So they've picked Shaun Marsh again :roll: Will they ever learn? He's averaged 25 in first class cricket since they last dropped him from the Test side yet they give him another go. It's absolutely mind boggling that they keep mentioning his name let alone actually pick him. The guy is a massive dud in first class cricket and no amount of runs in one day games can deny that fact. Some interesting figures:

Sheffield Shield runs this season:

Selected: Marsh 248 @ 31, Doolan 391 @ 39.
Not selected: North 593 @ 99, Hughes 549 @ 61, White 556 @ 51

Dementia has well and truly taken over John Inverarity. Let's look at a couple of recent selections. Rogers with an excellent first class record gets picked based on that and succeeds. Bailey with a very average first class record gets picked based on success in the one day format and fails. Gee, didn't see that coming. Why would the selectors think that all of a sudden a bloke who has played 85 first class games for just the 8 hundreds with an average of just 35 is all of a sudden going to come good up against the best bowling attack in the world? The ones who this will benefit most are the West Australians as now they won't have to pick the walking wicket in their Shield side for the rest of the season.

Some more stats:

Marsh since Test axing in Jan 2012: 675 first-class runs at 25.
Hughes since Test axing in Jul 2013: 671 first-class runs at 61.

mal wrote:If Watson and Marsh start the series
Who will get injured first ?

Good chance Marsh will get hurt before games even start. Most likely in a pub/nightclub incident.

His fitness is still better and more reliable than his batting though.

I'd love to mention Shaun Marsh but he's already failed and under performed for over 10 years.

How many chances has Phil Hughes had to secure his spot in the Australian team????

Who else would you take?

Give me a single player that is still playing shield that has a better record than him?

The thing people need to remember is that each time he has been dropped he goes back and makes a truckload of runs to earn a recall. He earns his spot as opposed to guys like Marsh, Bailey and others who get picked despite their best first class seasons not even being close to other blokes' worst seasons.

By no means am I saying Hughes is a walk up start or that he has made a success of his Test career but at least when he does get picked it's based on merit and not because their Dad once played at a time when we were desperate enough to carry a cricketer that ordinary.

I certainly don't like Port in any way shape or form but what exactly about the Adelaide Crows does Cornes think they are jealous of?

Absolute joke that Marsh is in. Wouldn't be in our third best Test side let alone in the best one. One of the all time worst selections ever made. FFS.

Good grief, there are already calls of Marsh justifying his selection. All he's done is make a 50. To justify his selection he needs to not just play one innings, he needs to consistently score runs at this level and first class level and also be fit. He's clearly not fit and picking a bloke who obviously was not right is an absolute joke. Doing a good job here at the moment but will his lack of fitness cost the team in this match and can he back up this innings with more of the same going forward?

Squids wrote:Absolute joke if he is injured again.

You'd hope he doesn't hobble around like this if he's not injured.

Dave Warner is an absolute star. What a cricketer. Backs up his mouth by performing. A guy you'd hate if he wasn't on your side but you love when he is. Superstar.

No real need to comment on Marsh. He's shown that he is a spud for over a decade so why should his latest failure be of any surprise.

Warner talks a lot and isn't very bright but boy he can bat. Could become one of our greats in time. Like him or not he can seriously play.

A serious question though.

Now that North fans have seen Allen from the other side do they have a slightly different opinion of his impact on the game

North did well to quell his influence and he is also older and not as well prepared as he used to be. I'd like him on our side but I wouldn't pay overs for him. If James Bennett was coming back and we didn't get him i'd be more disappointed.

It's Allan with an "A" by the way (sorry, old habits die hard).

UK Fan wrote:Did anyone mention north are crap ???

Were you even at the game? There's no way North are good enough to be considered crap.