bigfluffylemon wrote:Handscomb hasn't played a match for Australia in years, and isn't being discussed. And he hardly ever kept internationally when he did play. It may be unfair given he's got a couple of decent shield scores, but I'd be astonished if he makes it in. I reckon the selectors would go back to Wade before they looked at Handscomb. Wade should be nowhere near the test side, but he's one of those players (like Shaun Marsh) that despite a very ordinary record the selectors can't seem to let go of (see also half the England side...)
GarlicJam wrote:I just read that in his first outing since the surgery, today for Tas 2nds, Paine took six catches.
There were a couple of decent diving catches amongst them. Can't have done his chances any harm.
sussexpob wrote:Australian cricket has shown a historical bias towards keepers making runs over anything else.
bigfluffylemon wrote:Gilchrist may have accelerated the trend, but teams were already prioritising wks who could score runs over those with better keeping technique
bigfluffylemon wrote:The era of 'pick six specialist batters, one keeper and four specialist bowlers' is long dead. Perhaps it's the trendy thing to blame, but limited overs cricket does seem to have contributed - with over limits, you need at least five bowlers, but you can't play five specialists, so you need three or four multidisciplinary players in a team, and everyone has to be good in the field. Test sides might be able to carry the odd fielding numpty parked at fine leg, but in a T20 game where every ball and run counts, teams have really upped their fielding game too. So players are increasingly trying to diversify their skillset rather than specialise.
yuppie wrote: Where the balance falls between runs and keeping ability though is anyones guess and probably very relevant to the players above the keeper in the batting order.
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