Cricket Australia selectors hung by own words Nathan Lyon was the latest casualty of the Australian selector's scattergun approach to picking the Aussie side. TAKE a look back over Cricket Australia's selection statements during this summer of cricket - and the word-eating that followed. Rob Quiney was a surprise replacement for the injured Shane Watson, given Phil Hughes was widely considered to be the next man in line. Now we know why. What they said - John Inverarity The NSP has named Rob Quiney to be on standby for Shane Watson who injured his calf whilst playing for New South Wales against Queensland yesterday. Rob Quiney has impressed the NSP with his performances in all formats in recent years. He was particularly impressive in the Australia A game that concluded at the SCG today. His 85 from 113 balls against the strong South African attack demonstrated a good range of shots and a sound technique. He is in good shape at the moment and he is ready to grasp his opportunity should he get the nod for Friday. What happened Quiney was unknowingly a safety blanket to protect Phil Hughes' fragile confidence from a rampant South African pace attack. The selectors later admitted they wanted to shield Hughes as he eased his way back into the Test side. Wouldn't have been much consolation for Quiney, though, who scored nine runs in his first innings and ducks in the other two, ending his Test career almost as quickly as it started. Peter Siddle was 'rested' for the final Test against South Africa. Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus were shock omissions from the third and final Test against South Africa. The selectors said they were victims of the rotation policy. Later we learned the truth. What they said - Michael Clarke "It's a really tough decision, especially the way they've both performed - especially Sids the way he performed in the last Test match," said Clarke. But we need to do what's best for the team. It's about selecting the best 11 players to win this Test match in these conditions against the opposition you're playing. As Michael Clarke said, it must have been a really tough decision to rest two blokes ... who were injured. The Aussie sporting public can put up with a lot, including the resting of two of our best-performed bowlers Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus, but being lied to may have been a bridge too far. Siddle and Hilfy were missing for the third and final Test against the South Africans, but it wasn't because of the much-maligned rotation policy. We later learned they had both broken down, which would have been a far easier sell for Cricket Australia, particularly when our boys went on to lose the third Test (and the series, by extension) by 309 runs. John Hastings was out of the Aussie Test side almost as quickly as he was brought into it. John Hastings' stint in the Test team was as brief as it was unproductive, having been brought into the national side to replace Peter Siddle and/or Ben Hilfenhaus at the WACA Ground. John Hastings, who has played 11 One-Day Internationals and three Twenty20 Internationals in Australian colours, deserves his inclusion in the squad following his excellent recent form. In Sheffield Shield cricket he has taken 22 wickets at 18.3 and consistently scored valuable lower order runs," said Inverarity. Took 1-153 off 39 overs, which made the CA rhetoric about the debutant paceman doing the grunt work into the Fremantle Doctor more laughable than Steve Smith in a baggy green. The fans stayed away from a one-day series utterly bereft of stars, with CA leaving out David Warner for the first two ODI games. What they said - Pat Howard Warner's resting for the start of the Sri Lanki one-day series "could have been handled better." You don't say, Pat. After losing game two by eight wickets, Warner returned and scored four runs in the third ODI as the Aussies capitulated by four wickets. The bigger picture was the the slow death of 50-over cricket in this country, and the absence of our best and most exciting batsmen for a home series crying out for someone (anyone?) to watch. One Test in India - and four wickets - was all the selectors needed to see before axing the man anointed as Australia's number one spinner just weeks beforehand. What they said - Mickey Arthur We have put a plan in place. I don't want to go into what we are working on. There are one or two technical things plus we want him to get a little bit of confidence back. We thought we could get a little bit of off-spin from Maxwell, along with batting and fielding. It lengthened our batting and it seemed a no-brainer at the time. Lyon's replacements - Xavier DOherty and part-timer Glenn Maxwell - take 0-140 between them in one Australia's most inept bowling displays in recent memory. Doherty takes 0-85, with Arthur describing the left-armer as having "toiled manfully." Xavier gave us what we know Xavier we can. Only problem was, he gave India what they knew he could, too.