Good Areas, Work Hard, Keep It Simple

Australia got hammered. I'd prefer not to talk about that, instead we'll look at the remaining two Tests.

Delhi looks to be an absolute dust bowl that will not only favour the spinners, it'd clean their boots for them. This is good and bad news for India. The good is that their spinners are more potent, more experienced and just classier than Australia's. The bad news is that India's best asset this series has been their quicks and this pitch looks to significantly lessen their impact. However it is a trade-off I'm sure they are willing to take.

But before that there's a one week break and Australia are still short a squad member. With Phil Jaques going home for a nap before the summer, the question is who will replace him. It looks like the Victorian duo of DJ and BJ are at the top of the list, but then that'd mean three Victorians in an Australian squad with two already playing. I'm sure if this happens the universe will implode, so the selectors will most likely look elsewhere.

So who's with me in them picking Dan Cullen? Desperate times call for desperate measures, so a like-for-like replacement can go out the window. Picking Cullen, one of 2 Australian spinners I rate (Hauritz being the other one), wouldn't be so farfetched would it? He picked up a few wickets in the last game at Radelaide, probably more than he got all of last season assuming he actually got a game. People say he's got his dip back, the main thing that made him look so damn interesting all those seasons ago. Unfortunately I think he's still boasting about his doosra, something most mediocre offies do. The problem is this selection would require the selectors to look outside the box and do something that isn't generally considered the safe option. They've already done this with White and Siddle, so that might be enough for the next couple of decades. Hopefully Merv can pull one more piece of magic.

After Delhi, and perhaps a Dan Cullen 10-fer, is Nagpur. Last time we played at Nagpur a certain someone picked up six wickets that have come back to haunt him four years later. By this I mean there's Ponting sees Clarke as a better spinner than he actually is. Let us not forget Hauritz also played in this Test and picked up five very respectable wickets on debut. So imagine this, spin twins Cullen and Hauritz. That'd be good to see. Of course it'd mean White and Siddle get dropped, so probably not that great.

Oh and the results? My heart says Australia get one back in Delhi because it'll rain non-stop for a week and the pitch will be greener than the Gabba's and a Michael Hussey double century. Then at Nagpur we hope for a draw so at least we can retain the trophy. However my head says India go up 3-zip. There you go, predictions of the extreme for both sides.

Labels: australia, dan cullen, india, nathan hauritz