The Cricket Thread

[Pessimistic]

I remember seeing a match, sri lanka v india at the mcg with a bigger crowd than that, duringbtennis week too

 

[Henry Jr]

Any love for Doherty as the second spinner in India?

Not saying he's a world beater but he's ahead of Maxwell by a country mile in my eyes as a spinner.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I remember seeing a match, sri lanka v india at the mcg with a bigger crowd than that, duringbtennis week too

The crowd's no mystery. Who would pay their hard earned to watch an Australian team with most of the Test players missing? I certainly wouldn't.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Any love for Doherty as the second spinner in India?

I can't bring myself to love left arm orthodox "spinners". They bowl around the wicket and straightening, pretending to spin the ball, and then throw in the odd arm ball that goes the other way. Very basic stuff and very easy to do.

I'd like to see them develop a Michael Bevan (or even David Sincock) ball which comes out the back of the hand like a leggie and spin sharply in to the right hander, and then maybe a flipper. I may get a little more excited about them if that happened.

As you say though, in the absence of anyone else knocking on the door, he just may get the nod.

 

[Henry Jr]

The crowd's no mystery. Who would pay their hard earned to watch an Australian team with most of the Test players missing? I certainly wouldn't.

Its ODI cricket not test cricket. Cowan wouldn't make the team. Selectors have shown that MH isn't part of the future plans. Which leaves Clarke, Warner and Wade. I'm happy for Wade to be rested given his workload and same goes with Clarke with his hammy. The only one you can't mount an argument for is Warner.

But yes it dos smack a bit of NAB cup to me. Happy for the selectors to hae a look at other players but org other matches for that and don't treat the public with contempt.

 

[Brishawk]

Ian Healy on Wade's work behind the stumps this summer.

"Ian Healy has slammed Matthew Wade's wicketkeeping during the Test summer and said Australia needed to choose their best gloveman for the upcoming tours of India and England. Healy, who watched from the commentary box as Wade kept wicket for his first home summer, was disappointed not only with the way Wade missed opportunities for stumpings and catches, but also what he perceived as a lack of discipline in getting the basics right.

"He's not happy at all. He didn't have a good summer with the gloves at all," Healy told Radio Sport National on Friday. "Even some of the basic stuff that he's not tidying up, he's not getting to the stumps, he's not taking returns well, he's not sharpening up the fielding effort. Even those basic disciplines weren't being created, let alone missed dismissals.

"Nathan Lyon wouldn't have been that happy, there were four or five chances missed from his bowling. He's getting criticised for not taking wickets. These are all the little internal conflicts of an under-achieving wicketkeeper. Matthew Wade says he's still young and he wants to keep improving, but I don't think he's that young. He's 25"

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-sri-lanka-2012/content/story/600442.html

Only 6 days ago Healy said this:

IAN HEALY believes Matthew Wade can become one of Australia's great wicketkeeper-batsmen, likening the Victorian to Adam Gilchrist and predicting his run-scoring exploits to roll over into his unconvincing work behind the stumps.​

...

''It takes maybe one or two years for a wicketkeeper to think properly and to be able to switch up and down with the concentration and to stop stressing. It's a hard road. He's the right age and he's got all the skills and the ability so he'll get there.''

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/hes-here-for-keeps-healy-20130105-2ca7w.html#ixzz2HiUBcG2U​

Given Wade hasn't played a match since then, what has changed?​

Seems like Healy is on the Haddin-wagon like the rest of the channel 9 commentary team:​

"He needs to really get a look at what Brad Haddin is doing and try to find a way to get it done himself."​

"I don't understand why they dropped [Haddin] and it's never been explained to me or the public after the West Indies," Healy said. "He wasn't in great form [and] he had to go home and look after his ill daughter. Then when he gets that right and he's ready to play again, he's not picked. I thought that was a bit harsh."​

So we have Healy one minute saying he thinks Wade can be one of Australias great wicketkeeper-batsman and then 6 days later slams him. He says he is the right age to learn and that it takes a couple of years then says he isn't that young. In one sentence he says he doesn't understand why Haddin was dropped and in the next admits he wasn't in great form.​

The only thing that has changed is Haddin has come out and played for Australia again. Smacks of jobs for mates.

 

[Brishawk]

Any love for Doherty as the second spinner in India?

Not saying he's a world beater but he's ahead of Maxwell by a country mile in my eyes as a spinner.

 

[grizzlym]

A couple of things on Healy:

He couldn;t resist making the sly comment on Gilchrist's ability with the closing: "a great bowling attack created more chances than we needed". Ergo: Gilchrist wasn't a great wicket keeper. Ok... He was one of the greatest players to pull on a baggy green in the last 50 years that's all.

I found some of the other things Healy brought up to be really interesting i.e. getting up to the stumps, guiding the field, all the little things, quite interesting. I didn;t consider that stuff.

And he's nailed it re Lyon: Wade was awful keeping to Lyon and denied him a lot of chances.

What Healy is saying, though, is pretty much the knocks that have been expressed over Wade's keeping for sometime.

 

[grizzlym]

Interesting article by Ashleigh Mallett on spin bowling in today's Age. He's got a bit to say about who goes to India too.

"OUTSIDE the leading four slow bowlers, Australia's spin stocks are seemingly threadbare. Those four bowlers are Nathan Lyon, Michael Beer, Glenn Maxwell and Xavier Doherty.

Despite his disappointing Test against Sri Lanka on a turning, bouncing SCG wicket, Lyon has the potential to become a world-class spinner. Australian captain Michael Clarke, already an outstanding leader, has shown faith in him. Thankfully the young offie didn't start, as I did, under the leadership of Bill Lawry, who was a fine skipper until it came to spin. I suspect the “Phantom” thought spin was something to do with the drying mechanism of a washing machine. Still, he gave me 298 overs in India all those years ago and I repaid him with a few wickets."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/making-slow-progress-20130111-2clsz.html#ixzz2HijZmC56​

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

A great article by Ashley Mallett, I agreed with everything he said, except maybe the bit about Maxwell, but he's seen more of him than I have.

The thing that comes through loud and clear here is Mallett has been coaching Vettori and Swann, but CA hasn't had him working with Lyon. How silly is that???!!!

It's nice to read players of Mallett's time talk of the reverence they had for players of a by-gone era, and how much they learnt from them. I recall Ian Chappell talking of conversations he had with the likes of Alan Kippax, etc, who helped him with his understanding of the game.

Makes a nice change from the contemporary opinion that you learn nothing from former players because they criticize too much. In an era where we see batsmen who cannot back up or run between the wickets properly, it would be nice if some of these guys, especially spinners, went cap in hand to Mallett and asked for some advice.

The Malletts, Lillees, Chappells of this world know more about cricket than sports scientists well ever learn.

 

[Henry Jr]

The atmosphere of a morgue at Adelaide today

 

[grizzlym]

It is a limited overs game, but did anyone really think Maxwell looked like a top six test batsman?

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

It is a limited overs game, but did anyone really think Maxwell looked like a top six test batsman?

He doesn't even look like a good grade player to me. I need to watch closer because I'm not seeing anything to like with Maxwell. Poor batting technique, a net bowler ... but he can field.

 

[Henry Jr]

Maxwell = Mike Veletta

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

The atmosphere of a morgue at Adelaide today

I think the Adelaide public are starting to get a little fed up with how they are treated by Cricket Australia. Every year they rest top players and tell the Adelaide people to like it or lump it. Look at the B grade unit they've been served up for this game, who'd pay money to watch that?

 

[Henry Jr]

I always laugh when the como's roll out every year "xxxxx must bat out the overs"... blah.. makes no diff. score as many runs as possible.

You bat for 5 overs scoring 6 per over or you bat 10 over for 3 runs per over... same shit at the end of the day

 

[grizzlym]

This DRS is complete bullshit. That MacKay decision was a disgrace. The umpire's decision was correct, yet it was overturned on what evidence? Where's the benefit of the doubt?

 

[Henry Jr]

This DRS is complete bullshit. That MacKay decision was a disgrace. The umpire's decision was correct, yet it was overturned on what evidence? Where's the benefit of the doubt?

Agree. As we have seen all summer, unless they have footage of you robbing a bank, its hard to overturn the original decision... Would love to know on what evidence the video ump decided that McKay had nicked it.

TV umpire RA Kettleborough (England)

 

[Spanish Sahara]

Steve Smith is a shit cricketer. How is he getting a game??

 

[grizzlym]

Steve Smith is a shit cricketer. How is he getting a game??

Because he's a batting all-rounder. His inclusion, like Maxwell, weakens the specilalist batting line-up and provides the illusion of an extra bowling option.

 

[Henry Jr]

Prob is... Smith is bowling less and less at state level which is a mistake for mine. He cannot be picked soley on his batting.

 

[grizzlym]

He shouldn't be picked on anything he's doing/done.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Good to hear Tubby having a shot at selection. 4 spinners, including three "Spinning all-rounders" (which means they can't really bowl), a lack of strike bowlers and genuine batsmen. Australia obviously feels they can throw any 11 on the field. You want spinning allrounders? Play Warner or Clarke, at least they can bat.

This is the worst Australian team I've ever seen, and an insult to the cricket public.

 

[grizzlym]

Good to hear Tubby having a shot at selection. 4 spinners, including three "Spinning all-rounders" (which means they can't really bowl), a lack of strike bowlers and genuine batsmen. Australia obviously feels they can throw any 11 on the field. You want spinning allrounders? Play Warner or Clarke, at least they can bat.

This is the worst Australian team I've ever seen, and an insult to the cricket public.

Agreed. Completely.

And I can't help but think that Mitchell Johnson would have been an absolute handful on this pitch.

 

[Henry Jr]

Smith comes on... Hope the crowd are wearing helmets.