Australia vs South Africa (3 Test Series)

[Jay]

Warner
Burns
Smith
Khawaja
Patterson
Ferguson
Nevill
Mennie
Starc
Hazlewood
Lyon

This would be my 11, ideally for the rest of the summer. I wouldn't have necessarily picked Ferguson or Mennie, but now we have, they deserve to get a fair crack at it. They certainly weren't the only two players who didn't perform in this test.

[Ringo]

"The definition of optimism is an Australian cricketer putting on sunscreen when going out to bat." Remember when we used to use this joke on the English more appropriate to Austrlia these days.

[Jukes]

Jacques
Cowan
Forrest
Manou
McDonald
Ronchi
Noffke
Dorey
Casson
Beer
McGain

Thoughts?

(c) Smart and cool cricket memes that don't toe the line

[fanTCfool]

How about this squad of chaps who all received their test caps in the 2000s (not including 2010s)

Katich
Rogers
Hughes
Clarke
Hussey
Symonds
Haddin
Watson
Siddle
Johnson
Hauritz

Marcus North > Watto but you gotta keep the selectors happy.
I wouldn't pick Hauritz either but you probably should carry a spinner other than Clarke.

[Jukes]

No love for Stew Clark?

[JBs-Hawks]

We need Libba hes the most recent to score an Ashes ton!

[GoLions]

We need Libba hes the most recent to score an Ashes ton!

Listen to this man

[elephants]

Lyno out for SOK (Lyon is bowlig as badly as a part timer at the moment, so give SOK a chance who is a better bat).

Sorry, but this is what the selectors are currently doing and need to stop doing. If Lyon is a better bowler than SOK then he plays ahead of SOK. Pick a top 6 that can bat, a number 7 that you pick because they can keep,  and a bottom 4 that can bowl

Don't apologise man, I get where you're coming from. But at the moment is Lyon really bowling any better than SOK could? Dropping Lyon for a test could give him the kick up the ass he needs, plus gives us another geez at SOK.

Ele's side is great tho, I'd vote for that. Lyon is an absolute spud

In shock, but glad you liked it haha! #JusticeForMaxyKlinger

[Ringo]

Love this from Hughesy
Dave Hughes ‏@DHughesy 20h20 hours ago

"Aussie cricketers should be made to swim back to mainland if want to be picked for Adelaide Test. Need to find out who's committed."

As said previously think we need to make the Sheffield Shield more relevant for developing test players.   Believe we need to revert to the past and do away with bonus points as this does not assist in developing batsmen to play the line. So I would still leave shield games at 4 days but have the points as 2 points for a first innings win with an additional 4 points for an outright win. Think this will allow some batsmen to develop as a true test bat who will dig in.

[R.Griffen]

Is there a reason we can't load up with Allrounders? Henriques, Faulkner, Stoinis, along with a specialist quick or 2. Then 2 part time spinners which could be White and Smith. Kinda what SAF use to run with prior to Styen

And if the side can't make a decent score we know majority of our batsman in Australia are shower

[PowerBug]

Is there a reason we can't load up with Allrounders? Henriques, Faulkner, Stoinis, along with a specialist quick or 2. Then 2 part time spinners which could be White and Smith. Kinda what SAF use to run with prior to Styen

And if the side can't make a decent score we know majority of our batsman in Australia are shower

What England run now with Broad at 11 and Ansari (county opener) at number 10, but that's partly because the only spinners in England are All Rounders.

[BB67th]

Why can't we just stick with the old structure of 6-1-4?

Get the young batsmen in rather than 30 year old debutantes, a third quick who can actually swing the ball, and give the team the rest of the summer to see how they go.

We've hit bottom with this current team, so make some big changes and they can't do any worse for the rest of the summer.


My XI would be

Warner
Burns
Khawaja
Smith
Handscomb
Head
Wade
Starc
O'Keefe
Hazlewood
Sayers

Ferguson and Mennie join the one-test club. Ferguson shouldn't have been selected at 30, Handscomb should have been given the run instead. And Sayers/Bird should have got the nod ahead of Mennie. Wade comes in to show a bit of fight in the middle order, I think his keeping has improved and Neville wasn't the best behind the stumps last test.

Burns has a good record with Warner apart from the last test so he should be given the rest of the summer to prove himself - he did play a very good innings in NZ earlier in the year to prove himself. If he doesn't perform, Bancroft is in for India.

Head can bowl a few offies if needed as well. Lyon is out of form, should go back to the shield, and possibly play 2 spinners at the SCG if the pitch is like the shield games so far. SOK's FC record is so superior to every other spinner in the country that he has to play.

[fanTCfool]

Rod Marsh just stood down.

[Football Factory]

[JBs-Hawks]

Heads just a slogger, we dont want him in there.