Simon Katich retires from First Class Cricket in Aus

[i_hate_scams]

Hell, any Shield team with half a brain would take him as an opener.

apply that to the national team.

 

[Doodlesweaver]

re; hogan i see... that would be very rough to cut his contract after he finished in the top few wickettakers this season, even if he is a 30-year old journeymen. you need to reward people for performances, not just for talent. i don't mind pushing a few people through in the right circumstances, and pattinson and cummins have shown they are capable of the step up, but by and large you can't reward people purely on talent which we have had this big shift towards at the expense of solid to good dependable experienced blokes.

if this dynamic that were currently seeing had have happened 12 months ago, ed cowan would've been a 50-50 bet to survive into the 2011-12 season as a professional first class cricketer.

interestingly i've just finished reading moneyball. we seem to be doing the exact opposite of that. the underlying theme in moneyball is that "scouts love high school ball players, not because of what they've seen them do, but because what they can see them doing 5 years now. the problem is, only about 2% of them reach that potential, and about 90% don't even make it to the plate in the big leagues.... the scouts don't like college players because what they see is what they get. they can't see a .350 batter at the plate. they just see a solid .250 and well what good is that?"

Ed Cowan is like Simon Katich, a grinder, only so far not proved to be as good. And Katich was dumped ostensibly due to wanting to groom Phil Hughes. It's all nuts.

I think that CA is just desperate for young shooting stars to appear (the moneyball quote about high school players is obscenely apt with what's going on with the state teams.) I'm just glad that Mitchell Marsh hasn't been given a thoroughly unwarranted berth in the test squad. He got into the one day team last year based on A squad performances (and that mostly for his bowling) as he had done stuff all with the bat in the past 2 years in any format apart from a late run with the Scorchers.

 

[The Passenger]

I think that CA is just desperate for young shooting stars to appear

too funny. was speaking with my old man this morning and we basically came to the conclusion that CA has a hell of a lot hinged on dave warner, pat cummins, and to a lesser extent james pattinson (not that he's a weaker cricketer but i don't think he's as marketable as the other two).

 

[worbod]

If you made a list of the 50 greatest left handed batsmen of all time, I think it's reasonable that Katich would be included.

 

[Miqar_Baqfhied]

That moneyball analogy is spot on.

Id have much more confidence in the Aussies batting line up seeing Katich in there over Warner and Cowan.

CA didnt 'recognise' Michael Hussey's talent till he was 30 - and already he is one of Australias best ever cricketers. Same goes for Darren Lehmann, Hayden. Martyn and Katich.

Sadly, CA's 'highschool scouting' has hurt us badly in the past and has and is costing many many fine cricketers oppurtunities to become cricketing greats on the national stage. The fact we see players like Hughes, playing tests for Australia over proven consistent great cricketers such as Katich, Brad Hodge, Quiney, David Hussey and Adam Voges sums up everything.

 

[western royboy]

That moneyball analogy is spot on.

Id have much more confidence in the Aussies batting line up seeing Katich in there over Warner and Cowan.

CA didnt 'recognise' Michael Hussey's talent till he was 30 - and already he is one of Australias best ever cricketers. Same goes for Darren Lehmann, Hayden. Martyn and Katich.

Sadly, CA's 'highschool scouting' has hurt us badly in the past and has and is costing many many fine cricketers oppurtunities to become cricketing greats on the national stage. The fact we see players like Hughes, playing tests for Australia over proven consistent great cricketers such as Katich, Brad Hodge, Quiney, David Hussey and Adam Voges sums up everything.

CA has fundamentally thrown away a system that worked for a long period of time and is now trying to match other sports for junior numbers on a mass scale. It ignores the fact that basic technique is important to properly enjoy the game. The attitude now is that if you can hit the ball a long way or bowl fast or turn it a long way on raw ability we will teach you the rest.

It has a negative effect at every level but most alarmingly senior cricketers at the grass roots. The lack of technical coaching at base level means more players are progressing without the basics and dropping off too quickly at senior level. The tendency towards shorter games means that some kids will never play a game any longer than 24 overs in their lifetime.

That's not cricket!

 

[Kyptastic]

That moneyball analogy is spot on.

Id have much more confidence in the Aussies batting line up seeing Katich in there over Warner and Cowan.

CA didnt 'recognise' Michael Hussey's talent till he was 30 - and already he is one of Australias best ever cricketers. Same goes for Darren Lehmann, Hayden. Martyn and Katich.

Sadly, CA's 'highschool scouting' has hurt us badly in the past and has and is costing many many fine cricketers oppurtunities to become cricketing greats on the national stage. The fact we see players like Hughes, playing tests for Australia over proven consistent great cricketers such as Katich, Brad Hodge, Quiney, David Hussey and Adam Voges sums up everything.

Quiney and Voges proven and consistent? The only thing I would say that these guys have proven over their careers (except maybe Quiney over the past couple) is that they are inconsistent.

 

[Bomber Bears]

Katich basically timed a serious injury very, very badly, it gave the CA selectors all the reason they needed to sack him.

If it was Hussey who broke down in that series would've been interesting

Really good player, one of my favourites and a shame it ended as it did.