Clarke wants White as all-rounder | Cricket | Fox Sports
Already starting to see Clarke's influence on the team.
Probably will see Johnson float up the order more as well.
Really surprised Australia didn't do that in the WC. Mitch played so well for that 50 in Sydney last summer when he batted at #4, rotated the strike really well and spooked a few of the Pommie bowlers. Looking it up, he only hit 3 boundaries (1 x 4, 2 x 6) in that innings, but it worked really well to psyche England out.
As for using him in the WC - particularly the quarterfinal in fact. I was kinda expecting it when Ponting had said before the game that Australia "might have a few surprises up our sleeve" to counter India's spin attack. I interpreted that as a Mitch Johnson promotion, and when Haddin got out at 2/100ish in the 23rd or 24th over I thought it was a perfect chance to send Mitch up and disrupt the spinners. Made the whole Sydney experiment seem a bit pointless, but anyway...
I was just looking at the original tour plan on the FTP calendar. This was supposed to be 2 tests and 3 ODIs, no one can blame them for shortening it after the world cup went on for 17 years but it's kinda frustrating to see that the tests were dropped.
I know I'm flogging a dead horse asking why because we know why; $$$, still though, after such an onslaught of ODI cricket having a couple of tests would have been a lot more welcome.
I imagine if the IPL was not on then Australia would have had no problem finding the energy to schedule those 2 Tests. So yes, $$$ all the way to the bank.
Would say off the bat that is a useless idea by Pup. But lets see anyway..
Probably won't work long term I agree, but I like the thought process behind it. It might get White thinking more confidently about his game again. Worth a try I say.
