The Cricket Thread

[Brishawk]

Pace is not the be all and end all. Look at MJ.. bowls 150kph. Im guessing Faulkner moves the ball in the air or off the pitch. I know which one batsman would be more worried about.

True but history is against you if you are slow at test level. MacKay, Hastings, Copeland, Bracken and others have all struggled making the step up to test level. Not saying Faulkner can't but he needs to have something special going for him to be able to make it.

 

[grizzlym]

True but history is against you if you are slow at test level. MacKay, Hastings, Copeland, Bracken and others have all struggled making the step up to test level. Not saying Faulkner can't but he needs to have something special going for him to be able to make it.

Gotta do something out of the hand/off the wicket. That's the knock on Moses at test level.

 

[Brishawk]

Gotta do something out of the hand/off the wicket. That's the knock on Moses at test level.

Yeah, his bowling was very vanila. If he is a 5th bowler not too big a deal so long as his batting is up to scratch (which presently it seems not to be).

 

[Henry Jr]

You know what I like about the Kiwis... the dont accept piss poor results. If you dont perform on the cricket field, the locals beat the shit out of you! Meanwhile we continue to pay Watson top dollar!

 

[grizzlym]

Terrific article/interview with/by Ian Chappell on cricinfo

"Australia may never again produce Test match batting talent on the level of Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke if numerous gaping "holes in the production line" are not addressed by Cricket Australia, the former captain Ian Chappell has said. The poverty of batting performance on a disastrous tour of India underlined problems in Australian batting that Chappell feels have been festering now for some years, exacerbated by the commercial evolution of the game"


"Arguing that coaching appointments and the shuffling of players by selectors will not address the issue, Chappell has called for CA to look more closely at how batsmen are being developed, addressing matters such as the amount of short-form cricket being played by juniors, the array of pitches on offer in the Sheffield Shield and the impact of a muddled schedule tossing players from Twenty20 to Tests and back again"

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/626895.html

 

[Henry Jr]

A fluff piece by Clarke and his ghost writers...

That suggests all is not lost and talk of us being the worst Australian team in history is a bit harsh. One bad tour doesn't define a squad and I'm confident we can take the fight to England.

With the exception of Shane Watson and myself, our top order had very little long-form exposure to Indian pitches and that showed in our inconsistency with the bat.

We picked a squad we thought was suited to Indian conditions and provided plenty of all-round options and we will look to fine-tune that for the what lies ahead in England.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/cricke...and-in-the-ashes/story-fng7skuz-1226609597456

Would have hated to see a squad that wasn't suited to the conditions

 

[Upgrayedd]

Plenty of all round options=We needed the best spinner in the 11 but we picked 2 part-timers insted hoping that would do

 

[Brishawk]

Well the CA contracts are out. Some interesting insight into their thinking...I actually thought I recall them saying preference will be given to test players when handing out contracts...

Here is the list of players who got contracts, an example test eleven and the remaining candidates for battings spots 5 and 6.

Players With Contracts
George Bailey (Tas)
Michael Clarke (NSW)
Ed Cowan (Tas)
Pat Cummins (NSW)
Xavier Doherty (Tas)
James Faulkner (Tas)
Brad Haddin (NSW)
Ryan Harris (Qld)
Ben Hilfenhaus (Tas)
Phillip Hughes (SA)
Mitch Johnson (WA)
Nathan Lyon (SA)
Glenn Maxwell (Vic)
Clint McKay (Vic)
James Pattinson (Vic)
Peter Siddle (Vic)
Mitchell Starc (NSW)
Matthew Wade (Vic)
David Warner (NSW)
Shane Watson (NSW).

Example Test XI
1 Ed Cowan (Tas)
2 David Warner (NSW)
3 Phillip Hughes (SA)
4 Michael Clarke (NSW)
5
6
7 Matthew Wade (Vic)
8 Peter Siddle (Vic)
9 Mitchell Starc (NSW)
10 James Pattinson (Vic)
11 Nathan Lyon (SA)

Candidates for 5 and 6
Shane Watson (NSW).
James Faulkner (Tas)
Glenn Maxwell (Vic)
Brad Haddin (NSW)
George Bailey (Tas)

Anyone else see a problem?

 

[Henry Jr]

But can't players from out of that group still play?

 

[Brishawk]

But can't players from out of that group still play?

They can but they can't really blame players for not dedicating themselves to test cricket when they offer just 4 batsman contracts. No wonder they are all prioritizing T20 . . . did they really need to give Ryan Harris a contract? Maxwell got one on potential so why not Special K? He has at least played international cricket in the last 12 months . . .

 

[Henry Jr]

They can but they can't really blame players for not dedicating themselves to test cricket when they offer just 4 batsman contracts. No wonder they are all prioritizing T20 . . . did they really need to give Ryan Harris a contract? Maxwell got one on potential so why not Special K? He has at least played international cricket in the last 12 months . . .

Don't you know when the batsman don't make runs its the bowlers fault.. hence the need for so many bowlers to roll thru.

I think the above shows more the quality of batsman in this country with only 4 being given contracts.

The other problem with your lineup above is that the wicket keeper bats at 6

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

They give the contracts to guys that played a lot last year, and guys they think that will play a lot this year. The fact we have no settled middle order means the batsman don't get the spots that the bowlers do.

A few that raised the eye for me:
Hilfy.....seriously?? There are plenty of guys ahead of him now, yet he gets a free payday.
Cummins - See above. Once in a generation player that, well, doesn't play. Max Bailey is more durable

 

[JESTERHAWK]

Don't you know when the batsman don't make runs its the bowlers fault.. hence the need for so many bowlers to roll thru.

I think the above shows more the quality of batsman in this country with only 4 being given contracts.

The other problem with your lineup above is that the wicket keeper bats at 6

Cannot believe they gave Haddin a contract. Paine and Hartley had to be given a look in with a view to the future. Maxwell must have incriminating of Invararity & co. I really think Bird with Starc would be the most damaging with the duke and low lying cloud. Siddle is a great team man, but has proved to be very toothless on the English wickets. Cummins and Pattinson will be the strike department with Bird, Starc and even Hazelwood better suited to the conditions for long spells. Burns and Doolan both suffered form due to the 20/20 i believe. Burns is technically gifted and at some stage they have to look at finding real batsman who have no talent rolling the arm over.

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

Thing is, like siddle or not, he's been our best performer over a long period of time.

Here are his match stats for those two years

4/91
1/65
3/140
3/101
6/108
6/105
5/143
6/85
6/96
3/115
3/147
6/195
9/104
3/62
3/88
1/70
1/92
6/105
1/38


76/1950 @ 25.65

 

[Hawk Since Birth]

Has our batting depth ever been this low? Even at young junior level the kids are getting to play a heap of 20/20 cricket, no wonder techniques are terrible. I've seen boys in 10A's playing the ramp and reverse sweep in "traditional" games. Nothing against the kids having fun but surely that stuff is for the backyard with your mates.

 

[Brishawk]

Thing is, like siddle or not, he's been our best performer over a long period of time.

Here are his match stats for those two years

4/91
1/65
3/140
3/101
6/108
6/105
5/143
6/85
6/96
3/115
3/147
6/195
9/104
3/62
3/88
1/70
1/92
6/105
1/38


76/1950 @ 25.65

Its hard to argue with those numbers. Siddle has to play as he has a competitiveness that is missing from a lot of our other players. And he was one of our best batsman in India

 

[Henry Jr]

Watson resumes bowling for the IPL. Are you serious?

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

He says he's getting ready for the Ashes, my tip it's part of his contract to bowl and god forbid if he lets down those IPL bosses!!

Positives though, he breaks down and his ashes dream is finished

 

[Henry Jr]

Maybe the penny has finally dropped and he along with everyone outside of the team has worked out he's not worth a pinch of shit unless he is bowling and taking wickets.

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

Pretty much true I think. He's contributing nothing with the bat, slow int he field, he has to have some redeeming feature to stay in the side.

 

[Henry Jr]

This seems to have slipped thru to the keeper

Watson insists he wasn't pushed

Shane Watson has insisted the decision to step down from the national vice-captaincy was his alone and was not prompted by Cricket Australia or the team management. Watson announced on Saturday that he would no longer be Michael Clarke's deputy because he wanted to focus on his own performance and the timing, in the lead-up to the Ashes squad announcement, led to speculation that he might have been dropped from the role had he not quit.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/631329.html

Sounds like an unhappy camper. Wasn't Watson in the Mike Hussey camp?

"It will definitely free me up a bit," he said. "My workload is nowhere near what Michael's is, that's for sure. But being an allrounder as well, coming back and bowling, that little bit of extra time that I would have been spending in the leadership meetings I'll be able to spend on doing everything I can to get the best out of myself. I'll also be able to get as much life balance as I can with my young family.

But I thought Watto was just a batsman?

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

Nah, he's an allrounder now. Occured when he sucked as just a batsman.

No doubt to me he was pushed, or it was at least strongly suggested.

Makes it easier for him to be left out now as he's not in the leadership team.

 

[Suckling2Gunston]

Nah, he's an allrounder now. Occured when he sucked as just a batsman.

No doubt to me he was pushed, or it was at least strongly suggested.

Makes it easier for him to be left out now as he's not in the leadership team.

100% spot on.

 

[Brishawk]

It is interesting that he blamed bowling for his bad batting and now he is blaming his leadership role for not allowing him to bowl. When Watson was at his best he was a lot leaner than he is now. The guy just obviously doesn't prepare himself well enough for test cricket. Wonder if that will ever dawn on him . . .

 

[Henry Jr]

The case for short-termism

Brad Haddin, Chris Rogers and Ryan Harris might all be ready to retire by this time next year. But they can all be key men in Australia's Ashes campaign

What India exposed so mercilessly was that the balance of the team had been thrown out so comprehensively by the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey that it virtually ceased to function. Those players expected to step into the breach as batsmen and senior players - Shane Watson in particular - failed almost completely to do so.

John Inverarity's panel do not have a Washbrook among their number, but in Haddin, Harris and Rogers they have a trio of players capable of making a difference over the next 12 months. All are products of an earlier time, when Australian cricket functioned rather better than it does at present. By this time next year they may all be ready to retire, but it is the time in between that is of most import. Short term thinking is needed.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2013/content/current/story/631533.html

I don't care how old you are, how fat you are, how well you can field or how quick you run between wickets... if you have made runs in the past 12 months.... pack your bags your off to England.