Tag Archives: cricket

Cricket: Cricket Australia’s 2014-15 Contract List

April 1, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , Leave a comment

Yesterday, Chairman of Selectors from Cricket Australia, John Inverarity announced the central contract list for 2014-15. The list is:

George Bailey, Michael Clarke, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris, Phillip Hughes, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson.

Dropping of the contract list from last year are: Ed Cowan, Patrick Cummins, Xavier Doherty, Ben Hilfenhaus, Clint McKay and Matthew Wade.

There were also a number of players who received contract upgrades in 2013-14 during that season who did not receive new contract as well: Alex Doolan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Usman Khawaja and Adam Voges.

Obviously the player most surprisingly left of the list is Alex Doolan. Otherwise I do not believe that there is anything really to complain about in the make up of the list. Each of the players have contributed significantly to the success of the Australian team over the last 12 months, WT20 debacle notwithstanding, and have earned their contracts in my view.

Bring on Season 2014-15!!!

Cricket WT20: Time to ditch Duckworth and go back to the future!

March 23, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Last night another cricket game was decided at the international level with less than 10 overs being played in the second innings of the match.

5.2 overs were all that New Zealand had to bat overnight to open their account against England in the WT20 tournament. I get that the Duckworth Lewis system is in place to allow for games to end with a result but maintain that to allow a result in a game to occur after only 5 overs is not in the interests of the game.

One of the things that fans of the shortest form of the game love is that it is a short game over in around 3 hours. In this way T20 cricket is akin to baseball for its time investment.

I think the cricket administrators need to take a leaf out of baseball’s book: in baseball where there is a rain delay and a game can not be completed, the players often return the next game to complete it or the game is recommenced at a later point, often when the teams are set to play again. Why couldn’t cricket, in the T20 form at least, take this approach?

Last night’s game would only have required about an hour to complete today. Also, consider this: the pitches in T20 are generally batter friendly and are not going to change much over night. In a tournament such as WT20 it is even easier to do this because, as there are games daily, the make up time from the day before could just be added to the start of the following day’s game.

This is nothing new in cricket either BTW: in the early days of limited overs cricket there was always a reserve day between games to alway for washed out fixtures to be recommenced (or commenced if the day was washed out).

Duckworth Lewis influenced results and games concluded after 5 overs are not good for the game. To me the solution is a no brainer: it is time for the cricket administrators to go back to the future and re-institute “spare days” OR make the game even more commoditised and allow scope for the game to be picked up on the following day in advance of that days fixture.

I am sure the players and the fans will love it and for the lessors of the stadiums will have the chance to recoup some of the funds lost by the previous day’s game finishing early. Everyone wins when the games are not finished in an artificially short time.

Sheffield Shield 2013/14: Player of the Year

March 15, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

The final round of the Sheffield Shield season is now done and dusted and the finalists for this season have been decided with New South Wales and Western Australia to play in the final. That game will commence next Friday in Canberra.

That factor having been decided, it is time to look back on the season that was and consider some of the great performances during the season. I have gone over all of the scorecards of the season and all of the highlights of games that I could find and I keep coming up with one name for my player of the year: James Hopes.

Now there are two things that need to be said at the outset:

  • Hopes will never receive an award of this type from the powers that be at Cricket Australia.  He is too old and he comes from Queensland and both of those factors weigh against him in the minds of James Sutherland and Pat Howard.
  • Many will say that I am biased because I am a Queenslander and a James Hopes fan. Read what follows and I will defy you to make that allegation.

This is the season that was for Hopes:

  • He captained the Queensland team with passion and showed again that he is one of the best strategic minds in the game by lifting his team to the penultimate game before the final of the Sheffield Shield with an injury ravaged squad (the names Pomersbach, Cutting and Gannon were all missing from that penultimate fixture).
  • With the ball he often took the new ball for Queensland and did so after injuries had decimated his team’s bowling stocks.  38 wickets at an average of 24.48 was his return, which was better than any fast bowler in the competition.
  • Batting at number 6 in an, at times, batting in order in flux, he was a stabilising influence scoring 389 runs at an average of 32 with four fifties. 
  • He did all of this after being diagnosed with a stress fracture before round 1 of the Sheffield Shield season. 

Now I ask you: was there a better all-round or more courageous effort by any player in the Sheffield Shield this summer? I think any fair-minded supporter would go a long way to try to find one. 

Well played this season Hopesy!

Postscript: He is one of the many players in this competition who should have been honoured with a baggy green cap but, for whatever reason, the time was not right (or the selectors went with a southern option).  That, in my view, it a travesty.

Cricket: Sheffield Shield points table right now …

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

At lunch on day 3 of the final round of games in the Sheffield Shield the points table (for those teams still in the running) looks like this:

New South Wales               28 points

Western Australia              26 points

South Australia                   26 points

Queensland                        24 points

South Australia will not add to its points tally.  There are a number of possible outcomes that could still arise:

  • If New South Wales win outright: they will go to 34 points and Western Australia will remain on 26 points.
  • If Western Australia win outright: they will go to 32 points and New South Wales will remain on 28 points.
  • If New South Wales and Western Australia end up drawing there will be no change to the points from this game.
  • If Queensland win outright: they will go to 30 points.
  • If Queensland lose outright or draw againt Victoria: they will stay on 24 points.

That being the case, the finals could end up looking this way:

  • If Queensland do not win outright: the final will be between New South Wales and Western Australia with the only issue in dispute in Canberra being the venue.
  • If New South Wales and Queensland win outright, the final will be in New South Wales (likely Canberra) between New South Wales and Queensland.
  • If Western Australia and Queensland win outright, the final will be Western Australia between Western Australia and Queensland.

The regular session is reaching an exciting crescendo with all eyes on Canberra and Melbourne for the next moves made by the teams.

Australian in South Africa 2014: Is an S7 game good for cricket?

March 13, 2014 By in Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , 1 Comment

Australia and South Africa played out a seven over a side fixture in Durban over night with Australia the victor by five wickets in the last over the game.

Obviously I am happy that Australia was victorious.  I never tire of an Australian victory.  I wonder though whether the incessant focus on shortening the game is good for it.

The game has already been shortened into the commoditised form that is T20 cricket.  Allowing a “game” to be constructed over a minimum of 5 overs (which is the current playing condition) can not be good for the fans who have paid good money nor the players. There is an issue of player safety here: I understand that the players and team management of the teams had already agreed to abandon this game but were over ruled by the ICC; playing on a damp field for an hour and a bit can not in the players’ interests.

I am not a fan of the shortened form of the game.  I have been overt about that.  If we are to have this form of the game imposed on us then what actually constitutes a game must be considered.  30 balls for each team can not be a game surely.

Just a thought but if the game can not run for at least 10 overs a piece then it must be abandoned.  Equally, if the players and team management decide it is in the interests of the game that the game be abandoned then that decision must be respected.

T20 cricket is about the fans and getting more of them to the game.  Putting on a short display with players who do not want to play can not be good for them.

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.