Aussie World Cup Squad a Chance for Redemption

Everyone has their own opinion on who should be in the World Cup team and squad and who shouldn’t. Everyone will have their personal preferences of particular players who they believe should or shouldn’t be a part of every Australian team. Four months ago, it seemed almost impossible to find fifteen players worthy of selection in a World Cup squad. Now it seems that even a twenty five player squad wouldn’t be enough to have everyone in who deserves a place. As a result, there will be some disappointed players when the actual fifteen player squad is named, which means that if Australia now doesn’t perform well, the naysayers will be out in force over the selected squad and who should have gone instead of whom. Despite this, it is a much better position to be in than we thought was going to be the case.

Australia has just won eight ODI matches in a row. There are lots of things to digest about that statistic.

Firstly is the fact that prior to the third ODI against India, Australia’s record in one day internationals since the beginning of 2018 was abysmal. 18 matches played. 3 wins, 15 losses. They had played against arguably the three best teams in the world only – 10 against England (1 win, 9 losses), 3 against South Africa (1 win, 2 losses) and 5 against India (1 win, 4 losses). One captain had been suspended, and the other was walking a tightrope of poor form. The bowling attack rotated as much as the batting line up. Different plans were utilised, and none were succeeding. Fans were waiting for Smith and Warner’s return, but still wondered if it would make any difference.

Then came the winning streak, eight wins in a row. Three against India who in fairness tinkered with their own line-up to give peripheral players an opportunity. Five more wins against Pakistan who did the same, but still fielded as poorly as they tend to do. Australia won games by setting good totals and defending, and by batting second and chasing the total set for them. They had some luck in these games that contributed to their wins and perhaps didn’t see the best of their opponents. The conditions that the games were played in will bear little resemblance to what they will face in a couple of months in England. But in the lead up to a World Cup, the confidence taken from winning these games and finding a combination that works was more valuable than anything else.

Australia had been trying to follow England’s - and to a lesser degree India’s - batting template in recent times, that being to go hard from the very first ball, and continue to do so regardless of wickets lost. The problem with that was that both England and India didn’t seem to lose as many wickets as Australia did, and Australia was behind the eight ball consistently and their win-loss ratio suffered as a result. Chris Lynn and D’Arcy Short were given their opportunities in this mindset but failed to convert their domestic form to international runs. It could be argued they didn’t get enough chances, but to me they suffered from the fact that the Australian hierarchy eventually came to the conclusion that this method was not in our team’s best interest. No, we had to go back to a more uniform method, one that suited the team we had and their best value.

In doing this, Australia stuck with who and what they knew. Shaun Marsh had been the one shining light with the bat during the past twelve months, and his style is to work the ball around early, and build to a point where he can attack freely later in his innings. Usman Khawaja bats in a similar way, but has worked better when he can take his time before caressing the ball into the gaps to the boundary, before the field is allowed to go back out of the circle. I felt for some time that these two were too similar in style to be maintained in the same ODI team, but they have proven it can work with Khawaja opening and taking advantage of hitting the ball along the ground for four early, and Marsh then coming in and working ones and twos in the same way once the opening ten overs are completed. Complemented by the return to form of Aaron Finch, Australia’s top order has maintained a run rate between 5-6 runs an over in comfort, without taking risks. Perhaps England and India go faster, but Australia has taken this philosophy, and then banked on their middle order to accelerate towards the end.

Enter Glenn Maxwell. Practically ignored by the Smith/Warner/Lehmann era over the previous two years, under the new regime of Finch and Langer he has exploded. Having been shown confidence by his captain and Victorian teammate, Maxwell has scored runs at a blistering pace, and suddenly begun bowling again, keeping the runs down while taking the odd wicket. He has been lifted from number seven to as high as four in the batting order, and is proving to be the match changer/winner that Australia needs. Supported by Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis and Alex Carey, Australia has found the batting format that works for them, and is suddenly winning them cricket matches. The way they bat has been crafted to the strengths of those that have been selected to do their job, and it is working. When it comes to the World Cup, this is a very important point to keep in mind.

The bowling has also been working, though the subcontinent pitches are no doubt helping the twin spin attack being used of Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon. Whether or not this is sustainable in England is open to question, but the fact that both have been bowling well and doing their job bodes well for when they get their chance during the World Cup.

Australia’s greatest threat to their success comes from which bowlers are now chosen to do the job in the World Cup. Most pundits believe both Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will come straight into the squad if they are fit in time, but is this the best fit for the team? Hazlewood has played just 6 of the 25 ODI’s since January 2018, for 8 wickets at 35.50 and an economy rate of 5. Starc has played 7 matches, for 11 wickets at 37.36 and an economy rate just over 6. More than their figures, it is the complete lack of matches in this format that is concerning for both bowlers. Both will be underdone if they are chosen. The point on their side is that none of their true contenders such as Jason Behrendorff (7 wickets at 41.42), Kane Richardson (8 at 31.75) or Billy Stanlake (6 at 42.66) has done enough to displace them if they are ruled as fit.

The team though absolutely needs Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson fit and in that team. Both have played 12 matches in this time period. Cummins has been the leader taking 25 wickets at 20.36 and Richardson 24 wickets at 26.33. Both have been the attacking weapons the team needs if they are to challenge for the World Cup. Nathan Coulter-Nile has also been prominent with 11 wickets at 26.36 from just 6 matches, but injury continues to dog his own chances.

Which all leads us to the question as to who should the selectors choose in their final fifteen player squad. There are going to be some unlucky players, and perhaps some who are also a little fortunate.

If we assume that Australia is going to stick with its current batting philosophy, then the current top seven who have played against Pakistan all must go, and must be the top seven from the first match. The squeeze will come from whether or not Alex Carey is seen to be expendable as wicket-keeper, and instead install Handscomb in that role in order to get another batsman or bowler into the team. That would be very harsh on Carey, who has played all of his 19 internationals in the past twelve months. He looks a comfortable selection at seven, and has just made his first fifty last week. Changing that position would be against everything it appears the team has worked towards in the last four months. Carey should be the keeper, with Handscomb in the squad as batsman only but back-up keeper should anything go wrong.

Both Steve Smith and David Warner look certain to be chosen to make their international returns, and their limited T20 appearances around the world should be enough to have them in shape and ready to go when asked. My belief is that they should not automatically come back into the first XI, as their inclusion would change the way the batsmen have been operating. One can only believe that they will play a part in the tournament, but that doesn’t have to be from the outset. With Finch, Khawaja, Marsh, Handscomb, Maxwell, Stoinis, Carey, Smith and Warner making nine in the squad, there is no room for the wonderfully talented Ashton Turner which is a real shame. It also means that none of Lynn, Short, Matthew Wade or any other batting candidate can come into the squad unless one of these nine is discarded, and this looks very unlikely.

The six bowling slots look to choose themselves, barring injury befalling any of the candidates. Starc and Hazlewood will get their chance if they are passed fit, while Cummins and Jhye Richardson are the other two pacemen at the top of the list. They will be joined by both Zampa and Lyon, which leaves plenty of other bowlers with cases for selection missing the plane. If any of the four pace bowlers doesn’t come up though – and only Cummins at the moment looks a certainty regarding no injury concerns - there is scope for a return. Having been in the squad for the past two months, Coulter-Nile, Behrendorff and Kane Richardson would be in the best seat to grab an available spot. However, the wild card is James Pattinson, whose return from injury once again has been spectacular. He is currently being spoken of as an Ashes certainty, but surely he has a case for inclusion in the World Cup squad as well, with his pace and swing and seam.

If I was choosing the squad, I would be looking for any way possible to fit both Ashton Turner and James Pattinson into the team, because for me they provide the kind of spark that this team needs to lift itself into a World Cup winning team. There is no way to do that without some tough calls, and I think it is unlikely it will happen, but their ability to make something happen from nothing is something I would very much like to see.

Likely squad: Aaron Finch (c), Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk) (vc), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Lyon.

My squad: Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Pat Cummins (vc), Mitch Starc, Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa, David Warner, Steve Smith, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson.

Albion Park Under 13's: Final vs Shellharbour Blue at Myimbar East

In a summer where the biggest news seems to be that the state is in drought and creeks are drying up and golf course dams are at all time lows, it seems quite ironic that on the final day of the junior cricket season the premiers in the SCDCA Under 13 competition has been decided by the rain rather than the contest on the field. And yet this is what occurred on Saturday when the match between the second placed Shellharbour Blue team and the fourth placed Albion Park team was washed out without the toss being made or a ball being bowled, an event that led to the higher placed Shellharbour team being declared as Premiers for 2018/19. There was no argument from the participants – Shellharbour had won both matches between the teams during the regular season and were favourites for the game as it was. But Albion Park has only played its strongest team once during the season, and that had been in the demolition of the Lake Illawarra team the previous weekend, and with the vast improvement that they had made since their last meeting in January, there was plenty of confidence leading into the weekend that they could spring another surprise. Instead, they could be happy with thought they they had given everything they had on the cricket field during the season, and that reaching the final in the first place was indeed a terrific achievement.

It has been one of the best of my 41 seasons of cricket that I have been involved in on the South Coast, even if it was just from the spectators position. Watching these 14 young kids each week, and seeing the massive improvement each of them made between October and March, has been as gratifying as any season before this. Anthony Pickering as coach has been amazing, enthusiastic at every training and at every game, positive and encouraging in every sense of the word, always with the kids best interests at heart. He has been tough when he has to be, and because it has only been on the rarest of occasions, each time he did struck a chord with the kids and they responded immediately. His heartfelt words after 15 overs of the game against Shellharbour in January, when the lethargy of the kids had shown and cost them too many runs, had an immediate impact, and their recovery in the second fifteen overs was amazing. If they had been just as good in the first fifteen overs, they may well have won that match. That’s what makes a good coach, the ability to know when words need to be said, and when to just let the kids have their head. This wasn’t the only example of this during the season, but it was the most significant. Thanks for everything you did this season Anthony, you can be justifiably proud of what your team achieved this year because of your efforts.
It is also important to acknowledge the support of the parents and families this season. These kids all perform better when they have their family there to watch, because they WANT to perform for you and to do well in front of you and FOR you. The massive support you gave to this team every Saturday is a big reason they did so well. There is nothing better than doing something good, and hearing the cheers for you from the sideline, whether you are 12 years old or 49 years old. Nothing matters more to kids than playing in front of their family and their teammates families. The support this season was extraordinary, and you all can lay claim to a piece of the responsibility for this team doing so well this season.

Everyone will have different memories of their favourite parts of the season. Mine may not equate to the same as others, but sometimes it is the moments rather than the best performances that stick best in the mind. Rob Denny’s first three deliveries of the season, all perfect left-arm outswinging deliveries to the left hand opening batsman, with the third plucking the off stump out of the ground. Lucas Thompson’s catch standing at mid on under a high ball off Josh that took six months to come down, followed by the biggest smile ever and his teammates crushing him in celebration. Kane Rex’s crushing cover drive at Gainsborough in a ‘stand and deliver’ pose, possibly the best stroke he has played in his short career so far. Watching Liam Cergovski take the keeping gloves at training for the first time, and then not letting a single ball past him, and suddenly realising we had found a wicket-keeper in the making. Blake Ison’s fearless and blistering batting when opening against Oak Flats chasing 117 to win, and perfectly setting up the team with his innings to ensure a famous victory. Will Schofield’s perfectly amazingly brilliant catch at Gainsborough as the ball continued to drift away from his grasp until the final instant he managed to wrap his hand around the ball. Tom Denyer chasing the ball from mid-wicket to deep long on against Shellharbour, turning and throwing down the stumps direct at the bowlers end to have the batsman short by two metres. Wacky Campion’s terrific stumping off Josh at Con O’Keefe after he said at drinks ‘I’m a good keeper! I’ll get a stumping off Josh!’ Jack Couley’s match-changing innings against Kiama in a game the team had to win to reach the finals. Lucas freaking Brown and his 4/1 from two overs against Kiama when he was on two hat-tricks and might have gotten all the wickets if he’d been allowed to bowl more than two overs. Every single Kasey Barton back foot punch along the ground through cover, just the best looking stroke from a 12 year old it has ever been my pleasure to see. Kynan Barton’s dual run outs in consecutive deliveries against Kiama Gold at Con O’Keefe, one from a great piece of fielding at slip and the other chasing the ball down at point. Owen Pickering’s match-winning batting in the semi-final when he showed the poise and responsibility of the senior player in the team to calmly see off the best bowlers before hitting the winning runs from the change bowlers. And Josh Peters… bowling Jarryd White for a golden duck in that same game… I may have dropped my guard and screamed in triumph at that…

These are but a handful of the great moments from the season. Each and every one of these boys can be proud of their seasons. And every single one of them has a great future in this game, and we need to encourage them to keep playing and improve. They are literally the future of the Albion Park Cricket Club, and we all need to make sure they continue to love the game as much as they do now, and keep playing on for years to come.

Bring on 2019/20.

Tactical Batting Turnaround Has Aussies Moving Forward

As good as this ODI series victory was for the Australian team in India, it is important to note that these conditions are unlikely to be similar to the ones that await them in England. Whether there is more ball movement in the air or off a friendlier surface, and whether spin is as potent as it was in this series, we can only wait to see. India also made enough changes in their team over the final three ODI’s to suggest that they hadn’t picked their absolute best team to challenge for wins. And yet the positives for Australia outweigh any perceived problems on a tour where few could have said they expected that the visitors would win both the T20I series and the ODI series. It has not necessarily answered pending questions in regards to the upcoming World Cup, but it has certainly changed the questions that are being asked.

Never give a sucker an even break. A saying as old as the hills. In the early part of the Indian tour, Shaun Marsh was allowed to stay at home for the birth of his first child. That’s an excellent outcome for he and his family. However, it gave Usman Khawaja the chance to slot in as opener in the ODI team, and it has proven to be the ideal scenario for both himself and skipper Aaron Finch. It was instructive that for the deciding game Marsh was overlooked for Western Australian teammate Ashton Turner, a decision that has over-reaching complications for Marsh and his participation in the World Cup. Marsh played three of the five games, scoring just 29 runs. All along it has looked like only one of Khawaja and Marsh can play in the same ODI team, given the similarity of their play in this form of the game. At home Marsh looked to be a lock for the World Cup squad. Now, with Khawaja on a run streak and Marsh having given him that leg up by coming into the tour late, that whole selection debate has become a lot more difficult and intense.

On the matter of Khawaja and Finch, they have formed a good partnership, and Finch has been able to break the stranglehold of low scores that has beset his Australian summer. More importantly, the opening partnerships of 0, 83, 193, 3 and 76 are more than acceptable over a five game period, with the three larger ones at five runs an over or better.

Having spent the better part of 12 months trying to replicate the England ODI batting format of going hard from the first ball and trusting that their line-up can do so all the way through, Australia has realised it is not their go. D’Arcy Short and Chris Lynn were seen as those guys at the top of the order who could demolish a bowling attack but in the end they were unsuccessful, and Australia instead often found themselves two or three for not many and then having to have the middle order recover the situation. In India they have fallen back to better cricket, utilising the gaps in the field to hit boundaries generally along the ground rather than the aerial route. The opening partnership has been well supported by the similar stroke play of Handscomb at three, while the more adventurous hard hitting has come from Maxwell, Stoinis and Turner in the middle. The ODI’s against Pakistan will give a better idea if these batting tactics can continue to build good totals. One suspects in England Australia will need more runs than the 250-280 they are making now, but the order as it stands right now looks capable of doing that on their own terms.

Alex Carey should now have answered any critics of his position in this team. His gloves have been good, and he has contributed well with the bat. He leads well from behind the stumps and doesn’t appear to get flustered. His keeping to the spinners especially has been good, and overall he has done everything asked of him. Hopefully this question is now laid to rest.

The selection of Ashton Turner in the squad is one of the best the national selectors have made in some time. Off the back of an excellent career at Western Australia and the Perth Scorchers and a terrific BBL08, he has been given his opportunity and has taken it with both hands. His scintillating unbeaten burst of 84 off 43 deliveries to finish off the winning chase in the fourth ODI along with his two other innings and wonderful fielding has set him up to be the ‘finisher’ Australia has been looking for since Mike Hussey’s retirement. And he hasn’t even bowled his handy part-time offies yet. He is perhaps the most exciting member of this team going forward.

Not that anyone doubted he would, but Pat Cummins has become the white ball leader much in the same way as he has become the red ball leader. His series was just what Australia needed, and in leading the attack he was able to give his other charges – Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff – a release of pressure and allow them to bowl without the weight bearing on their shoulders. Richardson continued on his great summer and looks to be one of the required fast bowlers for the World Cup, while Coulter-Nile would be handy in the lower order with the bat as well if he can stay fit. The clouds hovering over the fitness of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood look to be the only thing giving anyone else a look in at this stage in regards to fast bowling slots.

The selectors will be ecstatic with the showing of both Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon on this tour. Both needed to prove they should be in the team, and in their own way they have done just that. Zampa showed all of his variety and wicket-taking potential with 11 wickets in the five matches, while also going for less than six runs an over. He is hitting form at the right time, and no doubt being given consistent and continuous matches is helping that enormously. Lyon took only three wickets in three matches, but his economy rate of 4.43 was the best of any bowler on either side in the series. It appears unlikely that two spinners will be required in England, but if they do then Australia’s two best look ready for the challenge.

The big question of what to do with Steve Smith and Dave Warner is probably no closer to being answered. But what is perhaps the best outcome of all of this is – who says either has to be immediately chosen in our best ODI XI? Australia’s first engagement at the World Cup is against Afghanistan, and their second against the West Indies. Without denigrating either team’s chance of defeating Australia in those matches, the point is that the selectors aren’t beholden to choose their two returning superstars from the first match. Both should certainly still be in the 15 man World Cup squad, but if the team continues on its winning way in Pakistan then there is no immediate need to change a winning formula. Surely it would be a handy thing to have Smith and Warner in reserve should the team lose a couple of matches, and be able to inject them into the line-up – rather than putting them in from the start and leave out two guys who have been performing, just on their name and reputation alone. It is something well worth considering. 

India now head into the IPL, while Australia has five further ODI encounters to play against the unpredictable Pakistan team, all of which will then culminate in the final 15 man squad having to be announced. If nothing else, Australians have been buoyed by the performances in India, and a similar effort against Pakistan will at least have fans in a positive frame of mind when we get into the real thing come end the of May.

Albion Park Under 13's: Semi-Final vs Lake Illawarra at Morley Park

In the 1983/84 Under 14A competition, the fourth placed Albion Park team took on the undefeated minor premiers Shellharbour in the semi-final. Against all odds and with nothing to lose, Albion Park won that game convincingly, and went on to play in the final the following weekend, again with nothing to lose. I bring this up only to illustrate that such a scenario can happen, so that when you read the following you will know it is not an impossible tale, and much like the tagline for the original 1978 movie version of Superman that read “You will believe a man can fly”, here you will believe that the underdog can defeat the overwhelming favourites – which is what faced the fourth placed Albion Park Eagles Under 13’s in their semi final against the undefeated minor premiers Lake Illawarra at Morley Park on Saturday morning.

Lake Illawarra batted first and walked out to face a pumped-up Albion Park team, who were much less nervous than many of those watching from the sidelines. Lucas Brown took the new ball, something he wants and has generally thrived on in the past two seasons. He has become the (young) man who has created the initial breakthrough in the batting order, and often more than one. He is coming close to mastering the art of the full straight ball with just enough swing away from the right hander that makes him a tough proposition. He was coming off a four-wicket haul in a school game on Thursday, and on his shoulders rod the hopes of an early breakthrough. In the end he disappointed all those watching, because he was unable to get a wicket until the second delivery of the match, when the perfect delivery found the leading edge for the ball to pop safely into the hands of Kynan Barton at mid-wicket, and the score was 1/0 – and the roar and rush to come together by the Albion Park team must have been frightening for the incoming Lake batsmen such was the ferocity of excitement. The new batsman was one of the best in the district, and his imposing first boundary looked to restore the order lost by that early wicket. Liam Cergovski bowled a solid first over that kept the pressure on, and then Lucas started his second over. The batsman had by now recognised his threat and had decided on a defensive posture, but this is what brought about the next downfall, as the nervous prod forward only resulted in a simple return catch back to Lucas, and he had his second wicket and that of the biggest batting threat in the Lake team. Once again the boys rushed together and celebrated, but there was still a long way to go. Both Lucas and Liam finished their initial spells. Liam (0/8) again shows how much he is improving each week and gave the batsmen nothing to hit, keeping the pressure on for the superstar at the other end. Lucas (2/8) again was the golden arm. He’s not as fast as some others (yet; and believe me that will come) but he bowls the perfect line and length and scares batsmen by his accuracy, all the while with the biggest grin on his face no matter what happens. His two overs opened this game up for the Eagles from the outset and he should be immensely proud of his efforts.

Josh Peters and Jack Couley replaced this pair, and along with stunting the already halting run rate the pressure they created continued on with these benefits. Jack had the ball swinging from the hand and caused some problems, while Josh forced the issue as the batsmen were drawn into playing shots they didn’t want to play. He was taken down the ground in the air by the attacking left hander, a ball that fell agonisingly short of a desperate chase by Lucas Thompson, but it proved turning point. His leg spinner that drifted, dropped and bounced completely fooled the batsman, drawing the edge that was brilliantly snared by wicket-keeper Owen Pickering, and the third wicket was down. The following ball Josh tossed up another perfectly pitched delivery, drawing the slog across the line from the right handed batsman who was completely beaten by the flight, and he only managed to drag it onto his stumps to be bowled. The next ball was to another left-hander (why do leg-spinners always seem to have to bowl hat-trick balls at left handers?) and Josh produced the same delivery as had drawn his first wicket, only to miss the edge by a gnats wing. Despite this, he had taken out the middle order and further decimated the Lake batting. The pair finished their two over spell. Jack (0/4) was good as he always is, unable to break through as he had the previous week but again kept the pressure on the batsmen with a couple of deliveries passing perilously close to the stumps. I am biased in regards to Josh’s cricket prowess, but if there is a better spinner under the age of 14 on the South Coast I have yet to see them. And Josh (2/4) is only 11 years old.
Tom Denyer and Kynan Barton came on, and now found the batsmen in stonewalling mode. With 22 overs to go in the innings and their top order smashed to pieces they needed to spend time in recovery. Tom (0/9) at the moment is only being held back by his own doubts, but it seems that once he gets one good delivery away he finds his groove. He was probably a bit pumped up from the way the team was going and channelled this in to trying to bowl too fast. His second over though was terrific, zeroing in on the stumps and giving the batsmen plenty to think about. Kynan(1/5) again bowled a beautifully tight spell, changing his pace and length accordingly and not letting the batsmen settle or be able to predict what was coming next. And, as he always does, he found his way through again in beating the batsman with flight and pace and taking out of the off stump, creating the fifth wicket of the innings. It was lovely deception, and the perfect way to end his short spell.
‘Wacky’ Campion (0/1) is the perfect foil for these situations, always bowling straight and on a good length, forcing the batsmen to play every ball, sometimes their peril. It the classic “you miss, I hit” strategy and he does it superbly. Though he didn’t get a wicket today, he certainly enabled his bowling partner to do his job. Kasey Barton bowled his best spell of the season today, and what a day to do it. He was a major part of each of the final three wickets to fall. With his first ball he created a chance, a leading edge out to cover that lobbed just out of reach of brother Kynan. The groans were quickly turned to calls for the ball to go to the keeper, as the batsman had just taken off for a run without a response from his partner. Kynan’s throw to Owen found the batsman metres short, and the sixth wicket was back on the sideline. Kasey deserved a wicket and picked one up not long after when a thunderbolt cannoned off the batsman’s pads into his stumps. With the drinks break suspended because only one wicket remained to be taken, Kasey (2/2) bowled the perfect outswinger at pace that clipped the edge of the bat, and Owen at keeper had to go down to the ground and to his right to take a spectacular and brilliant keeper’s catch to end the innings. It is hard to explain just how good that catch was and topped off a terrific performance by the leader behind the stumps. In just 16 overs, Lake Illawarra had been dismissed for 42 runs, and the Albion Park kids were ecstatic and with good reason.

Special mention must be made here of the contribution in the field by Kane Rex, Rob Denny and Lucas Thompson in particular. All three boys were the unlucky ones who were unable to be a batsman or a bowler, given that the team has 14 players this season and in Under 13’s you can only bat nine players and bowler 11 players. They are still a big part of getting the team to this position, and their efforts in the field were terrific. Rob was enthusiastic and encouraging from point and square leg, Kane was all over everything at mid-on being quick to the ball and keeping the talk up, while Lucas made some great chases to cut down runs at mid-off, and almost got himself into a position to make a grab at a catch from Josh’s bowling. They all beamed all morning, and their contributions were as much a part of this team performance as those already mentioned.

With the Lake looking to push hard for an advantage, the Eagles were led by opening batsmen Will Schofield and Blake Ison. Their opening partnership against Oak Flats had been a leading reason for that victory, and here again they were charged with this task. Will has been technically the best bat in the team, but today perhaps nerves had hit him along with a desire to cut down the runs needed as soon as possible. It’s also possible that, having played in rep teams with many of his opponents, he just wanted to dominate. All this led to a slightly looser innings tan we are used to seeing from him, but it was effective. His partner was just fired up. When Blake is switched on he is unstoppable, plays strokes with abandon, but most importantly his calling and running between the wickets can change a game. And it did here. Blake backed up superbly, called loud and ran hard, and on at least three occasions stealing extra runs from his calling and running alone. It was fearless and exhilarating stuff in the early overs, as Lake threw their best at them to try and dislodge them quickly. Blake’s downfall came from the ball of the day from the Lake left armer who swung the ball from well outside off stump to take Blake’s middle and off pegs. Though he only had three runs to his name, and the score as ‘only’ 14, those extra runs he had engineered were like gold, and his contribution enormous.
Kasey Barton has had a good week with the bat in school cricket and was ready to do the same here. A solid start had him looking good, and when a cut down past point got him off the mark it looked even better. There was no one on the sidelines that thought there was two in it… unfortunately this is what was attempted, and despite his frantic dive at the end the terrific throw found Kasey short of his ground and he was run out for 1. Five runs later Will died by the sword he had been brandishing, being caught for 10 which had been an excellent innings under the difficult circumstances. At 3/20 Lake believed they were back in the match, and a nervous balanced remained.
Enter Owen Pickering, who played one of the best leader’s innings you could wish to see, and his sergeant-at-arms Wacky Campion. With so much time left to bat, they sensibly went about seeing off the spells of Lake’s best three bowlers who could only bowl two overs each initially. This they did with great skill. Owen was solid, looking for singles where possible but ensuring the danger bowlers were seen off. From here he played superbly, keeping out the good balls but cracking hard at every short wide delivery. Granted he didn’t time many of them, but he got enough bat on them to get the singles and twos that came. At the other end Wacky did his job, running hard when needed but also contributing his own runs to the tally. As the bowling lost its direction, each no ball and wide was ticked off the score by the big crowd in attendance and finally, at the end of the 11th over, the Park had reached 3/43 and were declared winners. The sight of coach Anthony Pickering charging onto the field, far outrunning his young chargers, is one of the best things I’ve seen in cricket. The unrestrained joy from them all over the next few minutes makes all of the hard work this season from everyone involved more than worth it.

What’s the secret? Once again in cricket, it is not about individuals, it is about the team. Every single person put their hand up today and they made their own contribution to the cause. They field as a team, charging in together, encouraging their teammates and picking them up when they are down. They bowl in partnerships, not always taking wickets but bottling up the batting so that someone will eventually cash in. Every week two or three put their hands up to score runs, and it is never the same kids. It is a true team performance that has got these kids to a final, and if they happen to get up next Saturday it will be as a team that they will do it.

I made mention at the start of the 1983/84 Under 14A’s team that beat the undefeated minor premiers. It should be noted that in the final (after a game that stretched three weekends because of a washout on what should have been the second day), the Albion Park team managed to win the competition from fourth place, defeating the second placed Kiama team in the process. That may seem wonderful, though as I was the captain of the Kiama team I have much different memories and emotions of the result. It again does show that such a scenario is more than possible if a team plays to the best of its abilities and their opponents take their eye off the ball for even a moment.

Next weekend, our Eagles boys will have their chance at their own moment of premiership glory. If they play like they did yesterday, they will be a massive chance.

Openers Battle to Regain the Faith

For the purists amongst us, the return of the Sheffield Shield after what felt like three years of Big Bash was greeted with cheers, and after the cricket that was played over those four days we had every reason to be cheering. There were tight close contests, there were stars with the bat and the ball, and talking points all the way through. But without a doubt the biggest contest came from two batsmen playing for different teams in different games in different cities, both vying for one place in an Ashes touring squad, and both looking for redemption after vastly differing cricket seasons.

At Bankstown Oval, Cameron Bancroft was making his return to first class cricket for Western Australia against New South Wales, after eleven months since the ball tampering saga interrupted his career. He had returned to club cricket in November, and had played in the BBL since his suspension had concluded, but this was his first match back in real cricket, and he had a point to prove. Meanwhile at Junction Oval, Marcus Harris made his return against Queensland for his first match for Victoria since he had been anointed as a Test batsman, and though he had been lauded for his poise in his first six Tests, a lack of big runs had left him vulnerable in the immediate future, and he needed to show he could do that. 

Whether it is clear cut or not, it does appear very likely that Dave Warner will be selected in the Ashes squad for England later this year. With his own suspension only a month away from concluding and the difficultly the Australian Test team has had at the top of the order in his absence it seems unlikely he will be passed over for that squad. Given his efforts in Canberra against Sri Lanka it would seem that Joe Burns will also be on the plane to England. If this is the case, there is only room for one more opening batsman join these two in that 16 or 17 man squad for the tour. It means that in effect there is a bat off between all of the other candidates out there looking to make that team. And while you could also include others such as Matt Renshaw, Daniel Hughes, Alex Doolan and even Jake Wetherald in this discussion, the likelihood is that the final position will come down to a direct decision between Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris.

And I think they both know it. 

On Day 1 at Bankstown, Bancroft crafted his innings carefully. His poise against a full strength New South Wales attack eighteen months ago had earned him his Test debut, and he now went about using another match against the same opposition to find a way back. On a day slightly shortened by rain, Bancroft stood firm, batting through the entire day to reach 73 not out from 83 overs bowled and a total of 5/183. With the wicket still difficult to score on during Day 2, he continued his defiant stand, refusing to buckle under the pressure the accurate attack threw at him. When the Western Australian innings was finally completed, Bancroft was still there, undefeated on 138 off 358 deliveries having scored almost exactly half of the Warriors total of 279. With so much having been made of Cheteshwar Pujara’s ability to bat time during the recent Test series, and the bemoaning for an Australian batsman who could do the same, Bancroft had provided exactly what those people had been asking for. Was it deliberate, or just a response to the pitch and bowling he faced? Either way, in the eyes of many it was the perfect return given the circumstances of the Test summer just gone. 

At almost the same time that Bancroft walked off Bankstown Oval with his undefeated century, Marcus Harris walked onto Junction Oval to assuage his response. There is little doubt that he would have been aware of what had occurred north of him, and what he had to do in order to draw parallel with it. Queensland had posted a total of 441 in their first innings, which gave Harris a target to bat at, and the knowledge that he had to make a mark in order to keep his team in the game. And so he did, first with Dean and then Pucovski before finding an ally in Nic Maddinson to attack the bowling. Harris played with sublimity, punching cover drives and cut shots mixed with ferocious pull shots to keep the bowlers in check. He hit 15 boundaries in his innings as he approached stumps, before being adjudged caught behind off Swepson with only a few balls remaining in the day. It’s difficult to judge whether his disappointment is in getting out so close to stumps just five runs away from his own century, or whether he felt he didn’t hit the ball. Either way, his 95 had in some ways answered the challenge laid before him by Bancroft’s innings and yet once again saw him fall short of the century milestone that he would have felt was needed under the circumstances. 

Back at Bankstown, and Western Australia chased leather for day and a half as New South Wales, led by centuries from Patterson and Nevill racked up 8 declared for 477, before giving the visitors a short time to bat before stumps on the third day. Though they lost a wicket, Bancroft was again there for Day 4, and he spent most of it in a backs-to-the-wall fight to gain a draw for him team. Much like the first innings, Bancroft kept showing the full face of his bat while wickets fell at the other end. Only Inglis and Paris could manage double figures as the Blues net tightened with Copeland and O’Keefe circling. Sangha picked up two cheap wickets, but Bancroft stood firm. He had some fortune, but all batsmen do if they are going to save a game like this. The new ball was taken, and with it some extra purchase for Steve O’Keefe. Bancroft finally made a tired lunge forward, and the ball spun and dipped wickedly past his bat, and Nevill was like a flash with the gloves as Bancroft’s balance was lost forward and was stumped. It broke the Western Australia resistance, with the final three wickets falling within six deliveries, and New South Wales had gained an innings victory. 

Bancroft’s second marathon for the match ended with his score on 86 from 263 deliveries. He was on the field for all but ten deliveries of the match, and fell just 28 deliveries short of the record of most deliveries faced in a Sheffield Shield Match. Steve Waugh holds the record with 649. Bancroft faced 621. All of this in his first appearance in a first-class match since the 3rd Test between South Africa and Australia in March last year. Statement made. 

As Bancroft and Western Australia finally fell to defeat, back at Junction Oval Marcus Harris was on a rescue mission of his own. Queensland had declared their second innings, leaving Victoria a chase of 300 to win in 80 overs, a reasonable target though on a fourth day pitch. Dean was dismissed in the first over, and at 4/110 the writing was on the wall, and one suspected that fighting for just a draw was going to be a difficult proposition. By this time Harris had passed his second half century of the match, but he was going to need more if he was to keep his name in the spotlight that Bancroft was drawing away from him. Rather than stonewall his way to a draw, Harris and partner Matt Short keep the run rate above four an over, consistently finding gaps in the field despite Queensland’s efforts to stem the run flow. On 94, Harris put Swepson over the fence to bring up his century off just 122 deliveries, a stark contrast to what had occurred at Bankstown. But this was a different scenario. The Vics were looking for victory not a draw, and at 4/164 with 34 overs remaining, they were in with a chance. The positive statement continued unabated. The 200 came up in the 56th over, leaving under a hundred to get with 24 overs remaining, and now Queensland began to employ different tactics, employing 7-2 fields and bowling wide of the stumps to try and restrict the scoring. None of it worked. Harris brought up his 150 and just kept going, find the boundaries on both sides of the wicket with ease. He was dropped twice in this period, both to the jabbed guide that plagued him in the Test series rather than playing a full-blooded cut, but the damage had probably already been done. When he was finally dismissed, pulling a Swepson ball to mid-wicket, Harris had made 174 runs from 197 deliveries, including 23 boundaries and a six. He had almost single handedly led his team to a winning run chase, in the process breaking the century barrier that had eluded him since being chosen in the Test team, and proving that he most definitely has the qualities required of a Test opening batsman. Statement returned. 

There are three rounds remaining in this summer’s Sheffield Shield season, and a final that Harris will most likely play in and Bancroft will not. These four days have been a wonderful bat-off between the two, so symmetrical and yet almost polar opposite in effect. This is not to denigrate the other excellent performances over the four days, but this battle is the one that will have my full attention over the next month.

Is Sri Lanka's Series Victory the Greatest Ever?

Is it possible to rate the most unlikely Test victories ever? History is littered with examples of teams who were rated at short odds to be victors, only to find themselves on the wrong side of defeat. The first ever Test match in Melbourne in 1877 ranks as one, as does the first Australian victory in England at The Oval in 1882. I could name a hundred examples I guess. But surely no Test series victory has ever been better or more unlikely than that just achieved by the Sri Lankan cricket team which defeated South Africa in South Africa over the past two weeks. Their 2-0 victory, missing key personnel and having already suffered defeat in New Zealand and Australia, must rank as the greatest ever Test series victory. 

It’s been a long time away from home for the Sri Lankan’s. Not only did they lose their home Test series against England 3-0, they then headed to New Zealand where despite fighting hard they lost the two Test series 1-0, and then lost in Australia 2-0. In both series they showed glimpses of fight, and of the possibility of good things to come. 

In the 1st Test against New Zealand, Mendis and Mathews batting the entire fourth day without losing a wicket which then allowed them to salvage an unlikely draw when day five was a complete washout. In the 2nd Test they bowled the Kiwis out on the first day for 178 having had them 3/22 early on (here lies a significant statistic), before their own batting capitulation cost them the match and the two Test series. 

In the 1st Test against Australia their deplorable batting minus Mathews cost them the match, but they had Australia at 4/82 early on the second afternoon chasing their first innings total of 144, and a further burst could have been significant. In the 2nd Test they twice had Australia on the ropes, at 3/28 in the first innings (finishing at 5/534 declared) and 3/37 in the second innings (finishing at 3/196 declared). Beyond this, they had made a rollicking start to their own first innings, reaching 0/82 and cruising until Karunaratne was forced to retire hurt after being hit in the head from a ball from Pat Cummins, a moment that triggered an unfortunate end to their plucky resistance and perhaps signalled the end of their fight to save the Test.

The team that arrived in South Africa had further changes, including a new captain in Karunaratne. No one gave them a semblance of a chance of defeating the locals. Their bowling attack of Steyn, Philander, Rabada and the new kid Olivier along with the batting of Elgar, Markram, du Plessis, Amla and de Kock looked far too superior, especially on their own wickets. Perhaps they thought this too. Perhaps, as in the past, this is what was South Africa’s downfall. 

The victory in the 1st Test was remarkable enough. South Africa found themselves at 3/17 early in their first innings (there’s those three early wickets again) before getting to 235 all out, a score Sri Lanka could not match with 191 all out. South Africa looked in total control in their second innings, only to lose their last six wickets for 68 runs, leaving Sri Lanka needing the highest score of the match to win, a target of 304 runs – a total they had reached only once in their past 14 innings. At 9/226 it was finished, and yet Kusal Perera’s amazing innings of 153 not out and an unbroken final wicket stand of 78 got Sri Lanka its most famous Test victory. For perhaps a week... 

No matter what anyone thought before the 1st Test, there was little doubt among most of the cricket fraternity that South Africa would bounce back in the 2nd Test and restore a little of the honour they had lost. Once again though, the match was off the rails. South Africa was 3/15 (those three early wickets again) before recovering to 222 much as they had done in the 1st Test. In reply Sri Lanka could only manage 154, mainly thanks to a slogging Dickwella with a slogging 42 at number eight. Taking a lead of 68 runs into the second innings South Africa should surely have felt the game was – once again – completely in their control. Even at 3/51 (three early wickets) they would have felt on top of things. They would not have planned for the chaos that followed, losing their last seven wickets in the space of 38 runs as their captain stood stranded at the other end, and being bundled out for just 128. At the end of day two Sri Lanka was 2/60 with both openers out, but with only 137 runs required for history. 

Even then, who could have predicted the serene way that Fernando and Mendis cruised to the victory target of 197. There was no fear, as the run rate held steady at over four runs an over throughout the innings. Solid defence and fearless stroke play belied the pressure that should have been on the batsmen in such a chase. Instead it was the South Africans on which the pressure weighed so heavily, eventually condemning them to oblivion as the Sri Lankans won by eight wickets with barely a ripple. In doing so they became the first Asian team to win a Test series in South Africa, and in convincing 2-0 fashion as well. 

On this evidence, can there have been a bigger upset Test victory in the history of cricket? As I stated at the beginning there will be other examples that people can mention that will be considered as such. But given the quality of the South African team and being in their home conditions, and the fact that over the previous twelve months they had defeated both India and Australia in the same conditions, as well as Sri Lanka having come off three consecutive losing Test series, the evidence appears overwhelming. 

The prosecution rests, Your Honour.

Albion Park Under 13's: Round 15 vs Kiama Gold at Gainsborough Chase

Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen a team begin to emerge that has started putting the pieces of the puzzle together, where each piece of that puzzle has found its place and has slotted together with the others. That puzzle now looks to be complete after a victory over a competitive Kiama Gold team that combined the efforts of each individual in the Albion Park Eagles Under 13 team into a whole that is now, in my opinion, a realistic threat of winning the Under 13’s competition.

The Albion Park team batted first, and it was immediately obvious that the bowling of the Kiama Gold team has progressed light years since these teams’ first clash back in November. Tom Denyer opened the batting and his tough run continued, having hit a nice two but then leaning back too far to leg to cut and being bowled off stump by Callum Hodgson. His disappointment shows that he knows he is working hard but is having a rough trot. Save the runs for the finals Tom. Wacky Campion joined Josh Peters at the crease and these two put together a nice second wicket partnership against an excellent bowling attack who bowled full and straight and at good pace. Josh played the defensive role perfectly, happy to push forward and keep out the good balls while sneaking the odd single, as Wacky waited for the shorter ball and used his pull shot to its full advantage. Wacky had reached 15 with two boundaries when, of his own admission, he decided to try and hit the ball of the returning Callum Hodgson over mid-on, but only managed to hit it straight off the toe into that fieldsman’s hands. Liam Cergovski joined Josh at the crease and the two of them batted well until Josh reached his retirement target of 35 deliveries. He played the perfect opening batsman’s innings against good bowling today, seeing off the overs so that his middle order could see the bottom order of the bowling attack. It was telling in the final outcome.

Will Schofield came in and immediately looked at ease and as always played some classical looking strokes. The only mistake came when he hit a ball to deep square leg and called for a risky second. Unfortunately, the fieldsman had the best arm in the team, and his throw straight into the keeper's gloves found Will’s dive just short of his ground, and he was dismissed for 5. Kasey Barton also looked comfortable, with one of his trademark backfoot punches through the covers an absolute delight. In the second over after drinks though he got a nick behind to a ball from Jett Parker to be dismissed for 3. At 4/54 in the 17th over, the game was wide open and at an exciting period.

As ever though, Jack Couley was the spark and the saviour. Though again professing his nerves before going in, he shows none of them at the crease, and plays with a fresh devil-may-care attitude, looking to be positive and vibrant from the first ball. Though a couple of his missed attempted pulls must have come perilously close to the stumps, he found enough short wide balls to dispatch through the leg side into the gaps. He was terrifically supported by Liam, who played his finest innings of the season with his team in a tight spot. He claims the leg side is his strength but it was his punches to the off and excellent running between the wickets in this partnership especially that was the highlight of his innings. He is slowly coming out of his shell with the bat and his contribution today in several partnerships was enormous. Unfortunately, with one ball remaining before reaching the retirement criteria he was bowled, having made an invaluable 13 runs. He is improving at an increasing rate each week, and his attitude is just superb. Also, not to forget his wicket-keeping which is just divine. Great work Liam.

Jack continued on his way as he was joined by Kane Rex, who also played his finest innings of the season. Kane has been working hard every week and soaks up the things he is told at training, and today as soon as he found bat hitting ball for the first time, he didn’t look back. One particular cover drive where he wound up and smashed it along the ground into the gap for two was the best shot I’ve seen him play. It is great to see a kid reap the benefits of hard work and wanting to succeed. Jack retired after his 35 deliveries had totalled for him 37 runs, an innings that gave his team a fighting chance of a total they could defend. Without his contribution it could have been a completely different match. Great stuff Jack. Rob Denny came out and was again unlucky, looking to be positive from the outset with not long to go, and was dismissed by a good catch. Josh returned to the crease, and he and Kane batted sensibly to finish off the Albion Park innings at 6/119 from their thirty overs. Kane finished on 6 not out while Josh “The Rock” was on 11 not out.

What followed this was one of the most remarkable periods of cricket I have seen, and nothing I can say here will be able to explain the magnificent spectacle that took place. Opening the bowling for the Eagles was Lucas Brown and Kynan Barton, the two non-batters for the day. Both had sat and watched as their teammates dragged themselves up to a competitive total against the excellent bowling of the Kiama Blue team, and now it was their turn to be let loose. Lucas was immediately on song, with four perfect full deliveries that swung ominously from leg to off. Each was seen off by the batsman, with the fourth delivery squeezed away for a single. Then the carnage began. The next delivery was exactly like its four predecessors, but this one beat the defence of the new batsman and cartwheeled middle and leg stump. It was a beauty, one that was only bettered by the very next ball to the tall left hander, who looked as though he liked to hit the ball hard. Lucas came around the wicket and bowled the perfect inswinger, swinging in from a fifth stump line outside the off stump to clean up middle. It was a peach, the absolute perfect first delivery to a left-handed batsman. Score – 2 wickets for 1. Kynan bowled the following over and was also excellent, full and forcing the batsmen to play, and narrowly missed his own wicket when the ball must have surely shaved the off stump.

Lucas started his second over on a hat-trick, a ball that was the perfect one, right up in the blockhole, and somehow kept out by the batsman. Oh well, easy come easy go. Another dot ball followed, before yet another perfect outswinger again did for the batsman, this time cartwheeling off stump by hitting the very top of the stump. Amazing stuff. Score – 3 wickets for 3 runs. The next ball was the worst of Lucas’s spell, pulling it down short and swinging away wide of leg stump. New batsman Jett Parker swung hard and smashed it in the air wide of cover, where Will Schofield was fielding. Running at full pace he tried to track it down but it kept fading away from him and out of reach. A final desperate lunge by Will found the ball smack into his outstretched hands, and he clung onto the amazing catch, easily the best catch of the season. The boys were ecstatic, charging in to congratulate fielder and bowler. Score – 4 wickets for 3 runs, and Lucas was on his second hat-trick of the innings. Again, he bowled the perfect delivery, and again somehow the batsman kept it out. Another dot ball completed the initial spell for Lucas – two overs, one maiden, 4 wickets for 1 run. It was the best bowling spell of the season and a fitting reward for a young man who never ceases to amaze. He is the most humble of kids who continues to smile no matter what happens, and having watched him grow as a cricketer for the past three seasons has been one of my best moments involved in junior cricket. He is a gem. Watch out for him, because he is going to do amazing things in cricket. Heaven help opposing teams when he starts to grow.

Not to be outdone, Kynan did his own batting incision in the next over, firstly clean bowling the opening batsman who had watched from the non-strikers end for the first couple of overs, before then doing the same to the new batsman who had hit him for a boundary the previous delivery. Kynan bowled perfectly for the situation, he bowled flatter and quicker than usual for his off spinners, but made sure the batsmen had to play every ball and that if they missed it – which two did – he would bowl them. It was the perfect support bowling for his opening partner. After four overs Lucas and Kynan had destroyed the Kiama Gold batting, having them at 6 wickets down for just 13 runs.

Rob Denny and Kane Rex came on and also bowled well. Rob didn’t have any luck with the bat and it followed with his bowling, which was as excellent as it always is. One short ball was pulled or six, but he conceded only one more run off his other 11 deliveries to finish with 0/7. Kane had a great day today, and followed his batting with two tight overs that combined both excellent line and length. Only one ball was offline, and he finished off the innings with the final ball of his second over when he beat the batsman to bowl him middle stump. He had the kind of day that keeps bringing you back the next week. He finished with 1/3 from his two overs, and amazingly the innings was over from just eight overs, with Kiama Gold being dismissed for 23.

This is the kind of performance that has you considering just how good this team has become. At the start of the season they played the three top teams in the competition, being given a touch up in two of them and pushing the likely minor premiers to the finish line in the other. Since then this team has lost only one game, to the second placed Shellharbour Blue team. They have improved since then exponentially, and almost every player has been putting in career-best performances. That says a lot about how they are coming together as teammates and as a team, how they are playing for each other and the belief that they all have – in themselves, in their teammates, and in their team. I said at the start that they are a chance of winning the whole kit and kaboodle, and I truly believe that. The past three weeks has shown they have become the best all-round fielding and bowling team around, and two or three batsmen stand up every week to ensure a winning total. Perhaps it is unfair to put pressure on these kids by saying these things, but if they continue to show the self-belief that has been evident over the back half of this season, and they continue to rally around and take in the things their coach Anthony Pickering is sharing with them, then there is no telling what this team can do. Stay tuned...

World Cup Spots on the Line in Indian Summer

With the Australian cricket scene sidling back into the maligned Sheffield Shield competition for the remaining weeks of the season, the final preparations for Australia’s World Cup defence begin, with the short tour of India beginning next week. With two T20I and five ODI matches to be played, then followed by more ODI’s against Pakistan, this will be where the last challenges can be made for inclusion in the final 15 man squad to go to England in May.

Unless something goes dreadfully wrong over the course of those ten ODI matches, there are already a huge number of players locked in, and it will only be the players on the periphery that will need to succeed if they are to get a chance to make the final squad.

Captain Aaron Finch, now a tournament winning captain after the Renegades victory in the BBL final, will be hoping to use the matches on flat slow wickets to regain his touch with the bat and release that pressure from his mind. Alongside him as near-certainties will be Shaun Marsh, Alex Carey, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell. Whether it is to be debated by the general public or not, so are Steve Smith and David Warner assuming both recover from their elbow operations. That takes up most of the batting spots in the squad, with just the reserve bats to be decided.

D'Arcy Short is only on tour for a short time covering for Shaun Marsh, so you would expect he will be given the playing time for the matches he is available for. It’s a big test for him, perhaps his last chance to force himself back into World Cup contention. It will be a tough task, and will require something special from him to do it. Given that India are likely to exploit his weakness against spin from the outset, if he does succeed in making good runs it will likely count as double for him. Usman Khawaja will again push his case, and under most circumstances probably should be in the best 15. However the ODI game is changing and one now wonders whether a team can afford to have two players of a similar style batting together in the top order, as Khawaja and Marsh are. It’s an interesting conundrum, and perhaps with Smith batting between them it could work, but to do so one of them would have to open the batting, thus displacing wither Finch or Warner. Big runs from both Short and Khawaja will at least give the selectors a tough task in choosing their eventual squad – no runs just makes it easy not to take either of them.

This also leaves Peter Handscomb for consideration, and it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that he is being sneakily looked at as the keeper-batsman for the squad. He won’t get the gloves in India, but if he made runs and Carey did not then there is a chance the selectors may defer in his direction. That would be a disappointing conclusion if it did occur. Carey deserves his moment. Handscomb should have to force his way into the squad as a batsman only. 

The most exciting member of the squad is the West Australia, Ashton Turner. Turner has been around for a number of season, and his hard hitting technique with the bat, excellent fielding and handy part time spin makes him an ideal candidate for any ODI team, provided he is given the opportunity and knows what his role is within the team. He is an excellent exponent of the 360 degrees of batting and is capable of shifting gears depending on the course the innings is taking. It may well be that he won’t be able to fit into the World Cup squad given those that are in front of him, but as a wild card selection with an emphasis on late order hitting and handy 2-3 overs of fill in bowling he has his chance to force that door open fully on this tour. 

Of the bowling attack, it is still murky waters in regards to selection. Pat Cummins is on tour to India and a certainty, while both Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood would be considered certainties to be in the squad if they recover their fitness. That’s where the darkness lies at the moment mainly because neither will have played any ODI cricket since November last year by the time the tournament starts. That’s a risky proposition, but perhaps no more than the selection of Smith and Warner. 

All the bowlers in this squad apart for Cummins are playing for a spot to England. Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon will square off again for the spinners role, with Zampa now with his nose in front. Neither did much in the ODI’s against India last month, but Zampa’s form in the BBL would look to have him as the likely pick at this stage. Their form and own contest will be fascinating. 

Jhye Richardson was excellent in Australia and will only need to continue to show that kind of form to find a way into the World Cup squad. Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff and Kane Richardson have all shown good things in their opportunities against international opposition, and all three will know that if they can perform well on this tour, and the injured stars do not recover, they can be not only in the World Cup squad but perhaps be a big part of the team that plays. For them, it is a potential bowl-off for a spot in the actual World Cup XI and not just the touring fifteen. 

While the conditions this tour is played in will be completely different from what they will face in England, the opposition they face now is as tough as it comes. Thus, the team as a whole, and the individuals within it, will need to be at their best if they want to win games. A series victory in India would be the perfect way to go into a World Cup. If not, then they must show that they can at least compete at this level and challenge the Indian team. Any hopes of winning in England depend on a good showing in this series.

When Cricket is a 97/100 Proposition

Over the weekend we saw a 24-hour period that was a perfect example of how unpredictable the game of cricket in its many forms can be. Three teams looked to have gotten themselves into unbeatable situations, to have had the winning of the game firmly in their grasp. In odds-makers terms, any team in the same position as these three teams should win 99 times out of 100. Well, if nothing else was proven on the day, those odds actually appear to be just 97 out of 100.

In South Africa in the 1st Test against Sri Lanka, the home team had driven home their advantage, and was on the verge of another home Test victory. Requiring 304 in the fourth innings of the match, Sri Lanka has recovered from 5/110 to 5/206 before a late flurry of 4/20 left them at 9/226 and the match was as good as over. 78 for the final wicket in this situation was never going to be an option.
And then a funny thing happened. Kusal Perera targeted the bowling, picking his areas and waiting for the right ball to deposit to and over the boundary, while his young cohort Vishwa Fernando at the other end refused to buckle, the confidence of having taken eight wickets in the match now surging into his batting. It was exhilarating stuff that was only hindered by the constant thought that at any moment it would come to an end. But it didn’t.
The new ball was taken at 9/263, still 41 short of victory. Now you suspected it was only a matter of time. The batsmen tried to sneak a single with a squirt to slips, and Elgar’s throw to the bowlers end narrowly missed the stumps – it would have been out, but with no one backing up it ended up being a five. Then Perera smashed Steyn over mid-wicket for six. In the following over a top edged pull went for six over the keeper's head. Then a repeat shot over mid-wicket off Steyn in the next over meant suddenly Sri Lanka only needed six runs! Two leg byes kept Perera on strike, and then he played a perfect one-day glide past first slip to the vacant third man for four to win the game for his team. Joyous scenes erupted, and the vanquished South African team was once again left to wonder how on earth they had allowed themselves to be defeated from an unlosable situation, especially with a bowling attack consisting of Steyn, Rabada, Philander, Olivier and Maharaj. It raised the ire of the term “choker” back into the South African vernacular, and so close to another World Cup that is a term they are certainly not adverse to.
Scorecard: 1st Test South Africa vs Sri Lanka

In Australia in the final of the BBL T20 domestic tournament, the Melbourne Stars was about to win their first title. Having bowled and fielded superbly to restrict their opponents the Melbourne Renegades to 5/145 despite an unbeaten partnership of 80 between Tom Cooper and Dan Christian, the Stars had then cruised to 0/93 from 13 overs. There was literally no way they could lose this match. With Dunk and Stoinis at the crease, and Handscomb, Maxwell, Maddinson, Gotch and Bravo still to come, there was literally no way that they could not score the 52 runs from 43 deliveries that they required to lift the trophy. No team could lose from this position, except by beating themselves.

Which is exactly what they then proceeded to do. Stoinis was bowled trying to hit Boyce over the boundary, almost the first shot in anger he had attempted. Handscomb threw his bat wildly to hole out to cover. Dunk decided to hit the final ball of Boyce’s last over straight to deep mid-off, and Maxwell skied the next delivery to deep square leg. The Stars had lost 4/6 in 12 deliveries. The game was no longer a certainty. 

But the mayhem didn’t stop. Maddinson, Gotch and Bravo all played deplorable shots to all be caught as well, and the resulting panic had brought 7/19 from 30 deliveries, with each and every wicket brought about by poor strokes and/or poor headspace from the batsmen. At any point in this carnage, had just one of the batsmen pulled back and considered the situation and with a clear head saw that a single every ball and the odd boundary would still win this game, they would have won the game. Instead, it was left to Zampa and Bird to score 33 runs from 13 deliveries, which they were never going to do, and the Renegades won by 13 runs.

Honestly if this match had been played in a different place by different teams, it would have been labelled as match fixing and be under investigation. As it is, perhaps it should be anyway. Cricket officials are already discovering that T20 cricket is the perfect place to indulge in spot-fixing and the like. Just what would the Renegades have been paying with 52 runs required off 43 deliveries and all ten wickets still in hand?
BBL08 Final: Melbourne Renegades vs Melbourne Stars

Meanwhile in Oman Quadrangular T20I Series, the Netherlands had Ireland under the thumb and about to pull off a great victory when yet another match went pear shaped.

Netherlands had managed 9/182 off their 20 overs, a total that even on the flat dry wickets of Oman should probably have been enough for victory. With two overs remaining Ireland was close enough, requiring 18 runs from 12 balls and with just five wickets in hand. A terrific penultimate over from Klassen saw only six runs scored but vitally two wickets fall, leaving 12 runs required from six deliveries. A single and a boundary came off the first two deliveries, before a run out occurred when trying to sneak an impossible second run, followed by another wicket the following delivery. A dot ball on the penultimate delivery meant six runs were required off the final ball, with the last man at the crease. The previous eleven deliveries had been perfect death bowling, all it needed was for one more perfect delivery and the match was Netherlands. They couldn’t lose. Except that the final ball was bowled right into the wheelhouse of Stuart Poynter, who clubbed the ball over mid-wicket for six to win the game. Incredible.
Oman Quadrangular T20I: Netherlands vs Ireland

What does any of this show? In the case of T20 cricket, it is further proof that this version of the game really does allow teams of any standard to surprise and pull off an upset. It also shows that there is never a good time in T20 cricket to throw your wicket away thinking that the next guy in should win it for you. The result in South Africa is something completely different. A touring team that had already tasted heavy defeat in two other countries over the past two months found a way to overcome adversity in a third country and defeat a team ‘ranked’ much higher than they were. Like the West Indies recent defeat of England in their Test series, it proves that cricket is not a predictable game or one that you can ever rest on your laurels; that the game is never over until the final ball is delivered. And isn’t it so much more enjoyable because of it...

BBL Needs Retooling to Keep Australian Summer Relevant

If there is anyone in the known universe who doesn’t think that the eighth edition of the Big Bash League has not gone on too long, then they truly have no life outside of the least fascinating version of the game of cricket. With the 59th and final match of the competition to be played this afternoon, the deciding match between the Melbourne Renegades and the Melbourne Stars, two months have passed since the first match took place a week before Christmas. How many people actually remember who played against each other in that match, and what happened? It is an interminably long tournament, and interest has fluctuated throughout depending on whether you have been on holidays or not and able to actually take it all in. Some matches have been fascinating, some have been a dead loss, and then there are a whole bunch of matches in the middle that became predictable before the first innings had concluded.

We know that, at least for the four remaining years of the current television deal, the competition will not be shortened, as the networks have paid out their billion plus dollars knowing they will get this many games to broadcast. I believe this will end up being a problem down the track. Even as Cricket Australia has flagged tightening the schedule next season to have the BBL finished by the beginning of February it means having the same number of matches played this season being squeezed into less days of an already packed schedule, which risks turning fans and viewers away from one or more of the current versions of the game – Tests, ODI’s, T20 or all domestic formats. As much fun as I find it watching cricket from 9.30am to midnight, it is not practical in regard to the working and family lives of the majority of people. Sadly, myself included.

Notwithstanding that no shortening of the BBL is forthcoming, I still present my own solution to the BBL competition for consideration here:

1. Bring in the Canberra Comets as the ninth team. The Comets played in the domestic one day series for a time during the late 1990’s. Though at the time it was deemed the supporter base was not large enough to support a team, much has changed in the two decades since. At all underage national championships both male and female, the ACT/NSW Country teams have dominated, reaching several finals. They also now have a team in the Futures League, ensuring the large NSW player base has a platform to graduate to the higher levels. Manuka Oval is now a Test match ground and is perfectly placed to host BBL games with access far reaching to the south and west to regions where travelling to Sydney to watch games is out of the question. It would also give country NSW kids a team to support and watch and more importantly aspire to play for. The base is already there and setting up the team should not drain the resources of Cricket Australia so much that it is a burden. There would be a question raised as to is there enough depth in playing talent to cope with another team in the BBL, but there is part solution to that question…
2. Increase international imports for each team to three. Giving each team the chance to have three internationals could immediately free up eight players from other squads. This is not a given, as the Scorchers and the Hurricanes played for most of BBL08 with only one international, but it does give each team a better scope to find international players to boost their team and their ability to draw in fans. There have been problems in attractive players such as AB De Villiers given the plethora of other T20 tournaments happening around the globe and the money they are paying the best players to attend, but if Cricket Australia agreed to promote a shorter and more compact BBL it could be more conducive to attracting international players than the overblown one we now have. This could be achieved by…
3. Each team only plays each other once. With the addition of a ninth team, this would mean that each team would have four home games and four away games, which mirrors more closely the format of the competition as it was when it started eight years ago. The reduction in home games from seven to four should mean that each game will be better attended than they have been in BBL08, filling grounds like the SCG, MCG, Marvel and Optus Stadiums that have been half full for most of the tournament. This would also cut the number of matches in the preliminary round from 56 games this season to 36 games next season. By doing this, we would achieve…
4. The BBL window shrunk to 4-5 weeks. If this was implemented next season, the BBL could start on Friday December 20, a few days later than this season. And depending on scheduling of Tests and ODI matches, it could be completed on the Australia Day long weekend. This would mean the tournament would be a little over a month long. Surely the positives of this would mean that spectators interest could be held for the entire tournament, that international players could happily come known they would be here for a month and not two months, and that the other pillars of the Australian summer, such as the one day domestic competition and the much maligned Sheffield Shield competition would be given room to breathe and actually feel as though they are a part of the summer again instead of just pigeon holed into whatever small gaps appear after the other tournaments have taken all the prime scheduling. If done well, it could also mean that Australia’s international players may even be able to play for a portion of the tournament, something it needs to help showcase it to other parts of the world.

These are by no means the only fixes that could be applied, but to me are sensible steps to reclaim the higher ground for cricket of all levels in Australia during the summer. The BBL is only a cash cow for Cricket Australia while it makes money, and the over-saturation of the tournament this year has already shown signs of killing off the goose that lays the golden eggs. The tournament is too long, and everyone can see that. Cricket Australia needs to fid a way to negotiate with its TV partners to try and tackle this now and not in four years’ time, otherwise we may find that it is too late to save what can still be a terrific, fun and enthralling tournament from becoming a lacklustre drawcard that drags the rest of Australian cricket down with it.

Of course, we know that just won’t happen, until it is too late.

P.S – the first game of the BBL this season was the Brisbane Heat against the Adelaide Strikers at the Gabba. Just in case you had forgotten.