Australian selectors find themselves in a predicament after the Adelaide loss
Australian selectors are in for some difficult decisions as they plan to put the under-performing Australian side back on track. Aussies were demolished by their arch-rivals England as the visitors established their chances to win the Ashes in down under
for the first time in more than twenty years.
Most simple part of the selectors’ job will be to replace injured Simon Katich for the 3rd Test. However, they will be facing an uphill of a task as they intend to replace under par players who were responsible for the Australian downfall in the second Test.
Marcus North, Xavier Doherty, Doug Bollinger and Peter Siddle are all in the line for exclusion as selectors prepare to finalize their selection. Ricky Ponting and Andrew Hilditch discussed the team line-up for the future after hosts suffered a devastating
loss at Adelaide.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Usman-Khawaja-c2729 can also be called by the selectors for
the Third Test which starts on December 16th.
So far Doherty is the biggest flop of the Ashes as the left-arm spinner took just 3 wickets for 102 runs, hardly causing any scare to the English batsmen. Selectors can call in-form Nathan Hauritz back to the squad after he took career-best figures for New
South Wales last week. On the other hand, the leg spinning all-rounder Steven Smith took a four-wicket haul at the SCG but he is far from establishing himself as a proper batsman or bowler. Dearth of quality spin bowlers will apparently give Marcus North another
chance despite repeatedly failing to score with the bat at No. 6. He scored 22 and 26 and went wicket-less in the Adelaide Test. Commenting on North, Ponting said, “He will be a bit disappointed with his week's work here. I still believe that he's got great
value to the team.”
Fast bowling is another weakness in the Australian armour as it successively failed to produce any results for Ponting’s team. Till now, Australian fast bowling unit managed to get only 16 out of 30 possible wickets in the series. Out of these, 10 came on
the opening day of the first Test. Doug Bollinger is certainly out of Ashes as his display was simply pathetic especially during the visitors’ mammoth first innings total of 620 at Adelaide. In contrast to Bollinger, Ryan Harris is most likely to retain his
position as he was Australia’s most successful bowler in the second Test. However, his problematic knee could rule him out for the Perth Test. Siddle also failed to build on the momentum which he gained at the start of the series and is most likely to be replaced
by either Mitchell Johnson or Ben Hilfenhaus.
Nevertheless, Ponting made it clear that he will have little say in the selection matters ahead of the next Test. However, he did refer Hughes for the selection. 22-year old Hughes was left out of the team during the 2009 Ashes after he struggled to match
Andrew Flintoff's short balls. Commenting on Hughes’ prospects, Ponting said, “I'll be surprised if it's not him who comes in. We know what his international record is like. He's got a few runs under his belt lately. He's probably the first cab off the rank.”
Hughes has been in a phenomenal form lately as he scored 81 for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 A against England at the start of the tour and also has been grinding some runs in the domestic circuit.
Nonetheless, Ponting is hopeful that his team will stage a comeback and will not be pushovers for Strauss’ team. He said, “No doubt it's a bad loss for us, there's no hiding that fact. I think they out-batted us, out-bowled us and out-fielded us in the entire
game.”
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