Australian batting team moving forward

[cricketmad09]

We're all aware of Australia's struggles with the bat recently. Unfortunately there is no quick fix for the side. Cricket Australia is going to have to work hard to build up the skills to the players currently in the system to get up competitive with the top sides in the world again. It's not going to be quick and it's not going to be easy.

Regarding the selection of the team, once the Ashes are officially lost we need to discard Rogers and Haddin.

This is the batting team I think we should have going forward

Watson
Hughes
Khawaja
Warner
Clarke
Smith
Wade

However if there are other blokes around who are performing, then we should get them in the side ASAP.

We also need to focus heavily on developing the skill levels of our next best batsmen below 30. Guys like

Doolan
Burns
Maxwell
Maddinson
Silk

What Cricket Australia needs to do is make the pitches less bowler friendly. Give the batsmen a chance to make big, big scores because that's what we need to learn how to do. Regardless of if a pitch is a road or not, you've still gotta go out and make and make a big score. And we can't even do that at the moment.

They've gotta scrap this futures league bullshit and bring back the a proper 2nd XI competition. The also need to play more 2nd XI games to help bridge the gap and give the young blokes experience against quality mature competitive bowlers.

Hopefully with those measures and cricket australia developing younger players skills in the off-season through the Hampshire academy and other measure they could implement we see young batsmen really start to come of age, build up the shield competition to it's former glory and start pushing for Australian selection. We've had many young batsmen get introduced into first class cricket lately and we need some of them to start coming of age. Guys like:

Marcus Harris
Head
Henry
Daniel Hughes
Whiteman
Handscomb
Wells
Cooper
Hill
Beaton
Lynn

We should utilize the fact that we can play cricket in the north of Australia during winter. Under 23's tournaments, emerging players tournaments, skills camps.

Cricket Australia needs to recognize that the currently crop of players in their current position are not good enough. We need to figure out a way to get the blokes that we do have in the system up to international quality.

Thoughts?

 

[Left_Hander]

I would definitely change the pitches in Shield cricket. For ages we had wickets which were roads in State games so once there was wickets with grass on them, everyone was happy. But now games are over way to quickly and spinners aren't even getting a bowl cause the pitch is suited to seam and the innings are over too quickly.

Either, go back to making the pitches fairer for both bat and ball, or different states have different styles of pitches. Sydney dry with turn, Hobart green and Perth fast and bouncy etc. That helped make playing in Australia so interesting because every pitch and ground felt different. Now they all feel the same

 

[sifter132]

I think you're both pretty right on Shield runs have been down, probably because of a lack of talent, but pitches have certainly been a factor too.

And I agree with that 6 - Watson, Hughes, Khawaja, Warner, Clarke, Smith - as your starting point. Rogers has his place for another series or 2, and we'd all love for someone else to stick their hand up, but those 6 have the most talent in my view.

 

[Satan666]

CA should ban players from participating in the IPL if they really want Australia to rise to the top once more. The drop in quality of State Cricket coincided with the advent of the IPL, the inagural tournament had a great number of yougsters from Australia, more players than any country barring the Indians! The T20 style of cricket has evolved the way a batsman builds his inns.

There is still talent in Aus but IPL is destroying it, the only talent lacking is another Shane Warne. Shane Warne is a once in a lifetime bowler and maybe its time the Aussies stick with the pacemen, so many of them coming in and going out with injuries is unacceptable, team management must sort this out! Inverarity (AUS chairman of selectors) once said a couple years ago that he wanted to refrain from bowlers developing the doosra in order to keep their integrity, still agree with this I hope CA dont panic and sell their souls to the devil and develop doosra bowlers like the Asian countries have!

 

[War]

Getting variety back in the shield pitches is certainly one of the more important improvements they can have. This was obviously one of the unique things about AUS domestic cricket during the glory days.

But its funny this argument about the current pitches being too green & games finishing too quickly. I recall Hayden in the 90s being known as an opener who built his game on greentops at the Gabba scoring big hundreds. This got him noticed by AUS.

I would think if AUS get young batsmen making runs on these helpful domestic wickets it could be a sign that we have a good rounder batsman in the making. Since at the end of the day in modern international cricket most teams have good quicks now that exploits helpful tracks & AUS need batsmen who can handle them - instead of being FTBs.

 

[cricketmad09]

Getting variety back in the shield pitches is certainly one of the more important improvements they can have. This was obviously one of the unique things about AUS domestic cricket during the glory days.

But its funny this argument about the current pitches being too green & games finishing too quickly. I recall Hayden in the 90s being known as an opener who built his game on greentops at the Gabba scoring big hundreds. This got him noticed by AUS.

I would think if AUS get young batsmen making runs on these helpful domestic wickets it could be a sign that we have a good rounder batsman in the making. Since at the end of the day in modern international cricket most teams have good quicks now that exploits helpful tracks & AUS need batsmen who can handle them - instead of being FTBs.

I agree with you there. A good batsmen would be able to make runs on those pitches regardless. But the fact is our batsmen aren't good enough. We need to go back to basics and build up the basic cricketing skills. You don't stick an L-plater behind the wheel of a Ferrari.

 

[aussie1st]

I don't know what the pitches were like in our hay day but if they are different to what we see now then it's high time we go back to those pitches.

Wade keeping to the spin is way to big to ignore especially when our spinners are always fighting for their career. Probably a good time to reward Hartley who has been rated the best glovemen in the country for a while and shows fight with the bat. Paine and Nevill the younger alternatives.

 

[sifter132]

^Yah good point, I hadn't even thought of wicketkeeper development. If they only ever get pace bowled at them, it's not going to help them much.

I would think if AUS get young batsmen making runs on these helpful domestic wickets it could be a sign that we have a good rounder batsman in the making. Since at the end of the day in modern international cricket most teams have good quicks now that exploits helpful tracks & AUS need batsmen who can handle them - instead of being FTBs.

Happened with Usman Khawaja last summer when he made a century on a Hobart green top where everyone else scored low. Showed his class and put him back at the top of queue.

 

[cricketmad09]

I don't know what the pitches were like in our hay day but if they are different to what we see now then it's high time we go back to those pitches.

Wade keeping to the spin is way to big to ignore especially when our spinners are always fighting for their career. Probably a good time to reward Hartley who has been rated the best glovemen in the country for a while and shows fight with the bat. Paine and Nevill the younger alternatives.

Those guys aren't brilliant batters though. Considering our weak batting line-up it's difficult to have a keeper who would be average less than 25.

If the batting line-up would perform you might actually get away with it. From what I've heard Ludeman is probably the best pure wicketkeeper in the country. He showed a lot of improvement in his batting last season, but still needs more improvement. Hopefully he does actually improve.

 

[War]

Happened with Usman Khawaja last summer when he made a century on a Hobart green top where everyone else scored low. Showed his class and put him back at the top of queue.

Ye i remember that knock, this is why i think the complains about the pitches being to bowler friendly shows that domestic batsmen just are technically deficient.

 

[zeustrojanstark]

David Warner and Shane Watson must open the innings in Old Trafford,Haddin must play as a pure batsman,Wade must play as a keeper-batsman in the place of Hughes.

 

[sifter132]

Wade was pretty bad with the gloves by all reports in the match vs Sussex. If he and Haddin played in the same team, I want Haddin keeping every day of the week. And that's saying something since Haddin is proving to be fairly average...

 

[phil1987]

David Warner and Shane Watson must open the innings in Old Trafford,Haddin must play as a pure batsman,Wade must play as a keeper-batsman in the place of Hughes.

No way! both are loose stroke players this is test cricket maybe you can get away with 1 flawed technique at the top of the order but not 2.

Chris Rogers may not have got any runs yet but he is much better suited technically to open the batting than those 2. Regardless of what happens the next 3 tests Australia need to stick with him at the top of the order for the return series.

There is more then enough expensive stroke play in this batting line up which is costing us dearly i don't see how adding to it is going to fix our problem.

 

[sifter132]

I'd like to see more from Rogers. He doesn't look like he's middling it very often, and only seems to get runs working through square leg. Yes, hello Justin Langer! Survivability is a key part of his role, sure, but I'm not penciling Rogers into any future Aussie side, just because I don't think he's making much of a difference. I hope to be proven wrong! Seems like a decent bloke and deserved a shot.

 

[War]

I dont rate Smith as is well documented, but the boy trying his best for the baggygreen right now with the bat, i'll give him that.