With the current state of problems with our national team, I guess it was always inevitable that the solutions to those problems would start coming from the performances in the BBL competition, even though it is a completely different form of the game than our Test match situation. That two men dominated the talk in this match was not unusual – that one of them came from Nepal again shows the growing influence of cricket in other nations that are beginning to show up Australia.
The Melbourne New Year Derby has become a tradition of the BBL season, and while a big crowd was again in attendance it was obvious that it was not as big as many were predicting, once again showing the drop off of crowds numbers that has come with this edition. Is it that there are so many matches this season that fans will pick and choose rather than rushing in to get to a game before they all conclude? Or has the events in South Africa and the poor form of our national team since just turned spectators away? To be honest, a downturn was always inevitable because growth can only occur to a certain point. As long as the games can be exciting they will draw people to the matches. Perhaps that is beginning to be the problem.
The Renegades will be wondering long and hard how they lost this game, having raced away to the perfect start, with Harper (30 from 16) and Harvey (21 from 15) scoring 52 from the first five overs to lay the platform for a huge total. The loss of both within three deliveries changed the course of the innings, and from here consistent wickets falling as batsmen tried to up the ante from their own sluggish starts then compromised any ability to launch towards the 180-200 that they probably should have been looking at. Their chances of even reaching the par of 160 fell when Dan Christian was dismissed, his 32 from 28 deliveries the only worthwhile contribution in a final score of 9/148. While the twin spin attack of Zampa (1/24) and Lamichhane (1/31) was again important it was the all round seam bowling Bravo (3/27) and Stoinis (2/26) that caused the real headaches.
Like the Sixers earlier in the day, the Stars made a perfect chase, getting the platform they needed from their openers before the middle order played sensibly by getting plenty of singles while finding the boundary to the poor deliveries. Dunk (32 off 27) and Stoinis put on 67 from 8 overs to start the innings, and despite the loss of Larkin continued to be proactive as Stoinis and Maxwell (33 from 22) added 65 for the third wicket. Cam Boyce for the Renegades was easily their best, bowling four excellent overs of leg spin to pick up the only two wickets to fall to a bowler, both stumped through perfect flight and turn and bounce. I still wonder at what could have been if he had been given the same opportunities and encouragement that other spinners have received that never made it.
Marcus Stoinis, as he has done for Victoria and Australia, played an almost perfect innings from the opening position. He stood straight and tall and drove hard down the ground and pulled and cut with authority. He hit four boundaries and four sixes in his 78 not out from just 49 deliveries, and while his stroke play was excellent it was his solidity at the crease that gave the chase an air of confidence. Added to his bowling, and a brilliant catch he took in the outfield, it was just about the perfect individual game in a T20 match, leading the Stars home with 7 wickets and two overs to spare.
During the match and afterwards there was plenty of talk directed as to Stoinis’s credentials to be playing Test cricket for Australia, as always lead by the commentary of Shane Warne, who backs a different player in every match that should be playing for Australia. That’s not to say that he, along with everyone else in his corner, doesn’t have a case. His performances for Australia with the bat especially in ODI cricket has far outshone any other candidate for an ‘all rounders’ position in the Test team. The problem I still forsee is that these performances are in white ball cricket, and not red ball cricket. The danger still comes from runs scored on roads against bowlers who have to bowl in a certain channel every ball, compared to the differences of Test wickets where bowlers have much more freedom to bowl different lines widths and lengths. Granted, there is no red ball cricket in a two month window for him to show his wares, and he looks a better candidate than most to be spoken of for that position. One wonders just how far up in the selectors view Stoinis currently is, and whether performances in a 20 over slugfest are seriously considered as being good enough to be selected in the toughest format of the game.
After opposing starts for these two teams, their fortunes appear to be reversing quickly, with the Renegades coming back to the pack and the Stars back on the rise. The Stars though have problems on the horizon, as Sandeep Lamichhane has now left to play in Bangladesh, and they will soon lose both Maxwell and Stoinis to the ODI team. This will test their depth over the coming two weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment