Steve O'Keefe - proven bowler. has a first class average half of that of Michael Beer. Why isn't he in the test squad?/quote]
Ye everyone with a brain would have picked him in the test squad - too bad the current selection panel lacks such acumen.
Chris Swan - one of the best performing bowlers in domestic cricket over the past few years and handy with the bat. Why hasn't he ever even played an A game?
Yea it probably is a bit strange that he has not played a A game as yet. But i guess with him already 32 and alot of pretty exciting young talented fast-bowlers around, the selectors can be excused for once for not selecting him for such a team.
Andrew McDonald - performed well at test level. has been on fire with the bat the last year or so. Now has an average of nearly 40 and a bowling average of about 27. Where is he?
Not good enough for test cricket, regardless of his FC stats. AUS have enough decent top 6 batsmen and proper bowlers (4), that they dont need to balance the test side around a bits and pieces all-rounder like McDonald.
James Pattinson and John Hastings- I know they are young, but last season I would've had them as my 4th and 5th best bowlers for Victoria in T20. In one dayers Nannes, Harwood, McKay were all ahead of those 2. Yet they are the 4th and 5th best T20 bowlers in the country? How does that work out?
Pattinson has certainly been pushed to fast into international cricket by those in charge. But Hastings has been doing a solid job in the ODI/T20 team since selectors, so he is not really a problem really.
And one more thing. 20/20 was the format Nathan Lyon was discovered in and excelled at. So why not give him a go in the 20/20's? Would've been better off with him instead of one of the pacemen.
Ye fair point on that. But even though that was where he was discovered, i wouldn't have had him in the T20 squad for this tour, since my personal view is that given AUS have no T20 spinner of the quality of a Ajmal, Vettori, Swann, Harbhajan, Tahir we shouldn't really make having stressing picking one since batsmen in that format will always target them.
Dussey and Smith can work well as two spin all-rounder while the pacers who can bowl good yorkers and overall death-bowling be the main wicket-taking options. Of course the quicks got tonked in the first T20, but they are better than that and really as already mentioned Nannes, Tait, Harris should be part of the T20 along with Lee as we build to the T20 WC next year.
