Neser Almost Provides the Possimpible Dream

The match itself between Western Australia and Queensland was not that remarkable in the final wash up of things. The Warriors dominated from the start with the bat, and even after a rain delay shortened the game to 41 overs a side they seemed to have everything completely under control. That was before one of the most remarkable innings so far in the JLT Cup brought the game to within a bee’s wing of the biggest upset of all time. All from the bat of Michael Neser.

Western Australia was clinical from the start. Shaun Marsh took four boundaries from Doggett’s second over, and the run fest never looked like evaporating. Even the stoppage for rain didn’t dissipate the runs. Marsh added 69 to his list of impressive innings this season, while his opening partner went on further. Michael Klinger as a run machine just keeps churning them out, and his 128 from 120 deliveries was classic Klinger. He gets better the older he gets, and though he was finally awarded a national call-up for the T20 side against Sri Lanka earlier this year, one suspects he still thinks he can do the job in the other formats as well. His figures suggest the same thing. Along with these two, Cameron Bancroft continued his rise, scoring 73 from 47 deliveries at the end of the innings as they warriors built up their imposing total. Bancroft was nominated as an Australian opening batsman three seasons ago, but so far hasn’t been given the final call up. By showing he can play the fast paced innings as well as the solidifying innings at the top of the order, he appears primed to go if he is given his opportunity.

Western Australia’s 3/301 was increased to a target for Queensland of 304 by the complicated Duckworth-Lewis method, but for most of the innings there appeared little chance of the innings ever getting close to it. Renshaw and Burns both registered golden ducks, and at 5/63 with only the tail to come Usman Khawaja was already facing a task of scoring 241 runs off 25 overs – near enough to 10 runs an over. Still, he looked the international batsman he is, working the ball around the field beautifully and finding the gaps as necessary. When he finally fell for 81 runs off 78 balls in trying to up the tempo, the score was 6/146, and the required equation was 158 from 12 overs with just four wickets in hand. And although we’ve seen teams make a good fist of the last 12 overs in other games already, surely in was unlikely the tail was going to get over 13 runs an over.

Michael Neser at this point was 37 from 43. Ben Cutting could only manage four runs, while Cam Gannon contributed 27 from 17 deliveries. Michael Neser meanwhile had added another 49 runs to his tally from just 24 deliveries. At the end of that over, Queensland needed 70 runs from four overs – just 24 deliveries – with Neser and Mitch Swepson at the crease.

Is a game ever really over anymore? Is there any target that is just too outrageous to chase? 30 years ago, 70 required off 15 overs was considered at least a 50/50 bet, if not more in favour of the bowling team. Now, with the equipment and pitches and small grounds all in favour of the batsmen, the game has become less predictable in this respect, and tougher on the bowlers and fielders. Boundaries are closer and easier to clear let alone reached along the ground. The bats hit the ball further and cleaner than ever. The bowlers have a strict line and width they can bowl without being called for a no ball or a wide. It is all set up for the batsman, no matter how outrageous the task.

The 38th over brought 15 runs for the Bulls, though two wides from Jye Richardson didn’t help the cause. Neser had moved to 99 of 72, and took care of the century by blasting the first ball of the 39th over to the boundary. Only five further runs came from the over from Mackin, leaving 46 required from two overs. Neser took nine runs from the first three deliveries of Richardson’s final over, but it was then that Swepson stood up, taking 4, a wide, 2 and 4 from the remainder of the over. 20 runs from the penultimate over, and that left 26 needed from the last over. Even despite the carnage that had come recently, one still only had to recall the words of the great Billy Birmingham in his Richie Benaud voice – “not an impossible task, but pretty fucking close to it!”

How then do you think the Warriors players felt when Neser slapped the first ball of the final over from Mackin over the boundary for six? 20 required from five deliveries, and it was now at a more ‘manageable’ four runs a ball. Yep, despite the unlikelihood of it, I’d say they were wondering how this could be happening. Order was restored when Neser was unable to find the boundary next ball, and was run out trying to complete a two that would have kept him on strike to attempt the impossible victory. His final score of 122 off 81 deliveries was an amazing thing to watch. Watching it I could only wonder why the bowlers weren’t changing their tactics. To be fair in the long run, it was just a great piece of power hitting, especially when you consider that his last 85 runs came from just 38 deliveries. Swepson managed another seven runs to his tally to finish with 23 not out off 13 deliveries, as the Bulls finished 11 runs short on 9/292.

It’s hard to believe that this match will only ever be rememebered for Neser’s amazing batting, and that the wonderful bowling of Matthew Kelly for the Warriors should have closed this match out early. His 4/25 off 8 overs was just fantastic, but it won’t be remembered. Nor will the batting of Marsh, Klinger and Bancroft, nor Khawaja. No, this was Neser’s match, and the fact he couldn’t pull off the most miraculous of victories will never dampen that.

Scorecard: JLT Cup Match 14: Western Australia vs Queensland

Three Changes That Helped Turn Australia's T20 Fortunes Around

I guess in the long run it is an upset that Australia defeated India in the second of three T20I matches overnight. A shock perhaps. India had managed seven consecutive victories over Australia in this format of the game, stretching back to 2012, and given the number of players unavailable for the Australian team it didn’t appear likely that they would be troubling the scorers any time soon. Perhaps in the long run there are three major reasons for the change up of result, and perhaps reasons for looking ahead in regards to the T20 format in order to improve the Australian output.

Number 1: David Warner is installed as captain. With Steve Smith rehabilitating his shoulder before the start of the Ashes series in November, Warner has been given the captaincy of the team for this series. As vice-captain for Australia in all formats of the game it was not a surprise, but what is more compelling is that he has spent the past two years as captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team in the Indian Premier League. He knows this form of the game better than most, and his captaincy has been inventive and encouraging. That he is captain of Australia here is perhaps a better move than having Smith there. New ideas, different ideas, giving a team a better chance of victory. The team would be better having Smith in the line-up, but perhaps the different take on the captaincy is also providing a different mindset.

Number 2: Picking a winning bowling line-up. The Perth Scorchers has been the best all-round team over the history of the Big Bash League in Australia. They have made most of the finals, and they seem to be able to win the toughest matches. One wonders why with such form that it has taken so long for the pieces of that team’s bowling attack to finally be installed in the national team? Last night the opening three bowlers for Australia were Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Andrew Tye. All three ply their trade with the Scorchers. All three did their jobs immaculately last night. Behrendorff’s spell of 4/27 from four overs, where he took the top half of the batting order off at the waist, was exactly the kind of performance Australia’s selectors and fans have been waiting for from him. It was bravado of the best kind. Coulter-Nile has been superb, and Tye did his job again. Was it coincidence, or was it the happy course of events that gave these three Scorchers the chance to bowl together in the national team? Time may be the one who answers, but one suspects it is the Scorchers link that is the most prevalent.

Number 3: Moises Henriques given his chance. There is little doubt that Warner being captain has created this little gem. While Henriques’ has been a team mate and captain of Warner at New South Wales for some years, Warner is also Henriques’ captain at Hyderabad, and Henriques mostly batted at three in that team. Last night, his captain elevated him to the crucial number three spot, and he didn’t let his captain down. Moises has been on the periphery of the national team for almost a decade, and his fleeting opportunities have not shown the best of his ability. Last night he and Travis Head (another IPL luminary) steadied the Australia chase of 119 from 2/13, and got the runs themselves with few problems. Head’s 48 from 34 balls was much like he has shown over the past 12 months in the ODI set-up. But it was Henriques’ innings that proved to be most potent. 62 runs from 46 deliveries, with four boundaries and four sixes. It was like the kind of innings he put together for Hyderabad. His captain’s faith was rewarded with victory, while Henriques showed what he is capable of when given the right opportunity. There is still time for him to parlay that into other sections of cricket at international level.

Scorecard: 2nd T20I India vs Australia

The Importance of the Toss in Deciding the JLT Cup Outcome

Two games began yesterday with the captain who won the toss electing to field first, as has become the norm in this competition. It was a tactic that was heavily used in the 2015 World Cup, another competition where I was screamingly critical of the decision. Despite the overcast conditions to start both matches yesterday, surely the old ‘runs on the board’ strategy is one that should more better utilised? We’ve already seen this week in South Africa where Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim has twice won the toss and sent the home team in on roads, and accordingly lost both Tests convincingly. In the long run the final result is what counts, and on this day there was a win and a loss for the two captains and teams involved.

Peter Handscomb returned from India as both captain and, somewhat surprisingly, as wicket-keeper for Victoria in their match against the CAXI, and while his decision to bowl may have irked me, it was soon validated as his bowlers ripped through the young batting line-up. The CAXI fell to 6/45 after 15 overs thanks to the firepower of Peter Siddle and Chris Tremain, and it looked for all money that it would be an early finish at Hurstville Oval. But what has impressed most about this collection of talented young cricketers has been their resolve in even the most difficult of predicaments, and again they fought their way through the adversity to regain some possibility of fighting for a win. Wicket-keeper batsman Harry Nielsen played a most impressive innings, initially holding the innings from falling apart completely, building to a half century off 68 deliveries that showed resolve and poise under the pressure of the situation. As first Mac Wright (30) and Mark Steketee (28) played exorbitantly, Nielsen stuck to his tact, until the final overs crept upon the team. Charlie Stobo’s 25 at number ten improved everything, as Nielsen aimed at getting the total to a winning one. Two consecutive sixers off Short took him to 94, and his attempt at a third consecutive six to bring up his century was only thwarted by having the tallest man in the Victorian team on the boundary, and even then Chris Tremain had to jump to his full height before bobbling the ball from the wrong side of the rope to the field side, ending Nielsen’s exemplary knock. From a position of disaster, the back end of the CAXI batting had pulled their final total to 9/232 from their fifty overs, and impressive effort.

The reply from Victoria was pugilistic. The loss of three wickets for 74 may have caused a ruction in other dressing sheds, but skipper Handscomb, now battle hardened after nine months of solid international duty was having none of it. Along with Seb Gotch, who LOOKS to be the heir apparent to the keeping role, the two added 159 runs in 22 overs to claim victory by seven wickets with more than 11 overs remaining. Gotch was assured with 51 not from 59 deliveries, while Handscomb dominated the partnership and the bowling, scoring 103 runs off 73 deliveries, with ten boundaries and four sixes to complement it. It was the innings of a man who is better than first class cricket, something which we have already seen in recent times. He looks set to be a dominant force this summer. Jackson Coleman deserves credit for his 0/32 from 10 overs, the Victorian doing his best in front of his captain to press his claims for the summer ahead.

Final mention of this match must go to the People’s Champ, Peter Siddle, who continues to have a hold over all of the batsmen in this competition. Today his ten miserly overs brought forth the figures of 2/20, and he again had all of the batsmen in trouble. It may only be one day cricket, and it will be interesting to see if he can translate this to the first class game, but he is doing everything in his power to get himself selected in the Ashes team come November.

Scorecard: JLT Cup Match 13: Victoria vs Cricket Australia XI

Over at North Sydney Oval, the replica of previous matches drew itself together once again. Having been sent in to bat, Tasmania has made a reasonable fist of setting a target, but after 38 overs they sat at 3/184. With the size of the ground and the trueness of the pitch, most teams would consider that you would need at least 300 runs in order to be able to defend. With this in mind, the Tigers had to score at ten an over for the remaining 12 overs to do this, and as had been the case in previous matches here with other teams, it didn’t look likely. History repeated itself however. George Bailey (86 of 62) blazed, Matthew Wade, in his first outing with his returned state, cobbled along with 46, and James Faulkner scored 34 off 19 balls at the end to help Tasmania reach a final total of 6/315 – an amazing 131 runs from the final 12 overs. The South Australian attack had been exposed again for its lack of discipline, although Joe Mennie was again terrific with 1/37 from his ten overs.

One still expected a contest the way the Redbacks had batted in its last two matches, but it wasn’t to be. Alex Carey and Callum Ferguson made a good start from one wicket down, forming a base to go on with. Unfortunately, all of the batsmen tended to throw their wickets away with poor shotmaking rather than penetrative bowling. Catches that were basically just bunted to fieldsmen from Carey and Ferguson, Cooper and Ross, and rash shots from the rest of the order against the spin bowling duo of the well credentialed Cameron Boyce (an excellent 3/27) and the sheer part-time offies from keeper-in-every-other-match-so-far Ben Dunk (an incredulous 3/14) meant the Redbacks collapsed to be all out for 186.

This match again proved the theory of the unpredictability of this tournament so far. South Australia was on a rise, Tasmania was unable to find their feet at all. And yet, the Tigers won convincingly. One wonders if the result would have been the same if the captain that won the toss had chosen to bat first and set that target that seems so difficult to run down.

Scorecard: JLT Cup Match 12: South Australia vs Tasmania

Nevill Picks His Moment in Blues Crushing JLT Victory

Though the result of yesterday’s match was probably never in doubt, it did throw up a number of individual performances that mostly overshadow the perceived one-sidedness of the match. What the result doesn’t show is that the CAXI at times did the things they had to do to get themselves into the match, and even though it may not have resulted in their favour there is no doubt that their coaches would have been impressed with much of their play.

There is no doubt that the Blues should have scored 350 as a minimum, and probably more, after the start they go. The first wicket fell at 132 in the 21st over, the second at 184 in the 29th over. Both of these show a calculation that a big total should have been in the offering. But the CAXI clawed their way back into the match, drying up the run scoring stokes just enough to cause frustration in the batsmen, and then gathering in the wickets. It didn’t matter in the long run that the Blues reached 8/332 from their fifty overs, the reward for their hard work meant that the CAXI was chasing something like 40 runs less than they had any right to after the first half of the innings. The experienced bowlers were expensive, but excellent spells from opener Henry Thornton (0/40 from 8), medium pacer Jonathan Merlo (2/53 from 10) and left arm chinaman Clint Hinchcliffe (4/72 from 10) who claimed the big wickets of Hughes, Maddinson and Gibson, meant there was plenty to cheer for.

Add to that the delightful strokeplay of opening batsman Max Bryant, who is just wonderful to watch. He might be raw and unorthodox, and as he plays more he will most likely be worked out by future bowling attacks, but for the moment he is terrific to watch. Powerful stroke play is his highlight, and when you score 89 from 61 deliveries, including ten boundaries and four sixes it is scintillating cricket. The young CAXI side turned up and gave themselves the best opportunity to chase down the Blues big total. Beau Webster’s dismissal at 117 after he and Bryant had put on 96 runs off 66 deliveries was the first hurdle the team didn’t clear, and when Bryant finally perished to the bowling of the canny Nathan Lyon, the score of 4/143 off 20.3 overs meant they were on target, but without the batting cattle in the shed to continue the charge. Despite a good late innings from Harry Neilson, the charge petered out and the CAXI was bowled out for 239 off 41 overs. Despite this, the spirit and bravado of the group, as well as the natural ability that is coming through many of these kids, can only be a good thing for Australian cricket down the track.

For New South Wales, their big guns came to the fore. Both Dan Hughes (68) and Kurtis Patterson (30) continued their excellent start to the domestic summer, with both looking to amass huge seasons in the chase for further honours. So too Nic Maddinson, whose 123 off 113 balls was his second century of the tournament, and showed he is back to his best ball striking ability. No one wanted his first crack at Test cricket to end the way it did in the back half of 2016/17, and to see him scoring big runs again, with confidence back in his game, is a terrific thing. Add to this group Ryan Gibson, who played with the CAXI last season, and is now holding his spot in the New South Wales side. His 51 off 45 balls appeared too easy, and he looks set for a building season as well.

Nathan Lyon, fresh off his clobbering from Victoria on Friday, turned the screws with the ball and wrested the initiative back from his younger opponents. Finishing with 2/25 from his ten overs, he looked a cut above everyone else on the day. His dismissal of Bryant was perfectly orchestrated, and he completely fooled Merlo as well to have him stumped. It’s a good sign that held no old wounds from the mauling of two days previously. He’s set for a big summer.

Perhaps the most significant performance of the day was from Blues captain Peter Nevill. His 24 from 16 balls with the bat was plain sailing before losing his wicket in the team’s cause in the dying overs. He then backed this up by taking eight dismissals – six catches and two stumpings – which equalled the record for the most number of dismissals by a wicket-keeper in a domestic innings. To get that many chances you have to have good bowlers to beat the bat or get those edges, but his performance is still remarkable, even more so seeing as he let through no byes, and his last stumping off Nic Maddinson was a ripper, down leg side and dragging it back before the batsman could regain his crease. With plenty of talk about the #1 keeping position, he picked a great day to perform this well.

Scorecard: JLT Cup Match 11: New South Wales vs Cricket Australia XI

Warriors Take Control of JLT Cup as Followers Stumble

Two games of differing participation in the JLT Cup double header confirmed Western Australia have the jump on the field, though the remainder of their matches will now be on foreign soil, and just further confused the pecking order of the remainder of the teams in the competition as Queensland held on to stave off a fast finishing Victoria.

Why teams insist on winning the toss and sending their opponents in is still beyond me, but Queensland made perfect use of the invitation from Peter Handscomb in compiling a solid opening partnership. Both Matt Renshaw and Usman Khawaja are looking for plenty of time in the middle leading up to their date in Brisbane in November, and both had plenty of that today. They got off to a rollicking start and stayed with the momentum for the first half of the innings. Renshaw has shown in these one day games that he is capable of scoring at a decent clip, and no doubt he will be hoping to parlay this into his Test batting this summer. Khawaja has been a premier one day and T20 batsman over the past two seasons, and it continues to surprise that he doesn’t get more of an opportunity in these forms at international level. His play against the seam attack on a docile wicket here showed he is still at the top of his game in such conditions.

The best spell of bowling came from forgotten leg spinner Fawad Ahmed. Renshaw has faced a lot of spin bowling in recent times, and that is also the main reason Khawaja has been hidden from the Test team in 2017. This spell did nothing but reinforce what those in India and Bangladesh already knew, the Queensland opening pair is susceptible to good spin bowling. Their momentum halted as soon as Fawad was introduced, and he bowled a beautiful mixture of leg spinners, top spinners and googlies that confused and bamboozled the pair. It was brilliant to watch for anyone who considers themselves a part of the Leg Spin Union. Khawaja was obviously all at sea, whilst Renshaw played carefully and wasn’t keen on over extending himself. With the run rate dropping, Fawad put his stamp on the innings by claiming three wickets – Renshaw cutting straight and low to point, Khawaja a slog across the line to be caught on the mid-wicket boundary, and Burns completely beaten to be stumped. Fawad’s figures of 3/44 off ten overs at the notoriously high-scoring North Sydney Oval was a masterclass, and a reminder that he would not be out of place for higher honours.

With Queensland slowed right up, at 37 overs they were 2/179, meaning they had to get 121 runs from the final 13 overs to crack 300 which is considered to be a minimum total to defend at North Sydney Oval. Almost 10 and over for the last 13 overs. It didn’t look likely at all. And they did it in style, in fact reaching 6/309 thanks mainly due to two of the younger members in Marnus Labuschagne (52 off 40) and Jimmy Peirson (46 off 27). Both were superb, taking apart Boland and Tremain in the final overs to take the advantage they needed when batting first. Both of these two young men are making great strides, and good things look to lay ahead for them. Once again the pick of the bowlers, apart from Fawad, was the veteran People’s Champ, Peter Siddle. His ten over spell brought forth 0/33, and his Test stocks as at least the fourth seamer/12th man must be rising with each game.

The Victorians in reply lost their major run scorers from the last game in the first nine balls, and once both Dean and Handscomb had departed for run-a-ball 40’s the game appeared well beyond their reach. At 6/135 they need almost 8 an over, 175 runs off 22 overs. But Short (51 off 49), Tremain (50 off 45) and the indefatigable Siddle (62 off 45) took it to the last over, where they needed 16 to win. A boundary to Siddle left 12 required from three balls before he was bowled to complete the innings and the match. Was it poor bowling? Or gutsy batting? Honestly they should never have gotten that close.

Scorecard: JLT Cup Match 9: Queensland vs Victoria

Tasmania was destroyed by a Western Australian team missing their first choice bowlers but doing fine with their revamped batting line up following Adam Voges’ retirement. Dunk. McDermott and Doolan all failed to deliver, leaving George Bailey to shoulder the responsibility – again. Once he went for 36, Jordan Silk played with the nous and calm we know he possesses to make 80, but 207 all out was never going to be enough on the fast W.A.C.A pitch and ground. There is enough talent in that Tasmanian batting to make good runs, but they just can’t seem to get it together. Though Jake Doran appears out of favour, perhaps it is time to give him some responsibility and a chance at the top of the order to build on the ability he obviously has.

The reply from the Warriors was swift and merciless, reaching the target only two wickets down and with more than 12 overs remaining. Michael Klinger and Shaun Marsh set up the chase wonderfully, with Klinger making 45 and Marsh another serene 62. If numbers ensured national selection he’d be a lock. He needs more and better numbers to force his way back in, one would suspect, given that he has shown in the past that his form at domestic level doesn’t always translate to national level. Skipper Mitch Marsh showed the potential he can have with the bat, smashing 67 not out off 49 deliveries to bring home the victory. By not being able to bowl, and by having inherited the captaincy, perhaps this period could be what finally brings everything together for Mitch marsh the potential Australian All-Rounder. By having to score runs to hold his place, it may well be that catalyst that helps him when his next chance comes for Australia.

Scorecard: JLT Cup Match 10: Western Australia vs Tasmania

Rain Draws a Picture of a Cricketing Farce In T20

The continuing farce that is international T20 cricket continued this morning, when rain caused the 1st T20I between India and Australia to a reduced run chase for the home team batting second, and confining the result to one that will please the home fans but few others. As the game of cricket continues to be pulled and twisted into forms that not only strip most of the combative and interesting parts of the game all in the name of having it done quickly – and in the eyes of some more belligerently – we have now come to the stage where a rain-shortened game becomes more like an after-training hit for a country grade team than an international contest.

Obviously it is not an ideal situation for administrators. Once the match has commenced, they have to ensure they get a ‘result’ in the match, not for the glory of cricket but in order to keep the money that the patrons have paid to come into the ground to watch the farcical situation unfold. The fact that it is deemed proper that a game that has already been reduced to twenty over s per team can then be decided by one team having to chase an imaginary figure plucked out of the air in SIX overs in just rubbish. Surely no one can see this as a game of cricket. It becomes a sideshow act, one where no team is the winner, no matter who might be declared as such after the bowling of 36 deliveries. But, in order to satisfy the crowd in the ground and the television audience – and most importantly, the sponsors – this kind of manufactured result has to be found.

Australia wasn’t good enough with the bat, no matter what the final wash up. 160 is par score almost everywhere in the world in T20 cricket, and 8/118 off 18.4 overs before the rain came just isn’t going to win games at this level. Apart from Finch no one got going. Warner chopped on again in the first over to put the team behind the eight ball immediately. Maxwell, Head and Henriques all threw their wickets away with indiscreet shots. Tim Paine, on his return to international duties, was dropped twice and missed stumped all in one over. Given this performance it was probably a minor miracle that when the game was reduced to 6 overs for the chase that India’s target was so high.

As it turned out, India celebrated victory and a continued dominance over Australia on their home soil. For lovers of the game, the rain induced result just brought further concern as to how much the glorious game of cricket is being watered down – no pun intended – in order to make it a festival rather than an absorbing contest between bat and ball.

Scorecard: 1st T20I: India vs Australia

Contenders Launch Case For Selection as Redbacks Bite Blues

The beauty of one day cricket at the domestic level is that if the teams are levelled out then the results can fluctuate from one day to the next. With the Australian representatives out of the teams for the time being it means that both New South Wales and South Australia were missing some key personnel, but the quality of those that remain made the game a fascinating one to the end.

South Australia’s innings was one of changing standard. Alex Carey and Jake Weatherald both showed off their undoubted potential with the bat, taking on all stages of the Blues bowling attack and doing the job required. For Carey it is an important time as his name continues to make headlines as a possible wicket keeper in Brisbane come November, and every run he makes will probably be judged just as harshly as his keeping skills given the demands on that part of the role in the past two years. His 60 off 55 balls here with seven boundaries and three sixes showed he can move the score along when necessary. His big moments will probably come in the Sheffield Shield matches to follow. Weatherald’s anchoring 103 was almost chanceless and again included countless boundaries, fourteen fours and two sixes in all. He has impressed plenty in a short space of time, and his star continues to rise as a result. Cam Ferguson again failed to get going, and Tom Cooper discovered the pleasure and pain of cricket, following his wonderful century from the other day to be triggered first ball LBW for a golden duck against Nathan Lyon coming around the wicket. The modest Cricket Australia coverage gave no real benefit as to whether he was out plumb or not, but the differing opinions of batsman and bowler were there for all to see.

Enter Alex Ross, and one of my favourite batsmen to watch did not disappoint. His innings was a furious combination of slashes and bashes, monstering the ball to and over the boundary in a ferocious display that reminded everyone of his talent. He finished with 110 off 85 deliveries with seven fours and seven sixes, but it was the impetus he achieved at just the right time that enabled South Australia to regain the lost composure of the two quick middle order wickets and post an imposing target of 6/346.

Mitchell Starc made his return to cricket here, and although he was wild and woolly in his first two overs with wides and full bungers and even a beamer he recovered for a reasonable return of 1/55. Nathan Lyon, who had managed the dual breakthrough in the middle of the innings, was thrashed by Ross in particular, and eventually went for 2/88 from just nine overs. Sean Abbot (3/59) and Mickey Edwards (0/48) were once again the best for the Blues.

In reply, the Blues probably had the match at their beck and call but still found a way to lose it. Dan Hughes (105) and Kurtis Patterson (84) had the Blues at 1/202 after 37 overs, leaving 145 runs required from 78 balls. They had probably left themselves just a little too much to do, especially when they both fell in consecutive deliveries, leaving two new batsmen and those that followed a tough ask to chase down. In the end it was a bridge too far, and the innings finished at 301, with Joe Mennie taking four wickets.

Once again the folly of the toss winning skipper putting their opponents in had been found to be a bad move. The Redbacks continued their recovery after their first up loss, while the Blues are now in danger of missing out on the end game having lost two of their three matches.

Scorecard: JLT Cup Match 8: New South Wales vs South Australia

A Tale of Two Eras as Vics Erase Tigers

In a match that was dominated from the outset by a Victorian team in form against a Tasmanian team on the outer, it was the greying and grizzled veterans who shone brightest, with just a lone star from the future generation able to penetrate their leading ways. And with the spotlight being cast upon Shaun Marsh’s efforts in the first week of the JLT Cup and what it might mean for his prospects of a recall to the national set up, can one now continue to ignore the numbers that have piled up in Cameron White’s corner over the past three seasons?

The Victorian top order did a number on the Tasmanians after they won the toss and elected to bat. Marcus Harris, who is looking to follow in the footsteps of fellow former Western Australian Chris Rogers in topscaling a move to the east coast into a possible Australian selection, continued on his merry scoring way. His 75 runs from 66 deliveries was a further reminder of his talent and ability, and he will be looking to push forward on last season’s good numbers into something even better this season. So too Travis Dean, whose 40 from 43 deliveries appeared serene. Both made the bowling look average. Jackson Bird was expensive early but returned in his second spell to put the clamps back on and looked a lot more penetrating. The reverse was opposite of Andrew Fekete whose opening bursts were impressive and ensured the openers were cautious to his spell. His figures suffered in the back end of the innings as the assault rose, but he again showed good use of pace and seam in taking 4/48, by far the best analysis of the innings for the Tigers.

In the end it was the Cameron White show. He played the anchor early as Harris moved along swiftly. His 50 came off 71 deliveries, at which point Harris was dismissed. He and Dean then moved along at a run a ball. When Dean and then Pucovski were dismissed, he was in the nineties, and his century came up in the 40th over of the innings off 120 deliveries. The score was 3/227. What followed was pure brutal power, the kind of thing that he showed on occasions in the Green and Gold. Before he was dismissed off the second last ball of the innings, White scored 65 runs off 33 deliveries. He broke a seat up in the Prindiville Stand such was the ferocity the ball was struck. His innings was paced perfectly for the one day game, conservative at first, run a ball in the middle, and two runs a ball at the end. He hit 16 boundaries and six over the fence for six. His 165 off 154 deliveries was his highest in One Day Domestic matches. All at the age of 34, an age where in this era of cricket some are still being looked at for higher honours. One could rightly question whether Cameron White should be one of those, given the performance of the ODI team in recent months.

Another old timer took the stage at the start of the Tasmanian innings. The “People’s Champ”, Peter Siddle, looking to put his name forward for the Test team again now he has recovered from his injuries, quickly removed Ben Dunk and Alex Doolan and effectively cutting off any real hope the Tigers had of mounting a victory platform. He came back later to dismiss Simon Milenko, and his figures of 3/27 off 10 overs will have certainly caught the eye of the selector on duty. With all of the talk about a ‘pace explosion’ against England this summer, the People’s Champ has firmly put his name up there to be considered. Chris Tremain also did himself plenty of favours with a pacey barrage in his 3/50, and doesn’t look to be a million miles behind the pack either.

Tasmania’s fate rest with the old and the new, and while the wiley George Bailey made 52 out of a partnership of 103 before being dismissed, it was the emerging Ben McDermott that stole the limelight. Last season McDermott starred with a magnificent century in the Big Bash, and he also made his debut first class century in the Sheffield Shield. He built on both of those innings yesterday, combining patience with brute force as he first helped to revive the innings, and then looked to save it on his own. It was an innings that showed the maturity his batting is gaining. He showed he wasn’t just a pure slogger that his Big bash century had proclaimed, or that he was an out and out grafter such that his Sheffield Shield century had shown. He hit eight fours and three sixes as he reached 97, at which point he bunted rather than cracked a pull shot to a short ball, only to find the fielder on the square leg boundary. An innings that deserved a hundred was cut three runs short. Neither had he been able to get his team near the victory target, but he showed that he is not a one-innings-wonder. Keep an eye on this 22 year old in 2017/18.

Victoria’s eventual winning margin of 111 accurately tells the story of the match. And while the Bushrangers will be looking to add the JLT Cup to their collection this season, the Tigers will be looking for a way to bounce out of this funk they are in. And while the bowlers such as Siddle and Fekete will be happy with their output, it is the tale of old and young, of White and McDermott, that made this match what it was.

Scorecard: JLT Cup Match 7: Victoria vs Tasmania

Five Day Test Delivers Victory for Sri Lanka Where Four Days Would Not

The proponents for changing to a four day Test format may well have to reconsider their course of action, given the excitement and wonderful finish to the 1st Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi. A hard fought, tense and even contest went down to the final day, on which 16 wickets fell to leave Sri Lanka a somewhat surprised winner by 21 runs. Given that a four day Test, even with extended hours, would not necessarily have brought about such a finish is something that must be taken under careful consideration when it comes to making any changes in the future.

The game was a seesawing affair, and so close throughout that it is quite amazing to have the finish that came about. Both teams have had their moments in the past 12 months, though on current form and the fact that they had never lost a Test match at this ground you would have expected that Pakistan would have been favourites. Sri Lanka is going through a rebuilding phase and has yet to find suitable replacements for three legends of the game in Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Dilshan Their captain Angelo Matthews resigned recently after poor results, and their bowling relies massively on Rangana Herath being the strike bowler. Pakistan too has recently lost Younis Khan and Misbah ul Haq but appear better set up in the bowling attack.

Sri Lanka lost three of their top four cheaply after winning the toss, but surprised somewhat in compiling 419 in their first innings. Captain Dinesh Chandimal led the way and showed how effective he can be with the bat by scoring 155 not out and anchoring the innings from his entrance at 3/61. Dimuth Karunaratne contributed 93 before his unfortunate run out stalled the innings. Niroshan Dickwella with 83 and Dilruwan Perera with 33 also helped to pull the innings back to a competitive total. Pakistan’s bowlers were deadened by the flat wicket and were not as effective as they have been in recent years on this surface. Their reply was just as formulated, with everyone in the top seven getting start but all of them unable to go on and get a big score that would give them an advantage. Herath’s 5/93 from 40 overs restricted their total to 422 and a lead of just three runs.

After being able to recover from disaster in their first innings, the same couldn’t be said of Sri Lanka’s second innings. At stumps on day four they were 4/69, a lead of just 66, and needing to bat for probably two sessions in order to make the game safe. Mohammed Abbas made the first two incisions early on Day 5 in dismissing both overnight batsmen, and at 6/86 only Dickwella on 4 could save them. The last four wickets managed to add 52 runs, 36 of those from Dickwella who remained not out on 40. He coaxed and cajoled his tail to stretch their efforts, and the ninth wicket partnership of 34 with Sandakan doesn’t look like much, but they were valuable, valuable runs. Yasir Shah’s 5/51 was the contributing factor to the concluding of the Sri Lanka second innings. With Sri Lanka dismissed for just 138, it left Pakistan with only 136 runs to get to win the 1st Test, and surely almost everyone watching believed it was only a matter of how long.

Enter Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera.

Oh yes, Lakmal made the terrific dismissal of Azhar Ali his own, but it was the twin spin attack on the wearing wicket that brought the game into Sri Lanka’s favour. After Lakmal’s initial burst they bowled virtually unchanged, probing and penetrating and attacking, and they kept finding a way to get through. Pakistan found themselves the victim of their own sub-continent tactics, crowded around the bat, stifling their defensive and attacking play. At 5/36 there was real trouble, yet skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and Haris Sohail mounted their own rescue mission. When Sarfraz was stumped off Herath being the aggressor, and Sohail was pinned LBW by Perera in defence, the jig was up. That Perera was denied the final wicket by delivering a no ball, which only allowed Herath to clean up that wicket to reach 400 Test dismissals, perhaps summed it up for everyone. It was Herath’s Test match, finishing here with 6/43 to complete an 11/136 match haul which reinvigorates his appeal as a match finisher.

The summation of the match will be an interesting one. Those who want four day Tests will argue that the cricket for the first three and a half days was stodgy and slow and not in any way the kind of cricket the modern watcher is looking for. Those who argue for the Test to continue to its full distance will argue that had this been shortened it would have been seen as a dull Test match, and that perhaps those arguing for change would then suggest a three day Test is required. As it turns out, Test cricket wins with a great result borne from hard uncompromising cricket early on, and flashy and fascinating cricket in the stretch on a wicket that needed time to reveal its full complexities. In the long run, isn’t that what we want from Test cricket?

Scorecard: 1st Test Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

Blues Back in Business After Towelling Up Tigers

Coming off what must have been a bitterly disappointing loss to Western Australia on Friday, the New South Wales Blues have come back in style in thrashing Tasmania at the W.A.C.A. yesterday, with old and new alike shining in a performance that once again leaves no doubt that they will be contenders this season. The staccato format of the domestic one day series means that if you aren’t performing for the entire four week period that this competition runs then you are going to find yourself in serious trouble. The Blues would have found this realisation after their collapse on Friday, and the Tigers now are fully aware of it also as they found this mixture of constant Blues players and those that are getting their chance because others are on international duty far too good under the circumstances.

What possessed George Bailey to field when he won the toss only he can answer, but his team was almost immediately under the pump as the opening partnership of Hughes and Maddinson carved them up. Dan Hughes looks to be starting this season like he played all of the last, scoring 56 off 63 balls in a partnership of 136 off just 2 overs. His missed chance with Australia A when they did not tour South Africa doesn’t look like being a barrier to him getting another chance very soon. Nic Maddinson was brutal, and he is showing no ill effects of his short and turbulent Test rise and fall last season. His 137 from 119 deliveries will not only be a relief for himself, but also a reminder that he is not going anywhere and will be looking to put himself back in to national calculations as soon as possible. The innings was finished off by the veteran Ed Cowan, batting out of position at number five but striking a clean 51 not out from 32 balls to ensure the Blues passed the 300 run barrier and post a score of 6/316 off their fifty overs. Once again it was the spinner that caused the most concern, with Cam Boyce taking 2/50 from his 10 overs, while Test back up Jackson Bird took some stick early before coming back hard to finish with 2/62

Ben Dunk and Ben McDermott came out firing, reaching 69 in the tenth over before the game changed. It was Nathan Lyon that provided the breakthrough, dismissing Dunk for 38, and the introduction of Mickey Edwards provided the wicket of McDermott to his first ball for 31. It was Edwards’ first wicket for NSW, and the cult hero of the Sydney Test in January this year wasn’t finished there. Both he and Sean Abbott ripped the heart out of the Tasmanian middle order with their excellent pace and bounce, backed up by some terrific catching by their teammates. Abbott dismissed both Bailey and Doolan with great determination. At 5/115 the game was pretty much over, but Jordan Silk produced a reminder of his talent by scoring 55 off 52 balls at number five before being the seventh wicket to fall when the chance appeared over. Tasmania was eventually dismissed for 214 in just the 40th over. Abbott finished with the superb figures of 3/29 off 6.2 overs, while Mickey Edwards was scintillating with 4/31 from 9 overs. Mitchell who? Josh who?

The victory re-affirms the Blues as one of the chances for this tournament, while the Tigers will need to re-group and most of the first-game losers have managed to do and find a way to improve on both sides of the fence before their next match.

Scorecard: JLT Cup Match 6: New South Wales vs Tasmania