It will be interesting to see what the selectors do if we lose to South Africa and only draw or lose to NZ.
I think i read somewhere we need to win 6 of the 3 tests v South Africa, 4 tests v NZ and 4 tests v India to make the world test championship again
Interesting to read that Maddinson had a Shield average of 52, between 2018 - 24…didn’t get a look in one iota from the selectors…been under chemo the last 18 month and played no shield cricket at all…and now picked by the selectors to come into the test side…Bailey’s batting stance, was less bizarre then that selection logic.
Sorry he had to go through Chemo.
But OUT with the old,in with the new.
Couldn’t care less who right now.
And he averaged only 17.8 in his last Shield season…
South African media are claiming this is the worst Australian,team.To ever tour RSA.
Joberg is not a Green Top wicket ,like Cape Town.The pitch will play spin.With scores of around 250 an innings,predicted
Geez where are all the leggies in the shield.
We will be leaning on our pace attack.
With Smith and Trav Head doing the lifting with the bat
Carey does bat well with the tail
He’s been a fair way retired now,but a great pity Fawad Ahmed’s career didn’t take off,as he was a prodigious spinner of the ball.
A telling statistic is that in the last 55 Test innings in South Africa, only 15 totals have breached 300 and 13 of those teams won the match. runs on the board will be very important
They will be relying on Smith and Head to get those 300 scores because the rest of the line up looks shonky to say the least
On a hunch I am expecting South Africa to try to bat first in the series
and then exploit the pitches from thereon
Also expect those pitches to be pace friendly mainly too
It’s a two-horse race and anyone can win yes
but we haven’t had good consistent batting
the Bangladesh 1st test is a spectre just back there
waiting
No one could ever do an Ali(Bacher)these days,could they?
Win the early Toss,Bat,have the Pitch mowed,then pile on the runs,…
Would love to have seen the look on Bill’s face,after that happened in Cape Town.
Would of thought SA would want to expose Aust obvious lack of nous playing spin…not pace…as an Aust cricket fan one can only hope a few selections come to the fore…even if it’s just for this series…Saffie fans are an insufferable breed, especially when winning, not sure Haydos agrees with Bailey et al selection logic, but geez if there is one fella who needs a bit of egg thrown at his ugly mug, it is Haydos…and that “look at me” hat of his.
Agree with the comments, reckon they will try to bat first and then have spinning pitches, the moving ball can affect both teams but the Aussies can’t play spin, especially left arm finger spinners
Some promising performances in the Australia A tour, with Mcsweeney scoring a century and Beardman with 4 for 23
Gee WA are going to have a pretty awesome pace attack this year if they can keep everyone fit. Then again with the dodgy batting they may not have many runs to defend!
Bease won’t approve,but b*gger it,turn the Shield decks into Roads,because I have NO Confidence in our Batsmen getting long innings in,on fair Wickets.
Faisalabad Roads for this Season,or Newlands circa early '70.
Problem is McSweeney like many of the others pushing for Test selection, just don’t deliver consistently at Shield level…sadly Lab and Green do that when available for Qld and WA…
There is a lot to like about Mahli Beardman
just hope he doesn’t end up like Lance Morris with that same back injury
looking more likely Sutherland is on the radar now too
Konstas still barren geez how many chances now
Webster for Green most likely scenario there
Maddinson didn’t get a bat so that says a bit
David Warner made the switch from T20 too tests.
Must be other young batsman that could be considered.
Maby we should look outside the Sheffield Shield.
Mitch Owen
Tim David (maybe 2 or 3 years too late now)
But there’s the McDonald / Bailey purple circle here now mate
Would of been great to see Tim David play a few tests
Adventually the purple circle
Will drive AU cricket into a shambles.
Everyone will retire at the same time.
Well considering Maddnson hasn’t played Sheffield Shield for 18 months, and his last knock at State level was an ODI ton for NSW…why all the whoo ha about his test selection then? I get all the Bailey and Ronald hate and frustration…their time is up, but not sure how folk can even entertain the idea of a David, Owen, or even JMG, 25 ball 50 in the contrived world of T20 cricket, would succeed in the test arena…Warner, like Kohli and Root, are all format freaks, a very rare breed indeed.