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[Colesy]

Yes?

[Village Trundler]

Pretty sure I heard Simon Katich chuckling from Sydney.

[Vic Nicholas]

lol, maybe the rebuild will take a little longer than the green shoots of recovery suggest.

This team (squad) was selected by the discredited (and now sacked) selection committee.

Any team that countains a 37 year old Ponting, ditto Hussey (who at least is more reliable), 34 year old Haddin, shot duck Mitch Johnson and flashy and unsafe Phil Hughes - just to name four - is hardly serious about rebuilding.

Bite the bullet, pick kids and if we get thrashed, so be it. That is how S. Waugh, Boon, Jones, McDermott, M. Hughes, Healy etc were all seleceted at pretty much the same time.

[Village Trundler]

Agreed.

Particularly when the best bowler is opening the batting.

[PM7]

As silly as it sounds now, Australia held their own and were well on top until they batted for the second time.
Its still a formidable team on paper but they had a piss poor day. I wouldnt be surprised if they won the Second test and drew the series.

[Manormanic]

Its still a formidable team on paper but they had a piss poor day. I wouldnt be surprised if they won the Second test and drew the series.

Is it?  I'm far from convinced - Ponting and/or Hussey ought to have been put out to grass, Haddin too, Hughes is nowhere near test class and Johnson an unreliable nightmare.  You wonder whether they'd be better going Warner/Marsh/Khawaja/Hussey/Clarke/Watson/Paine/Harris/Cummings/Lyon/Copeland?  Okay, Copeland could easily be any one of about a dozen candidates...

[langer17]

Is it?  I'm far from convinced - Ponting and/or Hussey ought to have been put out to grass, Haddin too, Hughes is nowhere near test class and Johnson an unreliable nightmare.  You wonder whether they'd be better going Warner/Marsh/Khawaja/Hussey/Clarke/Watson/Paine/Harris/Cummings/Lyon/Copeland?  Okay, Copeland could easily be any one of about a dozen candidates...

Paine is still recovering from a broken finger which he got not long before the Australian season started, so he actualy hasn't played any cricket this season so far. Matthew Wade will be the one to replace Haddin in the short term as he has been going really well over the last 3 Shield games.

[langer17]

Also, Ponting should go, deffinately not Hussey. Ponting has scored 1 century in his past 55 international innings. Hussey has actually been performing over the last year, so Ponting would be the one to go.

[Village Trundler]

Most important thing is to get Watson down the order. He is not an opening batsman, and his full potential as a batsman is at number 6 to brutalise tired bowlers and old balls. He has done very well as a stop gap, but ideally opening batsmen need to be scoring hundreds (of which he has 2 in nearly 60 innings). He is also Australia's best and most reliable bowler, taking more wickets than anyone, but Johnson in the last 18 months (at half of Johnson's average)

The problem is, now they have done away with the good opener, who did score hundreds and bat long, we have a jittery left handed joke totally outclassed at one end, who needs to be replaced, which means getting Watson down the order isn't the priority.

Also, I'll be disappointed if they touch the bowlers after the first test.... They bowled the saffas out for under 100, and then were horrendously let down by the batsman on a pitch that was nowhere near the minefield that the results may indicate...... I know they didn't go through the saffas in innings 4, but when my team are 9/21 about half an hour after I've finished bowling, I don't exactly feel like getting back out there and bowling my heart out again.

[Vic Nicholas]

Agree with all that.

Watson must bat lower down the order. He is a class allrounder - why kill the goose that laid the golden egg?

Mitch Johnson was a world beater in early 2009, now he is damaged goods.

Cummins and Pattinson in ASAP and Mitch Starc soon to follow.

I would actually gamble with Paine as Marsh's opening partner and bring in Wade as wicket keeper. Paine as a purely specialist opening batsmen has what it takes I reckon.

Rebuild with kids...just do it, we will be better for it.

[jw17]

Cummings should defiantly come in for Mitch in the next test and i dont really think Siddle is that great and would play Bollinger.

[PedalsMcgrew]

Most of Australia's problems would be solved by dropping Johnson. Since he went to pieces in 2007 over here he has never got back to where he was. He's Australia's Steve Harmison. The batting still looks pretty solid although the dropping of Katich for Hughes seems crazy bearing in mind how out of his depth Hughes looks.....

[Alvaro]

the batting is pigheaded at best - did you see the shots Hussey and Haddin played in the second innings? Ponting is lie Kim Barnett at the minute, without starting his stance at square leg...
They have learnt nothing since last winter when they kept trying to flay quality swing and seam bowling ...

[Number4]

Great opening partnership between Watson & Hughes. A few shaky shots by Hughes as usual but also some cracking shots as well... Gee the outfield looks lightening quick. Defensive shots going for 4

[mdl_1979]

The way that most of the Australian batsmen play - going so hard at the ball all the time - means that they will get bowled out cheaply quite often, but it also means that when they do come off, it can be fairly spectacular.