Monthly Archives: March 2014

Cricket: The Sheffield Shield finalists are becoming clearer

March 13, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

We are half way through Round 10 of the Sheffield Shield and, despite some of the bizarre play we have seen already, the identity of the combatants for the final are now much clearer.

In Canberra, the chances of the Western Australians were blown away in just 8 overs.  At 5-15 there was no recovery possible against the pace of the New South Welshmen and they were bundle out for 82.  As matters stand at the start of day 3, Western Australia lead by 34 runs with 5 second innings wickets in hand.  New South Wales are the short priced favourites for outright victory which would see them host the final.

At Bellerive Oval, the Tasmanians have played the South Australians out of a finals berth.  Only able to bat for 55 overs in the face of some excellent bowling from Jackson Bird, playing his first red ball game in 9 months, the South Australians have spent the better part of a day and half in the field.  They are almost 300 behind with ttwo days to go.  The prospect of the outright victory the South Australians need to secure a finals spot looks very remote.

The final match of the round sees Queensland on top of the Victorians at the MCG in a fixture they need to win outright to play in the finals.  That said they will be heartened by both what is going on at the field with the Bulls leading by 73 runs with 5 wickets in hand and also the fact that South Australia now look out of contention and Western Australia unlikely to secure any points from the game in Canberra. His efforts have received none of the plaudits of those from south of the border, but Queensland’s position has been set up by the bowling of James Hopes.  6 for 40 from the Queensland captain bowling with a stress fracture in his back is the epitome of a “captain’s knock”. Day 3 is “D” day for Queensland.  A lead of 150 / 200 and some early wickets will see them in the box seat.

New South Wales is in the box seat to host the final.  The other combatant looks likely to be Queensland however if they do not best the Victorians the finalist will be Western Australia.  Today will be a very interesting day of cricket.  It kicks off in a couple of hours. The live stream is available on foxsports.com.au.

Sheffield Shield: Round 10 and both final slots are up for grabs

March 9, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

It has been a funny old Sheffield Shield season with a massive gap right in the middle of it. The final round of the first class summer in Australia begins on Tuesday and there are four teams vying for a finals berth.

The points table, at the end of the 9th round of play, looks like this:

Teams Mat Won Lost Tied Draw Aban Pts Quotient For Against
Western Australia 9 4 2 0 3 0 26 1.052 4646/142 4758/153
South Australia 9 3 1 0 5 0 26 1.148 5071/133 5013/151
New South Wales 9 3 3 0 3 0 26 1.050 4715/148 4549/150
Queensland 9 3 2 0 4 0 22 1.124 4555/125 5185/160
Tasmania 9 2 4 0 3 0 16 0.878 4774/166 4552/139
Victoria 9 1 4 0 4 0 10 0.794 4976/154 4680/115

Obviously, Tasmania and Victoria are out of the running for the final. Each of the other four teams are all in with a shot of being in the final and even Queensland could host the final if results go their way.

These are the fixture kicking off on Tuesday:

· New South Wales v Western Australia at Canberra

· Tasmania v South Australia at Hobart

· Victoria v Queensland at Melbourne

The big game of the round is the fixture coming out of Canberra with a finals spot obviously up for grabs for the winner. If the game ends in a draw then the winner of first innings points will go to 28 points and that ought be enough to make the finals. For both teams, if they lose on first innings then they will still have a chance given that there are 6 points available for an outright win. New South Wales though will be hoping that Queensland do not win outright because if they win first innings points and then draw the game and Queensland win outright Queensland will go through to the final as they will have won more games outright.

South Australia will secure a finals spot if they get first innings points and Queensland fail to win outright or, again, even if they lose on first innings, if they procure an outright victory. Obviously, a win on first innings and outright gets them into the final without the need for count back.

For Queensland to figure in the finals they must win against Victoria on the first innings as well as outright to secure 6 points and jump to 28 points. Then they must rely on South Australia only winning on the first innings or not gaining points and one of New South Wales or Western Australia not getting any points from their encounter.

Looking at the games:

· Queensland have been assisted by the selection of the Australian T20 team as the Bushrangers will be without Daniel Christian, Aaron Finch, Cameron White and Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell, in particular had been in excellent form for the Vics so he will be a big loss. Conversely, Queensland will be basically at full strength and come into the game off the back of a massive win against the leaders of the competition, Western Australia. They will be looking at making it a season worthwhile for captain James Hopes who has been playing with stress fractures since the first round of the season and has 32 wickets to show for it.

· South Australia have been rocked by the suspension of their captain Johan Botha as a result of his poor conduct in their Round 9 fixture. He is also the second highest wicket taker in the competition with 36. They will be looking to Tom Cooper, who is the top scorer in the competition with 858 runs to lead the charge with the willow. The defending champion Tasmanians have a great record at home and will, no doubt, put out a pitch that seams which will play right into their hands.

· Western Australia and New South Wales are playing a semi final of sorts in this game. The Warriors possess two of the most consistent batters in the first class game in Marcus North and Adam Voges and it is no surprise that they lacked quality runs in their last game against Queensland which WA lost terribly. The New South Welshmen possess the leading wicket taker in the competition on Steve O’Keefe with 38 wickets at an average of 20.05 and one expects he will bowl “big” overs for them again in Canberra.

An exciting end to a strange season awaits on Tuesday. This is going to be epic!

Cricket: And for something different … the T20 circus begins again

March 9, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

It will surprise no one that I am not they greatest of fans of the shortest form of cricket. In fact, I theorise that calling the T20 form of the game cricket is a misnomer because the skills of the game are so different from what we see in the long form of the game. Yes the players still bowl and bat and field but the lines that a bowled, the shots that are played and the fields that are set are so different as to be unrecognisable from the pure form of the game.

Another facet of the difference is the different teams that play the game at the top level. The best example of this is seen with the Australian team that has been selected for the three match T20 series due to commence in South Africa tonight. Only three players from the all-conquering test team remain in the T20 squad remain with the team in South Africa (Mitchell Johnson has been rested).

This series is basically a group of 3 practice matches before the T20 World Cup commences in Bangladesh later in the month. Darren Lehmann has already said that he will use it as such to give players game time before the tournament commences so it seems obvious that results are not at the forefront of mind for the Australians.

Australia, historically, has struggled for success in this form of the game and their record against the South Africans is indicative of this having only won 4 of the 11 encounters between these two countries. South Africa have been historically dominant at home winning 19 of 29 T20 internationals hosted by them.

The key for both sides looks, on paper, to be the form of each side’s spin contingents. With Bangladesh likely to throw up only spinning decks both sides have selected a plethora of spin bowling options. On a vodcast for a site I used to contribute to a couple of years ago I mentioned James Muirhead as a player to watch in the future and he certainly is that now that he is in the top squad in this form of the game. South Africa’s best spinner from the test matches was a part timer in JP Duminy and one expects him to get a lot of overs against the Australians along with Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso.

Nothing will beat the excitement of the test match series just completed, however this series will be one that both sides will wish to perform well in with the spoils of the T20 World Cup not too far away.