Good Areas, Work Hard, Keep It Simple

Better than 05

2009-03-23T19:48:00.001+11:00

Move over 2005 Ashes, we have a new "best series ever".

Three wins apiece. Each won two away Tests and one home Test. The scoreline sums it up brilliantly, but at the same time it doesn't even scratch the surface.

First let's look at what made this better than the 2005 Ashes.

1) It was a home and away series. Both teams had the home advantage at some point. And even better was the touring team won both series.

2) Careers were made, realised and ended. The likes of Duminy, Hughes and North were given an opportunity to transfer their domestic form onto the international stage, and they did so with aplomb. Duminy played so well he kept the vice captain out of the side. Hughes became the youngest man to score twin hundreds. North the first to score a debut century for Australia since Clarkey did it four years ago. At the same time, Johnson, Siddle, Steyn and AB de Villiers dramatically increased their stocks. Johnson evolved into the strike bowler he threatened to be. Siddle showed why he was picked for Australia on the back of 12 first class games over three or four seasons. Steyn proved he could do it against the number one ranked team. And AB just made centuries for fun, showing his value to the team was more than as an electric fielder and back-up keeper. And last of all, we said goodbye to Hayden, and the same could possibly be said of McKenzie. Both openers who struggled, and both made way for the young guns.

3) Six results and still no winner. That is one of the truly astounding things about this series. Each match produced a result, and all but the final Test went to the 5th day. It would have been a TV broadcaster's wet dream.

4) There will be no MBE's and open-top bus rides. Each time knows the magnitude of the their achievements, but they also know it won't help them win their next series.

I'd like to look back at some of the big moments, so keep your eye out for that in the next couple of days/weeks.

Bring back real series

2009-03-18T21:36:00.000+11:00

The third and final Test starts tomorrow.

It has been such a long Test series, spanning from December till March. My goodness, now that is how long a Test series should be. Ok, there was a lot of cricket in between, but it has been gripping viewing.

Five Tests, a number of fantastic performances, both individual and team, and now it has to come to an end. This is how a series should be. It should be long, hard fought, memorable, and most importantly, contain high class cricket. Test "series" of two or three Tests are not enough. The reason they're that short is because the boards or the ICC don't believe any more matches will sustain the public's interest. Instead, we get 7 match ODI series, because they are clearly more interesting.

So bring back proper Test series! Actually, I quite like the idea of return Test series, as Safrica and Australia do. It makes it much more likely that the home and away series will be played between the same times, with minimal personel changes. Compare this to the 05 and 06/07 Ashes, where England came to Australia a battered and broken team after tough tours to the subcontinent and general rubbish cricket.

I want to do a wrap up of this South Africa series, as it now takes over as my favourite Test series, pinching the top spot from the 2005 Ashes.

PJ for the present!

2009-03-15T22:32:00.000+11:00

Remember when I gave Phillip Hughes a massive plug a year ago? I sure as hell do. Many of my predictions were wrong, but I got kinda closish.

I was correct in saying he'll take over Hayden's spot, although I was very wrong about the timeline. However I believe no one could have predicted how well he started.

To enter Test cricket at 20 years old, facing the team 90% of the world expected to take the number 1 spot in their own backyard, there wasn't a lot riding for him. To make a duck first up, it was an anti-climax of epic proportions. To follow up that duck with scores of 75, 115 and 160 is... ridonkey-kong. On his way, he became the answer to a number of trivia questions, namely one of the few men to score their first ton younger than the Don and the youngest to score two centuries in a match.

However with all that, he still can't get into a one day team lacking an opener. IT MAKES NO SENSE! The most in-form player of the team, someone who has already been in the country for almost a month, gets sent home and some baby slogger takes his place? It seems the selectors cannot help but make the Australian public hate them.

Pure gold

2009-02-08T21:48:00.002+11:00

Most fantastic piece of commentary ever. Tony Greig and Gilly were talking about Bracken when:

TG: Very versatile, Bracken is.
And then you hear in the background, but not actually directly into the mic
AG: Except for when he got smacked in the powerplay.

To do list

2009-01-20T12:53:00.001+11:00

The people that NEED to be given an ODI game before the summer is out:

Phillip Hughes
Bryce McGain
Jason Krezja
Marcus North

Selectors

2009-01-20T00:26:00.001+11:00

It's been said a million times before that the might and power of the Australian team was all based on a strong selection policy. Rarely did they put a foot wrong and they remained in the shadows for most of the time. Of course they were backed up by consistent performances from those picked, but they do deserve a lot of credit. Players like Gilchrist, Hayden, Langer, Martyn and even the later versions of McGrath and Warne were shown faith by the selectors and duly rewarded them.

However with Trevor Hohns and Allan Border saying goodbye, and Merv Hughes and Jamie Cox coming in, there has been an undoubtable shakiness in the committee. If anything, they're in the wrong place at the wrong time. A flurry of greats retiring, greats that cannot be replaced. But at the same time, they are also reaping the consequences of the previous committee.

One of the things about the strong Australian team was it's stability. The only way for a new player to come in was injury or retirement. Form slumps were not rare, but the dropping of players were. As a result, we are now throwing countless players into the deepend.

In the current team, there's a clear divide in the generations. There's the old guard; including Ponting, Lee, Hussey, Haddin, Clark, Symonds and Katich, and then the younger guys; being Clarke, Johnson, White and Watson. Or more simply, there's the 32 year olds and aboves, and the 27 year olds. I always believed a team needed a gradient in age and experience.

Looking at the South Africans, the oldest/most experienced are Smith, Kallis, Boucher and Ntini. Then you have the established players in their prime; Amla, de Villiers, Harris, Steyn, McKenzie and Jalbie. Then there's the up and comings; Morne and Duminy. It is an irresistible combination which teams should aspire to obtain.

So the way out for Australia? There is none. We have to rebuild for a few years (read: be really crap), and then hopefully we can aim to be something resembling good again.

Oh Grass Hopper

2009-01-17T01:02:00.000+11:00

I'd like to complain about Cricinfo's Fantasy cricket for just a bit. Before today's game, I had AB, James Hopes (who for some reason, I call Grass Hopper) and Peter Siddle in my team. Before the deadline, i.e. 15 minutes before play started, I swapped AB and Grass Hopper for Michael Clarke and Jalbie Morkel. Then after play had started, I swapped Siddle for the Hilf.

Ok, no problems so far.

The confusion sets in when I check the points after tonight's game. I didn't expect the Hilf to get any points because his transfer was after the deadline, and he didn't. Michael Clarke got points for his contributions. However Man of the Match Jalbie Morkel got nothing. Nothing! That's 250 points! Disappeared! If Clarke got points, then clearly Jalbie should have too! But no he didn't, he's just in limbo. And now he's going to under perform for the rest of the series and I'll be seriously robbed. Thanks a lot, you idiots.

Just on the Grass Hopper, I love giving the players nicknames. There's really no explaination for Grass Hopper, except for Hopper having "Hope" in it. I love Jalbie though. This is because his name is John Albie Morkel, but he's called Albie. Hence, Jalbie. Makes sense to me. Hmmm... others... others... I may call Neil McKenzie the "Mack Attack", similar to the Shak Attack. I call Amla the Hash and Gibbs the Hersh. That's about it, but I'll be sure to put down the others I remember.

The Shak-Attack!

2009-01-15T08:23:00.001+11:00

The Shak-Attack strikes again!

Like most cricket fans, I'm a great follower of the 'deshis and the Windies. This is because 9 out of 10 times they play, they are the underdogs, and as an Australian, we've been brought up to cheer for the underdog.

So it pleased me to no end following the recent 'deshi Lanka match, and reading the Shak-Attack's assault on the lankan bowlers. Not only the lankan bowlers, but Murali and Mendis to boot.

Of late, the Shak's bowling has been wonderfully consistent, something like three five wicket hauls in his last four Tests. And not against poo opposition either, they came against Safrica away and Lanka at home. And this doesn't include that stunning, almost match winning performance against New Zealand. You know, the one that Dan Vettori copied, and then did better.

Right now it looks he'll have a fantastic future for the Tigers. He can bat, he can bowl and he's got a fantastic name. With the decline of Crashraful and a top order which prefers to deal in single numbers (both with balls faced and runs scored), the Shak, along with Mashrafe, need to show the might of the 'deshis.

I'm backing them. ICC 2006 backs them as well. Not those two players, but the country.

Yet another hypothetical team

2008-11-21T12:02:00.001+11:00

As I was eating lunch, I was pondering what would be the best Test XI you could pick from all the current Test players. So I thought I'd give it a go (you may have noticed, I love selecting hypothetical teams).

The first opening slot would without a doubt go to Virender Sehwag. He's an artist in his savagery. Picking his partner was a bit harder. For pure entertainment, I'd like Chris Gayle there. But if we wanted to win, I'd want the chemistry Gotham Gambhir provides.

Some see first-drop as the most important position. It may be. Usually I'd say Ricky Ponting, but he hasn't done anything of late to really warrant that. I could have also gone for King Kumar, but there's one player that interests me more. Hashim Amla scored an ass load of runs against England, and according to JRod, he could be the next batting powerhouse.

The number four slot was the hardest spot. The names Hussey, Tendulkar, Kallis and Jayawardene are thrown around. However the winner is Kevin Pietersen. His rise has been as great to watch as his batting. And now he's captaining his adopted country, it's a fairy tale is what it is.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul occupies the number five spot. His batting is just immense. Not pretty, but effective.

The all-rounder's spot, or the counter attacker's, was a fun one to pick. This is basically the person who brings in the most crowds and empties the most bars. de Villier's I like but it's a straight shoot-out between Flintoff and Symonds. This isn't actually an easy decision. Symo is clearly the better batsman but Flintoff is a very good bowler. Symo offers more in the field though, and this team is short of fielding expertise. So the nod goes to Andrew Symonds.

The wicket-keeper. It'd be Dhoni, except I don't really like him. And since I'm picking this team, that's a good enough reason to exclude him. So the next clear option is Brendon McCullum, our favourite Kiwi.

It's always hard to pick the bowlers. To make it easier, we'll pretend it is an absolute road of a pitch. So if that is the case, the men I'd want throwing the ball down would be Ishant Sharma, Dale Steyn, Ajantha Mendis and Shoaib Akhtar. Sharma and Mendis explain themselves. I would have preferred Bond over Steyn but Mr Modi doesn't like those ICL kids, Asif also fits into this category. And I picked Shoaib because he is my favouritest fast bowler in the world. Half because of his talent, the other half because of the sideshow he provides.

And that is the team. The captain? The only current captain in the team is Pietersen, but he doesn't really count as a captain yet. But it was never really a question, my favourite captain that isn't actually a captain is Virender Sehwag, and he gets to wear the (proverbial) captain's armband.

The first problem with Hayden

2008-11-04T00:22:00.003+11:00

Now I am much too lazy to look around if anyone has noticed but does anyone else find it weird that Matthew Hayden is facing the first ball of the innings? For most of his career he has been down the other end while Langer did it, and now Jaques. But it seems Katich has usurped the sissy role from him and he has been forced to take on a little bit of respnosibility.

And the result? He's been dismissed in the first over twice in this Test series. For goodness sake Katto, let the baby have his bottle.

Poor Daniel...

2008-10-22T22:03:00.001+11:00

Shaun Marsh gets Philbo's spot. A predictable selection, not necessarily a good one I believe. For one thing, he's not an opener. He saw his spot in the Test side as an opener so WA wanged him to the top of the order. However in the defence of the selectors, DJ and BJ weren't openers either, but at least they were proven bats.

And people just love to refer to Marsh's success in the IPL. Good on him, he did bat himself into the Australian team. But we cannot forget that it was just Twenty20 cricket. Claiming he has experience in India after that is ridiculous.

Ok, maybe I'm just peeved because young Daniel Cullen wasn't selected. He really should have been. Form cannot be cited as a reason, since none of White, Marsh, Watson or Siddle had the kind of form to warrant a Test cap. Of the lot, Cullen is perhaps the only one that can claim a bit of form, Watson excluded perhaps. But no, he's stuck playing in the same XI as Younis Khan while Marsh is on his way to India. Aaaannnoooyyyiiinnnggg!!

In other news, SA beat NSW tonight in a last over finish. I'm not sure how I feel about this, since I don't support either of the teams. I like SA because they were so rubbish last season everyone loves the underdog, but at the same time NSW were probably the underdogs for this game. In the end, I can just be happy for individual performances. Shaun Tait 5-fer including some cruel bowling to tailenders. Cullen picking up 3 in his spell, but not great off-spinner wickets, instead one-day spinner wickets. NSW's new tactic of opening the bowling with O'Keefe's spinners, still interesting.

Just on that last point, I'd like to question the thinking behind it. As this is the second game in a row they've done it, it's not about the pitch. So it has to be a tactical thing. A spinner opening the bowling, give the batters something to think about. Perhaps they will feel obligated to smash him out of the park and hopefully lose their own wickets. Or perhaps they'll take the other extreme and just be super watchful against him and just play him out. Either way, it's not saying anything about the boy's abilities. Actually the fact that they're willing to expose him like that suggests he's not a good enough spinner to get wickets the normal way. Shame, Mr. Thornley. Shame.

Come on, selectors. Do something smart...

2008-10-22T10:11:00.001+11:00

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.

Indalia 2nd Test

2008-10-19T21:05:00.001+11:00

Australia are boned. Royally boned. Shame, really.

Indalia 1st Test wrap up

2008-10-14T23:26:00.001+11:00

Ok so new season and I think we should finally get moving. I've changed it to one of the generic designs just for kicks. I'll think of a prettiful one later. Anyway, the cricket!

The first Test has just concluded and ignoring all the interesting battles that have gone on in the previous 5 days, I'd like to look at the last detail of the match. The Man of the Match award.

I'm much too lazy to look but I don't think there is any sort of defining rule on awarding the MotM. There are two methods behind it, awarding it to the greatest individual performance or awarding it to the player that was most influential in the victory.

In most other sports, the MotM, or it's equivalents, is awarded according to the second method. In something like footy or soccer, it's easier because individual flashes of brilliance last only a brief period of time, whereas contributing for the full allotted time is much more important. However cricket is an interestingly retarded sport. It's an individual sport wrapped in a team game.

So Zaheer Khan was given the shiny trophy, I assume it was a trophy I didn't actually see it, after the first Test. For what though? A quick perusal shows he took 6 for 137, a fair effort considering the pitch and the opposition. Look a bit deeper and you see 2 of those wickets were Lee and Johnson, solid tail-enders but tail-enders all the same, and Hussey going for quick runs. Ok, so his half century was important. Can't take anything away from that even if you tried. So perahps a reasonable choice. Not my pick though.

Other candidates would have been Ponting for his first innings century, but apart from slaying some demons there wasn't a great deal to it. Hussey's century driving home the advantage and his little innings to stop a collapse in the second innings, good performances but not really momentum grabbing.

My pick? Sharma Sharma Sharma Chameleon! Match figures of 7 for 117, including the scalps of Kathead, Ponting, Watson, White, Clarke and Haddin, the last 3 all done in by great slower balls and clever thinking. If anything, the award should have been shared between Ibrasharm and Zaheer, because it was only when they were bowling in tandem did India look like running away with it.

Oh and the Victorian in me says Cameron White deserved the award just for debuting as a specialist number 8.

da future

2008-06-27T23:29:00.004+10:00

I'll keep this brief, for no reason at all. In an ideal world, the current XI players playing in the Windies now for Australia will be going to the next World Cup. That is:

1. SE Marsh
2. SR Watson
3. RT Ponting
4. MJ Clarke
5. MEK Hussey
6. CL White
7. L Ronchi
8. JR Hopes
9. B Lee
10. MG Johnson
11. NW Bracken

Whoever is backing them up will be interesting to see. I sincerely hope by that time, Hayden and Symonds would have retired and Clark would have the wits to realise he should hone all his prowess into beating opposition in the creams. As I think now, it is impossible to name three other players who would fit into the squad. Just keep those eleven, and play them in every game.

PJ for the future

2008-03-24T11:19:00.000+11:00

To say that Phillip Hughes had a good season is an understatement. To say he's a FAC is a bit of a stretch. To say he'll succeed Hayden as the next opener lies somewhere in between those two.

In his first season of first class cricket, he walked out to bat 12 times, passed 50 seven times, including a century, and averaged over 60. I believe he passed 50 in all his matches, except one maybe, and his century all but sealed the Pura Cup for his team. To put his season into context, he outscored Thornley, Jaques, Cosgrove, Maher and Watson and batted fewer times than all of them.

Apart from his brilliant run getting ability, he's also timed his birth to perfection. He's still too young to be Hayden's successor. But I expect Hayden to retire within 24 months, after which Rogers will take over. Rogers won't have more than 3 years at the top, because he'll be at least 33 when Hayden retires. So by the time Rogers calls it quits, Hughes will be about 24 or 25, played 6 seasons with NSW and even 3 or 4 in England. He'd be picked for Australia, unless he's decided to take the Di Venuto path [i.e. great promise but couldn't time his purple patches to coincide with retirements], to partner Phil Jaques at the top of the order.

This is all dependent on Hughes' form over the next several years. By next October, the honeymoon will be over and teams will enter the new season with plans to combat Hughes. His scoring shots will be restricted by captains and bowlers and he'll be forced to find ways to overcome this. Apart from testing his technical abilities, teams will no doubt see how strong mentally he is. The biggest thing in Hughes' favour is he's surrounded by the best people in Australia. It's no coincidence that a lot of the Australian team are NSWelsh. Apart from the support team of the coaches, Hughes will be surrounded by the likes of Jaques, Katich, Clarke, Haddin who will all know what he's going through.

So expect Hughes to be playing in the 2014 World Cup and be captaining Australia by 2020. Maybe. I don't know much about his captaincy skills. But I'm giving him such a big plug now, might as well go all the way.

Perry watch #2

2008-03-23T21:37:00.001+11:00

Ellyse Perry has just finished her first international tour. And a real tour it was too, against New Zealand, who I understand to be the number 2 ranked team in the world which is probably wrong. The point is, she may not have achieved the same lofty heights she did back in February, but she still did enough to keep us (read me) interested.

She played all 5 games and opened the bowling all but once. For a youngster, that's impressive. In the first match, she helped bowl the side to victory, picking up the first wicket and then being miserly for the rest of her spell. The second game was one to forget, as she got smashed all around the park. She sealed the deal in the fourth, bowling the final over and picking up the last wicket to draw the series level. And then she got tonked again in the final match.

Apart from her bowling, which I'm sure is improving without having to see any pictures, she managed her first international half century. And although it didn't take her team to victory, at least it took them to a competitive score.

You may not realise this, but I do like this girl. Which makes it all the more painful when others can't track her progress like I will be doing.
But then, that's a problem with a lot of womens sports. Damn this lack of equality and stuffs.

Go ICC!!

2008-03-14T22:29:00.001+11:00

So the Australian Cricketer's Association has announced their Pura Cup Team of the season. Looking back at my team, I was actually pretty close. I missed Chris Rogers, only because his season didn't quite reach the lofty heights of last season. I got the wrong Marsh, who would've known they'd pick the old, dirty uncle of the one I chose. Got the wrong keeper, but Haddin didn't fit my criteria. The big miss was Ryan Harris, one of the Redbacks' flurry of allrounders. I'm glad I got Matthew Inness, and I picked him before his late season charge and retirement. Go me. Yay.

In other news, Safrica have rightly regained their position as the best team in the world. They had to earn their 3-0 series win against Bangladesh while Australia failed to put away the listless Indians. But not all the congratulations should go to Safrica, the ICC and their great rankings deserve an ovation. Only the ICC could devise a system where a team can begin the year at number 2, rise to number 1, win a world cup, an away ODI series against one of the powerhouses and lose a single series to lose top spot. And yet we still wonder why world cricket is on a slow decline to crap.

Thanks, Georgey

2008-02-27T21:40:00.002+11:00

Hoggy announced his retirement. I'm kind of sad. He wasn't a great player in his own right, but when he played, Australia usually won. He won 86 of his 121 matches for Australia, a shade over 71%. For an averagely skilled left arm spinner, this is an amazing stat. It isn't even dulled down by the fact that he played in Australia's greatest period as an ODI team. He showed that spinners are still important in the one day game, and not as a defensive option, but as a wicket taker during the middle/boring part of the innings.

He was employed by Ricky Ponting in quite a simple manner. He came to the fore in the second innings, usually after the batters had racked up a big score and the seamers had prised out two or three wickets. The run rate was climbing, or already very high, and the batters had to hit out. And the even better thing was spinners are usually the targets, but Hogg was good enough to get pummelled yet still take wickets. Just as a partnership would look a little threatening, he'd have one of the batters caught on the mid-wicket boundary. In fact, he made the boundary rider on the leg side a catching position.

I have a number of memories of him but only one will ever stand out. And it's not the time I went to watch an ODI in Melbourne and saw him pick up his career best bowling return. The thing I will remember about Hogg happened in the 2003 World Cup in Safrica. Australia were playing the Zims at Bulawayo and Zimbabwe were well placed in the first innings, setting themselves up for a big total. The Flowers were batting together, something I'm sure the Zimmers have missed since 2003. They were about 2 for 100-odd before Grant got run out. Then, sensing blood, Hoggy goes in for the kill. Flower faced up to him, having already scored 62 runs from his previous 90 balls in the innings. Hoggy slips one in short. Flower moves back, preparing to cut. Only it turns out Hogg bowled a flipper and the ball went on to take out Andy Flower's off stump. It was an amazing delivery, it's amazingness only exceeded by it coming from no where.

So to you Hoggy, I thank you. You filled seemingly unfillable shoes. You completed the Australian team. And now Australia may well and truly actually struggle for a bit until someone else steps up.

More tribute posts to follow, however only for the retiring players, so I'll be set for a week or so.

Let the DJ bat

2008-02-20T20:53:00.000+11:00

I am taking back everything I wrote yesterday. Sure, there may not be a place in the current Australian team for David Hussey, but that shouldn't stop him getting a berth.

The best thing about him is that he plays the innings that makes you fall in love with him. There are those that just amass runs ad nauseum and win over fans by taking teams to trophies and whatnot. People like Hayden and Katich are prime examples.

Then there are those that charm the pants off you. They play the big knocks, the important ones. They take your team to victory when it seemed a loss was inevitable. They walk into a seemingly mundane situations and proceed to play absolutely extraordinary innings. They do stuff that shouldn't be possible, and never will be again. At least intentionally.

David Hussey is the latter. Today he walked in with the platform well set and he did what every batter dreams of doing, start belting the crap out of the bowlers as soon as possible. And the best thing? He never even contemplated slowing down. Apart from today, I also remember him playing a blinder of an innings in a Twenty20 game last season. Chasing a sizable total, he walks in and just sends balls over the boundary to take Vics to the win very comfortably.

He's a charmer. He needn't worry about who's bowling to him. All he has to worry about is how many runs are needed and how quickly he's going to get them.

So here, I shall pledge my support to DJ, and I ask you to do the same at Cricket With Ball's petition.

DJ's chances

2008-02-19T20:22:00.001+11:00

The Hussey brothers are wierd specimens. Both of them are wildly talented batters who make ridiculous amounts of runs and both, until the younger one ruined it, were unable to get close to Australian selection. Michael Edward Killeen finally got picked for Australia in 2004 (it was that long ago?!) and since then proceeded to bat the pants off any one that dared lob a ball at him. He watched on helplessly as the Australians lost the Ashes in embarrassing fashion. I was plugging him for a Test debut after the second Test, but Michael Clarke was still the golden boy and Simon Katich had crabbed his way to a butt load of runs in the subcontinent. Finally they get him into the Test team. He debuts opening the innings, quite oddly his preferred position but RT just won't let him bat there. No one would ever have a better opportunity to make a debut century. Pretty good form, pretty crap opposition and a home Test. But then he ruins it all by hooking, something he hasn't done since.

So what will it take for David Hussey to be given a serious run? Will he adopt the Shane Watson style of thinking and try like hell to mould himself into whatever cricketer Andrew Hilditch wants him to be. He wouldn't though, he has too much dignity. Will he come in after Australia lose in England next year (which I reckon they will)? I don't think he has that much time. He's good, but there's youth.

Then how is he going to get in? The simple answer is to keep scoring runs at the rate he is now. In fact he's slowed down of late, I remember he was averaging 60 in First class cricket a couple seasons ago. Apart from that, there's not much he can do except pray for an injury. Let's face it, there just isn't room unless the ICC change the rules and start playing 12 a side Test cricket. Clarke has been earmarked as FAC (Future Australian Captain) and we have discovered that Symo is a better spinner than Hogg.

So while lots of people are calling for DJ's inclusion, I'm just being realistic. Well maybe a hint of cynicism. In an ideal world, Clarke would have just been a himbo who scored a debut century then fizzled out. DJ would have taken his spot and Cameron White would've replaced Watson once he got injured. But the selectors' penchance for screwing Victorians has killed this little world of mine.

If we should concentrate our efforts on anyone, it should be Peter Siddle. With Tait bailing on cricket for a while and Hilfenhaus sending down poo, I suspect he'd only be behind Noffke and Bracken for the third seamer's spot.

That being said (it's back tracking time), I'd still like to see a Victorian in the side. And not just a one off, pity game. But having a geniune run in the team, and possibly even keeping a NSW boy out of the side.

Perry watch

2008-02-16T20:35:00.001+11:00

Ellyse Perry made her Test match debut yesterday. Pretty damn impressive for a 17 year old, even if it's for the women's team. In fact, because it is the women's team it's even more impressive.

On the first day, when the ball was hooping about the place, Perry walked to the middle 5 wickets down for not many runs. She staged a mini recovery with Kate Blackwell, the recent ODI centurion, adding 50 for the sixth wicket. She fought hard for her 21 runs in Testing conditions by anyone's standards.

Perry fighting hard (nicked from cricinfo)

Later on in the day, with only 159 runs behind her, she comes out to open the bowling. She bowls a tight line and doesn't give an inch to the much more experienced England players. She takes their one and only wicket that night, forcing Atkins to edge behind. The next day, i.e. today, she continues to bowl with pep and pace to pick up another wicket, that of Charlotte Edwards no less.

So far in her debut Test, she's doing her job. Offering support with the bat and taking wickets with the ball. If this were in the mens game, we'd have very old retirees saying Perry is currently the number 1 bowler in the world, even though it's clearly not warranted.

I'll continue following Perry's career, just because I'm growing an interest in the women's game. At least they provide competitive cricket.

Oh Samson!

2008-02-10T22:15:00.000+11:00

From what I gather after following Mahendra Singh's career, which I haven't, there are two Dhonis when batting. There is the wildly charismatic Dhoni, who uses immense power and flair to lash boundaries all around the ground. And then there's the stone wall Dhoni, who shuts up shop completely and defends his wicket like it's his mother.

The former is the Dhoni people grew to love. That was the Dhoni that powered to 183 from 145 balls against the Lankans and 148 from 123 against Pakistan in 2005. Everyone knew a gem had been uncovered and he was suddenly the newest pin up boy. He continued on his merry way, slamming 148 from 153 against Pakistan in the Test series the following year. That is the Dhoni everyone wants to see.

The latter is the Dhoni the Indian team needed. Someone to pull their head in and bat in high pressure situations down the order. Reign in the natural scoring urges and just occupy the crease. This was on show in England last year, when he batted almost the entire day for only 76 runs. He showed the guts and maturity to just hang around and play for the team.

Unfortunately for Australian cricket fans, and at some points the Indian team, it was the second Dhoni that came to Australia. In this Test series, he batted all 8 times, faced 376 balls for only 141 runs at a strike rate of 37.50. This was on show again tonight, during the chase. This is quite boring batting.

Just one more thing. At one stage, India were 5 down for about 100 needing only 60 more to win. It shows the strength of the Australian team that they were able to wrestle the top position at that moment, even though India still had about 25 overs to score the runs. Of course, this may have just been false hope by the Australian commentators, but there was some visible pressure on the batsmen.

Perryfic

2008-02-10T16:11:00.000+11:00

Watching the highlights of the women's 20/20 game this morning, I couldn't help but notice a couple things. For one, none of the women use the Matty Hayden style bats (i.e. hand carved from an entire forest), which means they have to rely a lot on timing. And I have a new hero in Ellyse Perry.

Perry celebrating... something (nicked from cricinfo)

She's a bit of an amazing cricketer. Apart from only being 17 years old, she's able to bowl at over 110 clicks, give the ball a good thump and field like a young Michael Clarke. The thing that impressed me most was her straight six. There were a lot of things going against her.

A) She's only 17, which means she hasn't fully developed yet, physically.
B) She's a girl. So not only is she still growing, she just doesn't have the muscle build of a boy.
C) Her bat is as thin as... bats should be. Not the trees the boys carry around. This means she really had to find the sweet spot.
D) The bowler was sending them down at about 80 clicks, so she had to make all the pace
E) And it was a straight six, the only boundary that wasn't roped in a further 10 metres.

I applaud Channel 9 for showing the highlights to the match. It's important to give women's cricket exposure. I actually kind of like it. There's more focus on technique, rather than bludgeoning the ball. Batters have to time the ball and hit the gaps. And as the bowlers are a lot slower, the keeper stands up to the stumps a lot more, which means you can see the full range of wicketkeeping skills.

Life is easier horizontal (nicked from cricinfo)

That's why I hope Perry succeeds in cricket, and stays away from the devil that is soccer. She's also not ugly, so she could potentially do what Shane Watson did for Australia cricket. Make it pretty.

White Power!

2008-02-09T22:02:00.000+11:00

The other night Victoria beat Queensland quite easily. This is surprising considering the Vics usually lose to the Bulls, regardless of form. More importantly however, CL White showcases yet another of his wonderful qualities.

Huggles (nicked from cricinfo)

White is greeted by a tense situation. The usual hero, DJ Huss, has finally failed. He's out there with BJ on a slugging pitch against what can only be described as a group of men rolling the arm over at varying speeds.

First he focuses on rebuilding. Singles are the go. Another wicket would be detrimental. After about half an hour, he gets bored and slams a six over long on. With the required run rate up around 5 and a half, he Bulls finally look like they're getting on top. Then he takes the Powerplay. From that moment on, the Vics take full control of the game and run away with it.

White had a very good game. Not just with that bat, where he batted with maturity and brains, but with the ball and with the captain's hat. As a captain, he could potentially offer Ricky Ponting something that RT would never had had. The ability to captain a fairly average group of players and inspire them to something much more. White is used to having first grade club bowlers at his disposal with Victoria and a pretty average team plus Andy Caddick at Somerset.

This is why White should be ushered into the team. He shouldn't just enter the team, the team should be reshaped to suit him. HE needs to be the Yuvraj Singh of Australia.

NZ vs Eng

2008-02-09T18:39:00.000+11:00

England, after letting people believe they are actually a good side, get the pants beaten off them by New Zealand. A flurry of Kiwi wickets at the end may look pretty on paper, but there's no denying the fact the kiwis were the dominate of the pair.

"You did what now?!" (nicked from cricinfo)

Looking at the scorecard, because that's the only way I can follow the match, England were never in it. They lost wickets consistently, and bad wickets too. Five were bowled and three were run out. This suggests two things. The conditions were superb for bowling and the Kiwis were exceptional in the field. However looking at exactly how they got out, it's quite the opposite. Cook got a good one, but Bell, Pietersen and Mustard all played awful shots. Bopara played the wrong shot for the occasion and perished. Collingwood, Swann and Broad got run out in stupid fashion.

So what can we learn from this? Youngsters should be banned from watching England play one day cricket. It's for their own good, like a curfew. Hopefully England fly in some sort of specialist coach to teach them how to run between wickets and build partnerships.

Well rounded cricketer

2008-02-08T18:26:00.000+11:00

I like the idea of fat cricketers, but I still don't like it when I actually see one. In all sports nowadays, professionalism is slowly taking over. Which means that the large majority of sports people are athletes. Fat cricketers defy this professionalism, and for that I tip my hat to them.

In the old days, you could get away with being a top class cricketer without having to actually be that fit. People like Inzi, Lehmann, Boon, Merv and Warne showed talent alone is good enough. But one day cricket has almost shattered that. Suddenly you couldn't just sit at slip all day. You had to field on the circle and give chase to balls. When batting, you had to run hard at the end of the innings. Every run was important. The great thing about those mentioned, they overcame these problems. I'm not quite sure how, but they were never great liabilities to their respective teams. That's why it warms my heart to see Jesse Ryder.

Our new favourite Ryder (nicked from cricinfo)

Ryder is a big lad. A very big lad. He's not big in a kind of way you'd be scared of him. In fact, he's the kind of big that makes you want to hug him. But he's not big enough to hamper his cricket skills. By all accounts, he hits the ball hard and is quite a handy bowler. His stats are really impressive for such a young man, all of 23 years old, even if he's only playing in New Zealand.

I hope he does come good. New Zealand do happen to produce some good players. It just so happens that they produce a lot of rubbish ones. But they're always a team I'd support, except when playing Australia. Nothing they do can make up for the 3-0 drubbing last year, not to mention the damage they did to Huss' chances of leading Australia.

Great bunch of chuckers

2008-02-06T21:53:00.000+11:00

Watching Sri Lanka the other day, I couldn't help but be impressed. Not by their bowling, but more the fielding. It seems that they don't have any crap fielders.

It starts off with the keeper, King Kumar. More than capable behind the stumps, although he did drop a catch. He knows what he's doing behind the stumps and most importantly, he can keep to Murali.

Standing next to him is one of the better slippers going around, Jaywads. He's developed into quite a brilliant captain and a very accomplished first slip. And as we have all learnt since the departure of Warne, the first slip is the third most important fielding position. Next to him is Dilshan, I think. He's not quite a specialist slipper, more an all round fielder. Good enough to chuck anywhere and expect good stops.

To complement these behind the wicket, they have a flurry of young, athletic batsmen who fling themselves around. Leela (Tharanga), Silva and Kapugedera are quick across the turf and have fairly decent arms. They're still young so they can develop further into even greater throwers and catchers. In addidtion to them is Sunny, the old timer. Although he may be older than cricket itself, he can still field a good ball. He's always been one of the best fielders in the Sri Lankan team. The fact that he still is shows just what an athlete he is.

The bowlers aren't half bad either. Malinga and Vaas may not be in the Brett Lee category but they're still at or above Nathan Bracken's, which is pretty good for a tiny young slinger and an old, old medium pacer. Murali is probably the worst of the whole lot however. He's a bit slow to get to the ball and he has a throwing action to make any coach cringe. But he makes up for his obvious lack of ability with an amazing amount of effort. The fact that he never dives means he's little legs pump as hard as he can to get him to the ball on time. When Murali doesn't have the ball in his hand, he's one of my favourite cricketers.

What prompted my sudden love with the art of Lankan fielding was the effort they put in against India. The one stand out was someone fielding at around point. Murali bowled to Gambit who dabbed to just behind point. The fielder sprinted a good 15 metres, flung himself at the ball and had a shy at the stumps. What impressed me most was the fact that at the point of release, he was parallel to the ground and the ball only missed the stumps by a whisker.

You can train men to sprint hard. You can train them to pick the ball up cleanly. You can train them to throw the ball hard and fast. But you just can't train flair like that.

Washup

2008-02-01T23:24:00.000+11:00

I think it's safe to say India got the pants beaten off them. But you can't be too harsh, there was a lot of things going against them.

For one, the Australian team are just so damn professional, it's almost scary. They took their catches, threw the stumps down and hustled the batsmen. What impressed me most were the throws from the outfield. Every time, the throw came in hard, low and right next to the stumps. Whereas India's throws felt like they took an extra 5 seconds to come in, which always allowed for another run. And Australia quickly assessed the pitch as a slow and low thing, amazingly just like the pitch they played on during the Test match and every other game played at the MCG, a lot quicker than the Indians and adjusted accordingly. You could see that the Aussie's throws were always on the bounce, doing their best to soften up the ball. And then Clarke employed his part timers to great effect.

And the other thing is the crowd. It's always amazing how much of an effect the crowd have on the teams. Over 84,000 people is ridiculous. Almost too ridiculous. A fraction of them were going for India. Another way to look at it, the majority of the crowd were against Harbhajan. Clarke's run out at the start of the game did wonders to gee up the crowd. Seeing a run out live is an amazing thing, because from the crowd you can't see the angle of the throw. All you see is the stumps flying. I could almost infer that Clarke, before the team went out on the ground, asked that they hit the stumps very early on, just to win over the crowd. Even if he didn't, it certainly worked. The very young, yet appropriate age for this format, Indians got lost in the crowd. Or perhaps it was just the rashness of youth. Either way, adrenalin and cricket don't always mix.

A big fat tick goes next to Clarke's name in the captaincy column in my book. He actually did an astounding job tonight. He set good fields, smart fields, was willing the try some things out and handled his bowlers very well. Using the part time spin of Dave Huss and Voges showed how he saw the pitch and it worked a treat. However the best thing is he leads from the front. That run out. That fielding. That catch. He even opened the batting. The only thing he didn't do right was let Dave Huss and Voges open the batting, to give them a bit of exposure. But then that's only my personal preference.

A very good night. I wouldn't have gone even if I had the money though. Sell out crowds scare me.

20/20 still confusing

2008-01-31T18:18:00.000+11:00

Twenty20 cricket is a funny thing. It came out to lure in all the young, attractive people that have the attention spans of young, attractive people. Over a number of years, it turned into an actual format of the game. Although the English did do it first, I won't say invented because all they did was lop 30 overs off an innings, it was the other countries that really made it worth while. Safrica and Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 competitions are probably the top in the world. This is because even though England have been playing it longer, these other countries have the abled players to make it good.

So on the domestic scene, Twenty20 can be seen as just another format of the game with another trophy up for grabs. The best thing about this is that it is a much more level playing field, which is why Victoria has been able to win so much.

The international Twenty20 game is a different prospect altogether. There aren't any series for this, barring the World Twenty20 which was a great, big success. It's often used as an overture before a series commences or as a final money grabbing stint involving tired players at the end of the tour. It really shouldn't be taken seriously in the context of the series. A quick hit and giggle is all it is and all it should remain.

This means teams should use the Twenty20 games to experiment with players. Some teams may, I get the feeling Windies do. And the Indian team did it with great effect during the World Twenty20. However Australia refuses to even try.

Sure, Pomersbach played in the one against New Zealand, but that was due to luck and chance. These games are short, attract big crowds and really test the player's natural ability. So why not expose some of the younger boys like Marsh, Ronchi, Bollinger, Bailey or McGain. Or give the fringe players like White a good run.

This is why I believe an age limit should be installed. Restricting the players to under 30 may sound reasonable, but if the ICC do it, they have to do it right. Instead of individual age limits, put a total age limit on the starting XI. And people making international debuts can add 2 years to the limit. However who have played at least 50 Tests or 150 ODIs take 2 years off.

And the umpires should be the next batsmen in. Or at least some parents of the players.

Stupid Hilditch

2008-01-30T15:20:00.000+11:00

Australia has selected their Twenty20 squad for Friday, and I have to say it's a very strange squad. The squad is MJ, Gilly, RT, Hodgkins, Symmo, Huss, Dave Huss, Voges, Hopers, Bingles, Noffers, Bracks and Hilfers. What's interesting is they've opted to rest Hayden and Johnson, the oldest and youngest people in the current Test team.

Twenty20 being such a fast pace, you'd expect it to be a sort of an experiment ground for teams, especially those with such settled teams like Australia. Gilly, Lee, RT and Huss probably should have been rested as well, with Ronchi, Bollinger, Pomersbach and Marsh filling their spots.

The announcement of this team shuts out performers like those mentioned for this summer, since there are no other opportunities unless they are drafted in for a match during the CB series.

And you can argue that Australia want to win it. If they really want to win it, then why not play people who had spent the past month playing it, rather than old guys who were too busy playing Test cricket.

Just looking at the PM XI vs Lanka scorecard, I can immediately see why the Australian team failed with the bat so miserably. The top seven read Ronchi, Marsh, Pomersbach, Hussey, White, Hughes and Ferguson. Of those seven names, six of them are top order batsmen, and the sole specialist opener was batting at six. So well done Mr. Rudd. I can tell you Johnny wouldn't have made that mistake. He'd have picked Steve Waugh.

Kumble that mean man

2008-01-28T21:37:00.001+11:00

The fourth Test between Australia and India today finished in a disappointing draw. I say disappointing because Gilly wasn't given a bowl in his final Test match. He bloody better get one in his final ODI.

Anil Kumble did his best to draw the match and lose the series. The first innings went on way too long. It should have ended about 20-30 minutes before tea on the second day. There was absolutely no point batting on into tea and then that extra over afterwards. What it did was eat time and give the Australian openers a great chance to gather their thoughts, put their feet up for 20 minutes and generally get re-juiced. If he had given them a nasty little period of 5 or so overs before tea, at least the fresh bowlers could have a good dig at tired batsmen. That was Kumble's first mistake.

His second came in the field. Not his dropped catch, much earlier. I have never seen more defensive fields by someone with 500 behind them. Let the Aussies score at 4 an over, at least you then have a chance to dismiss them on an absolute road of a pitch. You know it's flat when Michael Clarke makes runs on it. Granted, he lost RP. But Sharma was bowling as well as anyone I've ever seen and there are two spinners who have bowled out Australia by themselves on numerous occasions. So Kumble let Australia drift their way past their score.

His final mistake came in batting again. He did not need to bat for the entire day. The match was as safe as houses going into tea. Now the last impression Australia will have of India is them being so shit scared of losing the match, they just batted out the entire day without any intent at all. If Kumble put Australia back in, a couple of wickets would've done the bowlers the world of good.

Ok that last one may just be my anger at him not letting Gilly have a real good send off. I'm sure Ponting was going to let Gilly bowl the last over before Kumble declared on him. That's why Mark Boucher will always have the wood on Gilly, at least Boucher has a Test wicket.

Opening up

2008-01-28T21:21:00.000+11:00

This blog is named Good areas, work hard, keep it simple. Some may know where this is from. Those who don't, it can be heard in almost any sports media conference uttered by a player who is obviously buggered but must fulfil these media obligations.

However this is not a general sports blog, although it may be come winter time. I write about cricket here. I may even ask some of my friends to write about cricket here. It depends.

As a cricketer, I was always a fairly prominent figure in a struggling team. But that wasn't due to my ability, just that I was in a really crap team for all 4 years of under age cricket and I was barely above the average.

I started as a left arm quick. I ambled up to the wicket and sent the ball down where ever it felt like going. Some times down leg side, some times off side or just some times at the head. In the second half of my Under 14s season, I developed swing. Or I learnt how to swing, from the Channel 9 Masterclass with Tubby no less, and this bought me wickets. Not a large number, but enough to give me confidence. From that moment, I would average about two wickets a game in the early part of the season when the ball would swing under overcast skies and then pretty much wicketless when the swing went.

In that time, I also went from batting at number 12 to opening the batting in one swift swoop. There was a good reason for it, I'm just yet to figure it out. But I enjoyed the challenge, facing the best bowlers. I failed more times than I care to remember. My best moment as an opener was playing out 38 overs for 17 runs against the top team and eventual runners up. The reason for the go-slow was because we lost about 5 wickets in 5 overs and we were never going to win anyway. It was the one and only time I made it to double figures opening the batting. The sad thing is I was never the first man out, instead the third or fourth.

Towards the back end of my playing days, my bowling action changed a whole lot. I decided to go for a bit more of a sling action, likened to Wasim Akram by one opposition coach, and I also dabbed in the finger spinners. I also become first slip in my final season, a failed experiment. Six games at first slip and not a single catch. I didn't actually drop any, just a number went between me and the keeper. Part my fault, part bowler's for not producing edges.

So there is my cricketing history briefly. Now I just watch it and play it occasionally. I look forward to many more posts about how great Cameron White is.