Topic: Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod] - page 748. (Read 153465 times)

No one really cares about Tim Paine. His performance as a captain is below par, and his performance as a batsmen is outright pathetic. Don't want to comment on his wicket keeping skills. He will be 37 at the time of the tour, and I think that the Australian board should seriously consider options to replace him. If Paine and other senior players pull out of the Pakistan tour, then it will give an idea opportunity for the board to include some of the promising youngsters. Quite a few are garnering attention during the ongoing Sheffield Shield season.

I already mention in above post it's just announcement and mind game from them because they are feeling some pressure against Pakistan, so they are trying to have some better positive way from Pakistan after this announcement. Most chances they will never arrive in Pakistan and if they have to visit then surely few players will be not feeling good, and they will withdraw because they have history of things like this not only in case of Pakistan they have done already against South Africa, but good thing is they never do these things against England and India because these two have big impact on their own business.

Lol read this funny news.

2 boards doing their negotiation on future bilateral tour, announcing the schedule etc but on the other hand Skipper (Tim Paine) giving interview and saying that some players might have some concern over this tour. Poster boy already started working on his list of excuses lol.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/paine-may-captain-pakistan-tour-but-admits-to-player-concerns-20211109-p597br.html

This news came just ahead of Australia vs Pakistan semi final. Also ECB officials are here in Pakistan ( Tom Harrison flies to Pakistan in bid to repair relations between ECB and PCB ). Australia is coming to Pakistan after 24 years of absence. If Aus and England tour Pakistan next year it will open complete gates for international cricket in Pakistan.

That's awesome and great news for cricket lovers! During March-April of next year, Australia will play bilateral series against Pakistan in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore. However, there is still uncertainty, since cricket.com.au needs to inform them in advance if any security clearance is needed ahead of this tour. There is no doubt that Pakistan is a cricket loving nation, and they warmly welcome Australia. Hopefully, Last minute withdrawals won't happen.

Covid didn't stop Pakistan, Windies to visit England when covid cases were on peak there. Covid didn't stop India to tour Australia and staying at bubbles for 4 long months, just to bail out CA from financial crisis. Even Kiwis visited them for couple of games but when it comes to their own responsibilities they chickened out royally.

Yeah, they might. Would be better if they don't.

What happened in South Africa was due to COVID 19, and you can't really blame the Australians. The Australian government directed the cricket board to pull out, after they noticed a sudden spike in COVID cases in that country. Also, the South African government was getting criticized for their handling of the pandemic. You can expect a last minute pullout with Pakistan as well (similar to what New Zealand did), in case the Australian government thinks that there is a viable chance of a terror attack against the team.

As Usual just announcement but nothing is sure because we have very long 4 months many things can be changed in this period they are not reliable peoples but still good news from coward peoples. Now after world cup first assignment is Bangladesh vs Pakistan which is 100% confirmed from both boards hopefully now after very long time Pakistan will be able to have some good number of test matches at home and abroad.
Another news around here Tomorrow, English Cricket Board Chief Executive is also coming to Pakistan for restoring relationship between these two cricket playing nations.

Good news for Pakistan cricket. Australia is about to visit Pakistan in next year for bilateral series, kinda surprising that they didn't visit there since 1999. 2008-2021 period was understandable but what happened during 1998-2007? Anyway hope they don't cancel this tour at the last minute. They do have a habit of pulling out at the last minute, South Africans still very pissed at them.

Australia to tour Pakistan for full series in March 2022

If i look at last 3 year trajectory of Australian cricket then i would say new crop of batters (Bowling is good) are not good enough for the test format, only Pucovski and Green are promising young guys but they still have to prove them selves in the international arena. May be that's a reason selectors keep going back to Wade, Burn, Marsh etc. On Paine, yeah he's batting credentials are not impressive but he did lead the team when they were struggling with the Sand_Pager_Saga. It wasn't easy task, considering the backlash they received in their own backyard. He did fairly good job at start but messed up badly in last Ashes series where Ben Stoke and Jack leach won the game for the England and to make things worse he failed against India at SCG and Gabba royally.

I remember the last Ashes series and players like Wade and Paine had almost zero contribution to the batting. I don't know why the selectors are sticking with these players. Will Pucovski may be volatile and injury prone, but at least in his case he is a future prospect. So I would prefer him, instead of all those players who are facing mid-life crisis right now. Last month he suffered from a concussion during one of the Sheffield Shield matches, and from what I have heard he is yet to recover 100%.

Right now, situation is not good for Australia with their rotation policy giving chance to Bancroft or Khawaja they need to bring some better youngster from Sheffield Shield trophy because they have some good number of players those are performing better in this league, and they can do much better than these guys.

But, Khawaja already on top with good runs may be included even his record is not good in international games Warner spot is fixed but still some good need from him for having more faith from selectors he started some better in T20 world cup right now, but surely it's not going to count for the Ashes series. Mathew Wade probably may retain his test spot due to his wicket keeping options along with Tim Paine.

Australia is not fan of rotation policy when playing against India and England in Test cricket. Yeah they do rotate their player in limited overs cricket similar to India but not in the tests. Only England is only cricketing nation, which follow rotation policy very seriously but i doubt if they are also going to change anything in the ashes because their test cricket is all about the ashes.

Bancroft might come as back up option. They have one promising opener Will Pucovski, he's young too but he always struggle with injuries. I believe Warner would be their first choice for 1st opener for at least 2 games, then for 2nd opener they could play their usual dumb charades with Wade, Burn or Pucovski (if he's fit).

Australia is known for rotating their players. So I guess it is possible that Bancroft may get an opportunity. But if they are looking towards the future, then there are younger players who deserve that spot. And as you mentioned, Khawaja can open with Warner as well. But Warner was in pathetic form during the last Ashes, and I am not sure whether Australia can count on him. His poor form was neutralized to an extent by Smith and Labuschagne, but this time it needs to be seen how the things work out for them. 

Joe is a great player no doubt. But if England wants to win all the players need to contribute to the scoreboard because with only Joe Root scoring and the others failing to the task doesn't have the cause of England. From the new players, I don't know what to expect but I hope they can come to the rescue when their team needs them.

And Australia needs to play really well if they want to beat England. I think Warner and Smith can get going then it will be really a big problem for England and Pat  Cummins needs to take a big responsibility off the bowling department. Because he needs to get Joe Root out as he has done this before and Joe Root seems to be a little prone to be off-balance when deliveries are coming in.

I think you and S A KHAIR mixing T-20 and Test Format form.

If you leave Joe Root out from the discussion then not a single English batsmen, i mean literally you can't find single batsmen who can anchor the inning or make a ton for the English team. That's their story since 1-2 years. Yeah 1-2 individual players might score odd hundred here n there but that's about it.

I had very high hopes from Buttler, Bairstow but they completely failed to impress anyone in Red ball cricket despite playing 50+ tests match. Buttler is about to retire from Test cricket anyway.

English Opening prospect Rory Burn, Sibley and Haseeb Hameed are top notch performer in County circuit but their international average is about 33-ish. Hameed is new guy but you don't expect these sort of averages from your openers.

One new middle order batter is Daniel Lawrence, although his numbers doesn't make good case for him but he's considered a most complete batsman in current English squad after Joe Root. All his runs comes when odds were against the batsmen. I really hope he gets the long rope along with Ollie Pope because they are future of English Team.

Bancroft chances are slim due to his recent form. They could also try Khawaja at opening slot, he could dig at one end and Warner could do his job from the other end, but yeah Khawaja is more suitable for middle order.

I too feel that England have a far more stable squad I’m comparison to Australia, but at the end of the day Australia will only need one or two strong player’s to step up and change the game’s momentum for them eg Smith.

Also lot of attention seems to be on Stokes, but I feel that he’ll handle it well and maybe he’ll be the key player who’ll help England beat Australia.

Khawaja will suit more in the middle order, as the top-4 is sort of permanent (Warner, Harris/Bancroft, Smith, Labuschagne). The options they have right now are mostly useless. Khawaja is someone who can build a big partnership with either Labuschagne or Smith. Cameroon Green is another exciting prospect for Australia. He was disappointing against India (especially with the ball), but the management needs to provide more chances to these young players rather than sticking with useless oldies such as Head, Paine and Wade.

I am so excited about the ashes series and I think this time England has some advantages over Australia because almost all of the England players are in form and they have some world-class players who can turn the match on its head by themselves especially ben strokes who are returning to the England squad. I think Australia might have some serious problems this time.

Aussie camp already dreaming about 5-0. They are not wrong either, we just have to look at English last 3 tours when visiting Aussie's shore. They were humiliated every time and whitewashed by Aussie side.

Yes, Usman Khawaja not in the team but not because of his. Reason is he's no3 -no4 batsman and these spots are occupied by Marnus and Smith. But you never know if selectors might pick Usman for No 5 spot because so far he's their top run scorer in recent Sheffield season.