Natural selection

Yay Aussie selectors! You proved yourself predictable again. In a shock move, Doug Bollinger was picked to play on his home pitch. Why the freak did they even call Hilfenhaus into the Test squad for Melbourne when they have decided not to play him this summer???? Why did they even bother?? Hilfy carries the drinks for everyone else, when he could be playing for Tassie.

Everyone agrees we'll take Hilfy to England. His swing bowling will be unplayable over there. But now I'm not so sure. Perhaps the selectors can find an Aussie playing in England we can thrust into the Test team, ahead of Hilfenhaus. There might even be an Aussie who lives in each city we're due to play a Test in. That way we could fill our entire bowling attack with home ground performers.

It's clear the selections have not been made on merit. If the Aussies were playing a Test at Bellerive, would Bollinger have been selected? Hell no! It would have been Home Town Hilfenhaus. Bollinger gets his callup because he happens to play for NSW. The same reason why Siddle wasn't dropped after a terrible first Test in Perth.

I worry that we will take a team of hard-working, mediocre bowlers to South Africa and England, they will suck, and then they'll throw Hilfy in and expect him to save the team. Let the man get some experience first! He's not going to be Terry "41 wickets" Alderman without a Baggy Green cap to his name!

Argh. Statistically, Hilfy comes out on top. Form-wise, Hilfy comes out on top. Current-place-of-residence wise, Bollinger wins comfortably.

I was feeling upbeat about this Test match before. I'm now expecting a whitewash, with Ponting to score another century and Hayden to fail once again.

I liked how the South African coach was playing mind games, saying how they feared Matthew Hayden's ability. Nice way to heap even more pressure on him. And he said it made no sense to bring in Bollinger and that he expected Hilfy to play. A good way to get the Aussie selectors thinking they should "spring a surprise". I think the South Africans probably just didn't want to face the mighty swing of Ben Hilfenhaus.