Re: South Africa v Australia - touring squad
Reply #10 –
Johnno wasn't just intimidating in the last tour because of his pace. His control was outstanding, and his line and length right on the money. His short balls weren't wide or too short, they were in the right areas to scare batsmen nearly every time. How many players did he actually hit this tour? It was a pretty amazing summer for him.
If he can bowl those same lines and lengths with the same fire against the Saffies, then he'll go well again.
The last thing we have to worry about is our bowling depth, though, we have plenty of options there.
I'd be looking at taking Paine along on tour again, as Haddin simply can't keep this up indefinitely and we have to look to the future.
Overall, I think the 11 we played all summer will be safe, though I agree with the concept of moving Watson to 6 permanently. Question is, though, who bats at 3? We don't exactly have a plethora of options standing up there.
At least we're not as reliant on Clarke as we have been for the past 18 months. We should go in pretty confident that our batsmen can score enough runs for our bowlers to do their damage.
Will be a very interesting tour, we're going to have our tails well and truly in the air when we arrive, I just hope we don't get cocky.
This last summer could very well have been our 1989 Ashes Tour-esque turning point!