needs to be rested they can bring in Boland or (IMO) Jackson Bird.

I think Maxwell probably deserves another chance soon, he has a good first class record. One of only a few who went over to England and played County Cricket this year (Did quite well), is averaging 50 with the bat in the shield this season. Probably needs to be taking a few more wickets though (Probably deserves to be in the team more than Marsh).

Boland should be nowhere near test cricket, his first class record is average, yes his record looks good this season in the Shield however outside of that 7fer in that one innings he has only six wickets in the other six innings that's not good enough.

The likes of Bird, Mennie, Sayers & Bollinger should all be ahead of him.

Feel bad for the Windies.

Some of the money that goes to the big 5 needs to trickle down to these other nations.

-PB

Big 5 :lol:

It's really only a big 3 now.

Heat VS Hobart last night was good to watch. Actually had Mrs CS watching it too and she hates cricket.
Some massive 6s one ending up on the gabba roof.

Also Shaun Tait the trick with him seems to be survive the first over of 150km+ thunderbolts then he is all yours for the taking.

The problem with Maxwell is he has no match awareness with the bat. Everyone says he can win you a game in an hour by smacking it everywhere, but I have seen him lose way more cricket matches by playing a brain dead shot and getting himself out at the wrong time.

He even did it a week or two ago in the Big Bash when the Stars lost to the Thunder. He was out there with Pietersen, they had the run rate under control, but then he got himself out and the Stars lost by a run.

I would still have him in the T20 and ODI squad but he seriously needs to grow up. There are younger players than him around the Big bash and shield cricket with just as much talent but way more maturity (Lynn being one).

Edited by lastbroadcast: 30/12/2015 01:03:23 PM

England, Australia and India?

I dunno man, South Africa seems to be producing good players still.

-PB

South Africa still up there.