Back in 2104/15 Bailey played 5 tests averaged a measly @26 and was axed. I called him Mr Nickit. CA told him not to expect another Baggy Green unless he got plenty of Shield runs. George did just that. He now averages a tick under @40 with 23 hundreds and 50 halves. Problem is he is now 36. If he was to be recalled it should have been in the past three years when he was churning out plenty of FC runs. Test cricket may have passed him by but  Hector proved in the Saffer warm up this week that he still has the goods for ODI cricket.. But CA in its eternal wisdom picked Shaun Marsh who is almost as old as George and has a poorer ODI average and does not have limited overs smarts like the Tasmanian..

I really do not believe that age is an issue if he is just filling in for Smith (be it in test or odi or both).

That is why I have been following Ferg, White and Bailey. Because I do not think CA needs to pluck out some youngster who is not quite ready yet, and set their careers backwards (especially in ODI because India is a very good ODI unit as long as Bumrah stays fit).

But if Mitch Marsh batting at 4 is the answer, the question has to be - why was Langer sacked?

Shield Round 3:
Queensland: Matthew Renshaw, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Charlie Hemphrey, Sam Heazlett, Jack Wildermuth, Jimmy Peirson (c/wk), Michael Neser, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Brendan Doggett

Western Australia: Jonathan Wells, Josh Philippe, Hilton Cartwright, Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Turner, William Bosisto, Josh Inglis (wk), Jhye Richardson, Matthew Kelly, Usman Qadir, David Moody 

Victoria: Peter Handscomb (c), Fawad Ahmed, Scott Boland, Travis Dean, Seb Gotch, Marcus Harris, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Matthew Short, Chris Tremain, Cameron White, Eammon Vines (12th man)

South Australia: Jake Lehmann (c), Tom Cooper, Callum Ferguson, Conor McInerney, Joe Mennie, Harry Nielsen, Lloyd Pope, Chadd Sayers, Cameron Valente, Jake Weatherald, Nick Winter, Kane Richardson (12th man)
Blues v Tigers must be on tomorrow. 

Pattinson is fit?

Excellent news. 

One of my favourite bowlers in the world and ever.

His SR in tests of a wicket every 47 balls is no fluke.

Helluva bowler. Great talent.

Langer says he wants centuries. Tom Cooper has his second on the trot. Has this player with so much natural talent but has disappointed..finally found some consistency. At 31 is he a late bloomer? 

Some cold spells are in southern Aus  at the moment for cricket.

It is freezing in Tasmania with a cold wind!

One never knows.


Look how much success Chris Rogers, Voges, Hussey and Hayden had late in their careers.

Anyone have any idea why the Blues v Tigers game starts Monday?

I would put Cooper in the Hayden category.. rather than with the other three who have a more correct technique.

There is definitely more grass being left on the decks to start the Shield season.

I thought all Shield games did?

I can't find my TCA membership package.

Where is the Blues /Tigers  game played, Baggers?

The poor bloke is injury prone though and has a metal plate in his back.

Massive post tea collapse by the Redbacks.

SCG. There appears to be no uniformity re starting days for Shield games. Odd that our game is on two days after the other two.

Yeah - but I love any swing bowler who bowls at 145+ like Pattinson. I pity the batsman like Mr T pities the fool ;-)

Most cricket fans follow their team's batsmen. I could watch Pattinson bowl all day and be very satisfied. 

Pattinson may be able to bowl swing but I d not term him a swing bowler. He is a Cummins like bowler..fast, intimidating.. an enforcer. Had Patto not had this dreadful run of injuries I dare say we would not have seen Cummins in our Test attack.

No age should not be an issue. I advocated sending at least one of same three veterans for the UAE series. Again they went with the brittle Shaun Marsh.  One of George or the Big Bear would be so invaluable with their extensive experience, street smarts and mentorship. Plus be a great aid to Timmy Paine.

Imran, Waqar, Wasim, Bond, Patto - they're all fast - and they all swing or swung it. They may not bowl at 120km/h like so many of the swingers - they may even all be express (at their best) but they are and were all swingers of the ball. So many fast bowlers are simply express - Patto swings it at express 145km/h pace. I acknowledge this fact and give him props for it. Just as I do for Imran, Waqar, Was, Steyn and Bond.

Just because they swung it at 140+ does not mean that they were any less swing bowlers compared Anderson, Boult, Agarkar, Khan, Doull, Flemming etc. Personally - 145+ and swinging it - makes someone a bowler that I really want to watch. :-) Patto is an express swinger - like Imran, Waqar, Was, and Bond all were. It is a smaller club - but he is in it for mine.

If someone swings it regularly - they're a swing bowler for mine. All the better for it - the faster that they bowl. A swing bowler for mine is simply swinging it - and says nothing about gentle pace. Because Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Steyn and Bond were far from gentle. And so is Pattinson.

My pet hate is when a post  vanishes.
Patto is not a specialist swing bowler.. but like the impressive Bond has the ability to swing a ball. Jimmy Anderson is a specialist swing bowler. Stu Broad can also swing a ball but he is a specialist seamer.  Ditto Hazlewood .  Do we pigeon hole Starc as a specialist swing bowler given his most lethal wicket taking delivery is the new ball in swinging yorker? I see Starc as a licorice allsorts bowler. Reason he is so successful in limited overs and in Asia. Chadd Sayers is a specialist swing bowler because his predominant delivery is where he imparts swing rather than seam.  Wasim was a specialist swing bowler..Waqar was a specialist reverse swing bowler. For mine Nick Winter is Australia's most promising swing bowler.The Canberra-born leftie  had the English Duke talking last Shield season. Took 25 (or was it more) poles in his first three games with the Duke. If CA has half a brain he should be the first quick picked for England. He could be another Terry Alderman.

Broad is more a seamer. I agree. The ultimate "seamers" would be Ambrose, Philander and McGrath. Those who are looking to hit the seam, get nibble and have the ball deviate off a channel line and length.  

Steyn and Bond are and were swing bowlers - they're simply much faster  than Jimmy Anderson. Bond's main weapon from all his youtube wickets is an inswinger which catches the batsman on the hop (he is also famous among NZC fans for his total demolition job of the WI with reverse swing). Steyn has a glorious outswinger. Hadlee is difficult to pigeon hole because he looked for outswing, but he also looked to seam it if there was no swing. Seam or swing, he kept everything in the channel bar bouncers. This is why he is so much better than Southee - because if there is no swing for Tim - he just becomes canon fodder for the batsmen. Perhaps that is your point re Patto. And it would be accurate, Patto's last test he was swinging it and seaming it around both in NZ gloriously (which Jackson Bird got all the wickets based off Patto and Haze's extended pressure bowling spell). But I am a great fan of any swing bowler over 140+. They're deadly. And Patto falls into that for mine. Put simply, Patto reminds of Dale Steyn, no end. He's fast, has a great outswinger, he's aggressive, and can get it to duck in off the seam in the channel. 

As for Starc, he averages over 50 in UAE and India both. So I really don't know about him being successful in Asia bar that SL tour. There is an argument to be had that he just cashed in on a pathetic SL batting line up struggling post Jaya, Sanga and Dilshan retirements with new guys who had never encountered someone bowling at 150km/h. Starc is averaging over 30 in SA and England - which given the state of batting conditions, isn't up to scratch (maybe I am being too harsh here). Starc does have a lovely yorker, though and it does swing in and is great for death bowling in limited overs. Personally - in tests in Australia, I just think of Starc and Johnson as left arm fast bowlers. That is the source of their success in Australia. I don't know what the future will hold for Starc's career. I think his main weapon is his pace, and he is going to need to keep the pace up, or face the fate as Mitch J when he lost his pace. 

Also agree on horses for courses of picking bowlers to perform well in England. Terry Alderman 81 and 89 should be proof enough that it is a legitimate tactic. 

I thought Cummins was our best fast bowler in SA.

The former Test and FC commentators on TV did too.

It is interesting to  read Starc's figures overseas, Paddles.. He bowls a lot of bad balls too, as well as jaffas. When his pace slows as he ages , he could find  he is a lot less effective.

Brett Lee was very effective when he bowled over 150kph, but even bowling at 140 plus later in his career,  his effectiveness decreased. I've read it was because he  bowled flat, without loop. This is far above my understanding of cricket though. I thought trajectory was confined to spinners!

Yeah - any bowler who relies on pace primarily is destined for a shorter career than a bowler who gets lateral movement (be it seam, swing or spin). A spinner can keep on going - remember Eddie Hemmings - he was in his 40's bowling in internationals? Warne and Hogg went well into their 40's in t20 leagues.

Once the pace starts dropping - there's an effectiveness problem for many express bowlers. McGrath (seam) and Hadlee (swing and seam) went on so long and were so successful after dropping pace because they were so incredibly disciplined into the channel. Same for Ambrose (seam) and Walsh (seam). Anderson (swing) is planning on going onto 2020 (he's already 36).  Philander has never had pace - but I think fitness might get the better of him from having an elongated career if he's not careful. He looks like he has trimmed down a lot, though.

A further problem is that reverse swing needs pace, the quicker someone bowls, the more and later it reverse swings - so even some "swing" bowlers lose their swing (or have it swing from the hand) as the pace drops. 

Many exceptions, M Morkel got a lot better as a bowler as his pace dropped. He started bowling more like McGrath. And his averages improved at a staggering rate. 

Once the pace starts dropping - there's an effectiveness problem for many express bowlers. McGrath (seam) and Hadlee (swing and seam) went on so long and were so successful after dropping pace because they were so incredibly disciplined into the channel. Same for Ambrose (seam) and Walsh (seam). Anderson (swing) is planning on going onto 2020 (he's already 36). 

Spot on Paddles.
I figured Anderson would have called it quits after the Ashes. One final shot at  the enemy.

From what I have read, he has no plans of retirement at all just yet. Plus, he is bowling better than he ever has before. He is getting better and better. His averages and stats are improving all the time. I read he was given the option of missing the Sri Lanka tour, and he said "no way" even though he knows he will likely be rotated with Broad, as they up the spinners and keep the all-rounders.

He reckons he has it pretty sweet being a test specialist - so he gets a lot of off time. Iirc - that was imposed on him and Broad against their will - but maybe he has grown to enjoy and appreciate it.

Are Jimmy's away performances improving as he has a fairly moderate record...compared to playing at home. He has a particularly poor record in Oz. Can not find the stats.

Venue O M R W 5w 10w Best Avg S/R E/R Home 2958.4 774 8493 360 21 3 7/42 23.59 49.31 2.87 Away 2291.2 549 6647 204 5 0 6/42 32.58 67.39 2.90 Overall 5250 1323 15140 564 26 3 7/42 26.84 55.85 2.88

All of what you say is true. He has had 4 tours of Australia where two were total failures. But even in Aus in the last Ashes (28), it was his 2nd best statistical performance in Australia (his best being the time England won 2010/11 - where Tremlett bowled beautifully Anderson went at 26). So this was a clear improvement.

Jimmy Anderson is definitely a Dukes bully. But he helps to secure England so very many of those precious home wins. But his numbers are improving all the time. I personally don't think he is anymore special or talented than Boult, and Boult has outbowled Anderson series after series now. But clouds and Duke balls give Anderson the much prettier stats.

In fact, if you want to troll a pom when he says "I know Anderson is not as good as Dale Steyn" - start doing a comparison to Morne Morkel ;-) Unfortunately Morne has retired prematurely from internationals to absolutely destroy batsmen in county cricket - but both Anderson and Morne's numbers were dropping in parrallel as Morne slowed down and bowled with more control - and Jimmy pulled his length back and focussed on line.

Morne won Surrey the county championship with 63 wickets in 11 games at 14.4!!!! Really disappointed he has retired - but such is the plight of South African cricketers.

Handscombe and Renshaw have had good first innings, putting themselves back in contention.

Renshaw scored 89, and Peter Handscomb has scored a very timely century for Victoria. They's both pushing hard for a recall. 

I notice that Handscomb is still batting way back in the crease, however. I'm just not sure that technique will stand up to scrutiny in international cricket.