Category Archives: Shumpty Speaks

The Ashes: 3rd test, 2nd day … The Myth and wasted opportunity

August 3, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Another excellent day of cricket at Old Trafford overnight and another winning day for the Australians who are right on top in this game. Here are my keys to day 5:

 

  1. The Myth chokes … As expected: Well he came, he was booed and a got out. I have written variously stating my opinion that David “the Myth” Warner should not be in the test team at the moment and should be required to come back to top flight cricket, if he does, through an apprenticeship in Sheffield Shield cricket. He looked out of his depth against Swann and then had a massive brain snap in referring an obvious edge to the DRS system. MUST NOT PLAY AGAIN THIS SERIES.
  2. Oh Smithy … so close and yet so far: How well is Steve Smith going at the moment? Since he came back into the team in India I have been nothing short of very impressed with both the form of “the Fidgeter” and how he goes about his game. The fidgeting belies his seemingly calm demeanour and he batted for 200 plus balls which shows great application to his craft.
  3. Patience = Batting for 5 sessions: Probably the thing I am happiest with about Australia's performance on day two is the patience of the captain to keep the English in the field for as long as he did. Clarke has had the propensity at times to pull the trigger early on declarations rather than keeping the metaphorical boot on the throat of the opposition. Last night he changed that trend and I loved it!
  4. Lyon … where has he been the last 2 tests? I know Lyon did not get a wicket however he bowled with flight and turn that had England on the back foot and would have raised some sweat on the brow of the batsmen to come. Tomorrow presents as a massive day for Lyon: this could be a career changing moment for him as he has the opportunity to win a test for his country.
  5. Siddle: why do I question you so? I have been fairly overt about the fact that I do not believe that P Siddle should be in the test team. He again proved last night his value of the team by charging in for an inspirational spell in the shadows of stumps. The fact is that for all of his limitations he charges in all day and can sniff out a wicket particularly when the opposition batsmen have gone into their shell.

Australia are in the box seat but with the weather around Old Trafford, particularly expected on day 5, quick wickets will be needed on day 3 to press Australia's very real claims for victory. Nathan Lyon is the key: wickets from him and the follow on is definitely in play. Whatever happens it will be another enthralling day of test match cricket.

Book Review: “Fierce Focus” by Greg Chappell

August 2, 2013 By in Shumpty Reads, Shumpty Speaks Tags: , 1 Comment

I first read this book a year ago when I first purchased it and as an absolute cricket tragic I found it impossible to put down. In my despair at the way the Australian cricket team has been playing in recent times, I had pause to return to the book because, simply, I really enjoyed the views on cricket espoused in this tome.

Greg Chappell is one of Australia’s greatest ever cricketers and comes from a family of what could only be described as sporting royalty. He has also been a coach at state and national level as well as a selector and a commentator.

When it comes to having views on cricket, this is a man that everyone should listen to and that makes this a book that every cricket fan should read.

Much has been made about this book and the chapters in which Chappell discusses his time as Indian coach. Chappell is honest and direct about his relationships with the Indian board and players and is particularly strident in his views about Messrs Ganguly and Tendulkar. These were chapters that I could not stop reading and these chapters alone make the book worth the sticker price.

This is not a book without flaws however: cricket in Australia in the 70s and 80s through the Packer years and the underarm incident and all of the stories around it had the feeling about them when retold in this book of crossing over old ground. That is understandable given that I have read just about every book written about that era.

Chappell does however attempt to reply to the comments made in the Kim Hughes’ biography “Golden Boy” about the relationship between Chappell and Hughes which also makes fascinating reading.

This book is a cricket fan’s delight written by someone who has earned the right to be listened to by cricket fans across the world. If you do not have time to read the whole book then find a copy and read the prologue to this book. Chappell writes clearly and without fear about the state of the game and does so through recounting a conversation he had with Sir Donald Bradman prior to his death. All cricket fans MUST read it! NOW!

Final Word: One of the best cricket books I have read: not in a while but full stop and is a must for the libraries of any fan of sport in Australia let alone cricket fans.

The Ashes, 3rd Test, Day 1: Bucky, the Pup and DRS again

August 2, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

Cricket fans in Australia awake this morning, some more bleary eyed than others, to the news that Australia posted a more than respectable 3/303 overnight on the first day of the 3rd test at Old Trafford. Having watched the first 3 and a bit hours of play, I bunkered down in bed with dulcet tones of the TMS team and was able to push through until the last hour of play on what was another quality day of test match cricket.

Here are my 5 keys to the first day's play:

  1. Well played Bucky: If my timeline in the preamble to the game means anything a number of fringe and former NSW players were appalled at the failure by the selectors to keep Phil Hughes in the team and were questioning the position of Rogers in the line up. Not that he would have been aware of them, but this was an innings that will take the pressure from the pundits off in droves but will also have not been a surprise to many. Indeed, anyone who has watched Victoria in the Shield competition will have seen many of those shots he played last night over and over again before and will know that that is the form he is consistently capable of. 20,000 first class runs at an average of 50 do not lie and that is why this bloke is in the team.
  2. Oh Captain my Captain: Has there been a captain of any Australian cricket team who has been forced to perform under pressure more, and succeeded, than the current captain? Allan Border in the mid to late 80s comes to mind in comparison to Michael Clarke in this context and he did it again last night. In at 2 for not many with the beast that is the English bowling attack stirring he came to the wicket and then batted out the day. This was another quality innings from a bloke who does not get enough plaudits, from me included, for his toughness.
  3. DRS … again: Can we all agree that the 3rd umpire made a mistake in the Khawaja decision and get on with it? That seems to be what happened doesn't it: human error despite the technology caused a wrong decision to remain in place. Umpires are human and no matter the quality of the technology mistakes will happen. It is an interesting side bar that without DRS all three decisions reviewed and upheld last night would have remained the same. What would we have had to discuss then? Well, human error wouldn't we?
  4. Come in spinner: This pitch is already taking considerable spin and it is only going to take more as the game goes on. Enter N Lyon: many have been looking for that moment when Lyon will have the opportunity to bowl Australia to victory and whilst it might be looking the metaphorical gift horse in the mouth at this early stage at does look like that opportunity may be upon us here.
  5. Wake up fans: Why is it that in seemingly every ground in the world “fans” of the game do not have the cricket savvy to know when not to move? Obviously if the bowler is bowling from the end you are sitting at and you are sitting anywhere upto 50 metres either side and above the sightscreen you plant your ass and don't move till the end of the over. How hard can that be? The members at Old Trafford got it wrong last night and probably cost Australia a wicket.

All in all it was Australia's day and it was a day that Australia and its fans desperately needed after the debacle at Lords. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves though: it is only the first day of five and Australia will need to be just as good tomorrow to keep this momentum going. Par score for Australia is now looking like 500 and with the Myth lurking in a situation seemingly taylor made for his cavalier approach and poor technique that target certainly looks obtainable.

Day two kicks off at 8pm Australian time, or in roughly 12 and a half hours for those not on the eastern seaboard of Australia.

Cricket: Australia A … are these guys really the next in line?

August 2, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , Leave a comment

I have already written once before about my views on the Australia A squad presently touring Africa and it would be fair to say that that blog lead to a number of responses most of which were focus on my thoughts about the bowling attack OR about the fact that people do not consider the Australia A team to be an Australian “Second XI” but rather a development squad.

I remain unconvinced by arguments that the Australia A team is merely a development squad or, more to the point, that there is a difference between it being a “second XI” or a “development squad”. The fact is that by its very nature a “development squad” should represent a squad of the next in line for Australian selection. If that is what this squad is meant to represent then I fear that the development phase that cricket in this country is going through has a very long way to go.

The reasons for this fear can be easily found by looking squarely at the captain for this tour: Aaron Finch. I am sure he is a lovely bloke but is he really a future captain of Australia? For that matter: is he really a future opening batsman or top order batsman for Australia? Before you answer that question consider these facts:

  1. Last first class season he played in four Sheffield Shield games for Victoria and opened in none of them.
  2. He has played in 32 first class games and has an average of 30.52 from those games.
  3. In 56 first class innings he has 2 hundreds.
  4. Some will suggest that his first class record is supplemented well by his ODI record and on that basis he ought be selected in all forms. Seven ODIs for Australia so far for Finch with a batter average of 15 would suggest otherwise.

Based on those numbers can anyone convince me he is in the frame right now to be the next top order batsman in a baggy green? Does the absurdity of that suggestion give a true indicia that this team presently getting belted in Africa is NOT a development squad for the test team but rather the first class games on this tour are merely a side show along the path to the 50 over games to come?

Consider the current top order for this FIRST CLASS fixture against South Africa A: Finch, Marsh S, Doolan, Maddinson and Maxwell. I have already commented on the inclusion of Finch. Of that top order:

  • Shaun Marsh has had his turn playing for Australia and is injury prone to say the least. He did not open the batting for Australia nor does he regularly for Western Australia yet he finds himself at the top of the order for Australia A: a position that he has batted for Australia in one day cricket and his position in the Western Australia order in the Ryobi Cup.
  • Alex Doolan is a player of the future but how long is that future given that he is already a rising 28 year old? If we have learned nothing else from the late inclusion of Mike Hussey to the test team we know that players who start that late have a very limited time at the top.
  • Nic Maddinson is also a player of the future and at 21 has time to develop. Equally he is another player who is averaging below 40 in first class cricket which must improve.
  • Glenn Maxwell has been slotted in at number 5 in the batting order after a season of first class cricket in Australia where he played 3 games for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield and averaged 22.50 in his 4 innings. In those games he batted at number 5 once and at number 7 the remainder and when selected for Australia A he batted at number 8. Compellingly he was slotted in at number 8 for Australia when he debuted in the test team in India.

Based on the foregoing, it seems to me that only 2 of the top 5 batsmen in the Australia A team presently playing in Africa are in the frame to be the next players to step into the test team in the top 5 of the batting order. They are Doolan and Maddinson. Maxwell is an lower order batsman at the top level yet bizarrely he is in the top order for Australia A. Shaun Marsh has had his time in the test team but is obviously still in the frame for the ODI team: why else would he be opening here?

People wonder where the “pipeline” of batsmen coming through for the Australian team is: it seems to me that the bulk of them are having the winter off in their homes in Australia or are playing county cricket. They have not been rewarded with selection to the Australian A team.

I can only conclude given the foregoing that this squad in Africa is not designed to represent a group of players who are all striving for test match selection rather it is a squad that is more focused on preparing players for one day and T20 cricket. Why else would they be captained by a specialist one day and T20 cricketer who gets very limited playing time for his first class team? Why else would a batsman who bats at 7 and 8 in test arena but higher in ODI / T20 cricket be batting at number 5 in this team?

If I am wrong and this team represents the players the Inverarity and his merry band of selectors really think are the next in line for the test team then heaven help Australian fans who are just starting to get used to the reality of the current state of cricket in this country because we are going to have a long wait to return to where we once were!

 

The Ashes: Australian Team named

August 1, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

The Australian team for the first test has now even named. It is:

Watson, Rogers, Khawaja, Clarke, Smith, Warner, Haddin, Starc, Harris, Siddle, Lyon

Agree with only one change: Lyon for Agar. The return of Davey “the Myth” Warner is a disgrace. If we wanted a left armer why not Faulkner?

In fact why are Bird and Faulkner over there if they are not going to play them?

Rant had: time to get behind the boys and fire up!

The Ashes: Katich is not coming back … next topic please!

August 1, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

I have been reading a lot recently about a possible return of Simon Katich to the Australian set up, particularly given the issues that Australia have been having at the top of the order. I have exclaimed on this blog before and I will say it again here now: Katich is NOT coming back and it is time to get over it!

I remain firmly of the view that Michael Clarke has marked Katich's card “never to be selected again” and whilst Clarke is not a selector it would be idiocy to suggest that the selectors would put a player into the team that the captain did not wish to play with.

That really should be the end of the argument: regardless of form Katich is not going to be selected because Clarke does not want him there. I don't understand campaigns on social media and in print to bring Katich back for that reason alone. So lets consider a hypothetical scenario where Clarke decides that he wants Katich back in the team. The fact is that even in that scenario he could not come back to the Australian team for a very simple reason: on 12 June 2012 he retired from first class cricket in Australia.

Read that date again: 13 months ago the man some believe to be a saviour to the Australian cricket team ceased to be a first class cricketer in the Australian system. Yes he played in the BBL in season 2012/13 but he did not play any other top level cricket. I concede that he has been in excellent form in the county cricket competition but the question must be asked: Has Australian cricket fallen so far that a soon to be 38 year old who is a part time cricketer at best and who does not play in the first class competition in Australia is the only answer?

More to the point: do we really want someone who has clearly shown he has no interest in being involved in the Australian set up (why else would he be playing in England first class cricket but not in the Australian version) back in the team?

Don't get me wrong: I rate Simon Katich as a cricket and I firmly believe he should never have been dropped from the Australian team. I would go so far as to say that I would love to have him in the team right now. However, these are the facts:

  1. The captain of the Australian cricket team does not want him in the team; AND
  2. The man himself has shown, overtly, that he does not want to be a part of the Australian set up.

Given those facts, surely it is time for pundits and fans alike to cease beating the dead horse that is the ongoing campaign for Katich's return and focus on supporting the players that actually do want to be involved in the Australian setup?

The only thing worse than this focus on a return from Katich is the yearly campaign for a return from Shane Warne but it is becoming a close run thing … and that is really saying something is it not?