Topic: Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod] - page 1158. (Read 172687 times)

These are the exact reasons why I feel that retaining Warner was a smart choice despite his bad form lately. Whenever a player performs badly, the first thought that comes to anyone's mind is dropping him which is not a smart move.

Warner will be back, but Khawaja is a great 2nd choice. I don't think they need to experiment with anyone else currently. These 2 are great openers and they have proven that time and time again.

^^^


They (Harris-27- and Bancroft-26-) looks pretty young to me, according to their Test career or if we go by the logic of age, Both are the product of Domestic cricket and performed well in the First Class. Age shouldn't matter much when selecting a team, but Merits Only and I agree that Cricket Boards should back the Young Guns if there are any. (Similar to Pritvi, Shubman, S.Curran,Matt Renshaw)


Guess you forgot Matt Renshaw. he was 20ish when he played his first Test Match for Australia.


With all due respect but you are half wrong and half right (Yes they are performing bad)

1. Warner average is 45ish in the test with 21 tons, even after performing bad. how many Test opener comes to your mind in recent time with this number?
2. Usman Khawaja average is 40ish in test and guess you forgot he made 750ish run in the last calendar year.


Matt Renshaw is leading the list, but his recent performance in First Class is not good as Bancroft that's why Bancroft was the first choice for the Ashes.

Will Pucovski is very talented and promising young talent but still he doesn't have experience as an Opener even in the First Class Cricket and we are talking about International Games and Opening slot. CA can try him in Middle-order though but Wade's Century, M.Marsh's fifer deserve some chances too, Correct? And Paine is Test Captain.( that's pretty much Oz's Middle-order not even including no 3, 4 slot which is a fix for Smith /Marnus L)

Ben McDermott Same as above, plus not talented as Will Pucovski.

They tried several combinations, and all of them failed. Warner, Harris, Khawaja, Bancroft.etc were unable to perform on a consistent basis. IMO, they should drop all these four players and give chance to some young player. I don't remember the last time a teenager made international debut for Australia. Even Ricky Ponting was 20-years old when he made his test debut back in 1995. Their first class cricket is also aging, and the senior sides usually don't field any teenagers (on the other hand in India and England, you can find so many teenagers representing the domestic sides).

Warner is 32 years old and Khawaja is also of the same age. I don't see a point in offering them a slot in the playing XI, at the cost of some younger player. Warner is essentially a T20/ODI player and including him in the test side can be justified only when there is no other option. Usman Khawaja has failed consistently during the last few years and his bating average is not what you may expect from someone who has played 44 tests for Australia. There are talented players available in Australia such as Matt Renshaw, Will Pucovski and Ben McDermott and the selectors should give them a chance.

Australia was struggling to find a good opening pair and they were experimenting throughout the series and Warner was really struggling in form, he was performing well in the limited overs and Board has taken his wicket in almost all of the innings during the Ashes which is funny in a sense and he has not rectified his issue while facing him and until Australia fix their issue in finding a good bench strength like they had in the past it is a shame on their selection panel.

Australian management also feel that way since they brought in Labuschagne for Khwaja to play at his position and that went better.

Australia tried Bancroft with Warner to open....Marcus Harris and Warner and both didn't went quite well. I think Finch with Warner as opener would be good. They both have a good chemistry while opening in ODI's and I think wouldn't be a problem if the format is changed.

As Royse mentioned, you can bet on the outright market before the series starts. Sometimes it is hidden behind another tab in some sites. One of the best outright markets to bet on is the Serie A market where Juventus almost always wins.

I don't think Khawaja is as capable as Warner in tests even if Warner is going through a bad phase currently. Khawaja himself went through a bad phase during the World cup. Warner is the suitable choice when compared to Khawaja.

Yeah, outright market. Most of the bookies offer it before the series started. It's common in sportsbet.io


About opener and Khwaja:
Khwaja can open however he is best at one down. Australia can bring up a new face. Their pipeline is very long.

Is there any market where we can bet on Series draw ( not games) ?


Yeah but question is where should he bat. As an opener or 1st down. its very important in Red ball Cricket.

They are struggling to find solid opener, as of now didn't heard any name coming out from their domestic circuit and there are only 3 candidates.

• 1. Warner : Tested solid batsman but going through very bad phase
• 2. Harris : Proved himself in Sheffield Shield but right now he's not looking good as a opener when performing in the International games
• 3. Finch :  He sucks in Red Ball cricket, He played few games but if he continue to play the same then he's Australia KL Rahul. may be someday he can prove himself but atm he looks really bad when Ball seam or swings

And then comes Usman khawaja As of now Cricket Australia consider him as a 1st down batsman. which is working okay for them. but this guy can be their go to opener if they try him more often.He played 7 inning as an opener and scored 484 runs with the average of almost 97 ( 2 century and 2 half century)


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Good for Pakistan team, if Warner keeps scoring the same like he did in Ashes. I think Australian board is paying back to Warner LOL

Khwaja's recent performance was not good as well however having him as option will not be bad.

I think the Aussie management was really poor in this series. All the time they were keeping Starc out (inform bowler) and Warner in (out of form batsmen).

Basically, Stokes saved them again this time by helping draw the series. Phenomenal stuff. The outcome was expected after the target put forth by England and I blame the selectors for dropping Starc so quickly. He probably could have made a big difference.

Damn. Its been so long since we have seen a draw in the Ashes. Whoever placed an outright bet on England or Australia must be going crazy right now. Luck still favors England this year.

Indeed nightmare for Warner but I am still backing him. They have a couple of games against Pakistan at home. They can try something out, but the fact is Australia doesn't have any reliable openers in the backup not sure about their domestic cricket, but not many openers stand out in Australia or knocking the door for Test squad.

Australia could try Khwaja for damage control. He's a far better choice in comparison of Finch when we talk about Red Ball Cricket.

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Edit :

Draw Series of The Ashes

• 1. 1938 in England            1-1
• 2. 1962/63 in Australia      1-1
• 3. 1965/66 in Australia      1-1
• 4. 1968 in England            1-1
• 5. 1972 in England            2-2
• 6. 2019 in England            2-2

The Australian batsmen were appalling (apart from Smith). Their stats are hidden because Smith scored so many runs that he managed to overshadow everyone else. While Smith had 774 against his name at an average of 110.57, the second ranking Australian batsmen scored less than half of that much (353 @ 50.42 by Labuschagne). Wade scored 337, but his average was poor (33.70).

The English batsmen were much better, with Stokes scoring 441 at an average of 55.12. Burns, Root and Denly scored 390, 325 and 312 respectively and this ensured that the burden didn't fell too much on Stokes. The Australians should blame their selection policy as well, as they were repeatedly giving chances to players such as Warner despite poor form.

Yes Smith was the stand out for Australia in this series however he wasn't the only one, people never mention Marnus Labuschagne who also had a great series with the bat so he should hold his spot in the team and looks to be a good number 3 Australia. He just needs to work on converting them half centuries into centuries and then he'll be a top batsman. Warner's future is under the spotlight but even though I feel he should be dropped I think the selectors will give him one last chance in the test series in Australia later this year, if he fails to make runs then he should be dropped for sure. Overall I thought both teams didn't perform well and that it was certain stages of the matches which won it for either team. England looked to of found another good fast bowler in Jofra Archer which I hope he can go on with it now and become a top bowler for England. Congrats to Australia on retaining the Ashes and it was the first tied Ashes series since 1972.

The umpires made some terrible calls in the series but you see those kind of terrible calls in every series but the main reason for the series to end up in a draw is because the batsman from both teams apart from Smith were finding it hard to score runs and the bowlers have dominated the entire series. Warner is on a terrible form and i doubt he will be in the test team for a long time.

I thought they could reach 300 with Wade but the moment he went, they lost 2 wickets in 3 runs. Finally the series was tied and Steves and Stokes were awarded Man of the Series. Steve was more deserving as he was consistent throughout the series and when he failed and was absent, Aus failed so badly. Sad to see the best team Australia dependent on only one player's performance but they need to buck up and their players should start contributing equally.

Only because of Smith who played and keep the score moving to a challenging figure for England most of the times. Wade and Labuschagne were also good but rest really did a flop-show. Bowling department also did their job quite well this Ashes.

Anyway it was fun to watch and discuss about the series. 

Thats really sum up the Ashes 2019. Overall we had an interesting matches and this season was full of entertainment.
I think England is lucky not only in this Ashes but overall 2019 is a lucky year for them.

Well Australia lost finally. No Stokesi innings from Wade. After his wicket rest were too easy for England.

Series level 2 - 2
Ashes still in Aussies hand
Smith had a terrific time
Warner is super flop
Aussie batting line was very average except Smith's performance
Starc had hard time but whenever he got chance he was a wicket taker

Stoksi was the English hero and 2nd time played a real monster innings to remember for long time.
Englands betting was not up to the mark
English team is lucky that Aussie batsmen were not performing well.

Smith was getting too boring. Same 200+ runs, 100+ runs being Aus's savior all the time.

Now they are put to test so let's see if Wade makes them get those 170+ runs or not. We have seen Stokes doing this for England and that was the best test match I have followed till date. Nothing is impossible in cricket, that's what I've learnt and seen.

Back to Australia vs England match. Wade is the hope now. I wish if Smith were there with Wade. This match still is in England's control. 177 more runs to score and only have 4 wickets. Impossible task besides Broad is bowling very well.

Edit: Can we see a Stokesi innings from any of the Aussie batsmen? Wade has his chance.