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Re: The Ashes 2017/18
Paine is a strange one at first glance but Wade and Nevill had ample opportunities the last month to mount a case with bat and gloves and both simply didn't deliver. Paine is essentially same age as Nevill and a little older than Wade, who has been putrid with the bat for a year now (been better with the gloves to be fair). If Paine is considered the best gloveman of the 3 then that's a fair enough call (if very marginal).
Renshaw is horribly out of form and is replaced like for like by someone in red hot form - fair enough call I reckon, and Renshaw will be back once he can address his technical issues outside off stump.
Shaun Marsh is a Marsh - that's all the selectors need to know. If the last 3 shield matches carried so much weight, then why wasn't Ferguson in the conversation? He's younger, in the test team recently and scored a mountain more runs in the long form. His papers appear to be stamped after a run out in Hobart last summer. Maxwell as the incumbent also hasn't done a hell of a lot wrong other than to not go on with some solid starts. And Cartwright averages 50 in 1st class cricket but a couple of untimely failures and all of a sudden he can't bat - probably more unlucky than anyone not to be there at #6, and he's also the only one who can trundle a few medium-fast to give the pacemen a chop out.
To be fair to the selectors, nobody really put their hand up in 3 shield matches to demand a spot and plenty actually harmed their own chances through poor form. Was a very difficult team to select.
Paine is a strange one at first glance but Wade and Nevill had ample opportunities the last month to mount a case with bat and gloves and both simply didn't deliver. Paine is essentially same age as Nevill and a little older than Wade, who has been putrid with the bat for a year now (been better with the gloves to be fair). If Paine is considered the best gloveman of the 3 then that's a fair enough call (if very marginal).
Renshaw is horribly out of form and is replaced like for like by someone in red hot form - fair enough call I reckon, and Renshaw will be back once he can address his technical issues outside off stump.
Shaun Marsh is a Marsh - that's all the selectors need to know. If the last 3 shield matches carried so much weight, then why wasn't Ferguson in the conversation? He's younger, in the test team recently and scored a mountain more runs in the long form. His papers appear to be stamped after a run out in Hobart last summer. Maxwell as the incumbent also hasn't done a hell of a lot wrong other than to not go on with some solid starts. And Cartwright averages 50 in 1st class cricket but a couple of untimely failures and all of a sudden he can't bat - probably more unlucky than anyone not to be there at #6, and he's also the only one who can trundle a few medium-fast to give the pacemen a chop out.
To be fair to the selectors, nobody really put their hand up in 3 shield matches to demand a spot and plenty actually harmed their own chances through poor form. Was a very difficult team to select.
) and often sets the tone for the series so both teams are extra keen to get on top.
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