I'm with Prez on this, at least when compared to McDonald. If McDonald had Hall's 40 yr old body he might actually have played more than 10 games over the past 3 seasons.
Fitness/actually playing FC cricket is literally the only thing Hall has over McDonald/Morkel though IMO.
+2 is rather generous on them granted. But still if they did play most of the time they'd be guns. Morkel at least would be in his country's Test side. In before if my aunty had balls she'd be my uncle or something along those lines.
Morkel has no better track record over his first class career than Hall IMO and in recent years hasn't even bothered with first class. Albie has a superior batting record, but in only a third of the games. I can't see the problem with Hall at all. I think he was a better 'value' pick than Albie or McDonald tbh.
I'm not whining. Just on broken record mode. His comeback was on the cards about 4 times this season and he broke down when bowling just about every time. The 2014 Andrew McDonald is a pure batsman.
I'm optimistic tbh. He signed a 2 year deal not long ago while injured because they expect him to be fit and IIRC the issue was where the scar tissue from his hamstring operation was impinging upon a nerve in his leg which just prevented him from bowling at all. Seemingly that's been fixed/is on its way to be fixed and he should be able to play a full role again next season.
Well for his sake I hope it works out. It's a shame. After his foray into international cricket, the last 3 years was set up to be the prime of his career and he just hasn't been able to get onto the field.
There was a time he went close as a #6 batsman candidate tbh. Probably could've played T20Is too - though best up the order which was never an issue for you
I definitely thought he looked an international cricketer. Saw him as being a bit of a second Watto who would effectively allow Watson to either bat in the top order and barely bowl at all or alternatively bat even lower and bowl more.
Captain Ryan Harris - how did he slide to #14? I know his injury record is pretty bad, but still he should've gone a long time before this. Third or fourth best bowler in the game today and can bat. +2 Dinesh Chandimal - although his exposure to the Test level is pretty brief, he has done well in the Tests he has played and his FC record is outstanding given the wickets he bats on. He can also keep wicket. Very good pick this. +1 Rohit Sharma - like Rahane he has a very high FC average, and scored two big, important centuries in his first two Tests. Another good pick. +1 Chadd Sayers - like Hendricks, Sayers is still fairly raw, but has performed very well when he has played. In contrast to Hendricks he might not have much of a chance to step up to Test cricket, but he's still a very, very good bowler. +1 Sachin Tendulkar - amazed he lasted this long. IMO he is comparable to guys taken in the second round. Yes he did show signs of age by the time he quit, but he only retired a few months ago and he was considered by many to be the best after Bradman. Might be one of the picks of the draft. +2 Johan van der Wath - personally, I feel his performances haven't been that stellar in recent years. However he can bat 8, and it's not like he's been god awful, so the pick is far from a disaster. 0 Sam Robson - can't really say whether this was a calculated punt or just getting lucky. Either way, was probably a below par pick when you selected him but now it's good one. True value however will probably lie in the mid-season update, where his likely Test experience will be taken into account. 0 Murray Goodwin - another handy pick. Long has been a very good bat. +1 Darren Stevens - his recent bowling form has been pretty good, and he dominated with the bat last season. Maybe a tad early as there is a risk he could be a slight no-rounder at this level, but it's not a disaster. 0 James Adams - pretty good pick. Really solid recent record domestically. +1 Malinda Pushpakumara - actually don't think this is as much of a shocker as others seem to think, but still this was too early and it's a mistake to have him as your first spinner. -1 Yasir Arafat - pretty damn good pick. Only worry would be that he hasn't played a lot of FC cricket lately, but still a gun pick this late. +1 Morne van Wyk - good pick. Has had a handy record in a pretty tricky competition. +1 Baba Apparajith - a reach. Good FC record so far but it's in Indian FC cricket and while he may have a future in the Indian side it's still early days. Would've liked this pick around R17/18 but for now he just doesn't have the runs on the board. -1 Janaka Gunaratne - urgh. Shouldn't really be a bowling option for you and I don't think his batting is worth a pick even this late. Not a good pick at all. -1 Stephen Cook - hard to say. Did have a good 2013/14, but his two seasons before that were pretty ordinary. Still, the SS is fairly strong and he should be good for depth. 0 Sandeep Sharma - pretty handy pick. May or may not ever break through, but he is young, has a good record and there seems to be some hype around him. Probably where you should've picked BaaBoi. +1 Nayyer Abbas - meh. Record is pretty good on paper but it's done in a pretty easy competition and he has a mediocre WPM. Don't really rate it. -1 Overall: Some really good batsmen, and Harris + good support quicks should mean that you'll be hard to stop in the right conditions. Depth looks worrying though, and the spinning options are lol. If Harris keeps fit you'll probably make the 8 with little worries, but will he?
