Tag Archives: cricket

Come in spinner: why is finding one for the Australian team so hard?

June 10, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

It has long been the lament of fans, pundits and journalists alike that in the “post Warne” age we (Australian cricket) have not had a consistently selectable or, indeed, match winning spin bowler. This problem has become so “acute” in the prelude to the coming battle for the Ashes against England that the parliament of Australia has seen fit to change the laws of immigration in this country to allow for the fast tracked citizenship of a 31 year old leg spinner from Merguz in Pakistan who has played only 13 first class games just so he may be available.

Before the “Era of Ahmed” a compendium of spin bowlers used by Australia since 5 January 2007 (when the “Era of Warne” ended) reads like this (this list necessarily removes batsmen who bowl a bit): 

SCG MacGill (4 matches)

GB Hogg (3 matches)

B Casson (1 match)

CL White (4 matches)

JJ Krejza (2 matches)

NM Hauritz (16 matches)

MA Beer (2 matches)

BE McGain (1 matches)

XJ Doherty (4 matches)

NM Lyon (22 matches)

GJ Maxwell (2 matches)

Australia has played 67 test matches in that span and have won 33, lost 21 and drawn 13 of same.  The present incumbent, Nathan Lyon, comes into the Ashes with a record that shows that he has taken 76 wickets in his 22 test matches at an average of 33.18 runs per wicket and with an economy rate of 3.12 runs per over. 
Am I alone in considering those numbers to actually be good numbers and, indeed, unworthy of the pressure being placed on Lyon’s place in the team by seemingly all and sundry including Cricket Australia?  Let’s consider for a moment the records of the other spinners presently playing test match cricket and see how the record of Lyon compares (the qualification make for this exercise is 20 wickets taken):

Player  Games Wickets Average Economy 

Swann  52        261       28.69      2.91 

Singh   44         175       35.79      2.86 

Herath  35         165      28.48      2.71 

Ajmal    26         133      27.6        2.66 

Ohja     22         102      31.78      2.68 

Ashwin 16          92       28.53      2.89 

Patel     18         49        49.02     3.22 

Vettori   39        131       34.66     2.45 

Panesar 35       122       33.8       2.71 

Mendis   17        64       34.2        3.08

Looking at this numbers now and comparing those of Nathan Lyon to them is all of the angst about his place in the Australian team and, indeed, the pressure being exerted by Ahmed’s selection really warranted?  His performances and statistics are all the more admirable give that he plays the bulk of his matches in Australian on less than friendly pitches, he rarely has the support of a second spinner and he has been, it must be conceded, poorly captained by captains who are themselves seemingly remembering the days of Warne.
Despite those impediments he is still tracking to have similar numbers at similar times as players of the stature of Singh, Vettori, Herath or Panesar.  I am more than a bit certain that Cricket Australia and cricket supporters of the Australian team would happily accept any of those players in the current lineup.  So, at the risk of becoming repetitious but still restating the question, what is the problem with relying on N Lyon? 
The answer to this question gets on back to an examination of the question posed in the title to this post:

Why is finding a good spinner for the Australian team so hard?

It must be clear from what has gone above that that question is unfair stated or, in fact, redundant because Australia already has a good spinner in Nathan Lyon.  The problem is that the Australian public, pundits and, possibly, players are NOT looking for a good spinner.  Rather they are looking for an answer to this question: 

Why is it so hard to find the next Shane Warne?  

That is a question that can simply must be answered this way: we will never find a spinner like Shane Warne again.  Therein lies the rub: we, the Australian cricket public, pundits and players, are searching for something we can not and will not ever have again.   Until we as a cricketing nation can get our heads around that immutable truth we are going to continue to “burn” our clearly good spinners with the pressure that comes with expectation.  Surely now it is time to get behind Nathan Lyon and back him to get the job done because, simply put, we already have a good spinner in him. 

Sportspeople and Citizenship: does bowling a wrong ‘un make you worthy of the fast track?

May 30, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , 2 Comments

In 2009 the then Minister for Immigration pushed through various amendments to the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (the Act) in the obliquely named Australian Citizenship Amendments (Citizen Test Review and Other Measures) Act 2009. Those other measures including the introduction into the Act of new sections that prescribed when and how a person will satisfy the “special residence requirement”. The new prescriptive section states (as is relevant for the purposes of this blog):

For the purposes of [the Act] a person satisfies the special residence requirement if the applicant is seeking to engage in an activity specified in [a Regulation], the applicant’s engagement in that activity would be of benefit to Australia, the applicant needs to be an Australian citizen in order to engage in that activity and in order for the applicant to engage in that activity, there is insufficient time for the applicant to satisfy the general residence requirement.

There are, of course, other moderately minor hurdles (pun intended) for an applicant under this section but in essence the amendment to the Act allowed a person undertaking a specified activity for the benefit of Australia to have their citizenship this country fast tracked.

What are the prescribed activities? Also in 2009, Minister Evans pronounced a legislative instrument that made these activities “specified” for the purposes of the provision above:

1. Employment in a position which requires a high-level security clearance in a Department, an Executive Agency, or a Statutory Agency of the Commonwealth.

2. Participation in an Australian team in the following competitions: the Olympic Winter Games, the Paralympic Winter Games, the Olympic Summer Games, the Paralympic Summer Games, the Davis Cup Competition and the Fed Cup Competition.

Yes folks: being a sportsperson gets you to the head of the queue in this country. Since the introduction of the measure noted above the Australian Olympic Committee has assisted 15 athletes gain citizenship on the fast track with three competing at the Winter Olympics. In speed skater Tatiana Borodulina’s case she was so thankful at her opportunity to become an Australian citizen and represent us at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games that almost immediately after said games she renounced her citizenship and returned to Russia.

Why is this an issue now? Afterall the amending legislation went through some 4 years ago. Well things probably would have stayed as they are in Canberra but for a young man called Fawad Ahmed and his special skill of bowling leg breaks and wrong ‘uns. You see Australia is playing in the Ashes this year and is, by some accounts, desperately short on spin bowlers to face England this coming August. The problem is that Mr Ahmed has not yet met the general residence requirements under Australian law to become a citizen and does not play in a sport that qualifies under the Minister Evans’ pronouncement outlined above.

So today, the current Minister for Immigration Brendan O’Connor will be introducing to parliament an amendment to the legislative list of approved sporting contests to include the Ashes so that Mr Ahmed can possibly play.

Setting aside whether or not Mr Ahmed ought be picked on the merits it astonishes me that Australia and Australians seem to rank ability with a tennis racket, a speed skate or a cricket ball as above all of those others who are striving to become citizens and are equally as qualified save that their qualification is with a scalpel or a pen or a lathe.

Take the case of two immigrants from Pakistan who arrived in Australia on the same date: one plays cricket and the other is a nobel prize winning pharmacist working on a revolutionary drug to cure cancer. Under Australian law, as likely to be amended today, the cricketer becomes a citizen first.

Forgive me but I just can not believe for a second that the outcome of that, albeit ridiculously hypothetical example, is right. In fact I would go so far as to say that the totality of of sections 22A – 22C introduced to the Act in 2009 as about to be amended are nothing short of an embarrassment to this country. Bowling a good wrong ‘un does in Australian make you more worthy of citizenship here it seems and I for one am ashamed.

The Ashes: Ryan Harris injured? Calm down everybody!

April 27, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Fans of the Australian cricket team awoke to the news on Thursday that Ryan Harris was returning home from the IPL due to an achilles heel injury. Actually, scratch that, on Thursday the news about Ryan Harris went something like this:

* Ryan Harris is injured.
* He is returning home 1 day after he was named in the Australian Ashes squad.
* He is out of the Ashes series.
* Yet again the Cricket Australia board of selectors have stuffed up.

Unfortunately for journalists of print, web and social media only one of those four “facts” were correct. As we found out AFTER the idiotic headlines (kudos to the Courier Mail for the picture of Harris with his head in his hands wearing a Queensland cap lamenting him being out of the Ashes campaign):

* Ryan Harris has an injury to his achilles heel.
* He left India on Tuesday; viz., one day in advance of the naming of the Australian Ashes squad.
* He is expected to be fit, in his words, in “a couple of weeks” OR, in the words of Cricket Australia, in six weeks. Neither timeline put him out of the Ashes squad.
* He was selected by Cricket Australia in the full knowledge of him returning home. Indeed he has returned home so that his injury can be managed by Cricket Australia doctors.

Now I know that:

* I have been a very harsh critic of the Cricket Australia selection panel and in particular John Inverarity; and
* We are all very excited about the forthcoming series: well one part excited and nine parts worried

BUT can everyone just calm down for a minute? I fully understand the social media explosion that goes with something like this happening: indeed on other occasions I have been stoking the fire. However, for the print media to beat this up the way they have smacks of another agenda or, at the very least, an attempt at expectation management of Australian fans (in the expectation of a comprehensive loss).

It seems that the print media in this country has already written this team off: having pillored Cricket Australia for the team they selected for India with the benefit of the hindsight of a 4-0 result (the same print media were very enamoured with the team before it departed these shores as I remember it) said media are now pilloring a team that has been selected seemingly solely with an eye on winning. Such writing is reminiscent of that of the English press when Australia were belting the Poms in ’89 and ’93. I never expected it from our press.

Am I missing something completely here? Cricket Australia have picked a team that is experienced in the conditions and, in my opinion, can win the Ashes. The Poms are cocky and think we are crap. What better time to get behind our team and bask in the glory of beating them? The reporting of the naming of the team and that of Ryan Harris’ injury suggests another agenda: I for one hope that changes sooner rather than later so that we can focus on getting our urn back!

Cricket Australia and Player Contracts: some thoughts

April 5, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , Leave a comment

I have been asked a few times this week about what I thought about the 20 player contracts handed out by Cricket Australia during the week for the 2013/14 calendar year. In truth, all that happened during the week though was two retirees moved to state contracts, one almost retiree was omitted and those players who had played enough during the year just gone received confirmation of the contracts they already had.

So why all of the fuss about what was really a nothing announcement? A couple of obvious statements need to be a preliminaries to this discussion:

1. All that matters in the world of central contracts is what the CA selectors think;
2. Just because you don’t have a CA contract doesn’t mean you will not play for Australia; and
3. What I think as a fan does not matter a jot to CA when it comes to contracting or any other matter.

The foregoing is clear from the events of 2012/13 and are now in the category of immutable truths.

So why comment then? Because whilst I believe that it is CA’s irrevocable right to choose whomever they want as contracted players, it strikes me that the system of central contracts is irretrievably broken and in need of a serious rethink.

Let’s take the cases of 3 players who received contracts and consider them for the reasons why:

1. Patrick Cummins: this kid has talent and speed to burn yet has still not played more than 10 first class games despite becoming a platinum frequent flyer of the back of the number of tours he has been on. He has not picked up a cricket ball in anger (certainly a red ball) during the 2012/13 season. Why then does he receive a contract? It seems he has been contracted to protect him from the evils of a Cricket NSW rehabilitation program: Pat Howard obviously thinks he can do it better!

2. Xavier Doherty: an undoubtedly talented one day bowler but is not selected for T20 cricket and we all know what happened in India. We also all know that his first class numbers just simply do not stack up to put him in the top three or maybe ever the top five red ball spin bowlers in the country. Why does he receive a contract? Because he is one of the first picked in one form of the game and because of the number of games he has played during the year he MUST receive one.

3. Mitchell Johnson: in his pomp one of the best bowlers in the world BUT his pomp was before the last Ashes series in England. Out of form, seemingly out of favour for red ball cricket, behind M Starc and erratic when he is playing and yet still qualifies for a contract because of the number of games he has played.

The foregoing examples are not meant to be attacks on the players but on the system. How a player who has not played, one who only plays well in one form and one who is a veteran but desperately out of form retain contracts is beyond me and gets me back to considering whether the system itself is fractured. When you have a moment, run your eye back over the list and tell me how many of those 20 players you think will play all three forms of the game in 2013/14? Less than half? Therein lies the problem for mine: we have split international teams with different captains and maybe it it time for a split contracting system.

My proposed system would work this way: there would be a four tiered system of playing contracts in Australia encompassing all forms of the game. The first three tiers will cover the 3 forms of cricket Australia plays in and a player can have a contract in all three tiers depending on whether CA thinks he will play in those tiers over the course of a season. A player might be in one tier or two tiers as well but regardless that player will still be centrally contracted. This may have the flow on effect of more contract players but will also have the effect of a centrally contracted player under the current system who only plays one form of the game no longer standing in the way of a three form player on the fringe who can not get a contract.

The 4th tier of contracts would be a development list or disabled list of players whom CA still wish to have under their purview whilst they recover from their ailments or if CA considers that they are not ready for the top flight yet but wants to keep its eye on them. Currently such players, Cummins has the key example, receive a central contract which means one (or more) of the central contracts are locked up by players not likely to play!

The elephant in the room on central contracting by CA also needs to be addressed: the concept of guaranteed contracts for players who have simply played enough games of cricket during the year. To paraphrase R M Hogg (via twitter) “why are we (CA) rewarding players for averaging under 35 with the bat and over 30 with the ball?” The answer is guaranteed contracts and whilst I dip my hat to the ACA and their negotiating team for getting guaranteed contracts in the cricketers ABA surely having such contracts breeds a culture of players receiving contracts who are out of form or out of favour. M Johnson I am looking directly at you!

For all of the fuss about this week’s players contracts announcements will anything change? NO! Should it? YES! Will it? The ACA holds the key to that the next time it renegotiates with CA but I can not see the ABA changing anytime soon.

So where does that leave us: well in the same place as we were before you read (and I wrote) this blog. 20 players have been contracted by CA for 2013/14 and whether we, as fans of the game, like the list or not that is the list we are stuck with.

Countdown to the Ashes: is IPL the best preparation for the Australian team?

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

Today marks 98 days until the 1st Ashes test starts. In those next 98 days the two combatants for the Urn will be undertaking various preparatory steps with an eye on victory in the most time honoured contest in cricket.

Also during that 98 day span the annual hit and giggle, sorry T20, tournament that is the Indian Premier League will also be fought out on the sub-continent. The English and Australian teams are contributing the following players who might play in a roll in the Ashes campaign to the IPL this season:

Australia:

Ben Hilfenhaus (Chennai Super Kings)
David Warner (Delhi Daredevils)
Ryan Harris (Kings XI Punjab)
Shaun Marsh (Kings XI Punjab)
Brad Haddin (Kolkata Knight Riders)
James Pattinson (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Glenn Maxwell (Mumbai Indians)
Mitchell Johnson (Mumbai Indians)
Phil Hughes (Mumbai Indians)
Michael Clarke (Pune Warriors)
Steve Smith (Pune Warriors)
Moises Henriques (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
James Faulkner (Rajasthan Royals)
Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals)

England:

Kevin Pietersen (Delhi Daredevils)
Eoin Morgan (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Three problems immediately come to mind when looking at the impact of the IPL on the preparations of players for the Ashes:

1. The English are not effected indeed they are probably enhanced: Simply put the English team are not effected by the imposition of the IPL on its team because of the few players they have playing in the competition. The remainder of their players will be playing in the County Championship in England and, by my count, will have the opportunity to play in no less than 15 County Championship matches as well as a three test series against New Zealand before taking to the field on June 10 at Trent Bridge.

2. Is playing T20 cricket good preparation for a test series? The IPL runs from 3 April until 26 May. Those Australian players who are committed to IPL franchises, and it is conceded there is a whole squad of them, will be in India for the whole of that time and then will travel to England (those who are selected) to play in the ICC Champions Trophy from 8 June until the final (if Australia makes it) on 23 June. The next first class or red ball game of cricket the players playing in the IPL will actually play will commence on 26 June against Somerset at Taunton. There is one first class game after that against Worcestershire at Worcester in the week following before the first test.

If the recent results in India taught Australian cricket nothing else it is the importance of the need for a solid preparation before a series. It is incomprehensible that the Australian team could be getting anything like that given the forgoing schedule. For a start the players participating in the IPL will be expected to move from Indian conditions to those of England with very limited lead time to prepare. Further, a season of hit and giggle will not prepare anyone for the seaming decks one can surmise will be produced in England. Defence with the bat will be at a premium in England and the Australian players are preparing with a competition that is focused on scoring rate not occupation of the crease.

3. Sitting on the bench in India is not good preparation either: One of the real problems that I foresee for the Australians playing in India is not that they will be playing too much cricket but too little. The IPL is replete with stories of players who are international stars or, at the very least, developing stars getting large IPL contracts and then spending the seven weeks of the tournament mixing the cordials and sitting on the pine. I see that as a real risk for players like Steve Smith, James Faulkner, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ryan Harris and James Pattinson. Rolling the arm over in the nets in India once every couple of days for seven weeks is not the kind of intense physical training one would expect these players to need in advance of the Ashes.

I concede that I am traditionalist and I am not a fan of T20 cricket. I also concede that no matter what fans like me think domestic T20 cricket is here to stay. Frankly, I do not begrudge anyone wishing the supplement their income from playing in tournaments such as this. Equally, I want to see Australia win the Ashes back in England, preferably on or about 5 August at Old Trafford (end of the third test) but I fear that, on top of the type of squad the Australian selectors are likely to name (see my blog on that topic here: https://shumpty77.com/2013/04/01/unluckiest-players-in-the-country-who-will-miss-out-on-ashes-selection-and-why-they-ought-be-there/ ), the preparation that the Australians are going through in advance of the series is giving the English an extra advantage that they do not really need.

Unluckiest players in the country: who will miss out on Ashes selection and why they ought be there!

April 1, 2013 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , 3 Comments

Recently on twitter I named a squad for Australia’s upcoming tilt at resting the Ashes from the English and returning them to their rightful home in Australia. Everyone is writing at the moment about who would be in their squad and why. I think however it is blindingly obvious that Cricket Australia will pick a fairly predictable squad that is based around the team that played in India and is in line with Cricket Australia’s seemingly long term plan to develop players for the next World Cup (G Maxwell at the top of the list).

So this blog post will be different. I am resigned to the fact that certain players will not be selected for the coming Ashes series for whatever reason. In this blog I will name 4 players I consider should be on the Ashes tour but who will not be selected by Cricket Australia and discuss why they should be in England.

First though, this is the squad of 17 I suspect Cricket Australia will take to England:

Warner
Cowan
Hughes
Watson
Clarke
Khawaja
Smith
Maxwell
Henriques
Wade
Haddin
Pattinson
Cummins
Siddle
Lyon
Starc
Bird

For what ever reason I think Cricket Australia will not be dissuaded by the disaster in India and will want to persevere with Maxwell as the second spinner in the team. Cricket Australia seem to be blind to the obvious problems with Patrick Cummins not actually playing domestic cricket and I expect them to select him. Smith did enough in India to be on the tour and I have to say: I have no real cavil with that. I am on the record that I do not think David Warner has the technique or the temperament to succeed in English conditions and nothing I have read since India convinces me otherwise however it would cost too much money for Cricket Australia not to pick him so I think he still tours.

Having named the team I think will go, here are the 4 players I think should be on the tour and are desperately unlucky not to be there:

1. James Faulkner

The best all rounder in the country will not be picked for the Ashes series because, unfathomably, the selectors seem to have at least 3 all rounders ahead of him. That rating from the selection panel belies how good this bloke is. One only needs to have seen his performance in the Shield final to understand what value he would bring to the Australian squad in English conditions.

He bats at number 8 for Tasmania and that is where I believe the all rounder the Australia team needs should be batting. He is not a “strike rate” player rather can build an innings as his vital hands in the Shield final showed. He bowls left arm swing at a fair clip. He is solid in the field.

He is in my Ashes squad because he provides a left arm swing bowling option to supplement the bowling of Pattinson and Starc. In the perfect world Watson would also be bowling so the Australians would have 4 fast bowling options in my ideal 1st test lineup.

2. Ryan Harris

I think everyone who watches the game in Australia agrees: there is no finer fast bowler in the country, when fit, that one R Harris. For all of Cricket Australia’s focus on the management of workloads of fast bowlers the one fast bowler who probably really needed such management was Harris. He was not so managed and ended up seriously injured but now is back and on the evidence of the Shield final can now bowl a significant number of overs in long stretches.

Harris is a quality right arm fast bowler who hurls it down at over 140kms an hour, has the ability to swing the ball both ways as well as bowl cutters. Harris is a lion hearted performer who will not wilt from a challenge. He is a player much in the style of Peter Siddle without the limitations that Peter Siddle often possesses. No slouch with the willow he could easily slot into the number 9 position after Faulkner.

He will not be selected because Cricket Australia is squeamish about players being hurt. Well, players that it does not consider to be “project players of the future” (Cummins is example number one) that is. He would be in my squad because he is a genuine wicket taker and has a heart the size of Phar Lap’s.

3. Chris Rogers

Rogers was not in my original squad that I named on twitter in part because I think it is more likely that the Melbourne Demons win the flag this year than he be selected in Australian colours again. That is, in my opinion, an absolute travesty.

Forget his performance in his one test match at the WACA so long ago. Forget the fact he consistently scores buckets of runs in the Shield competition. Forget his age. The fact is that since M Hussey there has not been a better performed Australian, over a period of more than one season (P Hughes I am looking at you), in the English County Championship than Chris Rogers. Rogers is an absolute run machine in England, has a strong temperament and technique for English conditions and would be an experienced addition to a young and inexperienced change room.

Rogers will not be selected on this tour because of his age and because, it would appear, he has irritated someone on high within Cricket Australia. He should be there because he is a more complete player in English conditions that one D Warner among others.

4. Steve O’Keefe

The left arm tweaker from New South Wales was given one of the poisoned chalices of domestic cricket in Australia over recent teams, the New South Wales captaincy, and handled himself with aplomb. More to the point though he is the best performed spin bowler, of any variety, in domestic cricket in Australia this summer.

O’Keefe is a strong leader, a good tweaker of the red ball and, much like R Harris, no slouch with the willow. He delivers his left arm orthodox spin with loop and flight and not the flat trajectory preferred by the Australian selectors. He has an opinion and is prepared to espouse it at almost any opportunity which also does not endear him to Inverarity, Clarke and Co.

O’Keefe should be on the plane: one only needs to look at the results England have when Swann and Panesar bowl in tandem. Lyon and O’Keefe would be as strong a spin bowling duo to go to England in the baggy green since the famed Warne and May in 1993 in my view. He won’t be selected though because he has the temerity to have an opinion and the selectors think Maxwell actually is “the big show”.

I consider these players to be the unluckiest in the country at the moment and that it is appalling that they will not be playing in the holy grail of cricket contests, the Ashes, for reasons out of their own control. Cricket Australia has a selection agenda that focuses on “project players” and, it would seem, developing a squad for the 2015 World Cup. That mantra coupled with a focus on injury management and a couple of personality clashes will see players obviously deserving of selection spending their winter either playing T20 domestic cricket in India or the West Indies or watching their favourite football team run around each weekend.