ianp1970 wrote:from_the_stands wrote:Tour matches are embarrassing now. Each touring team to Oz should play a 4 day game at a Test venue against Australia A, featuring players who are pressing for national selection rather than state selection.
I would go even further and say this should be the model for final warm-up games on all test tours.
Agree. It's no wonder that so many sides struggle overseas. By the time they've got used to the conditions, the series is already lost.
Shaun Marsh will probably do well in this test. Everything's set up for him - Australian wickets in general have been batting paradises the last couple of years, Adelaide is the flattest of them all, the Kiwi attack is (Southee aside) looking half-baked, and he'll be coming in at 5, when 1) the threat of the new ball will be long gone and 2) given the strength of the top 4 in Australian conditions, there are likely to be bags of runs on the board, so he'll be under no pressure.
This will then keep him in the side until the next tour, when he'll predictably fail again.
