Australia are Ageing

Remove this Banner Ad

lamby29

Premiership Player
Oct 9, 2002
3,129
82
Melbourne
Other Teams
Melbourne
Hayden: 31 years old
Langer: 32
Ponting: 27
M Waugh: 37
S Waugh: 37
Martyn: 31
Gilchrist: 30
Warne: 32
Lee: 25
Gillespie: 27
McGrath: 32
Bichel: 32


The majority of our current team will be gone in five years!
 

Log in to remove this ad.

interesting fact:

for the first test, australia fielded a side that had a combined total of 716 test caps. that is the most in the history of the game from any team.

i think of the current side, only 4 have made their debut post 1993!!! not a bad effort, still going strong, best side ever IMO.

Langer - Debut: 1993 Caps: 52
Hayden - Debut: 1993 Caps: 31
Ponting - Debut: 1995 Caps: 57
M Waugh - Debut: 1991 Caps: 126
S Waugh - Debut: 1985 Caps: 149
Martyn - Debut: 1992 Caps: 26
Gilchrist - Debut: 1999 Caps: 32
Warne - Debut: 1992 Caps: 102
Lee - Debut: 1999 Caps: 22
Gillespie - Debut: 1996 Caps: 34
McGrath - Debut: 1993 Caps: 85
 
Originally posted by Slax
So what.

Most teams have a majority of their players between 25-34. Look at England and you will find Stewart still running around at 39. Batsmen can go on quite easily till they're in the mid 30s and bowlers it is a question of who well the body is holding up.

alec stewart?? when was this posted... august last year??
 
Originally posted by nicko18


alec stewart?? when was this posted... august last year??

:confused: :confused:


i dont see the problem with the Australian team getting old. It will simply mean that first class will continually be old, and people won't start making their test debuts anymore (except in very rare cases of talent) until they're at least 25.

There is nothing wrong with that, its just a thing.

Cricket is the type of sport where you can play at a very high level well into your thirties.

As this is the first generation of first class cricketers to come through as professionals, we have seen a lot of players stick around when in other era's they would've thought it's time to move on and give someone else a go. Nowadays they dont wanna do this. Who wouldn't wanna get paid to play cricket??

This hasn't done anything to the standard of the First Class competition - look at the test team. It's just pushed the age of first class crickets (and in suit, test cricketers) higher than what it usually is and it's simply pushed the first class careers of the generation of cricketers who are now around 25-26-27-28 back by a few years (both the start and finish of their careers).

If you can understand what i'm trynig to say there than thats cool, if you can't just say so and i'll try and explain it better. It is a bit vague.
 
Mark Waugh:

1st v Eng - 49
2nd v Eng - 108 & 0*
3rd v Eng - 15 & 42*
4th v Eng - 72 & 24*
5th v Eng - 120

430 runs @ 86.00

only bettered by his brother, Steve - 321 runs @ 107.00
not a bad effort last time he played the poms
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

he clobbred Zimbabwe once :D:D


nah in all seriousness he is sturggling, and he has had the occasional good series (v New Zealand, West Indies and England). He seriously needs to be doing more than that.
 
Originally posted by nicko18
but obviously he relishes the pommie attack.

go figure how damien martyn escapes the firing line with recent scores of:

2,0,11,0,67,20,34,0

not terribly impressive at all


he is struggling but it is not as sustained as absence from runs as Mark Waugh.

Plus the innings before that streak of Martyn's was a ton, as wa the innings two before that one.
 
Originally posted by hourn



he is struggling but it is not as sustained as absence from runs as Mark Waugh.

Plus the innings before that streak of Martyn's was a ton, as wa the innings two before that one.

ok, here is a stat you wont find on cricinfo, but is also a useful guide to how a player is going

mark waugh's innings (in the last 12 months) are centred around 25, i.e. 50% of his scores are below 25, and 50% are above, wheras damian martyn's are centred around 20.

sure, martyn has got a couple of tons, but his scores are consistently lower than Marks, as mark waugh always seems to get a start, whereas martyn harldy ever does.
 
the difference between 25 and 20 is very minimal and is really picking hairs so to speak.

You can just tell by looking at Mark Waugh that he isn't as good as he was. His footwork is terrible early on now. It used to be lazy at times, but now he's just too slow. As Steve Waugh has been, but he seems to have played his way back into form,l or at least hopefully he has.

Damien Martyn's isn't any other problem than the fact he is just playing the wrong shots at the wrong time. That wil turn around. Martyn is a class act, he'll prove it as well.
 
Originally posted by DaveW
and?
I don't know what Lamby is getting at, but I think it is a concern. Most of those players are replaceable, except 2 of them, and that is the problem. Warne and McGrath are getting on we need replacements to come through in the next 2-4 years. Not easy to replace someone who has been voted as one of Wisden's top 5 cricketers of the century.
 
Originally posted by nicko18


ok, here is a stat you wont find on cricinfo, but is also a useful guide to how a player is going

mark waugh's innings (in the last 12 months) are centred around 25, i.e. 50% of his scores are below 25, and 50% are above, wheras damian martyn's are centred around 20.

sure, martyn has got a couple of tons, but his scores are consistently lower than Marks, as mark waugh always seems to get a start, whereas martyn harldy ever does.

Sure you can find it on cricinfo.

Put the player's name into StatsGuru search. Go to their test player profile. Click advanced filter. Plug in a start date / end date. Choose innings by innings list in the batting formats. Click submit. On the next page click the 'Runs' subtitle. You have an ordering of all their scores over that time period. Finally (here's where you have to do some of the work), work halfway down the list to their median score. Simple :)

It is interesting Martyn has made seven (one not out) single-figure scores in the time Waugh has made four. But at the other end Martyn three triple figure scores in that time to Waugh's none.
 
I think some are underestimating the issue of the ageing Australian side.

The main problem isn't the high average age of the Australian side, but that many of the players on the fringe of selection aren't any younger.

  • Michael Bevan is 32 years, 5 months
  • Stuart MacGill will be 32 in February (less of a factor as he's a spinner, but close in age to Warne)
  • Michael Slater will be 33 in February
  • Andy Bichel turned 32 in August
  • Michael Kasprowicz turns 31 in February
  • Greg Blewett turns 31 later this month
  • Darren Lehmann turns 33 next February
  • Jamie Cox turned 33 earlier this month
  • Matthew Elliott turned 31 last month
  • Damien Fleming turns 32 last April
  • Ian Harvey turned 30 last April
  • Ryan Campbell turns 31 next February

Certainly there are others below 30 playing domestic cricket who can and will replace the current side, but I wouldn't say there are too many standouts coming through the ranks. Even Rod Marsh a year or so ago commented on the lack of talented young batsmen coming through the system.
 
Originally posted by wagstaff
I think some are underestimating the issue of the ageing Australian side.

The main problem isn't the high average age of the Australian side, but that many of the players on the fringe of selection aren't any younger.

  • Michael Bevan is 32 years, 5 months
  • Stuart MacGill will be 32 in February (less of a factor as he's a spinner, but close in age to Warne)
  • Michael Slater will be 33 in February
  • Andy Bichel turned 32 in August
  • Michael Kasprowicz turns 31 in February
  • Greg Blewett turns 31 later this month
  • Darren Lehmann turns 33 next February
  • Jamie Cox turned 33 earlier this month
  • Matthew Elliott turned 31 last month
  • Damien Fleming turns 32 last April
  • Ian Harvey turned 30 last April
  • Ryan Campbell turns 31 next February

Certainly there are others below 30 playing domestic cricket who can and will replace the current side, but I wouldn't say there are too many standouts coming through the ranks. Even Rod Marsh a year or so ago commented on the lack of talented young batsmen coming through the system.
And you would be over estimating it. Most of the above players aren't even in the picture.

Slater, Blewett, Bevan, Elliott, Fleming, and Kasprowicz are more or less finished and won't play for Australia again (I'm assuming we are talking about test cricket here). MacGill is only a stand in for Warne, and Bichel has always been a bit-part player anyway. Cox, Harvey and Campbell will never play test cricket for Australia, and Lehmann is a short term option.

You have basically made a worst-case scenario. The problem lies in the up and coming 'future' players. Katich (probably the biggest hope) is already 27 and has only played 1 test. Maher and Love and Hodge are all 28, and Hussey is 27. These are decent ages to start a test career, but I'm a bit worried that we have no standout 21-24 year olds.
 
Originally posted by DaveW


Sure you can find it on cricinfo.

Put the player's name into StatsGuru search. Go to their test player profile. Click advanced filter. Plug in a start date / end date. Choose innings by innings list in the batting formats. Click submit. On the next page click the 'Runs' subtitle. You have an ordering of all their scores over that time period. Finally (here's where you have to do some of the work), work halfway down the list to their median score. Simple :)

It is interesting Martyn has made seven (one not out) single-figure scores in the time Waugh has made four. But at the other end Martyn three triple figure scores in that time to Waugh's none.

thanks dave, handy tip ;)
 
Wagstaff,


as i explained before, that is just the way that first class cricket is heading - players are getting older.

That has been sparked by this generation all hanging on the their careers abit longer which has prolonged the debuts (and retirements) of the younger guys coming through. The reason they've held on longer is because of the money.

I dont see the problem with the competition getting older. It's not football where it becomes very hard as you get older. Sure cricket will get older, but not to the extent it does in footy.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Australia are Ageing

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top