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Cricket

tigertim

something funny is written here
Mar 6, 2004
29,891
12,160
Get ready for games on Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. Had no idea these series were on.
Yeah, I was driving home this afternoon and there’s T20 cricket on the radio. Odd time to hold it, Sunday afternoon at, what time, 2pm? All over by 5.
 

TigerMasochist

Walks softly carries a big stick.
Jul 13, 2003
25,560
11,439
It’s funny how it took 100 years to move from 4/5 day cricket to one day cricket then 30 years to go to 20/20 then 10 years to go to 100 ball cricket.

I calculate that by 2030 we,ll be playing 1 ball cricket.
Yep. Toss the coin cricket. Whoever calls correctly wins, save all the *smile* of selling tickets n having fans turn up wanting food n drinks. Toss the coin, one call, instant gratification. Yayyyyy lap of honour waving the arms in the air, all of half a second of excitement then normal vacuous resumes.
 
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tigertim

something funny is written here
Mar 6, 2004
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Vics v QLD today at the G.

Vics : Fraser-McGurk, Vines, Handscomb, Harper, Short, Siddle, Sutherland, Pattinson, Tremain, Holland,

QLD: Street, Labuschagne, Humphrey, Renshaw, McSweeney, Wildermuth, Pearson, Gannon, Steketee, Swepson, Edwards.


I’m reading Shane Warnes second “autobiography” and he talks about how tough shield games were when he started. For eg the Vics had Jones, O’Donnell, Hughes, Dodemaide, Nobes, Lehman, Reiffel, Wayne Phillips, McIntyre, Berry among others and NSW had the likes of Taylor, Waugh, Waugh, Emery, BEvan, Matthews, Whitney.

Times have changed.
 

spook

Kick the f*ckin' goal
Jun 18, 2007
21,909
26,406
Melbourne
Yes, there's not the depth there was in the 90s/00s. But then look at some 80s teamsheets and count how many times you say, who? The Warne era was a golden one, probably the richest vein of talent Australian cricket's ever seen.

Fraser-McGurk is a 17-year-old, good to see the Vics promoting youth. He took the catch in the gully for fellow debutant Will Sutherland's first wicket - first of many, I'd say. Looks a very promising all-rounder, might have made the right call - although he had the tools to be a hell of a footballer too.
 
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spook

Kick the f*ckin' goal
Jun 18, 2007
21,909
26,406
Melbourne
Just on the depth of talent in the 90s/00s: Elliott, Hodge, Lehmann, Bevan, Law, Love, Siddons, Cox and probably a few more I'm forgetting, would have played 100 Tests for any other country. MacGill would have taken 500 Test wickets, instead of 'just' 200.
 
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craig

Tiger Legend
Aug 19, 2004
45,621
29,165
Melbourne
This TV rights deal got them big bucks for ACB or Cricket Australia or whatever the hell they go by these days, but it's limited the public interest and viewing capabilities of 75% of the population who don't have Foxtel.

They don't put the National Men's teams 20 /20 games on free to air but televise the womens games that no one really gives a stuff about.

I'm nigh on done with Cricket these days, its polluted almost to beyond repair.
 
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craig

Tiger Legend
Aug 19, 2004
45,621
29,165
Melbourne
Just on the depth of talent in the 90s/00s: Elliott, Hodge, Lehmann, Bevan, Law, Love, Siddons, Cox and probably a few more I'm forgetting, would have played 100 Tests for any other country. MacGill would have taken 500 Test wickets, instead of 'just' 200.

Everything was better back then.
 
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craig

Tiger Legend
Aug 19, 2004
45,621
29,165
Melbourne
What a pathetic game of cricket.
Not alot of people there either.
Sometimes I think cricket just doesn't have a plan ...

It doesn't they jumped for the cash and didn't consider the ramifications.

The execs that got the deal done will swan off with their resume freshened up with the clause of I got the greatest $$$$ TV rights deal ever!!!

Forgetting the damage that may have been done to the game as a result, and the decreased levels of public interest.
 

tigertim

something funny is written here
Mar 6, 2004
29,891
12,160
Yes, there's not the depth there was in the 90s/00s. But then look at some 80s teamsheets and count how many times you say, who? The Warne era was a golden one, probably the richest vein of talent Australian cricket's ever seen.

Fraser-McGurk is a 17-year-old, good to see the Vics promoting youth. He took the catch in the gully for fellow debutant Will Sutherland's first wicket - first of many, I'd say. Looks a very promising all-rounder, might have made the right call - although he had the tools to be a hell of a footballer too.
Just watched F-M on the cricket live stream. Certainly looked impressive in making a 50 on debut.

Vics 4/205 after QLD made 183.
 
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tigertim

something funny is written here
Mar 6, 2004
29,891
12,160
Vics v QLD today at the G.

Vics : Fraser-McGurk, Vines, Handscomb, Harper, Short, Siddle, Sutherland, Pattinson, Tremain, Holland,

QLD: Street, Labuschagne, Humphrey, Renshaw, McSweeney, Wildermuth, Pearson, Gannon, Steketee, Swepson, Edwards.


I’m reading Shane Warnes second “autobiography” and he talks about how tough shield games were when he started. For eg the Vics had Jones, O’Donnell, Hughes, Dodemaide, Nobes, Lehman, Reiffel, Wayne Phillips, McIntyre, Berry among others and NSW had the likes of Taylor, Waugh, Waugh, Emery, BEvan, Matthews, Whitney.

Times have changed.
And to continue..

NSW side yesterday against the Vics.

Edwards, Hughes, Gilkes, HEnriques, Bertus, Nevill, Sangha, Sams, Nair, Conway, Hatcher.

yep, we really are in a generational trough when it comes to depth in Australian cricket.
 

tigertim

something funny is written here
Mar 6, 2004
29,891
12,160
Geoff Lawson tees off on the test selection of Cameron Bancroft.

The Test selection of Cameron Bancroft has mystified former Australia quick Geoff Lawson who described his recall as “nonsensical”.
Bancroft was picked in Australia’s 14-man squad for the first Test against Pakistan after scoring a gritty 49 in a tour match when all other trialists failed.

But Lawson said Bancroft’s struggles in the Sheffield Shield and a poor showing at the Ashes should have already ruled him out of contention.

“Among the plots and subplots rushing the game toward the first Test of the summer is the nonsensical selection of Western Australian and fellow Aquinas College alumnus of Justin Langer in Cameron Bancroft,” Lawson wrote in a column for Sydney Morning Herald.
“Chief selector Trevor Hohns must be watching a Bancroft doppelganger if he has observed that ‘the improvement in his game is quite noticeable’. It certainly isn’t reflected in the only currency in which it counts – making runs.
“We may as well cancel the Sheffield Shield as a proving ground for Test cricketers if this is the rationale to be used by the national selection panel, which at the moment constitutes only Langer and Hohns because Cricket Australia hasn’t gotten around to making the third appointment even though they have had several months to sort it out ahead of the international summer.”
Bancroft was considered to be out of the Test reckoning last month when he wasn’t picked in the Australia A side to face Pakistan in Perth.
The phone rang, however, when Nic Maddinson withdrew from the match on mental health grounds two days before it began. His withdrawal was followed by Will Pucovski — also considered above Bancroft in the Test pecking order — asking to not be picked for Australia as part of his mental wellbeing management.
Both incidents opened the door to Bancroft, who’s made just 57 runs at 11.40 in the Shield this season. The poor display follows on from an equally disappointing Ashes series in which he made 44 runs at 11.00.
Cameron Bancroft has endured a torrid time in the Shield this season.Source: AAP
He also doesn’t have a strong Test record to lean on (446 runs at 26.23), unlike Usman Khawaja who didn’t make the squad despite an average of 52.97 in Australia.
“Khawaja has had a statistically slightly better start to the Australian summer than Bancroft and averages 60 in home Tests but hasn’t “improved quite noticeably”, so he was cut from the squad even though the first Test is at his home ground (the Gabba),” Lawson wrote.

The left-hander has similarly struggled at the start of the Shield season, scoring 59 runs at 11.80. He has, however, scored two centuries in the One-Day Cup and an unbeaten 37 for Australia A against Pakistan.
 

tigertim

something funny is written here
Mar 6, 2004
29,891
12,160
And now Robert Craddock and Whately weigh in on Bancroft:


Senior Newscorp cricket journalist Robert Craddock can’t work out why Cameron Bancroft was selected in Australia’s 14-man Test squad for the series against Pakistan.

The West Australian batsman has averaged 11 at Sheffield Shield level this season and failed to impress in the Ashes.

“I just don’t rate him. I feel he is overrated. When he had nine months out of the game, I know the selectors were hoping he would re-model his defensive technique where he sort of slices the ball around his pad,” Craddock told SEN’s Whateley.

“It’s actually come back in worse shape. There’s a theory about Bancroft that he thinks the answer to everything is outrageously hard work and his work ethic is flawless, but you’ve got to work smart as well.

“That technique he has got just isn’t suited to test cricket and I’m disappointed the selectors rewarded it to be honest.

“A Shield average this year of 11. How lucky he to be responsible for the ball tampering incident in South Africa and then get the Ashes tour in England and then get recalled for this squad.

“I’m not saying he’s a dreadful cricketer. He’s a solid first-class cricketer who has done some reasonable things at Test level, but he in no way deserved a 50-50 chance in my book. He’s gone backwards.”

SEN Chief Broadcaster Gerard Whateley doesn’t buy the explanation for Bancroft’s inclusion either.

“It was hard to cop the justification from Trevor Hohns over technical improvements and the like because that did not marry up with the body of work,”
 

tigertim

something funny is written here
Mar 6, 2004
29,891
12,160
My guess is that Hohns has bought into the hard work line from Langer.
I’m sure both Langer and Hohns have said before that making runs gets you test selection. That’s now changed (Langer said last week if it was just based on runs you wouldn’t need a selection panel) the new selection justification criteria is “hard work”.
 
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tigerman

It's Tiger Time
Mar 17, 2003
24,149
19,617
A good run chase happening at the G, the Vics are 2/136 chasing 323. Finch and Handscomb have put on 120. Handscomb is a sweet timer of the ball, has been in good nick the last few weeks.
 
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