One is just a slogger, he has no technique, no patience and will never make it at test level, while the other one is Phil Hughes.
In 2009 Hughes was supposed to be the shining light and the first of a new exciting generation of Australian cricketers to come through. Angus Fraser was slaughtered for giving him the opportunity to come to England pre Ashes, and get his eye in while playing for Middlesex.
The English cricketing world was dismayed that Fraser should be doing the Aussies a favour like this, it was outrageous as a player of the talent of Hughes surely didn't need any more help, he was already going to cane England as it was.
In the end, what did the stint at Middlesex do for Hughes? Absolutely nothing in the short term as he was found out by the short ball, and he has never really recovered from this in my opinion.
The recent test series against New Zealand represented a new low for Hughes, it was so bad I even witnessed poms on Twitter saying they felt sorry for him. He was also derided in the Channel 9 commentary box, where he was basically a laughing stock from what I heard.
And this is the guy that the Aussie selectors dumped Simon Katich for.
The other half of the temporary opening partnership, David Warner, the man brought in to keep Shane Watson's place warm, the man with no test pedigree, has taken his chance with both hands and must now be a certainty to keep his place ahead of Hughes when Watson returns.
Warner reminds me more of Steve Waugh, or Paul Collingwood, a man with grit, determination and plenty of backbone, a born fighter. While Hughes is looking more and more like Mark Ramprakash and the Ian Bell of 3 or 4 years back, with every passing test. He doesn't look to posses the fight, or have the self belief or the hunger to be a test cricketer.
Another player in the Warner mould is Eoin Morgan, he doesn't look a test natural either, but he looks to have that bit of steel and mental toughness needed at this level, unlike Ravi Bopara who apparently has all the shots.
Warner and Morgan might not be as talented as Hughes and Bopara, but like Geoff Miller said recently, it's the complete package that you need to look for, it's no good having all the shots if you haven't the temperament to go with it.
Warner looked like a typical Aussie to me last weekend, unlike Hughes, who looked anything but.
Which Aussie opener would you pick?
Tuesday, 13 December 2011 Posted by Betfree247 at 17:37 4 commentsSelectors show Consistency
Saturday, 10 December 2011 Posted by Betfree247 at 01:50 2 comments
There is no real shocks in the touring party named on Friday to take on Pakistan next month. Some might say that Bopara's name still being included is a shock, but one thing the selectors can't be accused of, is inconsistency.
Ravi Bopara for Paul Collingwood is the only change from last years Ashes touring squad, and Collingwood had to go. It's an obvious factor in all sports that instability isn't a recipe for success, England's selectors (at test level) have made sure that isn't going to be a problem.
With regard to Ravi, any regular readers will know I'm not his biggest fan at test level. But at the same time I haven't really got a problem with his selection here, he is been given every chance to succeed by the selectors at the moment in exactly the same way as Ian Bell and Alastair cook were, so from that prospective, the selectors are again showing consistency.
Maybe Samit Patel might have pushed him for his place as a batting all rounder who can bowl spin, but in fairness to Ravi, Patel hasn't done enough to justify a place on a test touring party.
I'm not sure what James Taylor is currently doing, Geoff Miller said something about a Lions tour on the radio yesterday, but I'm sure a year playing cricket at a higher standard with Nottinghamshire (no disrespect meant to Leicestershire) will do him a world of good before he steps up to international level.
Apart from that the squad is as expected, I'm glad to see the selectors stick with Steven Davies, he was given a harsh lesson 12 months back and hopefully he has made the required changes to his personality (there was apparently a theory that he wasn't vocal or aggressive enough behind the stumps), and there was no way on earth that Craig Kieswetter could have took the spot.
With his international experience and last seasons form Monty was a shoe in as the back up spinner, the fact that England have only named two in the squad suggests to me they are probably (in the majority of matches) planning on only using one in the team.
A show of just how strong England currently are in the bowling department is the fact that in reserve we have Monty Panesar, Chris Tremlett (assuming Bresnan keeps his place) and Steven Finn.
Tremlett and Bresnan played a major role in winning the Ashes last winter and both won't even get in the same side unless there is an injury.
I believe that Pakistan will provide a stern test for England here, they seem to be finding their feet in the UAE, they also have a good mix of youth and experience and now have a settled team, and as a result are starting to put a run of impressive performances together.
In the past (in ODI's in particular) England haven't adapted too well to differing conditions. If they are serious about staying at the top of test cricket, this is surely a series they will be looking to win, or at the very least, not loose.
Ravi Bopara for Paul Collingwood is the only change from last years Ashes touring squad, and Collingwood had to go. It's an obvious factor in all sports that instability isn't a recipe for success, England's selectors (at test level) have made sure that isn't going to be a problem.
With regard to Ravi, any regular readers will know I'm not his biggest fan at test level. But at the same time I haven't really got a problem with his selection here, he is been given every chance to succeed by the selectors at the moment in exactly the same way as Ian Bell and Alastair cook were, so from that prospective, the selectors are again showing consistency.
Maybe Samit Patel might have pushed him for his place as a batting all rounder who can bowl spin, but in fairness to Ravi, Patel hasn't done enough to justify a place on a test touring party.
I'm not sure what James Taylor is currently doing, Geoff Miller said something about a Lions tour on the radio yesterday, but I'm sure a year playing cricket at a higher standard with Nottinghamshire (no disrespect meant to Leicestershire) will do him a world of good before he steps up to international level.
Apart from that the squad is as expected, I'm glad to see the selectors stick with Steven Davies, he was given a harsh lesson 12 months back and hopefully he has made the required changes to his personality (there was apparently a theory that he wasn't vocal or aggressive enough behind the stumps), and there was no way on earth that Craig Kieswetter could have took the spot.
With his international experience and last seasons form Monty was a shoe in as the back up spinner, the fact that England have only named two in the squad suggests to me they are probably (in the majority of matches) planning on only using one in the team.
A show of just how strong England currently are in the bowling department is the fact that in reserve we have Monty Panesar, Chris Tremlett (assuming Bresnan keeps his place) and Steven Finn.
Tremlett and Bresnan played a major role in winning the Ashes last winter and both won't even get in the same side unless there is an injury.
I believe that Pakistan will provide a stern test for England here, they seem to be finding their feet in the UAE, they also have a good mix of youth and experience and now have a settled team, and as a result are starting to put a run of impressive performances together.
In the past (in ODI's in particular) England haven't adapted too well to differing conditions. If they are serious about staying at the top of test cricket, this is surely a series they will be looking to win, or at the very least, not loose.
Graeme Swann on 5 Live
Thursday, 1 December 2011 Posted by Betfree247 at 15:01 5 comments
I heard Graeme Swann giving an interview to Radio 5 Live earlier today and as usual Swanny was good value and pulled no punches in telling it like it was.
When asked to clarify his recent remarks about his views on ODI cricket, Swann denied saying it should be scrapped, but did say that it should be taking up a lesser part of the cricketing calender.
Swann said that 5 and 7 match series should be reduced to just 3 match series. His whole attitude sounded to me like he doesn't have the heart and desire to play 50 over cricket any more.
In my opinion he basically said that he is sick and tired of playing too much international 50 over cricket and that he has fallen out of love with this format of the game.
If there is more than him with that view in the squad, then maybe it's time for a shake up from Andy Flower.
He also added that the home series with India was far more enjoyable because it was a shorter series (due to the weather) and that the shorter ones are generally more competitive.
He gave some very interesting and forthright views and these remarks probably go a long way to explaining why England got thrashed off the park by India's reserves in their most recent ODI series.
I was pleased to hear him say how much he loves playing test cricket and that he believes this format and T20 is the best way forward. And in a further twist, when asked about his remarks about KP's captaincy, he also added Alastair Cook's name to the list of people he believes to not be natural leaders, although he did put 'yet' in that sentence.
Onto another of Swann's targets in his book, Samit Patel, and I was pleased to read today that Samit has decided not to put himself up for next years IPL auction, instead deciding he wants to play Championship cricket in a bid to get himself in the test team.
I think that's great, but I believe that he has no chance of getting in the side as a spinner and little chance of making the top 6 as a batsman. Maybe he could get the No.6 role as a batting all rounder if he could score shed loads of runs, but that's as good as it will get for him.
The cynic in me though suggests that Patel is being very crafty here. The touring party for next year's test series against Pakistan in the UAE is named shortly, and Patel has just showed how committed he is to England ahead of the selection of a tour party that will be spinner heavy.
This is one of those rare series in which England will probably pick two spinners in the team, and this is clearly Patel's best chance of getting a test call up.
Tim Bresnan has showed how you can force your way into this team, there could be a window of opportunity opening up for Patel this winter, it will be interesting to see if he can make the most of it.
When asked to clarify his recent remarks about his views on ODI cricket, Swann denied saying it should be scrapped, but did say that it should be taking up a lesser part of the cricketing calender.
Swann said that 5 and 7 match series should be reduced to just 3 match series. His whole attitude sounded to me like he doesn't have the heart and desire to play 50 over cricket any more.
In my opinion he basically said that he is sick and tired of playing too much international 50 over cricket and that he has fallen out of love with this format of the game.
If there is more than him with that view in the squad, then maybe it's time for a shake up from Andy Flower.
He also added that the home series with India was far more enjoyable because it was a shorter series (due to the weather) and that the shorter ones are generally more competitive.
He gave some very interesting and forthright views and these remarks probably go a long way to explaining why England got thrashed off the park by India's reserves in their most recent ODI series.
I was pleased to hear him say how much he loves playing test cricket and that he believes this format and T20 is the best way forward. And in a further twist, when asked about his remarks about KP's captaincy, he also added Alastair Cook's name to the list of people he believes to not be natural leaders, although he did put 'yet' in that sentence.
Onto another of Swann's targets in his book, Samit Patel, and I was pleased to read today that Samit has decided not to put himself up for next years IPL auction, instead deciding he wants to play Championship cricket in a bid to get himself in the test team.
I think that's great, but I believe that he has no chance of getting in the side as a spinner and little chance of making the top 6 as a batsman. Maybe he could get the No.6 role as a batting all rounder if he could score shed loads of runs, but that's as good as it will get for him.
The cynic in me though suggests that Patel is being very crafty here. The touring party for next year's test series against Pakistan in the UAE is named shortly, and Patel has just showed how committed he is to England ahead of the selection of a tour party that will be spinner heavy.
This is one of those rare series in which England will probably pick two spinners in the team, and this is clearly Patel's best chance of getting a test call up.
Tim Bresnan has showed how you can force your way into this team, there could be a window of opportunity opening up for Patel this winter, it will be interesting to see if he can make the most of it.
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