Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

eddiesmith;395920 said:
Well the Australian selectors dont think he needed any recovery time before naming him and besides his form is consistent with pre elbow surgery

They named him because of my aforementioned points. They have ambition to get one of the best ever back into the frame, something that you obviously don't care for.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

Well looks like his chances of match fitness are over for now, he has been dropped by the bottom side, says alot when a player is dropped by an Indian domestic side in favour of local players not better internationals like at every other side

Doug Bollinger on the other hand took 2/15 last night when over 460 runs were scored in the match
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

Obviously you's guys have been discussing Brett Lee's inclusion into the Aussie T20 squad. Personally I cannot believe he has been selected in the squad when he had no form to back up his selection other than basing it off his performances in the past prior to him breaking down. Lately in the T20 game he is cannon foder and as mentioned previously he gets dropped by the bottom side in the IPL !! Help us please, remove him from the squad and get in a younger bowler, a McKay, Harris, anyone !! We have our pace weapon in Shaun Tait, we do not need two express bowlers to get hit. You need a mixture of pace, swing, slow, spin in a T20 game, not 4 guys all bowling 140-150 straight balls in the slot like a bowling machine !! Brett Lee's career is over until he performs well in the domestic or IPL games.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

T20 does not discriminate age wise. 4 overs is the max you will bowl, 20 over the max you will bat (and if you face all of them you are either stupidly slow or stupidly good), and rarely will you get the oppurtunity to do both. If you bowl you don't bat, if you bat you don't bowl, if you do both then you don't do as much of both and you are one of few (ie you will bowl 2 overs).

T20s also have no strict selection policy. There has never been the same team selected twice in Australian T20 history. Something changes, someone you have never heard of before gets a go. It's the way things go.

Therefore age DOES NOT matter in T20s whatsoever, only performance. If their age hinders performance then obviously their performance is down, and therefore they won't get selected.

If a 40 year old gets selected for the Test team, that's a big deal. If a 40 year old gets selected for a T20 then it doesn't matter, they've obviously done very well of late.

Saying that, Lee is not old, he is 33. That's another 3 years for the average bowler. Lately there have been in excess of 30 ODIs played a year, and about 10 T20s. So if he's in the squads now he's in line for another 100 ODIs and 30 T20s.

His injury status is the only thing that can hold him back. He can be, without a doubt one of the best in the world, it's just a matter of whether or not his body will let him do it.

There are 150 players contracted in the IPL, 32 play per week. Lee hasn't played fully either of the last IPL seasons, and his first game back isn't too flash, who do you think will get the nod ahead of him in such a money driven situation?

Having the two fastest bowlers in the world, perhaps ever, together in the one team is something of a huge asset and should be something played to the sides advantage. If Lee is fit, he's playing.

Plenty of all rounders in the side to make up for the variety cheer cheer speaks of.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

I'd be surprised if Brett Lee was picked in the first choice Australian team, Tait and Nannes would be ahead of him I'd imagine. While Johnson is another automatic pick.

I can't help but think maybe Michael Clarke wanted Lee in the squad, Punter Ponting rightly gave up on Lee 18 months ago with his "passengers" comment after the Perth test against South Africa.

If Punter was captain I have no doubt that Lee wouldn't be in the squad.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

Speaking of ages, do you think the day will come when Test players retire at 36-38, ODI players at around 38 (but generally after they retire in Tests) and T20 players continue until their body can no longer cope (perhaps even 40+).

Guys like Hayden, Warne, Gilchrist etc are all thriving in the IPL, and that's a heavier workload then turning up every now and then for your country. Seeing these guys playing over there makes me wonder why they aren't playing the domestic comp over here and/or for the Australian side when it is quite obvious they still can. Hayden has just spent this comp hitting international quality bowlers for six, surely he can still do that for Australia?
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

Bit different to going out and smashing a few sixes and building big innings and batting for long periods.

Hayden can go out, face 20 balls, belt 40 odd and look a million bucks.

Doesn't mean he is up to the demands of first class cricket, some of these Indian players in the IPL would not make any first class team in Australia.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;396144 said:
Bit different to going out and smashing a few sixes and building big innings and batting for long periods.

Hayden can go out, face 20 balls, belt 40 odd and look a million bucks.

Doesn't mean he is up to the demands of first class cricket, some of these Indian players in the IPL would not make any first class team in Australia.


Yeh, but Hayden is not "some of these Indian players in the IPL", he is one of the best opening batsmen in test cricket ever.

It's the eyes that go first for a batsman, and the concentration. If Hayden is still hitting Steyn around the park, he could still play for Australia.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;396144 said:
Bit different to going out and smashing a few sixes and building big innings and batting for long periods.

Hayden can go out, face 20 balls, belt 40 odd and look a million bucks.

Doesn't mean he is up to the demands of first class cricket, some of these Indian players in the IPL would not make any first class team in Australia.

I'm not talking First Class cricket, and not just Hayden in particular.

I'm talking about the BigBash only. The IPL is twice or thrice as long as the BigBash, and Hayden plays every game of the IPL.

I think the day will come when we see 40+ year olds playing domestic and international cricket in T20s. As long as their motor skills are still fine, as they wear with age, they will be still be fit enough.

There is no reason right now why Hayden or Warne or the countless other retired players could play for their country and be selected alongside the others there. The selection pool is much, much bigger for T20s.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

Boris;396261 said:
I'm not talking First Class cricket, and not just Hayden in particular.

I'm talking about the BigBash only. The IPL is twice or thrice as long as the BigBash, and Hayden plays every game of the IPL.

I think the day will come when we see 40+ year olds playing domestic and international cricket in T20s. As long as their motor skills are still fine, as they wear with age, they will be still be fit enough.

There is no reason right now why Hayden or Warne or the countless other retired players could play for their country and be selected alongside the others there. The selection pool is much, much bigger for T20s.

And if guys like Hayden, Gilchrist and Warne played in the Big Bash, it'd be an even bigger event. Vic vs Tas at the MCG this year got 60,000 through the gates. Add Warne to the Vic team and I reckon you'd get another 20,000 in.

The Big Bash could become a very very lucrative cash cow for the states. It needs to be managed well, but if each team played 4 or 5 home games each year, it'd bring some bucks in through gate and sponsorship.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

It's too late now for those players to come back, I was just using them as examples.

I would expect some of the older players now good with T20s to retire in other forms and continue playing T20s for a longer time than expected of any other form of cricket.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

I'd love it if Gilly was able to play for the Warriors, but I think he is losing his reflexes and his feet are pretty leaden now.

Also Ronchi is just about the Warriors best batsman so he'd have to play in the field.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

Beeswax;396796 said:
I'd love it if Gilly was able to play for the Warriors, but I think he is losing his reflexes and his feet are pretty leaden now.

That was mostly my main point though.

When a player reaches near 40 their skill level will naturally start to drop, it just happens. Most players retire from Tests because their body is no longer up to it physically, not skillfully.

A T20 match, though, goes for 3 hours, if you are a bowler you rarely bat, if you are a batsman you bat for short periods of time and then everyone gets a run around in the field.

Tests and ODIs are much more physically demanding, in that order. That is why a lot of players retire from Tests first, then ODIs second.

If they still have the skill levels then at 40 I think playing T20s should be no problem at all.

It may be that Gilchrist is losing his skills, that's unfortunate, but obviously his body is still holding up.

Good example will probably be Hodge. Retired from the long form, still going for another season in ODDs, and possibly will play T20s for another couple of years after that.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

Lee has now broken his thumb, but likely for a return by the start of the WC, if not the end of the IPL.

No wicket in 4 matches. Tim Neilsen still seams pretty enthusiastic about him though.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;397111 said:
Lee won't play at all in the WC.

Binga, time to get a real job mate.

Which is exactly why they are bringing him back to Australia, fast tracking his rehabilitation, having him work closely with Cooley and keeping him in the squad? :confused:

Lee's agent, Neil Maxwell, however felt the fast bowler shouldn't rush his comeback. ''While it would be wonderful for him to be able to play in it, I don't think the Twenty20 World Cup is the be-all and end-all," Maxwell told the same paper. "Brett has constantly rushed to get back into things because of timing, and whenever he has had a good break he's come back firing on eight cylinders. I'd rather him be at 100% when he plays for his country.''

If he recovers in time he's going to be attending the WC, and while he's there he will be playing. He might not play all games, he might not be the first choice, but he's still in the squad and is still going.

As Maxwell says it's not the be-all and end-all of his career.

I'd rather he stay home and get things right bodily wise before rushing into things.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

Lee bowled well in the ODI games against England and at that point, I thought he was in our best ODI team at full strength. However, constant injuries are going to start counting against him at his age, because you move towards a world cup with your team up in the air.

Lee's problem is that a number of bowlers are in the frame at the moment, or waiting in the wings. Bollinger and Johnson are automatic selections, as is Ryan Harris at this point. Then you add to that players like Hilfenhaus and Siddle, who are going to be pushing for selection sooner rather than later.

Lee should be aiming to make the ODI squad for the England one day games in June. From that he should be aiming for a massive ODI series against India in October; we will likely be rotating our fast bowlers through that series with the Ashes in mind, which represents Lee's best chance of getting a chance.

If he bowls well then he could put himself back in the frame for selection in the World Cup next year in India.

Lee, realistically, will be cast adrift after the world cup as the team looks to build towards the next world cup. I also expect Ponting to retire from ODI cricket at that point for the same reason.
 
Re: Australian T20I XI - Selection Thread

I agree that Lee should wait to play in June for the ODIs.

Whether we like it or not we are going to see more of him, the selectors have shown that with their contracting. They believe he can do it, and he can if he does it right.

I don't think Lee will retire at the end of the WC, he quit Tests for a reason - to last longer in the short form. He's 33 this year, 34 at the WC. He's not playing Tests so you would expect another couple of years from him. I don't think he will go through a year and a half of rehabilitation to just play the WC, as these next series will be just him trying to win himself a spot.

Back on topic - If Lee makes the T20 World Cup, I would expect him playing in Australia's second game against Bangladesh.
 
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