Thought of the Day: This Week in Cricket

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Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is one of the greatest movies ever made and if you want to argue with me about that, you better come armed.

That being said, the fact that it turned out so well and became so popular is a mixture of complete good luck and the sequels being much better films; making the original trilogy great as a group and individually.

For those of you that have families or weird hobbies that don’t involve watching 30 year-old science fantasy movies over and over, you may not know that the original script to Star Wars was almost nothing like how it turned out.

Indeed, George Lucas’ main talents as a film maker were around special effects and action shots, not script writing.

Similarly, international Cricket has had a week in which some great product has been served up despite the best efforts of its managers. Here are the highlights:

The World Cup that isn’t for the World

The ICC confirmed this week that the next ODI Cricket World Cup will consist of only ten teams.

There probably is some justification for this, with some of the games at the last cup being one-sided and the tournament dragging on a bit, but these are issues that seemingly every other sporting tournament on earth is capable of dealing with.

One suggestion for reducing the duration of the tournament might be to host games at major stadiums held more than once a month!  Radical, I know.

Given the international pressure to grow and compete with other sports, the move to reduce the number of teams in the tournament seems baffling in the extreme.

The energy and enjoyment of the game that teams like Afghanistan and Ireland brought to the last World Cup were infectious and brought life to the tournament, as well as greater international interest and participation.

Indeed, this decision seems to be the equivalent of the creation of the Jar Jar Binks character for Star Wars Episode I.

This makes me physically sick.

Unfortunately, it is hardly isolated as an appalling Cricketing administration move.

Cricket Australia: Open for Business

The other baffling announcement by a Cricket Administrator this week was that Cricket Australia (CA) was looking at making major cities bid for the right to host Tests.

Interestingly, I was talking about this with an interested Cricket fan who actually has a life outside the game & their main issue was that it paid no heed to the history of the matches, rather than as Marketing disaster.

Seen here: Marketing disaster

There are certainly improvements that could be made to the Cricketing schedule in Australia, including ensuring that there is a Test in every Capital City (as well as Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart) and each of these fixtures is recognised and respected as an event.

There are multiple examples of successes with established sporting events in Australia, not least the AFL Grand Final (always played at the MCG, regardless of teams participating), the Melbourne Cup and the Australian Grand Prix.

There are also less successful examples of sporting events that have been moved, including the St Kilda Football Clubs foray into New Zealand and the Melbourne Football Clubs efforts in the Northern Territory.

CA manages the game on behalf of the fans of the fans of the game and has an obligation to make it as accessible and interesting as possible.  Creating greater uncertainty around what will be on and when is like trying to recruit a Jedi Knight after cutting their hand off.  Mean and Stupid.

Happy Fathers Day

…and now some good news

It seems the people that have been professionally trained to play the game are executing their skills much better than the people paid to run the game.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka are evenly matched going into the last day of their test in Colombo, after Pakistan collapsed in their own inimitable way in their first Innings after winning the first Test so comprehensively.

Seriously, all of the rumours around corruption are never going to disappear about the Pakistan team while they are so inconsistent.  They are prized roosters one week, feather dusters the next.

Still, very entertaining feather dusters.  Azhar Ali, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah are all exciting players that a team can be built around.

While that match has been going on, Australia wrapped up a comprehensive warm-up game against Kent ahead of the Ashes.

One of the things I love about these warm up games is how jovial everyone, as well as how much interest there is in them.  The crowd at Canterbury certainly seemed sizeable and engaged.

A highlight for me was Australian Captain Michael Clarke shaking the hand of Daniel Bell-Drummond after his dismissal, congratulating him on his Century.  There is a lot written about the sporting nature of the Australian team (or lack thereof) but this act alone shows how much of it is specific to Tests, rather than as a whole.

Happy Face

This match was one that was enjoyed by all for the sake of enjoyment.  It was great entertainment despite the imbalance between the abilities of the two sides. Surely something the ICC can appreciate?

Star Wars YouTube clip of the Day

Thought of the Day: This Week in Cricket

International Cricket is a poorly administered, marketed and managed sport that is going down the gurgler.  That being said, it sometimes has weeks as entertaining as the one it has just offered up, helping the viewer only see the fireworks – not the burning launch pad.

It’s been a great week on the field, and here are the highlights:

England win an ODI Series

If you told me 2 months ago that England, so bad at ODI Cricket that they’d started picking Jockeys in the team, would beat the ODI World Cup Finalist…well, I probably would have asked you which bookmaking firm you worked for.

Remember this?  I do.

Full credit to England though, they picked a young and energetic team that was full of promise and encouraged them to play exciting cricket.  The results of the games were unexpected, with England regularly scoring lots of runs and limiting New Zealand from doing so.

If England are able to move this momentum to the Test arena I may have to jump back off the Black Caps bandwagon and insist Phar Lap is Australian while sending back Russel Crowe permanently.

The turn around in fortunes in this English team is truly startling and credit must go to their Australian coach and Irish Captain.  Yay, England!

Are India the new Pakistan?

As mentioned above, Bangladesh beat England to move into the World Cup Finals where they eventually lost out to India.  Aside from that victory though, Bangladesh have been playing some really good limited overs cricket, beating India in this ODI series 2-0.

So how good are Bangladesh?  It’s hard to tell when their opponent is India, the team that seems to care about consistency only when home fans are around.  Or bookmakers.  Or maybe the two.

When these two teams met in the World Cup finals, India made 302 then rolled Bangladesh for 193 in 45 overs.

In this series the Bangladeshi’s reversed this form and looked a class above their opponents, which shouldn’t be taken away from them – but it really is hard to judge where they are at when their opponents don’t seem to care.

Are Pakistan the new Australia?

With International cricket flailing around madly around them, Pakistan arrived in Sri Lanka and started a Test series between two evenly matched teams with a win.

To add some cream to the top of an already creamy, but not too-creamy, cake – they did so after losing a day to rain.

They also managed to win the game on the back of some excellent fast-bowling from Shane Watson-tormentor (and, by extension, the most popular Pakistani in Australia) Wahab Riaz and leg-spinner Yasir Shah.

Test team dominance through the success of a fast bowler and a leg-spinner?  Remind you of anyone?

If they can get some consistency there could be some truly scary cricket ahead.

Ashes warm up: Icebergs ahead!

After smashing the West Indies in a manner so brutal that it may have sent the sport in the region back a few years, the Australian cricket squad arrived in England this week to prepare for the Ashes.

Some of the Players took to the Isle of Wight for a warm-up match, which saw Chris Rogers score some runs and Ryan Harris get hit for some. Similar to the series between Bangladesh and India, it is difficult to take too much out of this game, but rather wonder how different it could have been if it was held at the Isle of Wight Monkey Haven.

A personal dream of mine.

Otherwise, the lead-up to the Ashes is going to schedule with ex-England spinner Graeme Swann stating that Australian batsman Steve Smith is no good.  Given that Swann retired when he was too scared to face Australian quick bowlers and Smith is currently the number one batsman in the world, there is little to support what Swann says, apart from a burning desire to be in the media.

Claims like this do make him seem all tip and no iceberg though.

Artists impression of Graeme Swann

Star Wars YouTube Video of the Day

We have reached peak civilisation

Thought of the Day: This Week in Cricket

The question “If a Tree falls in a wood and no-one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” is often used to discuss Reality in the field of Philosophy.

Similarly, the question; “If a Test ends in 3 days and no-one is there to see it, did it ever happen and does it matter?” could well be asked of Cricket Administrators in the field of poor performance.

And with all these deep questions asked, here’s This Week in Cricket:

Banglamess

Here’s a sentence that doesn’t make much sense: India and Bangladesh finished a one-Test series in the middle of monsoon season, with the game ending in a draw.

Why play a one-Test series?

Why in the monsoon season?

It’s pretty amazing that anyone at all knows this happened or the result.  Good thing I have no social life so I can pay attention to such things.

Scheduling a single game at this time is akin to celebrating Christmas with a cup of chamomile tea in August with strangers.  Its uncomfortable, forced and un-enjoyable.

If the ICC really does care about Test Cricket, could it please stop treating it in the same way that a toddler shows its care for a puppy.

Quote: "Fingers go in eyes"

Wank Forrell

Australia won the series against the West Indies in emphatic fashion, with neither of the 2 Tests going into Day 5.

Australia was so dominant and the crowds were so bare, you have to wonder why this Series was scheduled at all, particularly when during the middle of school term when young folk and families are unavailable.

As a parent, I can assure you that any opportunity to entertain your child for 5 days, or escape them for that long is welcomed like a half volley. 

Maybe the ICC hated their parents and are now taking it out on parents everywhere?

Australian Cricket fans have romantic and nostalgic feelings towards the West Indies cricket team and no-one is happy to see them beaten like this, people watch sport for the competition and attend or view the game depending on how accessible it is.

This series had neither.

The ICC shouldn’t take all the blame, the WICB has run the sport poorly for 2 decades and now their best players are off playing T20 cricket all over the world instead of attracting domestic interest in the game that feeds them.

There was little for the home team to celebrate, outside the form of Jason Holder and Jerome Taylor.  Worrying was essentially everyone else, Captaincy decisions, lack of interest and the fact that only $2,000 could be found as a winners cheque.

That’s right, $2,000.  That’s about a third of what Shaun Marsh got paid for participating.

That’s right, Shaun Marsh.

The only upside for Australian fans was the introduction of Adam Voges for Australia and the continued improvement of Steve Smith and Josh Hazlewood.

Nathan Lyons performance was also strong (he is now Australia’s leading wicket taker for an off-spinner) and Darren Berry is to be commended for picking Lyon to play for South Australia when he was just the groundsman.

The Australian teams overall performance was so skewed towards the dominance of their bowlers that you wonder why they should pick so many batsmen at all, or persevere with poor performers.

Just do something

John Kennedy, the imposing (and successful) coach of the Hawthorn Football Club was famous for inspiring passion (and fear) into his players, getting them to peak performance with such inspiring words as “Just do something!”.

While that sort of loose direction is the sort of thing that would lead me to ordering a sandwich or having a nice lie down, it did work on his team as they played an exciting and aggressive brand of football.

With the last series being such a damp squib of a contest and the English team still gelling together, the Australian Cricket team would be well advised to follow Kennedy’s guidelines and take some chances to make the forthcoming Ashes series, more exciting.

Test Cricket requires 20 wickets to be taken to win the game, so my suggestion is to play 5 bowlers; 4 quicks and a spinner. 

England looked as comfortable facing Trent Boult’s left-arm seamers in the series against New Zealand as the English do in talking about matters of the heart.

 

"The thing is, I really don't like....left armers"

So take some initiative Australia, play the two Mitch’s; Starc and Johnson, with Johnson taking Watsons place as the all-rounder.  The statistics from the last series show that Johnson batted nearly as well as Watson and he certainly bowled better.

Imagine a Test series in which one of the teams took the step to attack the other for all 5 days.  It would be great viewing.

Cometh the hour, cometh the Man...istan

While the inconsequential series between India and Bangladesh, and Australia and the West Indies have been playing out, the most unlikely of Cricket saviours; Pakistan, has stepped up.

Pakistan are about to begin a tour of Sri Lanka that should actually prove some real contests between evenly pitted sides.

Pakistan is, of course, known for putting in variable performances though does have some good form on Sri Lankan wickets.

Both teams have an equal mix of experience and youth, pace and spin.  If only the series was getting the attention it deserves, I’m not sure there is even a name for the trophy for the event between the two nations.

Still, it’s going to be a great contest, something Cricket has been missing of late.

Thought of the Day: Paul Revere wasn't really onto something

The latest ODI between England and New Zealand ended in something of a blow-out, with England hitting over 400 runs for the first time in an ODI, while New Zealand managed to field eleven players in the same uniform.

Nice work, lads.

The exciting way in which England played, the total runs scored & their ability to bowl out the Kiwis cheaply was as drastic change to their form in ODI cricket since Kevin Costner was the worlds best-known bodyguard.

No-one messes with trousers that high.

While I'm glad that England have managed to shake off the cloud of curmudgeon that has blanketed the team in recent years, one 400+ score does not make a...summer?

A quick look at the list of all 400+ scores in ODI cricket shows that these have been happening for ten years (thanks again, South Africa) and three were scored in the latest World Cup alone.

I've mentioned before that there is plenty of upside to this young England team, but I don't know if everyone should be worried about the English arriving just yet.

Thought of the Day: This Week in Cricket

--> Writing about things that have already happened in regards to sports is a fairly ridiculous proposition.  Sports are events that occur and are followed in real-time. 

Anyone who follows the sport knows what happened, making any subsequent commentary as relevant as a fat man blaming the last of 15 cheeseburgers for his weight. 

That being said, its time to tuck in to number 16...

Chris Rogers is more than a Dancer

Australia defeated the West Indies to win the Frank Worrell Trophy, which used to be something that Australia vied for years for, though now only takes 3 days.  While I’m all in favour of efficiency in performance, this was a little ridiculous.

In many ways it reminded me of the Sri Lanka – Australia series of 2011/12 in which Mitchell Johnson was able to scare out most of the Sri Lankan batsmen who simply weren’t used to the ball coming at them that fast.

Australia used that Series to start building momentum towards the Ashes in England, and more specifically managed to use it to get Mitchell Johnson back into a rhythm which saw him so decimate the English that many of them retired.

Retiring with your pads still on shoes some kind of fear. Photo courtesy of the Courier Mail.

While there were no clear Mitchell Johnson-type dominant performance, the continued improvement of Josh Hazlewood and emergence of Adam Voges from the edge of retirement to Man of the Match were both positives. 

That being said, it is hard to really judge the positives for the Australian team given the capitulation of the West Indian side.  

Being bowled out for 216 after being 4/180-odd doesn’t really indicate a team that can tough out a Test match so much as a bunch of guys that have an early dinner reservation and a couple of days of golf booked.

This is what Golf in Dominica looks like.  Probably worth it.

On the flipside, Australia were also unconvincing with the bat, as the endearingly have been for the last 5 to 6 years.  You can read more about this here and here.
 

Or here, thanks Jesse Hogan!

The absence of Chris Rogers gave Shaun Marsh another chance to secure a spot in the team, which he did about as convincingly as Shane Watson has done since 2010.

The failures of Michael Clarke, Steve Smith, Brad Haddin and Watto were a rarity (excluding Watto and Haddin in away series), though do suggest that the lack of application in the team in the absence of Rogers makes the side look about as sturdy as the ECBs administration.

Pictured: The ECBs preferred tournament partner.

With the series won, this may be the perfect time for Australia to try some new players (e.g. Mitch Marsh for Watto, Nevill for Haddin, anyone at all for Shaun Marsh).

Is Test Cricket now a Bowlers game?

The paucity of high scores in Test Cricket of late, particularly in comparison to the scores in One Day Cricket (and T20)  do suggest that Tests have become a bowlers game, as opposed to a batsmans, which reiterates the claim that Tests are a greater challenge.

While the entertainment of limited overs cricket is obvious through the big-hitting of the batsmen, it is the pressure and guile that fielding teams put on the batsmen that make Tests the more intriguing viewing.  Selling and administering that, though, seems a totally different proposition.

Death of a Gentleman

The sale of the game itself is the subject of a brilliant new movie; Death of a Gentleman, which premiered last week in Sheffield.

The culmination of 4 years work, it looks to be one of the best cricketing movies made, along with Fire in Babylon.

Detailing the passion and romance of the game of Cricket as it is held by players and fans alike, the movie documents how the game is being commoditized and sold for the best price at the cost of tradition and its future.

I, myself, have been known to grumble about the poor state of Cricket Administration and marketing from time-to-time (or even here, here, here, here, here, here and so on) but this film actually does a comprehensive job of analysing the game and talking to its powerbrokers (and Ed Cowan), rather than simply spout onions while eating 16 hamburgers.

Get along and support it.

Thought of the Day: This Week in Cricket

Tiger Woods must love Lance Armstrong.

Woods was the worlds biggest sporting scandal once the details of his widespread infidelity went global, until Armstrong outdid Woods by; being busted for drug use, suing everyone who accused him of drug use, then being busted again for more drug use, admitting drug use and finally defending his dug use.

Suddenly, Woods’ indiscretion with waitresses in broom cupboards in the Pancake Parlour didn’t seem so bad at all.

Similarly, the ICC must love FIFA.

Only an organisation so corrupt and poor that its officials actually get arrested for being corrupt and poor can make the ICC seem halfway competent. 

That being said, perhaps the reason that Cricket is struggling to develop in the USA is that ICC officials are afraid of US investigators looking into what they are doing?

Regardless, its been a big week in Sport and a good one for cricket in which the game provided all of the highlights.  There is also much to look forward to including…

…Australia v West Indies

As a young boy growing up in Australia in the 80s largely meant that there were 4 TV stations you could watch and summertime was a time of Cricket and Sun Burn. 

The majority of the cricket I remember was One Day games against the West Indies, who would inevitably towel-up Australia with a mix of frightening pace, chewing gum and laconic slugging.

These contests made me respect and revere the West Indies, an opinion I still hold today, despite this series being snuck in the middle of Ashes contests and being seen as little more than a warm up for Australia and a test for where the West Indies are now.

The warm up game for the series, against the West IndiesPrime Ministers XI, was of as much consequence as a Shane Warne Tweet, with Mitch Marsh bowling Leg Spin, Chris Rogers bowling beamers and a drawn result in the end.

Josh Hazlewood did manage to shine though and should be a starter for the First Test at least.  Injuries and form permitting, he could be opening the bowling for Australia for some time.

The state of the West Indian pitches, slow and flat, are as much a contrast to their team of yesteryear as they are a sign of things to come for Australia. 

The ability of the Australian team to blast-out any opposition team at home in Test or One Day games with its seemingly endless list of fast bowlers (Starc, Pattinson, Cummins etc) is something other teams will have noted & prepared pitches accordingly.

While that is a shame, it does offer an opportunity to all-rounders like Mitch Marsh, James Faulkner and Glenn Maxwell who have been known to do some exciting things from time to time.

Flat beer, flat pitches

On the subject of flat pitches, the Test between New Zealand and England has turned into an absolute corker despite the lack of assistance from the pitch.  Indeed, credit (and possibly 50% of ticket sales) needs to be given to Kiwi Captain Brendan McCullum for his aggressive approach to the game & trying to force an outcome.

As equally appealing as McCullums captaincy has been Englands younger players who have been inconsistent in that hilarious way that young people are, while showing plenty of promise.

To put the contest in context though, England has been troubled by the likes of NZ bowlers Henry and Craig.  Also, the Kiwi batsman have flayed the English bowlers. It will be interesting to see how they go against Australia.

Michael Vaughan has suggested that there is a lot to comparethe Ashes-winning English side of 2005 to the current side, though this may be more to keep him in a job in the media given that he missed on the England Director of Crickets role & the only similarity between the England team of 2005 and today is the number of players in the team (XI).

There is little chance that a team with a bowling attack comprising of Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Steve Harmison would be hit for over 4 per over by the New Zealand team.

You may want to think about that 2005 statement Vaughany

 

Flat spot

The flattest note of the week in Cricket related to thesuicide bombing that occurred in Pakistan in the middle of the current ODI series against Zimbabwe.

The reception of the Pakistan fans to the re-introduction of international Cricket, even when represented by Zimbabwe, goes to show how important the game is there and how important Pakistan is to the game.

While some misguided person thought their life was of equal worth to the interruption of a cricket game shows how we still haven’t got it right as a race, the fact that the game goes on & people continue to enjoy life shows that we are getting there.