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Nitish Samuel hasn't always timed it perfectly and doesn't always middle it, but overall he has been nice and compact with very good decision making. He has hit the leading edge trying to flick it to square leg multiple times. He needs to fix that.

He has battled hard and generally played each ball on its merits but now is looking a bit restless and is searching for his first (!) boundary. I hope he doesn't let himself down trying to force it.
 
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Ah, after talking Steve up since I first saw him play when he was 15 or so, this feels good.
wedding brooklyn GIF
 
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Watched a couple of Highlights - Malajczuk looked a little like Brevis with that head down club to cow

Hogan looked smooth the whole way, once he fills out a bit watch out I reckon.

Lachmund looks like Sean Abbott 😂
 
Young batsmen who start Shield cricket promisingly often face a second wave of challenges, once there's more footage and data available on them.

Bowling attacks hone in on weaknesses. Favourite scoring areas get closed off. Their technique gets tested.
A case in point Teague Wyllie.
Lachmund looks like Sean Abbot
Better I hope. Does he also bat. Why the tears of joy as Sabba has always been sub international level.

Is this Cup behind the Prime paywall too? YT also has zero footage of the Aussie game.
 
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Great start Aussies. Can see why even tho this is white ball. I liked Hogan's timing and placement. A white ball star is born. Am waiting for him to play a Youth Test before I can say a red ball star is born.
He played youth test against India last year. Top scored in that match which ended up been the highest score by an Aus player across both tests. Didn't play the 2nd test though.


 
Not sure what to make of Nitesh Samuel's innings. 77* off 101 with no boundaries is impressive both ways. Didn't look to play any expansive shots at all, hence the 2s everywhere. Good runner between wickets though.
I look it and think great that he didn't just throw his wicket away.
 
Oh absolutely, he did play well.

I just think he looked just a tad limited on the eye test. But these are 18/19 year olds after all.
Limited can be a strength if he plays to his strengths. We don't need them all to score quickly.
 

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Brisbane back in September/October.


I did miss this. Blowed if I know how. Why did Lee-Young open, usually bats #4/5 for his club. He also batted down the order in that clip I posted where he top scored in both inns in the other Test. He certainly got off to a flyer here but got too cute trying to play a lifter off the back foot that he didnt need to as he had been leaving well up to that point.

A bit of a nervy start by Hogan with several flirts, then he settled. He has a compact technique and plays late, showed patience but punished the loose one. Impressive. Only one minor criticism he could be surer with his spin footwork. What club does he play for as he is now on my to follow list.
 
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I dragged this out of the archives. Subject is Tassie teen Louis Smith scoring a double ton (244) four yrs ago in an U17 rep match I saw live. So impressed were TCA that he was propelled into Premier Cricket at a tender 16 where he hit 50 and bagged three poles in his first game. I followed the Tassie prodigy into that and next season but then lost contact and was later told that he had been struck down by the young growing bowlers curse, back stress. Thankfully Louis has fully recovered and is now on the coveted Emerging Tigers list. In 24/5 he averaged an impressive 18 with the ball and 28 with the bat in PC firsts.
 
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Comment from Peter Di Venuto, regarding CA axing the Tasmanian teams from national junior state championships

Cricket great Peter Di Venuto: Tasmania junior cricket axing was ‘inevitable’

Tasmania’s under-age cricket teams are about to be chopped by Cricket Australia in a restructure that would see the state’s best young players compete in an “Allies” team alongside ACT and NT representatives. See why a state great backs the axe.

One of Tasmania’s most respected cricket figures says Cricket Australia’s decision to scrap the state’s under-age representative teams was inevitable, given the organisation’s financial pressures, the state’s poor national results and the declining number of players progressing to elite level.

Peter Di Venuto, a CTPL Hall of Fame member and Premier Cricket coach for more than 30 years, believes Tasmania’s junior cricket structures have failed to capture and retain talent — particularly in the south of the state.

Cricket Australia has proposed a restructure that would remove Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory from stand-alone representation at national championships. Under the model, Tasmania’s best players would be selected in an “Allies” team alongside players from the ACT and NT, while New South Wales and Victoria would combine their metropolitan and country squads.

“I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I can see their reasoning,” Di Venuto said.

A former Tasmania under-19 representative and Sheffield Shield squad member, Di Venuto has coached extensively in Tasmania and Victoria.

That includes stints with Kingborough, Carlton and Prahran cricket clubs, as well as serving as Director of Coaching at Melbourne Grammar. He is currently coaching CTPL club New Town, while his brother Michael is batting coach of the Australian Test team.

Di Venuto said performance at national championships was the decisive factor in Cricket Australia’s thinking.

“I’m disappointed for Tasmania and the players and coaches, but the reality is that if we were performing well, things might be different,” he said.

“You only have to look at how poorly we’ve performed over the past five years.”

At male level, Tasmania has recorded just five wins from 29 matches at under-19 level and three wins from 24 at Under-17s.

In the female pathway, the results are similarly concerning, with four wins from 40 matches at under-19 level and three wins from 24 at under-16s.

More alarming, Di Venuto says, is the sharp decline in players progressing from the under-19 program into first-class cricket.

Between the 2006-07 season and 2013-14, 60 players represented Tasmania at under-19 level, with 11 going on to represent the state and four eventually playing for Australia.

From 2014-15 to 2025-26, just six players have progressed from Tasmania’s under-19 system into the state side — two of them, Mac Wright and Niv Radhakrishnan, were recruited from interstate on rookie contracts. One player, Mitch Owen recently represented Australia. During that period, 105 players represented Tasmania at under-19 level.

“This is not a reflection of the coaches in the pathway programs,” Di Venuto said.

“It’s a reflection of our game development. We are not capturing the talent available within our state.

“It’s going elsewhere, or it’s not coming to cricket at all.”

He warned the problem would worsen with the arrival of the Tasmania Devils AFL club, increasing competition for young athletes.

“The development of a player is not linear, but we’ve tried to make it linear by building rigid pathway towers through Premier Cricket,” he said.

“All we’ve done is reduce participation and produce cricketers with very little game sense.

“This has also impacted the ecosystem of the game, with community cricket clubs, who once ran junior sections, declining.”

Di Venuto believes the solution lies in prioritising game development, school-based competition and unstructured play.

“The first sport that truly realises school-based competitions increases participation because kids are playing with their friends will get it right,” he said.

“That’s the essence of sport — playing with your mates.”

Despite the recent success of the Hobart Hurricanes, Di Venuto says Tasmanian cricket is at a critical point.

“Cricket is in a really bad position, and if we don’t get it sorted we’re going to be in serious trouble,” he said.

“This current success gives us a window to spark interest and capture young kids falling in love with the game, but it will take a decade to see the benefits so we must act now.”

While acknowledging the loss of standalone representation is painful, Di Venuto believes the Allies model could help elite players improve.

“Good players can become better players when surrounded by quality,” he said.

“Hopefully that leads to a better ratio of players progressing to first-class cricket for Tasmania in the future.”

He also urged selectors not to overlook late developers.

“We develop a little slower here,” he said.
“We should never be dismissive of a 23 to 26-year-old Tasmanian-born player, who may have just worked his game out and simply needs exposure to a professional environment.”
 
Between the 2006-07 season and 2013-14, 60 players represented Tasmania at under-19 level, with only 11 going on to represent the state and four eventually playing for Australia.
This news is a massive body blow for Tasmanian junior cricket and all those teens striving to play cricket at the most elevated level nationally. In my view having a small talent pool due to a small population is a major reason for this cull and I believe not because Tassie grassroots cricket is poorly run as the TCA boasts a robust Pathways system with every cricket playing area in the state covered at all levels. There is one Pathways change I have noticed past two yrs tho, the phasing out of their Under 17 rep red ball competition, a first step up the ladder for Tassie kids into first class cricket. This must be reinstated pronto.
 
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Mahli Beardman named for the T20 tour of Pakistan which bumps up to the next round of Shield. Which is where I'd much rather he be playing.
 
This news is a massive body blow for Tasmanian junior cricket and all those teens striving to play cricket at the most elevated level nationally. In my view having a small talent pool due to a small population is a major reason for this cull and I believe not because Tassie grassroots cricket is poorly run as the TCA boasts a robust Pathways system with every cricket playing area in the state covered at all levels. There is one Pathways change I have noticed past two yrs tho, the phasing out of their Under 17 rep red ball competition, a first step up the ladder for Tassie kids into first class cricket. This must be reinstated pronto.
Has anything good ever come out of the Allies concept anywhere (any sport)?
 
Has anything good ever come out of the Allies concept anywhere (any sport)?
To be fair to the structure change, one NSW team has had a long period of success

Since splitting in two the NSW production line of test standard players has dried up. May be nothing to do with it of course. Not sure if there are other underlying reasons

Fewer teams in theory will make those competitions stronger...?

Northern Territory's teams typically contain 4 or 5 fill in players from other states who just missed out on selection
 
There is one Pathways change I have noticed past two yrs tho, the phasing out of their Under 17 rep red ball competition, a first step up the ladder for Tassie kids into first class cricket. This must be reinstated pronto.
Tassie would have known this CA decision was coming presumably or at least was on the cards. Their performance in national carnivals (white ball one day competitions) would have been an internal point of concern.

Would the change you've described above have been done to help better prepare/identify players for those carnivals? Between a rock and a hard place
 
Tom Campbell, another of the 2024 u19 WC winning squad in starting to put together consistent runs. 114 for Wests in Premier Cricket the other weekend ans 78 for the Qld 2nds today, another half century for the 2nds earlier in the season too. Might be one to keep an eye on over the next year or too.

Great to see Jem Ryan back playing for the 2nds too. Took 55 wickets at 15 when he was 18 in the 2023/24 Qld Premier Cricket season before some back issues left him requiring surgery, straight back in the wickets today.
 

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