BBL|05 Game 28 - Adelaide Strikers vs Hobart Hurricanes @ Adelaide Oval

[hey shorty]

Ludes had 25 dot balls, thats excessive for one batsman in 20/20. He's no Boof Lehmann that could dab a single almost every ball from ball one of his innings.

He had Old Man Hodgey running with him who made easy 2s into singles, and singles into dots. I think the criticism of him is well over the top IMO.

 

[hey shorty]

Wonder what your tune would be re: Ludeman's batting had the last ball not gone for 6.

He put pressure on every other batsman out there and nearly cost you the game.

Taits last over was the key, we were cruising upto that point. I was more critical of Hodge and his running between wickets.

 

[nobbyiscool]

caboose I'm not going to quote your whole post - I don't actually disagree with a lot of what you're saying. However:

- I'm surprised more people aren't prepared to "write off" the first game against the Sixers. For all the talk about the advantage of playing Brisbane twice, playing your first game against a team who has already played one is a huge disadvantage. (From memory, Perth were also in the same boat and lost their first game?)

- I will continue to argue, even as a Stars fan, that international selections is a moot point. Part of your squad selection has to be taking this into account. Even when the Stars lose guys like Hastings and Boland, who they would not have expected to lose when compiling the squad, I don't have any sympathy for that. (It's also worth noting that the best teams "back up" their likely internationals ala Faulkner/Gulbis, Wade/Neville)

- Regarding the batting order, I've said in the last 2 Hurricanes match threads that they've erred in putting Christian in before Wells, so I don't disagree with that. But again, that's down to gameday decisions/player performance. My argument is that these are the problems, not the squad composition or how the team is being run/prepared.

- You talk about the professionalism of the Scorchers - surely the backbone of their success is that they just retain their state team and add a couple of gun players? Don't get me wrong, this is a good tactic - but I'm not really sure of the relevance to the Hurricanes and Tigers. They've clearly geared a team towards long form cricket, and in any case the number of "imports" they have makes them ripe for the picking when guys like Bird and Silk see an opportunity to spend time at "home" for the summer/Christmas period. (Tasmanian parochialism doesn't help - I remember Faulkner saying before the first season that the franchise model sent him to Melbourne, cos he had no allegiance to Hobart.)

- I also don't disagree with what you say about Sammy's performance this season - but it's unfair to bag the squad composition with hindsight. Sammy was a success last season, of course he was coming back. That he hasn't performed is not a reflection on the squad composition - it's only a reflection on Sammy's own form.

- I doubt the media coverage of the Hurricanes is any different to that in the other one-team cities that don't have much on over summer. The difference is just that Perth and Adelaide are better teams.

- It's very easy to say they need improvements - that much is clear. But it's unfair to say this as though everyone should've known that Dunk, Sangakarra, Sammy etc would be arse this season. It's also unfair to bag the bowlers they got/lost when I doubt Reed, Mennie etc were their first choices, and when Hilfenhaus (much as I LOVE the guy) was never much of a T20 bowler.

I've kind of glossed over the primary issue - Hobart struggles to retain Tigers for the BBL, and they are not a destination team for other top level players. That's why they end up with guys like Christian, Mennie and Hill who were rejected by the teams in their own states. It's not easy to find a death bowler at the best of times - I would suggest it's even harder for the Hurricanes (which is why letting Laughlin go is the single worse decision that franchise has ever made).

I'm more than happy to agree that the match day performance has been poor. But the squad composition wasn't, and the suggestion that their preparation is poor when we as outsiders know bugger all about it is annoying.

 

[caboose]

Thanks, nobbyiscool. That's a good post, and definitely gives me some more context about where you're coming from.

I also don't disagree with a lot of what you said in the post either. Although I'm not really sure I agree with the idea that the Sixers game should have just been written off because they'd played a game already.

Yes, you definitely make some good points particularly about the perennial problems for a Tasmanian team in player recruitment and selection. (Although I also tend to think it's actually easier for them in some ways to recruit for T20 with the shortness of the season and the kind of money that's available to use on players across the board.)

As far as the Scorchers go, I think almost everything they do has a better look about it. From off field, back office administration right through to on field performance. From the outside, and I know it's still very early in the history of this competition, they seem to have easily the best culture. Certainly easily the best winning culture.

With their squad, yes, they choose a lot of their home grown players. But they also use a number of them differently and creatively specifically for the T20 format. Agar is a good example this season; Bancroft is another. I don't think Hobart does this, and I also think they've also historically left out some of their better state players anyway. It has always bothered me that they never chose Butterworth, for example, for the Hurricanes, even though he is almost certainly the most outstanding all rounder in Tasmania's cricket history.

Whilst Carberry hasn't been the greatest success, Perth also regularly choose exactly the right imports for their needs. Guys like Gibbs, Arafat and Willey have been superb selections for them - even though, in at least two of those cases, I doubt any of the other franchises would have wanted or even spoken to them.

They play the game in a better organised way, too. I know it's a hard thing to quantify but it strikes me that they have guys batting in the right spots at the right times, they use their bowlers at the right times, and they keep setting excellent fields. They're a great fielding team, too. They also make consistently good decisions under pressure.

Anyway ... I'm sure we could go on and on about all of this. I always need to remind myself, too, that a lot of T20 results really boil down quite frequently to nothing more than a couple of good or bad pieces of luck.

And yes, you're right that people like you and I are guessing from the outside at a number of things. (Although I will say I do know a few of the Hurricanes boys personally.)

At the end of the day, though, it frustrates me that I think Hobart could actually deliver much better results if they were less complacent (which I definitely think they are), better organised and played a smarter all-round game specifically for T20 that actually dials into the right strengths at the right times, and targeted two imports and other players who specifically fill the most glaring gaps in their list.

 

[Cricket_Fanatic]

How does Rose get a game

 

[Gibbke]

Canes are my team. I'm not buying the criticisms of the bowlers - they've done a fairly decent job of keeping us in many games over our history (outside last season, when some of the batting glossed over some huge chases). This season, it's come right down to the batting - generally inept...an ugly little blotch on Sangakkara's career, and Ben Dunk has some serious work to do to regain his once automatic place, he's been that bad. Noone else has managed anything other than a handy cameo or two. A ridiculous batting effort v the Sixers, some key mistakes v the Scorchers at the death, a horrible little collapse v the Strikers last night (not sure if this cost us, because I can't imagine the Strikers pacing themselves that slowly if they had a big total to chase), and the two under par efforts v Melbourne x2...right now, we should be sitting on five wins, preparing for games against teams we would have already beaten...as I watch, the Heat are about to push us to seventh, and then the Sixers get a gimme v a decimated Thunder...we're about to win the spoon...

The lineup was pretty good, as good as any team in this year's comp, but it might be a season or two out of date. We might need to aggressively raid the depths of Australia's junior talent and uncover a couple of good batsmen not snapped up by their respective state franchises. Not many retired players do well in this comp - if he's not a current international, it might be time to introduce a non-recruitment policy...

 

[Hamingja]

Hobart were always going to be a good quick bowler short with the squad they had.

Otherwise I don't think you can criticise their squad make up too much.

Can't really plan for Dunk and Sangakkara sucking so bad.

Letting Hilf and Doherty go were good calls.

Tait and Christian as maligned signings have performed well.

I disagree with the criticism regarding the all rounders above. They needed to strengthen the batting from last year. Having 5 bats (inc keeper), then Christian at 6 and Sammy at 7 (and get 4 overs between them), then 4 bowlers is a good team structure. Milenko did well in the Matador and the game against the Strikers but he was a depth signing, you don't go into the season planning to have an unproven player like him in your XI.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Would Hobart consider getting Birt back?

Rob Quiney is one that other franchises should be targeting. Chuck him in as an opener.