gocatsgo
14 Feb 2001, 03:46
Does anyone think that the Allan Border medal has any credibility? Personally I think not.
In my opinion, anything that is decided by the media should be a seperate award and the medal should be decided on peer votes alone.
Personally I feel that Mark Waugh was ripped off because he isn't as accessable to the media as his brother. Steve while a champion cricketer and all round legend of the game, did not have the same 12 months as his brother. Steve received 39 media votes while Mark received 31, yet the players saw fit to award Mark 7 more votes than they did for Steve.
Added to this, does anyone else notice the sham where only 6 or 7 players can actually win the award. The Waughs, McGrath, Ponting, B.Lee, Warne, Gilchrist and to a lesser extent Martyn are the only one's with a realistic chance of taking it out. Slater, Langer, Bevan, Harvey, Symonds etc can not win.
I realise they try to get around this by providing a test player and a One Day player award, but surely they are two different styles of cricket and should be judged on their merits which doesn't give extra rating to the test players.
Funky Miller wins the best test player - he was 12th man half of the time, and only polled in 2 or 8 matches, surely there is a better way to do this, maybe even a 5,4,3,2,1 would be better in the test matches and have both the limited overs and test matches have equal value.
Added to this, Who is to say the Darren Lehmann is the State Player of the year? Personally I think that Greg Bleewett, Matthew Inness and Brad Hodge would feel a little peeved about not even getting a nomination.
Why not have the same voting system for this award? Yes I realise it is difficult because there are 2 teams involved, so why not get the umpires to vote?
And Bracken the best young cricketer in the country - Puhlease!!!! Giving Bracken this award sets a dangerous precedent, ie any young player that gets picked in the Australian team for One day International matches looks almost certain to win. I can't see the test team changing that much in the next couple of years, so any young player who gets the opportunity at ODI level is almost a shoe in for the award.
And lets be honest, is Steve Waugh going to receive the same adulation for winning this award as Paul Couch, Tony Liberatore, Jim Stynes, Shane Crawford and Shane Woewodin - I think not. I get the feeling that his life won't change with endorsements and such as it did for the above mentioned footballers, and the only reason he had a sleepless night was because he was worrying about the plane trip to India. Not because there were people ringing him up congratulating him on winning the award.
To gain any sought or credibility, the AB medal needs a complete revamp.
Thoughts?
In my opinion, anything that is decided by the media should be a seperate award and the medal should be decided on peer votes alone.
Personally I feel that Mark Waugh was ripped off because he isn't as accessable to the media as his brother. Steve while a champion cricketer and all round legend of the game, did not have the same 12 months as his brother. Steve received 39 media votes while Mark received 31, yet the players saw fit to award Mark 7 more votes than they did for Steve.
Added to this, does anyone else notice the sham where only 6 or 7 players can actually win the award. The Waughs, McGrath, Ponting, B.Lee, Warne, Gilchrist and to a lesser extent Martyn are the only one's with a realistic chance of taking it out. Slater, Langer, Bevan, Harvey, Symonds etc can not win.
I realise they try to get around this by providing a test player and a One Day player award, but surely they are two different styles of cricket and should be judged on their merits which doesn't give extra rating to the test players.
Funky Miller wins the best test player - he was 12th man half of the time, and only polled in 2 or 8 matches, surely there is a better way to do this, maybe even a 5,4,3,2,1 would be better in the test matches and have both the limited overs and test matches have equal value.
Added to this, Who is to say the Darren Lehmann is the State Player of the year? Personally I think that Greg Bleewett, Matthew Inness and Brad Hodge would feel a little peeved about not even getting a nomination.
Why not have the same voting system for this award? Yes I realise it is difficult because there are 2 teams involved, so why not get the umpires to vote?
And Bracken the best young cricketer in the country - Puhlease!!!! Giving Bracken this award sets a dangerous precedent, ie any young player that gets picked in the Australian team for One day International matches looks almost certain to win. I can't see the test team changing that much in the next couple of years, so any young player who gets the opportunity at ODI level is almost a shoe in for the award.
And lets be honest, is Steve Waugh going to receive the same adulation for winning this award as Paul Couch, Tony Liberatore, Jim Stynes, Shane Crawford and Shane Woewodin - I think not. I get the feeling that his life won't change with endorsements and such as it did for the above mentioned footballers, and the only reason he had a sleepless night was because he was worrying about the plane trip to India. Not because there were people ringing him up congratulating him on winning the award.
To gain any sought or credibility, the AB medal needs a complete revamp.
Thoughts?