I still think khawaja is the best opener for his ability to stick around and take the shine off the ball. I expect him to do well in SL and if not I think he will move on. Konstas seemed to suit him well.
Are the results in Sri Lanka relevant to the WTC and the Ashes? Conditions in Sri Lanka are very different to England and Australia. Probably not a lot of seam movement in Sri Lanka.
@@almac9203 I agree it's not a forward looking pick but there's enough promise in him returning to a bit more form to give him the opportunity to make runs and keep his spot for the ashes. If he doesn't, drop him. it doesn't have to be a warner situation where you buy him for six months and lock into an expiration date.
Only know Tom's football coverage. Here I was impressed with his cricket knowledge and cricket is my favourite sport, footy second. Good knowledge to compare Webster to Funky Miller. The other comparison with Webster is former WA tall man and 1999 World Cup squad member, Tom Moody. Same towering height and Tom was a handy bowler as well, although I would rate Webster a better bowler. I watch a lot of Sheffield Shield, mainly the Victorian games, I think Shield performance should be the main way to pick new players for the Test side. On that note, Fergus O Neill continues to return amazing figures and has already played Australia A. Watch market, as they say at the track
At 35 he is hardly the future is he? What's his average outside of Australia? He is in the mix but Hazlewood was our best bowler previous summer and was doing fine before injury, which is a problem for him. Boland definitely in the mix, nothing against him but it's all pretty even in my view
@ What has age got to do with it? You pick the best 11 players. And on a deck with a bit of grass, Boland is the best at exploiting the conditions. Starc is the one under threat. He’s increasingly inconsistent and bowls a lot of boundary balls. You never know what you’re going to get from him.
Not sure about the whole squad but Konstas deserves a spot…his energy revitalised Khawaja and Smith, his batting disrupted Bumrah, and therefore was consequential to Australia’s success
Regarding Khawaja playing the WTC final, this ‘he’s earned the right to finish the cycle’ stuff is rubbish. Why would Australia carry a clearly age-diminished player for one of the most important Tests of all, just out of sentiment? Do they think Rabada, Nortje and co will be much easier to play than Bumrah? Long serving players often want to retire after a major triumph but they only get that chance if they’re still performing.
Mate we have no openers coming through. The two best batters from domestic cricket this year were Carey and McSweeney and neither of them scored runs. Khawaja is our only option, we just have to pray he finds form for the WTC Final.
@@johnrambo8977 The lack of openers coming through is a different problem. My main issue is the general principle that past performance gives a player the right to play until the most important match or series is over, just out of a sense of completion. If the WTC is so important to win, picking your best team should be the first priority over waving someone off into the sunset.
I had this as Usman’s farewell series but I think Marnus is more of a liability and easier to replace with McSweeney at 3. Plenty of spin/bowling options so for me v SL… Konstas Usman McSweeney Smith Head Webster Carey Starc Lyon Boland Kuhnemann
Don't write of Uzzie just yet. He'll 100% be in their Ashes plans. Eng have no Bumrah, vital runs on the last day when we were wobbling. If they just go with one quicky (prob starc) it'd be good to see Cooper Connolly debut and get Murphy back in.
Strong xi for aus vs srilanka at galle 1.Head 2.McSweeney 3.Smith(c) 4.Handscomb 5.Webster 6.Connolly - debut 7.Carey wk 8.Khunemann 9.Murphy 10.Lyon 11.Boland
No Konstas as it is not reminiscence of traditional classical Australian batting of Taylor, Marsh, Jones, kim Huges or Border. So jettison this guy from Test.
Smith to captain and avenge the 3-0 loss of 2016. I back Aus to win 2-0. Play Starc and lots of spinners- Murphy Lyon kunnermahn head smith marnus Webster
I dunno, Sri Lanka are strong at home. Convincingly beat NZ, who then went and beat India 3 - 0. I don't know how much to read into it, but even here in SA in December they were competing well, aside from 1 innings where they got rolled. Australia are of course strong and experienced, and have good spinners now, as they showed in India 2023, but i still think Sri Lanka are favourites at home. Should be good! I also think it's a bonus for Australia that Smith will captain the spinners.
The batsmen that looked most comfortable all series was beau. He just made it look easy.
The fact he hardly faced a single ball from Bumrah probably helped that equation tbh
@@ray.shoesmith He faced 8 balls for 6 runs against Bumrah.
Steve Smith and Pat Cummins are best of the bests.
I still think khawaja is the best opener for his ability to stick around and take the shine off the ball. I expect him to do well in SL and if not I think he will move on. Konstas seemed to suit him well.
Are the results in Sri Lanka relevant to the WTC and the Ashes? Conditions in Sri Lanka are very different to England and Australia. Probably not a lot of seam movement in Sri Lanka.
WTC, Australia v Sth Africa is locked in!
@@almac9203 I agree it's not a forward looking pick but there's enough promise in him returning to a bit more form to give him the opportunity to make runs and keep his spot for the ashes. If he doesn't, drop him. it doesn't have to be a warner situation where you buy him for six months and lock into an expiration date.
Interesting point of view about Khawaja in original post. Worth considering.
Only know Tom's football coverage. Here I was impressed with his cricket knowledge and cricket is my favourite sport, footy second. Good knowledge to compare Webster to Funky Miller. The other comparison with Webster is former WA tall man and 1999 World Cup squad member, Tom Moody. Same towering height and Tom was a handy bowler as well, although I would rate Webster a better bowler. I watch a lot of Sheffield Shield, mainly the Victorian games, I think Shield performance should be the main way to pick new players for the Test side. On that note, Fergus O Neill continues to return amazing figures and has already played Australia A. Watch market, as they say at the track
Even in this podcast, Scotty Boland was almost an afterthought at the end. The guy needs to play more and get a lot more credit.
At 35 he is hardly the future is he? What's his average outside of Australia? He is in the mix but Hazlewood was our best bowler previous summer and was doing fine before injury, which is a problem for him. Boland definitely in the mix, nothing against him but it's all pretty even in my view
@ What has age got to do with it? You pick the best 11 players. And on a deck with a bit of grass, Boland is the best at exploiting the conditions.
Starc is the one under threat. He’s increasingly inconsistent and bowls a lot of boundary balls. You never know what you’re going to get from him.
Not sure about the whole squad but Konstas deserves a spot…his energy revitalised Khawaja and Smith, his batting disrupted Bumrah, and therefore was consequential to Australia’s success
Two players ideally suiting opening slot are Nathan and and kwahaja , not Konstas for ablity to hang in.
Regarding Khawaja playing the WTC final, this ‘he’s earned the right to finish the cycle’ stuff is rubbish. Why would Australia carry a clearly age-diminished player for one of the most important Tests of all, just out of sentiment? Do they think Rabada, Nortje and co will be much easier to play than Bumrah? Long serving players often want to retire after a major triumph but they only get that chance if they’re still performing.
He still performed quite average
Mate we have no openers coming through. The two best batters from domestic cricket this year were Carey and McSweeney and neither of them scored runs. Khawaja is our only option, we just have to pray he finds form for the WTC Final.
@@johnrambo8977 The lack of openers coming through is a different problem. My main issue is the general principle that past performance gives a player the right to play until the most important match or series is over, just out of a sense of completion. If the WTC is so important to win, picking your best team should be the first priority over waving someone off into the sunset.
Will footy season start next year in January? Might as well.
I had this as Usman’s farewell series but I think Marnus is more of a liability and easier to replace with McSweeney at 3. Plenty of spin/bowling options so for me v SL…
Konstas
Usman
McSweeney
Smith
Head
Webster
Carey
Starc
Lyon
Boland
Kuhnemann
Pat Cummins isn't going
Boland won't play in the sub continent. I'd be very surprised
Don't write of Uzzie just yet. He'll 100% be in their Ashes plans. Eng have no Bumrah, vital runs on the last day when we were wobbling.
If they just go with one quicky (prob starc) it'd be good to see Cooper Connolly debut and get Murphy back in.
khawaja
head
marnus
smith
handscomb
alex carey
webster
boland
lyon
kunehman
starc or jhye richardson
Strong xi for aus vs srilanka at galle
1.Head
2.McSweeney
3.Smith(c)
4.Handscomb
5.Webster
6.Connolly - debut
7.Carey wk
8.Khunemann
9.Murphy
10.Lyon
11.Boland
I think bumrah brought all batting averages back to earth. The next two year smith will score 3000
I hoped Uzzy would get a ton at SCG and maybe move on. But given the “stinker” pitch I guess that wasn’t going to happen…
To be fair to all other oz batsmen, beau didn't face bumrah at all in both innings
Good point, while Konstas faced the full brunt of Bumrah
No Konstas as it is not reminiscence of traditional classical Australian batting of Taylor, Marsh, Jones, kim Huges or Border. So jettison this guy from Test.
Khawajas constant whingeing about the pitches is getting a bit annoying tbh. Maybe move your front foot and stop playing French cricket
He has a point, traditional SCG pitch doesn't play like that.
Probably all will go Ceylon is not as good as before
Not real fans. Event fans.
Move the K man on.
Smith to captain and avenge the 3-0 loss of 2016. I back Aus to win 2-0. Play Starc and lots of spinners- Murphy Lyon kunnermahn head smith marnus Webster
They have prabhat jaysuriya and he ll be real threat to Australia
I dunno, Sri Lanka are strong at home. Convincingly beat NZ, who then went and beat India 3 - 0. I don't know how much to read into it, but even here in SA in December they were competing well, aside from 1 innings where they got rolled.
Australia are of course strong and experienced, and have good spinners now, as they showed in India 2023, but i still think Sri Lanka are favourites at home. Should be good! I also think it's a bonus for Australia that Smith will captain the spinners.
Webster hasn’t bowled spin for about 5 years. He switched to seam bowling; he doesn’t still do both.
Steve Smith should be the captain.
Kidding yourself
It has to be Konstas
@@Downpaymentbluesyour suggestion is ridiculous, but in a good way.
Warner
Travis Head 448 runs at 56 .