Who should open with Gilchrist?

[Seamer]

Just looking through Baggygreen and the question is again being asked of Kattich and his bona fides.
http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/aust...ry/262331.html
http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/aust...ry/262081.html

Kattich:
"I'll just have to play it by ear and up the ante a bit more." Good to the the Kat is cottoning on.

The re-emergance of Hayden must be his biggest threat i would say. I just watched him smack up a glorious 91 against Tassie tonight and that following on from his 49 and 57 in Malasia.
I think Hayden - the guy's form is irresistable

Who do you think?

[Paoli]

Hayden for now as he is short term the best option if we want to win a third consecutive World Cup. Saw some of the Tassie knock- by god he was in Good form. If they don't want him post WC 07, then quietly backdoor him for Jaques or somebody. But for now, he remains the No.1 option.

[The229club]

Looking to the World Cup, I don't know if Gilchrist is even the answer at the top, let alone his partner. This is an ageing side, got to bring in a younger guy with zest.

I have always thought Hussey although 30 would be fantastic in any position and opening with maybe Haddin would be an interesting move, leaving Gilchrist to concentrate on Tests and Haddin getting a grounding before Gilly retires.

Even Gilly or Haddin could do the Hussey finishing role with aplomb, there is variety of options.

[Mr Cricket]

I think Mat Hayden should oppen with Gilo. He is a great experinced talented player. These two have a lot of batting in common and lot of experince togather

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by The229club

This is an ageing side, got to bring in a younger guy with zest.

good to hear an Australian fan finally acknowledge what some of us English fans have been pointing out for years...

But it is very sad that the guys you are looking to replace them are both 31 - Hussey and Hodge, and Haddin is 28 hardly spring Chickens!!

Where are your 21-22 year olds? Why, if the Pura Cup is so good, does it take your players till their late 30's to be ready for International Cricket?

You have a poll going on the most talented youngster, but how many of them will be of the Test squad this winter?http://www.world-a-team.com/showthread.php?t=7227 All of them are fringe players at best.

If we an the same poll for England you would be looking to include Test regulars like Bell, Cook, Panesar and Anderson...

[Mr Hutt]

Hayden definately... he has a fair amount of batting left in him IMO and when he is in form.. god help the bowling

[Quagmire]

Hayden or maybe put Hussey into the opening position and put Cosgrove down the order.

The only problem with that is Husseys ability to score runs at the death, while batting with the tail.
Also one of Husseys strengths is his quickness between the wickets which obviously Cosgrove would not have.

[Paoli]

Originally Posted by flanflinger

good to hear an Australian fan finally acknowledge what some of us English fans have been pointing out for years...

But it is very sad that the guys you are looking to replace them are both 31 - Hussey and Hodge, and Haddin is 28 hardly spring Chickens!!

Where are your 21-22 year olds? Why, if the Pura Cup is so good, does it take your players till their late 30's to be ready for International Cricket?

You have a poll going on the most talented youngster, but how many of them will be of the Test squad this winter?http://www.world-a-team.com/showthread.php?t=7227 All of them are fringe players at best.

If we an the same poll for England you would be looking to include Test regulars like Bell, Cook, Panesar and Anderson...

Firstly, ff, our players are ready by the time they're 22 or 23. Hussey would've been.

But we didn't have dead wood like Graeme Thorpe, Graeme Hick, Nasser Hussain, John Crawley and co. to cut out. We had a Top Six that were practically undroppable. Would anybody in their right mind drop Hayden, Langer, Ponting, S. Waugh, Martyn, Gilchrist and co.? No! Why fix it if it aint broke? If yer've got a player whose good enough and 35 like Hayden why not pick him?

I've called long and hard for changes to be made, but what's the point in doing so if we're still winning?

Guys like Cosgrove, Ferguson, Jaques, Hartley and co. would be ready to take the step up if need be.

[greg]

Damien Martyn failed last summer was consequently dropped and has now been picked again.He has done little since his return yet will probably play in the ashes.I can't wait to see him failing again.

Just one example of a player being picked for too long on reputation rather than results and there are more.It will be interesting to see if Australia make any changes during the upcoming ashes if/when things start going wrong or will they bury their heads in the sand once more.

As for who should open with Gilchrist,go with the man in form whoever it may be.

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Paoli

But we didn't have dead wood like Graeme Thorpe,

Would hardly call Thorpe dead wood!!

44.66 average (45.54 vs Australia) 6744 Test runs 16 hundreds

Originally Posted by Paoli

Guys like Cosgrove, Ferguson, Jaques, Hartley and co. would be ready to take the step up if need be.

They may be ready, but why are they only on the fringe, and they don't seem to be making in roads into the team.

As Greg pointed out at the end of the Ashes players like Martyn, Gillispie, Kaspa and possibly even Gilchrist had big question marks over their places, but the only player who has been ousted is Clarke. Surely a long term selection policy would have seen those 30+ players replaced by some of the guys mentioned in the under 25' poll?

The problem is that with every year the side gets more aged, and the chances are many will retire at a similar time, with the result that the team will suddenly be very inexperienced.

The fact is that I mentioned four guys sub-25 who are fixtures in the England team, how much better placed will England be in five years when they have 50-60 Test caps and still under 30?