Australia's spin department is cursed one might think. Ever since the king of spin, Shane Warne retired, a horror run with injuries, retirements and losses of form has left Australia with the unsavoury decision of whether to throw in an uncapped spinner against the world's best players of spin, India, or turn to the power of a promising pack of pacemen, led by Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, on the world's biggest turning pitches.
With both of Warne's initial replacements, Stuart MacGill (who walked out mid-series due to debilitating injuries) and One Day specialist Brad Hogg both retiring within a year of making their long awaited returns to test cricket, Australia's hopes now lie in the hands of the talented Tasmanian Jason Krejza, and Victorian batting all-rounder Cameron White, one of the country's most talented young batsmen, but certainly not so in the bowling department. Their First Class bowling averages are 50 (Krejza) and 38 (White) respectively, which shows how desperate Australia have become for a wild card to emerge from the pack.
Interesting is Beau Casson, the second choice spinner (who played after MacGill retired) in the West Indies, now seeming to be on the outer, merely because he's a left arm spinner, especially when Bryce McGain, clearly the best spinner in Australia, fell to injury and was forced out of the tour, White's inclusion ahead of Casson seemed an interesting bet.
While it can be said that White's batting will come in handy, it is still a mystery as to whether his bowling is good enough to trouble the Indians. White is as unorthodox as they come, his stock ball is a wrong un, he doesn't extract much turn, and he relies more on changes in pace, and often just being slogged at the wrong time, to take his wickets.
Krejza on the other hand is capable of getting good turn, and decent flight too, but he has never taken a 5 wicket haul, and would seem more of a future project than someone ready to be playing test cricket.
It seems that Australia has the choice of either sending in a raw, and perhaps unprepared spinner, or to play four pacemen instead. With Lee, Clark and Mitchell Johnson are all shoe-ins, so the question is whether Australia will use batting all-rounder Shane Watson as their fourth paceman, and then use either Krejza or White as the 5th bowler, or whether they will use one of the country's most exciting bowlers, Peter Siddle, already earmarked as part of the future after a breakthrough season for Victoria, or New South Wales' Doug Bollinger, a more experience option, though one that did not play in the Aussies' tour game.
It seems most likely, however, that the Aussies will stick with Krejza, despite being belted around the park in the tour game (he conceded over 6 an over across the match, and took no wickets) with logic dictating that a good spinner is required to win test matches in India, but it certainly seems that with the spinners' track records, Siddle or Bollinger would be a better option. To spin or not to spin? That is the question.
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Monday, 6 October 2008
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Meanwhile in the West...
For a blog that is barely being read, it seems a bit strange for me to write three posts in a single week, but these wayward kicks (hence the blog name) keep presenting themselves!
Yesterday the West Indies cricket board announced that it would avoid being so overbearing as to block its three best players from staying in India rather than returning home to help the national side fend off Australia. Congratulations Donald Peters (CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board), you have won my bozo of the week. In fact, you have won yourself a nomination for a more significant all time bozo award. In a week that Jeff Fenech announced he was going to come out of retirement, Anthony Mundine scheduled yet another fight against Sam Soliman, and Wayne Carey put himself on the front cover of a tabloid magazine to admit a drug problem and to apologise to the public, in an attempt to slow down his incredible knack of losing all the respect he had about about a month or two ago, Dr. Peters (which has me thinking about entering one of those free instant diploma scams since it clearly does help) wins the cake.
Now that we've got that incredibly irrelevant rant/newsreel out of the way, let's just recap. The Indian Premier League is a franchised competition where independent business buy teams and players for millions of USD, all to play in a month-long Twenty20 carnival. Now of course, you may be thinking to yourself, 'but that's not cricket, I thought that cricket was the only world sport to actually care about its international game rather than just cash!" Stop right there, because the IPL (Indian Premier League) organisers had it all worked out! The IPL will NOT take over international cricket, because all the cricket boards would have to sign a no objection form to clear players to participate, especially during international games! So Dr. Peters, congratulations on making this agreement obsolete, and for being a complete idiot while you're at it. Let's review why he cleared them to play:
Let's sum it up for you Dr. Peters since you've failed to get the message: Tournament rules dictate that no players can play without permission from their board. You don't want your players to play, but you're clearing them anyway because they'll go anyway. Dr. Peters, did you get your business degree at the same place that Wayne Carey got his latest stash?
As for the long term implications, I'm glad to read that Dr. Peters has expressed a desire to rectify this problem, and is aware of it. He must have been partying with Collingwood staff recently, because the Pies know all about complaining about problems that they created themselves. Had the Windies blocked Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan from playing in the middle of the Aussie tour, and the three players decided to go anyway, the IPL would have been forced to either boycott its own rules, or to turn away the players. In the case that they had chosen the former, it would have caused a split of the boards, which would have looked something like India v Every other test nation, because we all know how much international sides of all sports love it when their players threaten to boycott international games for domestic commitments, in which case the ICC would have been forced to take action against the league or players, and the entire problem would have been avoided permanently, because no matter how far the ICC is willing to bend over backwards for India, it's unlikely that they would have opposed a motion where 9 members vote for it and 1 votes against.
Instead, Dr. Peters has opened a Pandora's Box and has sat on his hands while it threatens the very fabrics of international cricket. Oh well, at least when we look back in 20 years' time at the death of test and 50 over cricket, and of international cricket, as an even shorter 10 over match makes Twenty20 look boring and as the Indian Premier League is as even as the English Premier League in soccer where the poorest sides always lose and the 'big 4' win everything, we can at least comfort ourselves with the fact that our cricketers are now making more money than they ever possibly needed. Maybe they'll even donate it to charity. One only wishes that it wasn't up to the players to do that, and instead up to the multi-billionaires living in the middle of overpopulated countries with high poverty and disease, instead of going to a bunch of guys who hit leather balls with willow bats for a living.
Bring on the new world order!
Yesterday the West Indies cricket board announced that it would avoid being so overbearing as to block its three best players from staying in India rather than returning home to help the national side fend off Australia. Congratulations Donald Peters (CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board), you have won my bozo of the week. In fact, you have won yourself a nomination for a more significant all time bozo award. In a week that Jeff Fenech announced he was going to come out of retirement, Anthony Mundine scheduled yet another fight against Sam Soliman, and Wayne Carey put himself on the front cover of a tabloid magazine to admit a drug problem and to apologise to the public, in an attempt to slow down his incredible knack of losing all the respect he had about about a month or two ago, Dr. Peters (which has me thinking about entering one of those free instant diploma scams since it clearly does help) wins the cake.
Now that we've got that incredibly irrelevant rant/newsreel out of the way, let's just recap. The Indian Premier League is a franchised competition where independent business buy teams and players for millions of USD, all to play in a month-long Twenty20 carnival. Now of course, you may be thinking to yourself, 'but that's not cricket, I thought that cricket was the only world sport to actually care about its international game rather than just cash!" Stop right there, because the IPL (Indian Premier League) organisers had it all worked out! The IPL will NOT take over international cricket, because all the cricket boards would have to sign a no objection form to clear players to participate, especially during international games! So Dr. Peters, congratulations on making this agreement obsolete, and for being a complete idiot while you're at it. Let's review why he cleared them to play:
One option available to the WICB is to refuse to allow the players to go - they need No Objection Certificates from the board before being allowed to play abroad - but that is a route he does not want to go down. "I have the NOCs for the players, and I have to release the players, but I am not going to not release the players because they would go anyway," he told The Gleaner. "Given the amount of money involved, it certainly destabilises the infrastructure of cricket. It's not fair to the players, and it's not fair to the national teams. But this is capitalism at its best, free market enterprise at its best, and we now instead of crying have to find a way to make it work, so that we win, and they win. But right now we are losing."
Let's sum it up for you Dr. Peters since you've failed to get the message: Tournament rules dictate that no players can play without permission from their board. You don't want your players to play, but you're clearing them anyway because they'll go anyway. Dr. Peters, did you get your business degree at the same place that Wayne Carey got his latest stash?
As for the long term implications, I'm glad to read that Dr. Peters has expressed a desire to rectify this problem, and is aware of it. He must have been partying with Collingwood staff recently, because the Pies know all about complaining about problems that they created themselves. Had the Windies blocked Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan from playing in the middle of the Aussie tour, and the three players decided to go anyway, the IPL would have been forced to either boycott its own rules, or to turn away the players. In the case that they had chosen the former, it would have caused a split of the boards, which would have looked something like India v Every other test nation, because we all know how much international sides of all sports love it when their players threaten to boycott international games for domestic commitments, in which case the ICC would have been forced to take action against the league or players, and the entire problem would have been avoided permanently, because no matter how far the ICC is willing to bend over backwards for India, it's unlikely that they would have opposed a motion where 9 members vote for it and 1 votes against.
Instead, Dr. Peters has opened a Pandora's Box and has sat on his hands while it threatens the very fabrics of international cricket. Oh well, at least when we look back in 20 years' time at the death of test and 50 over cricket, and of international cricket, as an even shorter 10 over match makes Twenty20 look boring and as the Indian Premier League is as even as the English Premier League in soccer where the poorest sides always lose and the 'big 4' win everything, we can at least comfort ourselves with the fact that our cricketers are now making more money than they ever possibly needed. Maybe they'll even donate it to charity. One only wishes that it wasn't up to the players to do that, and instead up to the multi-billionaires living in the middle of overpopulated countries with high poverty and disease, instead of going to a bunch of guys who hit leather balls with willow bats for a living.
Bring on the new world order!
Monday, 10 March 2008
From one silly season to another
Summer is a time for sunshine, picnics, parties and holidays. Sport is an important part too, but cricket is generally the break for Aussies from the rigours of football (whether it be AFL or Rugby) season, a chance to sit back, relax and enjoy some relaxing entertainment; can of beer in one hand, and an outstretched finger in the other, to soak in the sun and catch some runs.
So why is this night different from all other nights, ask those who have heard a lot of noise and a little of cricket. The simple answer is, this time, someone fought back. Not just in the cricket either, it would be one thing if Australia had just been outplayed on the field for the first time in 3 years, but the fightback also came off the field. For once, the foul mouthed Aussies had someone spitting in the other direction. It wasn't just whitewash predictions from the fast bowlers and stick it up their ass calls from the batsmen, because this time the opposition were not to be outdone, in fact quite the contrary!
Had it come out to just play cricket, India would have been respected greatly. Australia had not lost or drawn a test since 2005, but India forced them to suffer one of each in the space of 2 games, and then made the World Champions look like amateurs by winning the Tri Series finals 2-0 for the second year in a row. But it was one veteran spinner's war of words that dominated the tour, from the phantom 'monkey' taunt, to the constant 'I don't like them either' responses and cheap Indian pride stunts performed by the 12th Man (yes we're talking about Harbhajan again), not to mention the increasing amounts of spectators getting ejected. On face value, it sounds a lot like scenes from federal Parliament but this is cricket, the way the Aussies like to play it: aggressively. Their other favourite component is success, but we all know what happened to that one. However, India managed to drag themselves down to the Australian level, and lost a lot of respect as a result. Even youngster Ishant Sharma was seen puffing his chest and acting like a much more experienced bowler than he really is. All this isn't to say that the Australians are any better, they aren't, but that doesn't mean that India must try its hardest to be liked even less.
Despite the poor sportsmanship all round, some pretty good cricket was seen all round, but it wasn't enough to stop the sighs of relief erupting all around as cricket season finally came to a close, and football season made its way back in.
Though AFL's preseason is already completed, domestic cricket reaches its pinnacle this week when Victoria takes on New South Wales at the SCG in the final of the Pura Cup. New South Wales will celebrate the achievement of coming first by dropping its entire pace attack for three international players, including one who has played two matches all season for them, and taken one wicket all up (including a wicketless Pura Cup match). Now don't get me wrong, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken (Michael Clarke is also coming back from international duty) are all fantastic players, but to drop the players who got them there in the first place is a big slap in the face for their hard working youngsters. "Get out there and play your best cricket, but no matter how well you play, you'll still be dropped if our Aussie internationals are available," seems to be the message. Mark Cameron was last year dropped for the Pura Cup final when Matthew Nicholson returned from injury, despite taking 5 wickets against Tasmania a fortnight earlier, and he will now be dropped for Lee and co. despite having taken 27 wickets this season at 17.51. Two years in a row the promising 27 year old has had his confidence shattered, which reminds me of the time Victorian skipper Paul Reiffel declared with Michael Klinger on 99 a few years back. It promises to be an exciting clash though, with the star studded New South Wales team taking on a more settled but less spectacular Victorian side.
Of course, no AFL pre season competition is complete without cries of not trying/caring, and a fair bit of controversy to back it up, but this year's reached new heights when Swans coach Paul Roos was accused by the AFL of deliberately throwing a match. Perish the thought! A team not trying their hardest? Now that's a new issue in football! Of course this is a bit more serious than a team not trying their hardest, but is less serious than a team tanking most of the latter half of the season.
Sanity prevailed of course, and Roos was found not guilty, but it didn't stop the conspiracy theories from Roos, who claimed that the AFL hates him, ever since they called the swans 'ugly ducklings' several weeks before they ended up winning the premiership. Apparently Andrew Demetriou and co are out to get him. Get a ticket and wait in line please Paul.
So why is this night different from all other nights, ask those who have heard a lot of noise and a little of cricket. The simple answer is, this time, someone fought back. Not just in the cricket either, it would be one thing if Australia had just been outplayed on the field for the first time in 3 years, but the fightback also came off the field. For once, the foul mouthed Aussies had someone spitting in the other direction. It wasn't just whitewash predictions from the fast bowlers and stick it up their ass calls from the batsmen, because this time the opposition were not to be outdone, in fact quite the contrary!
Had it come out to just play cricket, India would have been respected greatly. Australia had not lost or drawn a test since 2005, but India forced them to suffer one of each in the space of 2 games, and then made the World Champions look like amateurs by winning the Tri Series finals 2-0 for the second year in a row. But it was one veteran spinner's war of words that dominated the tour, from the phantom 'monkey' taunt, to the constant 'I don't like them either' responses and cheap Indian pride stunts performed by the 12th Man (yes we're talking about Harbhajan again), not to mention the increasing amounts of spectators getting ejected. On face value, it sounds a lot like scenes from federal Parliament but this is cricket, the way the Aussies like to play it: aggressively. Their other favourite component is success, but we all know what happened to that one. However, India managed to drag themselves down to the Australian level, and lost a lot of respect as a result. Even youngster Ishant Sharma was seen puffing his chest and acting like a much more experienced bowler than he really is. All this isn't to say that the Australians are any better, they aren't, but that doesn't mean that India must try its hardest to be liked even less.
Despite the poor sportsmanship all round, some pretty good cricket was seen all round, but it wasn't enough to stop the sighs of relief erupting all around as cricket season finally came to a close, and football season made its way back in.
Though AFL's preseason is already completed, domestic cricket reaches its pinnacle this week when Victoria takes on New South Wales at the SCG in the final of the Pura Cup. New South Wales will celebrate the achievement of coming first by dropping its entire pace attack for three international players, including one who has played two matches all season for them, and taken one wicket all up (including a wicketless Pura Cup match). Now don't get me wrong, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken (Michael Clarke is also coming back from international duty) are all fantastic players, but to drop the players who got them there in the first place is a big slap in the face for their hard working youngsters. "Get out there and play your best cricket, but no matter how well you play, you'll still be dropped if our Aussie internationals are available," seems to be the message. Mark Cameron was last year dropped for the Pura Cup final when Matthew Nicholson returned from injury, despite taking 5 wickets against Tasmania a fortnight earlier, and he will now be dropped for Lee and co. despite having taken 27 wickets this season at 17.51. Two years in a row the promising 27 year old has had his confidence shattered, which reminds me of the time Victorian skipper Paul Reiffel declared with Michael Klinger on 99 a few years back. It promises to be an exciting clash though, with the star studded New South Wales team taking on a more settled but less spectacular Victorian side.
Of course, no AFL pre season competition is complete without cries of not trying/caring, and a fair bit of controversy to back it up, but this year's reached new heights when Swans coach Paul Roos was accused by the AFL of deliberately throwing a match. Perish the thought! A team not trying their hardest? Now that's a new issue in football! Of course this is a bit more serious than a team not trying their hardest, but is less serious than a team tanking most of the latter half of the season.
Sanity prevailed of course, and Roos was found not guilty, but it didn't stop the conspiracy theories from Roos, who claimed that the AFL hates him, ever since they called the swans 'ugly ducklings' several weeks before they ended up winning the premiership. Apparently Andrew Demetriou and co are out to get him. Get a ticket and wait in line please Paul.
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