I think the time has come to turn the heat up on the selectors and their constant faith in Marcus North. Surely there was no better time to blood a youngster, and there are many, in time for the real stuff in Australia this summer. The man has done very little to justify a berth in the side and continues to have dreams of adequacy.
Hussey I can understand, barely but North must go if we are to wrestle back the urn
some things just never change in this world: selectors rationale being top of this list for mine. since 1877 the decision making process of our national selectors defies logic- someone always seems to get a nod/wink continuation of their career, and others who clearly either don't know some grot on a selector, or refuse to buff their bell end can't get into the side or cocks up once and gets instantly ejected into obscurity.
ReplyDeleteNorth must be able to polish pole better than most coz he is clearly in favour and araldited in place.
while i think he should go NOW, while he is over there i'll give hime the next test or it will be an email bombing campaign to CA (for what it's worth!) to at least ask, "WHY" he remains.
Add Australia's lack of ability to dismiss tail end batsmen on crumbling pitches to the ridiculous. It's 1st test in Blighty all over again.
ReplyDeleteBring Cameron White in for North.
ReplyDelete1st Test in India was a cracker, pity we didnt lift our run rate in the first innings.
Almost every time Aus have needed North to dig in he hasn't stood up. His highest innings of 125 was at Cardiff when Aus had 350 odd already on the board. This typifies his career so far - easy runs when it's icing on the cake rather than tough runs when his side needs them most.
ReplyDeleteClarke will get a bouncing barrage this summer and he doesn't look equipped for it. I seem to remember a 20 year old being dropped on this basis!
Hauritz will be under great pressure - no doubt he would have been expected to do more on a 5th day pitch but the pace did extremely well. As soon as he had one bad over he was off but really he didn't look threatening at all during the test.
It's a worry when a bloke with a stuffed back and numbers 10 and 11 can get 65 runs to win. One test is just that but 3 things are worth considering;
(1) on paper the middle order looks ok but North is a real thorn in the side and too often Aus 2nd innings crumble and do so quickly
(2) Hauritz will not get the same support from conditions this summer as he did in England and really has to find something to be effective. Lobbing it up outside off ball after ball won't cut it - except against Pietersen
(3) Closing out a test is a real problem for Aus and it cost the Ashes in Cardiff I think. You win the toss, bat first and get to bowl last on a 5th day wicket with uneven bounce, turn and a decent score to defend. If you can't get 10 wickets in that scenario when can you? England will have Broad, Prior, Anderson, Swann and Finn in the lower order. I haven't seen much of Finn's batting but the others are either capable of scoring or holding an end up. Aus will want a shed load of runs behind them if they're bowling last.
Please don't tell me that North's hundred will save him for The Ashes.
ReplyDeleteNorths ton has saved him for the Ashes- i didn't repeat it verbatim!
ReplyDelete