Damien Martyn - Should he be dropped?

[Paoli]

A big emphatic no to that.

Picking the blokes in the sixteen means, injury aside, you'll stay loyal to them throughout the course of the series. Brad Hodge in; Hayden out. Gilchrist to the top of the order.

A deciding test is no place to try new blood and definitely not Shane Watson. But I think the bullet has to be bitten in regards to Hayden who hasn't made a century in 12 months.

The more this goes on; the more I start to think of his run of form as just a massive purple patch from a distinctly mortal player.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Paoli69

The more this goes on; the more I start to think of his run of form as just a massive purple patch from a distinctly mortal player.

Look up Mike Gatting's career history: nice purple patch there as well.

MW Gatting (Mike Gatting) [Player Page] - RHB; RM
Born: 1957-06-06 (present age: 48y 85d) 

Tests: England 1977/78 - 1994/95 (20y 226d - 37y 246d)
Also: ODI Player 1977/78 - 1992/93. 

Filter: in matches that started after 1984-12-12, and ended by 1987-09-09.
Sort order: chronological. 


                     Mat    I  NO  Runs HS1  HS2  HS3     Ave 100  50   0

unfiltered            79  138  14  4409 207  183* 160   35.55  10  21  16
filtered              27   46   9  2268 207  183* 160   61.29   8   8   3



Series         Win   Mat    I  NO  Runs HS1  HS2  HS3     Ave 100  50   0

England in India, 1984/85 [Series]
               Eng     4    7   3   424 207   62   48  106.00   1   1   0
The Ashes (Aus/Eng) in England, 1985 [Series]
               Eng     6    9   3   527 160  100*  75*  87.83   2   3   0
The Wisden Trophy (Eng/WI) in West Indies, 1985/86 [Series]
                WI     1    2   0    16  15    1    -    8.00   0   0   0
India in England, 1986 [Series]
               Ind     3    6   2   293 183*  40   31*  73.25   1   0   1
New Zealand in England, 1986 [Series]
                NZ     3    5   0   170 121   26   17   34.00   1   0   0
The Ashes (Aus/Eng) in Australia, 1986/87 [Series]
               Eng     5    9   0   393 100   96   70   43.66   1   3   2
Pakistan in England, 1987 [Series]
               Pak     5    8   1   445 150* 124   61   63.57   2   1   0

[TPL288]

Again Damien Martyn is dismissed in what is a soft dismissal in the 5th Test 1st innings. He should be dropped foir Hussey. I have said this many times, the guy is past his best and has no temperament to bat sensibly.

[cricketbabe]

Damien Martyn should definatley be dropped from the side, he is way to old to still be in the team, he along with Justin Langer and hate to say it but Matthew Hayden need to be replaced with some fresh, young energetic players. Lets face it one of Englands main advantages are their younger players. Australia has many talented players out there its time to let Martyn, Langer and Hayden go!

[Irish Left Armer]

Langer has surely been Australia's best batsman throughout the series. He's old but if I was Aus I would keep him in the team to be one of the rocks that helps bed in the new blood.

The likes of Hayden (despite his ton) and Katich must be in trouble though.

[Doink]

We are already discussing whether he should stay or go and I remember before the Ashes started people everywhere were talking about him as to how he was going to be the one to watch out. Martyn has disappointed but has also been unlucky. But considering he's 35 he should move on to make place for Hussey.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Doink

But considering he's 35 he should move on to make place for Hussey.

Well he is not 35 for a start!!

[Big Merv]

I'd like to see him dropped and replaced by either Hussey or Martin Love but I don't see that happening. They stuck with Hayden and unfortunately I think they'll do the same with Martyn.

[acker]

I'd like to see him replaced by Phil Jaques, for once lets start planning for the future unfortunately Hussey and Loves time has passed. I would like to see Shane Watson come into the Test side for the underperformed Simon Katich. And I would like to see Cameron White become a shadow for Michael Clarke, just in case the New South Waleser continues to struggle; it would also offer young Cameron a great opportunity to bowl with the great Shane Keith Warne prior to his retirement.
Cameron allthough yet to be selected for a test cap YET, does stand out as a future captain, possibly sooner rather than later. He has a chance to become the sides geniune allrounder as I see Watson like Waugh previously becoming predominently a batsmen.

[Beny]

You would like to see Cameron White- a leg-spinner who averages 35 in domestic cricket, captain Australia? The guy's a prospect but he's hardly the next Shane Warne... In fact I doubt he will ever cement a place in the Aussie side whilst we have better spinners coming through. And his batting is good, not fantastic, especialy while he averages 28...

Damian Martyn has already proven the critics wrong once. A single bad series hardly makes him material to be dropped, especialy when there is no reason he can't continue playing until he is 35+ so long as his form is right.

Hopefully all this Knee-Jerk stuff will subside when Australia return to winning.