Monthly Archives: September 2013

Ashes Tour 2013: England v Australia 2nd ODI Preview

September 8, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , Leave a comment

The second One Day International fixture between England and Australia kicks off tonight at Old Trafford. This portion of the tour seems entirely inconsequential and, frankly, a bit of a waste of time and thus it is difficult to get excited about it. That said, it is an important game for some players on the fringe of selection for the main focus of English and Australian cricket fans coming up in 74 days’ time so it is worth looking at least to see how those players perform.

Neither team has named its final line-up. That said it is a big game for:

· Fawad Ahmed: I have not been a fan of Ahmed’s selection and his fast tracked citizenship. Equally I am intrigued to see how he reacts to the public pressure that has come from his request (granted by Cricket Australia) to not be forced to wear the sponsors logo on his shirt. John Inverarity clearly has him the heart of his plans for the Ashes so another solid performance for him here will be another building bloke in building his case for promotion ahead of Nathan Lyon.

· Michael Clarke: Darren Lehmann has been overt about his view that so long as Clarke is fit he will play. I have to say that every time I see Clarke in the line-up for games that mean nothing I fear he is one game closer to hurting his back and being out of the Ashes series. It is a big game for Clarke to ensure that he does not get hurt: he is that important to the return Ashes series.

· George Bailey: Is only 112 runs away from reaching 1000 runs in one day cricket. There is a gap in Australia’s test match batting line-up at number 6 (or number 5 if Steve Smith moves down the order) so a hundred in this fixture would not only push him over an important milestone but could push him to the forefront of the selectors minds for that vacant slot.

· Steven Finn: Had a test series to forget and was promptly dropped after the first test at Nottingham. He gets his chance to push for a tour to Australia for the return series where one would expect his bowling to more suited to the conditions than they were in England. It has to be said though that Finn often leaks runs and it was obvious that when he bowled at Nottingham any pressure on Australia’s batters was released. He will need to do better in this ODI series to convince those who doubt him in the English set up that he is up to the task in Australia.

· Eoin Morgan: Captaining England in the absence of Alistair Cook, among others, Morgan secured an easy victory an easy victory against Ireland with a quality hundred. Morgan has had a truncated career for England in test matches having not played for England since its series against Pakistan in Dubai. The added pressure of captaincy could play a role in his form in this form of the game, however if he does perform under that pressure he may find himself back in the frame for a test birth.

The last time England and Australia faced each other:

· In this form of the game, England thrashed Australia in the Champions Trophy by 48 runs (exactly 3 months ago) off the back of an inspired bowling performance from Messrs Anderson and Broad (neither of whom are playing in this series).

· At this ground, the rain conspired against Australia as it pressed for what would have been a victory that kept the Ashes series alive for it but only lead to a draw that saw the English retain the Ashes.

Given the changes that have been made to the England line up for this series, the bookmakers have installed Australia as favourites to take the series and this game. I, for one, am less confident. Only time will tell.

Cricket: The Ryobi Cup Travesty

September 8, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

The domestic cricket schedule in Australia was announced yesterday by Cricket Australia. I have written previously that I hoped for a focus on first class cricket via the Sheffield Shield competition to be the centre point of the 2013/14 schedule as I believe that Cricket Australia should be focused only on preparing our players for the coming Ashes series. Now with the schedule announced it goes without saying that I think the three first class games Cricket Australia has scheduled before the Ashes to be a massive missed opportunity. That said, I cannot let this moment pass without also commenting on the new format for the Ryobi Cup competition.

The new format runs something like this:

· This tournament will be used as a season-launching competition;

· It will run from September 29 to October 27.

· Teams will play six matches each before the final.

· Every game will be held in Sydney, with Bankstown Oval, North Sydney Oval, Hurstville, Drummoyne and Blacktown to be the venues rather than the SCG.

To be clear, I have no cavil at all with:

· The domestic schedule being clearly differentiated so that players can, in the words of CEO Sutherland, “give players the best chance to maximise their performance in each form of the game without the chopping and changing of previous years”; and

· The Ryobi Cup competition being played in tournament style and I again agree with the statement of CEO Sutherland that “replicating a tournament style competition for one-day cricket is the best way of preparing our one-day cricketers for one-day internationals and the World Cup in early 2015”.

What I am unable to countenance is the move by Cricket Australia to play the Ryobi Cup at a cluster of venues in the Sydney suburbs. I am troubled by this because:

· It completely ignores the fans of the game in the other states. If we do not have access to the GEM Channel (on which a “majority” of the games will be telecast) fans in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia will not get to see their respective team play in this competition.

· Bankstown Oval and North Sydney Oval have, on rare occasions, been used for the purposes of first class cricket and domestic 50 over cricket but they are, along with the other grounds, hardly more than club cricket grounds.

This move is hardly the conduct one would expect of the governing body of the next Cricket World Cup is it? Surely said governing body should be seeking to, on the one hand, promote the game to all of the its constituent fans and, on the other hand, prepare each of the host grounds for the tournament to come. The only way to do that would be, of course, to play the tournament in each of the states (whilst still in a block format). It is that simple isn’t it?

Therein though lies two problems for Cricket Australia as I see it:

1. They have make a mistake in leading off the summer with the Ryobi Cup because:

a. The spot that they have slotted in the Ryobi Cup competition is in the heart of the football finals season in Australia with at least the Melbourne and Sydney grounds likely to be out of action for the whole month; and

b. The Adelaide Oval redevelopment is still ongoing and they are relaying the turf at the Gabba.

2. They are so bound to Channel 9 as host broadcaster that sending the Ryobi Cup around the country is, seemingly, not an available option. I make this assumption because the only reason that I can see for the games being so Sydneycentric (aside from the foregoing) is to reduce the costs borne by Channel 9 in broadcasting the games on their secondary channel.

The former problem would be easily resolved by slotting in the Ryobi Cup competition immediately after the Big Bash League finishes. That way the Sheffield Shield competition could have been front ended with five available fixtures before the Ashes and the Ryobi Cup could have picked up a flow on of the crowds brought in by the BBL both on the TV and in the stands. The later problem is one less easily fixed given the power that Channel 9 obviously exerts in the game having been the host broadcaster for so long. To that problem there is no easy solution.

These problems though get us back to something that I have been harping on about for some time about Cricket Australia and its stewardship of the game: Cricket Australia seems to be caught in an ongoing battle between filling its coffers and acting in the best interests of the game. The announced schedule again shows, as has much of Cricket Australia’s conduct in its stewardship of the game, that that battle is being won by the filling of the coffers rather than what is best for the game. For a start, if I was sitting in the halls of power in the ICC, I would be looking at this announcement by Cricket Australia and wondering how committed Cricket Australia really is to the 50 over a side form of the game and, by extension, the World Cup and that cannot be a good thing!

Ashes 2013/14 Countdown Day 75: First Class Schedule announced

September 7, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , 2 Comments

I have been calling for some time for Cricket Australia announce its first class schedule for the 2013/14 season principally because I am more than a bit concerned about Australia’s preparation for the first test at the Gabba kicking off on 21 November.

I wrote earlier today on my current worries about the Australian teams preparation. Now that Cricket Australia has announced the schedule, I have to say my worries have not been sated.

Based on the schedule released, there will be 3 rounds of Sheffield Shield cricket before the first test. Those rounds will take place on:

30 October – 2 November
6 November – 9 November
13 November – 16 November

I have two problems with this schedule:

1. There are not enough first class games. The domestic season starts on 29 September in Australia with the Ryobi Cup 4 week tournament during which there will be no first class cricket. I can not understand why Cricket Australia would not make more games available for players who might be involved in the test match to gain form in the long form of the game.

2. The players participating in the India ODI tour will only get one first class game before the first test. If you are in the ODI squad going to India and you are a test player or you are on the fringe of the test team then you will only, realistically be able to play in the final round of the Sheffield Shield before the first test given that the last game of the India tour is on 2 November and they will need to travel back to Australia and get over jet lag.

I remain of the view that Cricket Australia should be doing everything possible to prepare the Australian team for the home ashes series. This first class schedule coupled with the Indian ODI tour is a long way from doing that!

Shumpty’s Punt: Saturday Specials

September 7, 2013 By in Shumpty's Punt Tags: , Leave a comment

If you are having a bet today on the horses, here are my best bets:

Randwick Race 6 Number 8 Fawkner (win bet)

Eagle Farm Race 3 Number 5 Mishani Warrior (win bet)

Eagle Farm Race 7 Number 9 Arctic (each way)

Gold Coast Race 5 Number 5 Yarrandi (win bet)

Flemington Race 7 Number 2 Temple of Doom (each way)

Finally, there is a horse that can not go to the track without me having a wager on it and that is Albert the Fat and will be having a little each way on him also in the 7th at Flemington.

Good luck and good punting!

Ashes 2013/14 Countdown day 75: Why am I worried about Australia’s preparation?

September 7, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Today marks 75 days till the first test of the 2013/14 Ashes series in Brisbane. To say I am worried about Australia's preparation for this series, already, would be an understatement. Here are five reasons why:

1. Cricket Australia still has not announced the First Class Schedule

It is 7 September and no one knows what will be the schedule of first class fixtures to be played in Australia in advance of the first test. One would have thought that Cricket Australia would have been focused on getting as many first class fixtures in before the first test match to allow for the players playing in said test matches to prepare however that does not present at the moment as being the case.

2. Short form impositions before the series

In the next 75 days the Australian team will play in 13 one day internationals and 2 T20 games. Also during this span the Champions League T20 tournament will be played in India. The imposition of this short form cricket before the first test means there are some players who are in the frame for the first test who may have no opportunity to play first class cricket before that test.

3. England seems to be getting its preparation right

Is it any surprise that the ECB is setting things up well for this coming series? Converse to the Australian preparation, England's key players are not playing in the current ODI series against Australia under the aegis of getting some rest and then will have two county games to play in, if they wish to, and then three first class games in Australia before the first test. That is strikingly a much better preparation schedule than that some of Australia's likely first test players will have.

4. The Captain's Back

Michael Clarke is a key player for Australia: scratch that … he is the key player for Australia in the coming Ashes tour. He has a chronic back problem that has needed to me managed in recent years. Whilst I love the sentiment of Darren Lehmann in stating that Clarke will play when he is fit but I worry that every time he plays a short form fixture he is at risk of his back ailment flaring up and, by extension, at risk of missing the first test.

5. Fringe players finding “form” in the short form fixtures

Aaron Finch scoring runs and Fawad Ahmed taking wickets worries me given the propensity of John Inverarity and his merry band of selectors to pick “fads” (players in form in the short form but with no semblance of form in first class cricket) to represent Australia in the baggy green. If the form of said fads continues there is a real risk that they will end up wearing a baggy green come 21 November.

There is a lot that could go wrong between now and 21 November. I worry though that Australia is not putting itself in the best position possible to win back the Ashes through, in four out of five cases above, decisions of its own making. I hope I am wrong but will continue to worry I am right until the first ball is bowled in 75 days time.

Bye Bye Blake! Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out!

September 6, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Thank goodness that is over! The saga of Blake Ferguson’s tenure as a Canberra Raider player is now over and ended with these words from Don Furner:

“The board were left with little choice but to terminate Blake Ferguson’s contract, after several breaches of club policy”.

Despite all of the support shown for Ferguson by the Raiders, he did not have the fortitude to attend a board meeting summonsed to discuss his recent conduct and that, according to the Raiders statement was the last straw.

The season that was for Ferguson included being the other part of the infamous roof top photo with Josh Dugan, a sexual assault charge whilst in camp with the NSW State of Origin team, the sacking of the coach who supported him after the players could not take that support any more, a disappearing act in recent weeks and playing mute in a bizarre press conference. It is fair to say that his sacking has been a long time coming.

In a season where:

· Josh Dugan was sacked by the club but not de-registered only to find himself playing for another club;

· Sandor Earl has been stood down earlier for conduct that pre-dated his time with the club; and

· Anthony Milford has decided he does not want to stay with the club that gave him a chance in the top flight,

The NRL MUST deregister Ferguson and await the outcome of his current court case as well as the obvious counselling he requires if only to ensure that the Raiders are not punished AGAIN for doing the right thing but also give Ferguson a chance to get his life in order.

It has been a difficult season to be a Canberra Raiders fan this season. Hopefully drawing a line under this sorry saga can assist fans, like me, get some closure and move forward looking towards the 2014 season. It will be all the more difficult to do that if one of the first things that Raiders fans see is Ferguson rewarded with another contract next season.

Here’s hoping he gets the help he obviously needs and the Raiders can move forward with a squad of players who want to play in the green jersey of this proud club. In the meantime: bye bye Blake … I can’t say it has been fun or even rewarding.