The Aussie Bowling attack for the coming series

[MundaPakistani]

I dont think so' date=' Faisal. Johnson's good. He would make it to my current Indian team as a pacer. (Along with Zak and Sharma.)[/quote'] Sreesanth is certainly ahead of MJ.

Thats pushing it a bit.

Johnson's capable of clocking 140kmh with little effort, gets awkward bounce with a slingy action and can swing it when on form. I'd agree he's not fully ready for test cricket (Bollinger should be playing ahead of him right now), but calling him highly average is ridiculous.

You might have seen him bowl good spells at the 1st class level Salil but at the test level he has been below average, i have only seen him bowl ONE good spell(2nd innings of the boxing day test) in 7 or 8 test matches. Most of the time his seam position is totally wrong and he keeps bowling low full tosses outside off stump.

[Dravid]

johnson in india wont be a threat at all..neither will be clark... no need to overhype these ppl... only gotta watch out for lee..

[Predator_05]

Got to agree on Johnson. Never impressed me much. I'd like to see more of Tait, to be honest. He is a genuine express bowler who could give Australia's bowling attack another dimension. Dammika Prasad showed the difference pace can make in that 3rd test against India. Besides, Tait has something to prove and will be desperate to do well.

[Sachinism]

Johnson is one of those bowlers who can still produce a brilliant delivery every now and then and trouble most batsmen, so we shouldn't see him as an easy scoring option plus he can swing the bat a bit

[fineleg]

Lee and Clark will be the most troublesome for us. Lee used to be wayward, but nowadays he is a different bowler! Accurate too! On his own, Mitchell Johnson wont be too hard to negotiate. But together (with pressure applied by Lee and Clark) - Lee, Clark, Johnson will be a good attack for Aus. With Dravid clearly struggling for form, our openers need to stay and score big!

[Kohum]

Since this attack will have to do all the job in the bowling department to ensure that their team have a shance to win and retain the BG trophy again, then why not discuss them for now. Brett Lee - looks a lot better what he used to be couple of years back. hasn't played a single test in India, yet has played enough in India to understand the conditions. Stuart Clark - he to me looks the real deal. he will be perhaps the trump card of this Aussie bowling attack. opener Gambhir and Sehwag would have to watch and play him with caution. Johnson - well i think he will be handled nicely by our players and Australia/Punter might throw in Bollinger, the debutant in second or third test in the playing 11.

Me thinks Lee is the danger man. If he gets support from any of the other two bowlers, it will land us into trouble. Johnson showed on our recent tour, that he can also bat.

[Kohum]

Lee and Clark will be the most troublesome for us. Lee used to be wayward, but nowadays he is a different bowler! Accurate too! On his own, Mitchell Johnson wont be too hard to negotiate. But together (with pressure applied by Lee and Clark) - Lee, Clark, Johnson will be a good attack for Aus. With Dravid clearly struggling for form, our openers need to stay and score big!

:thumbs_up: Correct assesment.

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Niggling injury sidelines McGain AUSTRALIA'S preparations for the Test series against India began on a bum note with wrist spinner Bryce McGain - frontrunner for the slow bowling berth in a pace-oriented attack - unable to bowl. More... Niggling injury sidelines McGain By Daniel Brettig in Jaipur, India September 25, 2008 AUSTRALIA'S preparations for the Test series against India began on a bum note with wrist spinner - Bryce McGain - frontrunner for the slow-bowling berth - unable to bowl. Thirty-six-year-old McGain is still recovering from the shoulder problem he picked up during his time with Australia A earlier this month, but coach Tim Nielsen is confident he will get to the bowling crease shortly. “Bryce is keen to have a bowl, it's a shame he got his little niggle in India with the A tour so we're just nursing him through the last stage of that rehab, he'll get going in the next day or so and be ready to have a trundle,” Nielsen said. “Once he can get his first bowl over here he'll be a little more relaxed.” McGain's absence from the spinners' net left another unheralded tweaker, Jason Krejza, to be watched with interest by the Indian media, many of them getting their first glimpse of his hard-spun off breaks. Elsewhere Matthew Hayden looked noticeably rusty in his first net session, being bowled at least twice and also playing and missing at numerous deliveries from Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and an assortment of Rajasthan Academy bowlers. Importantly, however, Hayden did not appear hindered in his movement, as he fights to earn the confidence of tour selectors after being incapacitated for the winter with an Achilles problem. Of the other players Shane Watson bowled and batted soundly on his Indian Premier League home surface, while left-arm quick Doug Bollinger worked up some reasonable pace when relieving Lee on the centre wicket in the latter half of the two and three-quarter hour session.

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Indian wickets quicker than you think DON'T be fooled by the talk of spinners dominating on slow, low pitches - India's wickets will have enough juice if your pacemen are good enough. More... Indian wickets quicker than you think September 26, 2008 DON'T be fooled by the talk of spinners dominating on slow, low pitches - India's wickets will have enough juice if your pacemen are good enough. So says Pakistan coach and former Australian quick Geoff Lawson, who feels Ricky Ponting's tourists will be right to concentrate on attacking the Indians with their battery of seamers in the Test series beginning next month. Lawson also believes that Indian spin duo Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble are well below their best, meaning the local quicks led by Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan will need to be given helpful conditions in which to operate. "You view these sorts of series as spinner dominated but Australia have incredibly inexperienced spin bowlers and normally even the best find it difficult against subcontinental batsmen on their home grounds," Lawson told Sydney radio station 2KY. "The first Test at Bangalore we played there last December and it was a seam bowling-friendly wicket and it was bouncing and grassy. "Having watched the India-Sri Lanka series, Harbhajan and Kumble were very ineffective and I just think they may have lost it a bit. "I don't think this series will be dominated by spin bowling as much as people think but I think it will be a really good, close series. "I think that seam bowling will be more important - Ishant Sharma and these types of guys are bowling very well and the Australian seam bowling is pretty useful. I think it will be dominated by them." Test wickets worldwide have tended to favour batsmen over the past few years, something Lawson said would probably continue in India. He is tipping the four-Test series to be drawn 1-1. "I don't think they are going to come across the low, slow spinning wickets which Australia have traditionally come across," Lawson said. "World cricket seems to have this tendency towards much better batting wickets and even in India the pitches have got harder and don't tend to spin as much." The Australians completed another lengthy training session at the Rajasthan Academy Ground, where Bryce McGain had his first bowl of the tour. Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said he was going to need time to familiarise himself with McGain over the next two weeks, having faced the Victorian from in front of the stumps while batting but never behind them. "The tour games will be handy to get out and have a keep to Bryce, I haven't kept wicket to him yet but I've played him over a number of years in state cricket so I know what he's got in his armoury," Haddin said. "I actually find getting used to spinners I'd much rather bat to them in the nets just to get a feel for them and that usually helps me behind the stumps. "It's always enjoyable coming up against new spinners when you're wicketkeeping. "I was very lucky at NSW to have Stuart MacGill my whole career and I think keeping up to the stumps to the spinners really shows the good keepers from the great keepers - it's a really good yardstick to judge a keeper." Australia's warm-up efforts will take another step on Saturday with the start of a two-day practice fixture against an academy XI. It is set to be a low-key affair, with all 15 members of the squad expected to rotate through the game.

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McGain faces Test challenge from rookie spinner Krejza The Australians have achieved many things during a productive first week in India, but gaining some clarity about who will carry the spin bowling hopes is not one of them. More... McGain faces Test challenge from rookie spinner Sightseeing spinner Bryce McGain, on his first overseas tour for Australia, takes in the Amber Fort in Jaipur. Chloe Saltau, Hyderabad September 30, 2008 BRYCE McGain cannot claim Australia's 402nd Test cap just yet. The Australians have achieved many things during a productive first week in India, but gaining some clarity about who will carry the spin bowling hopes is not one of them. McGain, the 36-year-old who has earned late career billing as his country's leading spinner, was unable to bowl a ball in the Australians' first competitive encounter in Rajasthan at the weekend on account of a lingering shoulder problem. Though he stood aside only as a precaution, and should be fit to play in the four-day game against Hyderabad from Thursday, Australia's choice of spinner will be influenced by the structure of the Indian team, and it is not inconceivable that Jason Krejza, who bumped the contracted Beau Casson off the plane to India, could be the unheralded spinner who makes his debut in Bangalore. Should the selectors lean towards McGain's accurate leg-spin, he will need to bowl some long spells in Hyderabad to prepare for the intimidating task of containing Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman and Virender Sehwag in their own playground. "It will be a hard slog for the bowlers, it always is over here, so the spinners will have a big job to do to work one end so the quicks can pound away up the other end," coach Tim Nielsen said of the bespectacled Victorian. "If he plays in that game, he will have to be ready to bowl some long spells. "I will be interested to see what the Indian team is, whether they pick a lot of right-hand batsmen or a lot of left-hand batsmen, and that might make a bit of difference to our spinning options. "We have got a couple of spinners who haven't played a Test match yet, so it's about getting them a run in the next week and seeing how they front up." Krejza impressed in the Rajasthan game with 3-35 and though he was plucked out of the wilderness with an inflated first-class average, he gets the ball to spit and turn off the pitch and his finger-spin appeals to selectors in Indian conditions. Whoever becomes Australia's specialist spinner, much of the burden is expected to fall within the ever-expanding brief of vice-captain Michael Clarke. "I think I am still definitely a part-time bowler, but I believe there will be a role to play. And when I get that opportunity, I want to make the most of it," Clarke said. He has fond memories of bowling against India, having claimed an improbable 6-9 in Mumbai four years ago. The Australians are hoping to field a likely Test team against a Board of Control for Cricket in India President's XI in Hyderabad, where opener Phil Jaques needs to prove he has overcome a back problem to withstand a challenge from Simon Katich. The Indian board side will be captained by Yuvraj Singh, with a pace attack led by Shantha Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan.

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Mitchell battles Bollinger for spot Mitchell Johnson is hoping reverse-swing can be his key weapon in India as he aims to hold his place in Australia's Test team and fight off a challenge from Doug Bollinger. More... Mitchell battles Bollinger for spot September 30, 2008 MITCHELL Johnson has all but given up on trying to swing the new ball as he fights New South Welshman Doug Bollinger for the left-arm pace bowler's berth in the Australia Test team. From a position 12 months ago where he was seen as the future of the pace attack, Johnson is now in a battle to retain his place during next month's Test series against India, particularly given Bollinger's apparent aptitude for sub-continental conditions. Johnson's underwhelming tour of the Caribbean earlier this year saw him concentrate on hitting the wicket hard as much as trying to curve the ball through the air, and so far on this tour he has spent a lot of training time bowling around the wicket in an effort to spear the ball towards the stumps. Wayward spells, where the Indian batsmen are not forced to play at much, are not the kind of luxuries commonly available to a victorious touring team in India, and tour selectors must decide which of Johnson, Bollinger or young Victorian Peter Siddle will provide the most accurate support to Brett Lee and Stuart Clark. “I've sort of, not given up on the swing thing, but I think in these conditions I'm probably not going to get too many opportunities to swing the new ball anyway, so that's when the reverse will come into it for me,'' Johnson said. “I had been working on basically trying to get it through to the 'keeper and bowl the way I have in the past. “Looking at the West Indies tour I probably didn't have the best tour there but towards the end of it I started to get a bit more rhythm and where I was bowling there was coming in behind Brett or Stuart and just trying to bowl straight and hit the deck.'' Raised on a diet of swing and slow pitches at the SCG, Bollinger has sometimes struggled to make the strong Blues first XI when all internationals are available, but now he is a genuine chance of slipping past Johnson if the Queenslander cannot find his rhythm. “They're just the things that pop up in sport because it's very competitive,'' Bollinger said of his duel with Johnson. “I like to bowl as straight as I can and I like to swing the ball as much as I can, whether it be natural or Irish (reverse), and I think that can be a very beneficial thing over here because the wickets don't change as much and they're a lot flatter than Australia, so I think that's how I like to bowl and how I want to bowl here.'' AAP

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Injured McGain ruled out of first Test Australia's already depleted spin attack lost more sting on Wednesday with leg-spinner Bryce McGain ruled out of the first Test against India due to a shoulder injury. The 36-year-old picked up the injury while touring India with the Australia A side last month and developed a sore shoulder after Tuesday's practice session in Hyderabad. More... Injured McGain ruled out of first Test October 01, 2008 14:30 IST Australia's [images] already depleted spin attack lost more sting on Wednesday with leg-spinner Bryce McGain ruled out of the first Test against India due to a shoulder injury. The 36-year-old picked up the injury while touring India with the Australia A side last month and developed a sore shoulder after Tuesday's practice session in Hyderabad. His injury, which makes him a doubtful starter for the second Test as well, virtually clears the deck for 25-year-old off-spinner Jason Krejza's Test debut in Bangalore. "McGain is not fit. He pulled up sore yesterday and his injury is being assessed," Australia coach Tim Nielsen said. "The physio will take a call in the next 24 hours but he is definitely going to miss the warm-up match here and most probably the first Test as well," he said. Team sources said the back injury would require at least two weeks' rest and the IT worker-turned-cricketer might miss the second Test as well. "We will have to talk to the selectors as well. For if another player gets injured, we might have to rush in substitutes," Nielsen said. The Australian coach said McGain's injury provides Krejza a gilt-edged opportunity to prove his mettle and the youngster is up to the challenge. "Krejza has done a brilliant job so far and it would be a great opportunity for him to bowl some of the best players of spin bowling," he said. Meanwhile, Australia's injury woes don't end here and the think-tank is also worried about all-rounder Shane Watson who is running fever. "He woke up with temperature, it could be viral but we hope he would overcome it. We'll see if he is fit for the match tomorrow. We'll take a call tonight or tomorrow morning about his chances of playing the warm-up match," Nielsen said. Dwelling on the Test series against India, Nielsen said it is important for the Australian batsmen to tackle India's famed spin attack and they should do everything to ensure that they learn the craft before the first Test begins. "I hope our batsmen get enough practice of playing quality spin to go into the first Test fully ready to face Harbhajan Singh [images] and Anil Kumble [images]. There is no better place than India to learn how to play India. Over the next four days, we have to give ourselves the best chance to come to terms with the Indian spinners," he explained. Nielsen also brushed aside the notion that inexperience might prove Australia's bane in India and reposed full faith in the youngsters. "We have players like Ricky [Ponting] and Matthew Hayden [images] who have played Test matches in India. Players like Brett Lee [images], Shane Watson, Michael Hussey also have played here and know the conditions pretty well. "I think it's an exciting opportunity for other players and India too must be excited about the youngsters," he said.

[diegovegaz]

beau casson should be named as replacement

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Australia's McGain ruled out of entire series with injury Australia leg spinner Bryce McGain has been ruled out of the four-Test series in India with a shoulder injury, CA said. More... Australia's McGain ruled out of India Tests with injury Reuters Posted: Oct 03, 2008 at 1343 hrs IST Mumbai, October 3:: Australia leg spinner Bryce McGain has been ruled out of the four-Test series in India with a shoulder injury and will return home, Cricket Australia (CA) said in a statement on Friday. The 36-year-old failed to recover from the injury he suffered during last month's Australia A tour of India, dealing a blow to the tourists' inexperienced spin attack. "A decision on a potential replacement player for McGain would be taken in due course," the statement said. McGain had been included in the absence of seasoned spinners. Off-break bowler Jason Krejza is the other specialist spinner in the squad. The first Test starts in Bangalore on Oct. 9.