Tag Archives: Australia

David Warner: time to consider a “mature age” apprenticeship?

November 12, 2012 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , 1 Comment

Much has been made in the lead up to the current test match being played at the Gabba about question marks, alleged or otherwise, over the form of Ed Cowan. In the context of Cowan’s sparkling century today, has the time now come to move one’s withering gaze to the other end and directly at the form of David Warner?

At the outset, I must concede that I was not a fan of Warner’s initial elevation to the Test team. I thought it was all to quick and in part was based on Warner’s marketability rather than his technique. Equally, based on form last year I was moved to concede that I had been narrow sighted in my early assessment of Warner’s elevation to the top squad after he impressed with a gritty century in his second game in Hobart.

The steady tick of time and further consideration of Warner’s play in more recent times reveals that maybe my initial assessment was right and now is the time to be considering his position in the team.

Three key factors are in play in making any consideration of this issue my view:

First, the statistics: in 10 test matches, Warner averages 39.60 with the willow having made 594 runs in 17 innings. In 2 of those innings Warner scored centuries, including his epic 180 in Perth against the Indians. In 10 of those innings however Warner has scored less than 10.

Second, it has to be acknowledged that Warner has become one of the faces of the game in very short order. This is an issue that vexes me but must be acknowledged because it could well prove very difficult for Cricket Australia to drop Warner without upsetting its commercial partners.

Third, there are some obvious replacements now knocking fairly heavily on the door. Test discards Hughes and Khawaja have had new leases of life in their adopted states, whilst the man presently occupying the number 3 slot in Australia’s order could also do the job at the top of the order should the opportunity arise. These players are all players who have been mentioned as possible replacements for Ed Cowan so why shouldn’t they be considered as possible replacements for Warner?

A question arises here that needs to be considered in the context of this debate: is Warner’s start to his career all that bad compared to those openers that have gone before him? Matt Hayden’s first 10 test matches yielded 413 runs at an average of 25.81 and one hundred. Justin Langer’s first 10 test matches yielded 402 runs at an average of 26.80 and one hundred. Pure numbers suggest that Warner’s start to his career is in fact better than those both of those legends of the game. However, one also must consider that during that span of 10 test matches Hayden was dropped 3 times from the team and Langer was dropped 4 times from the team.

This leads to me to the thrust of my argument in this blog which is this: Warner has the talent to be a top line player for a long time. However, he has not done an apprenticeship in first class cricket before his entry into the test cricket and thus his game is not yet to a state properly refined for the rigours of the top flight of the game. Of his 22 first class games as at today, 10 of those have been test matches. Contrast this to Ed Cowan who is presently playing his 80th first class game of which 72 have been first class fixtures.

Whilst there are two players knocking vociferously on the door in Hughes and Khawaja, the question must be asked as to whether David Warner’s time would be better spent playing first class cricket rather than face the best fast bowlers in the game. Time spent in the best domestic competition in the world would only serve to round the edges of his presently fairly rough game and would, I have no doubt, lead to him coming back a better and more complete player.

Langer and Hayden were dropped, often, and came back stronger having spent upwards of three full seasons in the Sheffield Shield competition. Indeed once they were given time to develop, and dominate, in the Sheffield Shield competition they returned to the “top flight” at the peak of their respective games and then dominated test match cricket too.

I, for one, think that now is the time for Warner to be given time to undertaken a “mature age” apprenticeship in the Sheffield Shield competition, given the quality of replacements waiting in the wings and the current state of Warner’s own form. I know this is an unpopular view, but on form AND in order to make him a better player, there is no time like the present.

I can only hope that the commercial imperatives linked to Warner’s selection do not play a part in any decision regarding his place in the team. It will be a sad day of that is the case.

Australia v South Africa, Day 4: The Keys

November 12, 2012 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

An intriguing day beckons at the Gabba today, with today’s action being determinative of whether the game petters out into a boring draw or whether the Proteas are striving for victory on Day 5. I consider there are 5 keys to today’s play that will determine which course the game takes:

1. The Clarke Factor: Say what you like about his captaincy since taking the reigns from Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke has made a fine art in recent times of coming to the wicket with his side three wickets down for not many and righting the ship. So it was again yesterday, as the captain strode to the wicket with the score on a precarious 3-40 and again he righted the ship to put the innings back on an even keel at 3-111. His appetite for big runs last year shows he can bat for long periods and he will need to today to secure what would be honourable draw for his team.

2. The Kleinveldt Conundrum: South Africa’s fourth bowler did not set the world on fire yesterday and will be needed today in the humid heat of the Gabba to bowl a tighter line and to keep the runs to a minimum while giving spells to his more vaunted counterparts Steyn, Morkel and Philander. Without a recognised spinner and seemingly seeking to limit the overuse of Kallis’ back, overs from Kleinveldt could be a determining factor in whether Australia can bat out the day.

3. DRS Drama: Yesterday again saw the DRS system come into play and again saw a wicket overturned as a result of a missed no ball call. Regardless of your views of the technology is it abundantly clear that it is playing a role in the outcome of this fixture. Success today could well hinge, in addition to the bowlers delivering legal deliveries, on who uses the DRS technology the best. South Africa did not loose one of their challenges last night on the Cowan referral so both sides still have two challenges at their disposal.

4. Fever Pitch: Most pundits have noted that the pitch has been slower than it had been in previous years and on the evidence I have seen there can be no denying that. Today presents as a different proposition with blue sky and beating sun being the order of the day. This will dry out the wicket and, as usually happens at the Gabba, make it harder and faster. This could well be a double edge sword for both teams: for Australia it will be become better for batting and for South Africa it will more suit its fast bowling quintet than at any time during the game. Which team uses the changing conditions to their advantage will be the victor of Day 4.

5. Lock it in Eddie: Yesterday we saw just how effective Ed Cowan can be as an opening batsman for Australia. He was judicious in his leaving and when the ball was in “his wheelhouse” he pounced. Impressively he played the way all cricketers have been coached since day dot: he rolled his wrists on his horizontal bat shots and played them along the ground. Today is a massive opportunity for Cowan to force feed the pundits (principally on social media) who don’t think he is up to the test stage a large piece of humble pie.

As I said in the preamble, an intriguing day beckons at the Gabba. First ball will be bowled at 9:30am and I for one can not wait.

A day at the cricket: drama, DRS and a dossier

November 10, 2012 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

Anyone who reads these ramblings will know I love cricket and I love the first day of the first test at the Gabba. I have been attending this day for so long that now I could not even fathom missing it. So it was that yesterday I again made the pilgrimage to the hallowed turf and from the lofty heights of Section 71 Row MM settled in for another First Test Day 1.

Australia’s opponents this year are the best team in the world. It is as simple as that. Possessing the best opposition bowling attack to step onto the Gabba since the fearsome West Indians of 88/89 along with the best batsman in the game, Amla, and my personal pick for the player of his generation, Kallis, the South African present the ultimate test for the Australian team.

When asked in recent weeks about how I thought Australia would go in this test match, my near constant refrain has been that I was worried that South Africa would do to Australia what it did to England in the first test of their recent series and with the score reading 2-251 (Kallis 84*, Amla 90*) at stumps those fears are on the cusp of becoming reality.

What did yesterday teach us that we did not already know though? We already knew that Kallis and Amla are exceptionally classy players. We already knew that whomever won the toss would bat and that the first session would be crucial. We already knew that Australia was a bowler short and would need some luck to go its way to be competitive. We already knew that food and beverage prices at the Gabba are scandalous.

It has oft been said that “it is a funny old game cricket” however yesterday seemed to unfold the way even the most optimistic of Australian cricket fan always kind of thought it would with the South Africans on top with their boot firmly on the throat of this developing Australian lineup.

Much had been made before the game of the “leaking” of Australia’s game plan dossier and by all reports things were on track early on with Smith falling to the LBW dismissal that Australia feel he is susceptible too. That is where the success of the game plans ended: Pietersen punished anything swinging into his pad, Amla was unruffled and untroubled throughout his innings and the “chin music” served up to Kallis was dealt with with ease. Perhaps the South Africans read News Limited papers and knew what was going to be served up to them. Or perhaps such simplistic plans were never likely to succeed against such class players. Whatever the actual state of affairs, the effect of the much vaunted dossier could be expressed to be limited at best.

Yet again the DRS system was in play and yet again it is in the news today under a cloud of controversy. I have written about my views on the DRS system in this blog before and do not propose to tiller over that ground again. Suffice it to say that within the construct of the playing conditions the decisions made using DRS were correct. That should be the end to the whinging; unless the whinge relates to the mechanism for using DRS.

A dropped caught and bowled, a wicket off a no ball, a crowd ejection as a result of a “beer cup snake” gone bad and the all to regular early finish at the Gabba for bad light added drama to what was otherwise the day many of us expected if South Africa won the toss.

My early train trip home gave me a moment of reflection to think about where I ranked my day one experience compared to previous first days at the Gabba. Harmison’s first ball and Siddle’s hatrick remain my favourite days at the Gabba but this one was special for its own reason. I got to see possibly the best player of his generation bat like he rarely has previously in Australia and I got to see the best batsman in the world do what he has been doing to all the other teams in recent times. The fact that they are on the opposing team only takes a limited shine off those facts.

Of course, I also had pause to reflect on the performance of the Australian team. The immediate thought that came to mind is that Australia has, not for the first time during the reign of M Clarke, got their selection wrong. The 3 fast bowlers used had a sameness about them that only the selection of Mitchell Starc would have cured. Furthermore the selection of a batsman with 3 first class wickets at an average of 150 per wicket in the place of a true allrounder (Quiney for Watson) has also been exposed as a mistake.

Having just left the ground following the wash out of day 2, day 3 of this test match beckons as the bailiwick of the summer of Clarke’s Australians: can they use the conditions to their advantage to strike back at the dominant South Africans or will “usual service” resume and the “Amla & Kallis show” continue to roll on? Only time will tell, all I know is that by my count there are now 363 days until Day 1 at the Gabba next year and I for one am already making plans for that day.