Australia tour of India, Feb 17-March 29

[Dr Cricket]

The way Smith is speaking lately he acting like Australia already lost the match.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-aus ... 83909.html
Australia expecting the worse, suppose it doesn't help when the curater states it will be quick and help the pace men and play like WACA lol.

pitches will spin more than england considering it is close to march and the weather will be hot and hot.

[Dr Cricket]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-aus ... 83899.html
like this articles, so true with Smith starting as a bowler and Jadeja as a batsman and both being laughed at.
but now being so good at the other skill, smith with the bat and Jadeja with the ball.
Still sad smith doesn't bowl much anymore.

[Dr Cricket]

India also hold the cards in the batting depth, Yadav 9 a front line batsman, Australia only got Starc at 8.
mitch marsh is probably be india number 9 or 10 if he was indian.

Australia Weak tail, India strong lower order.

[rich1uk]

neither mitchell marsh or maxwell have really shown they are close to being a #6 test batsman

if australia are going in with o'keefe and lyon then i would just pick a proper #6 and rely on smith or warner to bowl a few overs if needed as a backup to the front 4

given the comments about the pitch i have seen then i cant see the point of adding what mitchell marsh gives as a bowler given his limitations as a batsman

[Dr Cricket]

Especially when they are considering playing only one of Hazlewood and Starc.

[yuppie]

Im guessing that Australia are expecting to have to bowl a lot more than 100 overs in the first innings.

Starc and Hazelwood will be expected to bowl short fast spells, so they will be hoping Marsh will help lighten the work load.

This is where Australia miss a Siddle/Kaspowich type bowler who can bowl a lot of overs in these conditions.

Either way Australia's 6 and 7 look as weak as ever, and n 5 is untested in these conditions. Im guessing Australia would love an Andrew Symonds type of player playing at 6.

[Dr Cricket]

TBH if they pick 3 spinners, one of hazlewood/Starc might not play well that is what Smith said.

[rich1uk]

would be a bold move to go in with mitchell marsh as the second seamer and have maxwell or swepson as a 3rd spinner

[yuppie]

I would be really surprised to see Australia go with 3 spinners. Im not to sure that would strengthen the batting either.

[bigfluffylemon]

Utterly ridiculous to go in with Marsh as a second seamer and drop Hazlewood for a third seamer, IMO. Hazlewood is one of the top quicks going at the moment. Even if there's nothing in the wicket for him, you can rely on him to be accurate and give nothing away, help keeping the pressure on and the scoring rate down.

Cannot understand Australia's continuing obsession with playing the Marsh brothers in test cricket. For a while I thought it was nepotism (dad on the selection panel), but he's gone, and they're still there.

The pitch reports are claiming a rank turner, but honestly, does anyone think Ashton Agar and Mitchell Marsh would be better than having both Starc and Hazlewood in the side?

And btw, Starc is a pretty solid number 8. Test average of 25 with 8 50s in 34 games (that's more 50s than Jadeja). Jadeja is probably better. But by no stretch is Starc a weak number 8.

Ashwin at 7 and J Yadav at 9 for India on the other hand will be much stronger than Wade and O'Keefe for Aus.

I'd say Hazlewood and Lyon are better than Ishant and U Yadav with the bat, but when you're getting to numbers 10 and 11, it doesn't really matter. Best you can expect from any of them is a 30 and hanging around long enough to be annoying.

If I were Australia, I'd be very worried about the lower middle order. Marsh, Handscomb, Marsh, Wade is not a line-up to inspire confidence.

[yuppie]

S Marsh performance in SL and in the warm up match justifies his selection.

Im not sure what M Marsh has done to justify his reselection.

Starc and Hazelwood are probably the 2 best opening bowlers in world cricket at the moment, dropping one of them would be stupid.

But Australian selection lately has been very inconsistent.

[GarlicJam]

I agree with you, Fluffy - it would be madness not to have Starc and Hazlewood playing.


Completely different set-up and circumstances, but when Aus last won a series in India, they had three dedicated seamers in each test. Go with the strengths, not get in a flap over possible spinny-spin wickets, imo.

[alfie]

We will know soon enough.

But I honestly can't see them not playing Starc and Hazlewood ; surely better two world class pace men than another spinner of questionable status ? If it really is spinning like a top from the start Lyon and O'Keefe should be able to do a job with a bit of help from the skipper - and if they can't I'm not sure how much help a lesser spinner can supply...

[meninblue]

S Marsh performance in SL and in the warm up match justifies his selection.

Im not sure what M Marsh has done to justify his reselection.

Starc and Hazelwood are probably the 2 best opening bowlers in world cricket at the moment, dropping one of them would be stupid.

But Australian selection lately has been very inconsistent.

[bigfluffylemon]

Wow, guess we're all agreed on Starc and Hazlewood vs dodgy third spinner. Let's see if the selectors also agree. We'll know soon enough.

I overlooked Sean Marsh's hundred in Sri Lanka, so it's probably not entirely unreasonable selection, but he did only play one test there.