A Trio of Amazing Events

Australia was on the brink of losing the third ODI against India on Saturday, requiring 44 runs from the final 18 balls. Then James Faulkner took 30 runs from Ishant Sharma in the 48th over, and the rest was history.

Australia's Tim Cahill scored the fastest ever goal in MLS (US soccer) history, scoring eight seconds after the kick-off. Amazing stuff.

And in the NHL (US ice hockey), for only the 10th time in 96 years, a goalie has scored a goal.

20 Years Ago Today... Bowled Warnie!!

Can you believe that it was twenty years ago today that this ball was bowled? I can't.

I was living in our tiny one bedroom flat in Kiama at the time, having been married for just over three months, working in the nursery weown in the Terrace Houses. Staying up until 3.00am every night to watch the cricket from England.

I still remember watching it as it happened. It was remarkable. I'd watched Michael Slater make his Test debut the previous night, and Mark Taylor score a century, and then the rest of the batting falter.

This was a great moment in cricket history. And you can never get tired of watching it.

Rotation Policy

When does the rotation policy begin in Channel 9's commentary box? You can't tell me that the whole continent of Australia is not sick to death of the maniacal bleatings of James Brayshaw and Michael Slater. They are the most painful and cringeworthy people to have to listen to when you are trying to watch the cricket.

Shane Watson - It's Not Your Bloody Decision!

For the past seven years, various captains, coaches and selection panels have been trying their utmost to shoehorn Shane Watson into the Test team, at any cost, including the very success of the team itself.

Just days before the start of the 2006/07 Ashes series in Brisbane, Shane Watson had been inked in to bat at six and bowl overs, and Mitch Johnson was preparing for his Test debut. In the weeks leading up to this Test, Watson has let it be known that he thinks he is the man to open the batting in the Test team, given that Justin Langer appears out of sorts.Many thought this to be foolhardy. I certainly did.
Then (surprise, surprise) Watson got injured during training, and was unfit for the match. Michael Clarke came in to replace him, and Stuart Clark was chosen instead of Johnson because of his perceived accuracy as against Johnson's waywardness. As a result, Clarke averaged more than 50 for the series, Clark topped the bowling, and Australia won the series 5-0. Thank goodness for small mercies.

Shoot forward to 2009. Australia lose the 2nd Test at Lord's for the first time in almost a hundred years, after their bowlers were unable to finish off England's tail in the 1st Test. England lead the series 1-0 when, realistically, Australia should be at least 1-0 up. Wunderkind Phil Hughes, who just months earlier became the youngest batsman to score centuries in each innings of a Test match, is suddenly usurped in order to fit in Shane Watson, a middle-order all-rounder of sorts, into the side as an opening batsman. Watson has again been sending around the message that he is ready to be Australia's opening batsman, and has now somehow fulfilled that prophecy. The result of the series is again decided by selections, though this time by leaving out a spinner on the dusty track at The Oval, Australia surrender the Ashes. One can only imagine how Hughes' confidence has been shattered by his swift removal from the team despite still averaging over 45 in Test cricket.

Over the next two years and a half years he played 16 Tests, scoring 1456 runs at 50.20 with the bat with two centuries, and 29 wickets at 27.72 with the ball. His problem continued to be his inability to convert starts into big scores, and the constant threat of breaking down when he bowled. In essence, he did not make the most of the good form he showed.

Now though, he seems to be playing on fumes. In the last two years, he has played 12 Tests, scoring just 611 runs at 27.77, with no centuries. No one who has played in that period has survived the axe with a similar record. Phil Hughes was dropped after 11 Tests brought 563 runs at 28.15 (before his re-appearance in December). Marcus North managed 14 Tests with a return of 644 runs at 29.27. Usman Khawaja was given just 6 Tests for his 263 runs at 29.22. Shaun Marsh cobbled together 7 Tests for 301 runs at 27.36.

None of these mentioned players has a worse record than Shane Watson. Of course, up until now, the captain/coach/selectors have always harped on that it is his all-round skills that he is chosen for, the fact that his more-than-handy bowling is essential to the team's balance. But now Watson/coach/selectors are making sure the media knows that he wants to be selected as a batsman only, and that he feels he is the person to open the batting again. The NERVE of this guy!! It obviously isn't enough that he has received preferential treatment at the hands of the selectors in the past, now he is starting up the machine once again in an attempt to find his way back into the Test team.
It isn't unheard of for allrounders to eventually give away their bowling due to injury and concentrate on their batting. Steve Waugh is the obvious example of this. Of course, at the time Waugh was averaging about 60 with the bat in Test cricket, and his place was assured.
And so Watson has targeted Ed Cowan's place in the Test team. Cowan has received some grief of late because he averages in the mid-thirties (like Watson), but doesn't dominate attacks in the way that Watson apparently does. Cowan has scored 722 runs at 32.81 in his 13 Tests. While that isn't startling, is it worth of being replaced by a batsman who has averaged less than that over the past two years?
There is no doubt that it would be preferential for the team if the opening partnership contained a left and a right handed batsman. That would be one of the things in the selectors mind as they weigh up this 'dilemma'.

In the long run, what makes me angry about all of this is that on the surface, it looks as though one player who has fairly average stats in Test cricket is constantly getting a better deal than every other player in and outside of the Test team. The stats above show that every other batsman who has similar statistics has been excused from the team, bar one.

With Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey now both gone from the Australian team, it is now time for a complete revamp, and that means making Shane Watson earn his recall to the Teat team through weight of runs in first class cricket. Until he has proven he can do this, AND not get injured in the process, he should not be selected.

Of course, you and I know that that isn't going to happen...

New Look ODI Team Not to Everyone's Fancy

ODI Squad for first two matches against Sri Lanka.

George Bailey (capt)
Phillip Hughes
Usman Khawaja
Aaron Finch
David Hussey
Brad Haddin (wk)
Glenn Maxwell
Steven Smith
Mitchell Johnson
Ben Cutting
Mitchell Starc
Clint McKay
Xavier Doherty.

There has been quite an uproar about this team, in the main because the selectors have chosen to leave out Mike Hussey after his announcement that he will retire from all International cricket at the conclusion of the Australian season.

Haddin Back, Selectors Axe Hussey

So let's go through the sore points and see what we can discover:

• George Bailey as captain as the team. Well to be honest, isn't this just logical? Michael Clarke needs to rest. He needs to be fully fit for the Test tours of India and England. Bailey has only failed on two occasions to make double figures in ODI cricket, at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 77. As a result he is assured of his position in the team, despite what many may think. he has also shown himself to be a good captain, both with Tasmania and with the national T20 team. Having lost the experience of both Ponting and Hussey, Bailey is the best qualified person in the team make-up to take on the captaincy.
• Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja have been two of the top three batsmen in domestic one day cricket this summer (with Aaron Finch the third), so on form their selection is justified. There is also no doubt that the selectors want these two both playing longer innings than the Big Bash would allow them, given that both are very likely to be chosen on the next two Test tours. They both need time in the middle, even if that is only in a 50 over game rather than a 20 over game.
• Whether both Warner and Wade need a rest is open to question. Warner is in good form and is perhaps our best fielder. Resting him now seems a bit odd, surely a rest closer to the Indian tour would suit him better. I would have thought Wade needs the remedial work on his keeping after a somewhat shoddy display overall with the gloves in the Tests. Giving Haddin a couple of games back in the national colours won't hurt.
• Maxwell and Smith are both playing for the same spot in the team. Given Smith has reneged on his bowling in recent times a-la Cameron White, it would seem he is a fill in.
• Ben Cutting deserves a chance at International level, but he has been hosed on at least three occasions this season in one day cricket. It seems a strange point at which to give him a game. He appears to have been chosen more for his rear-end slogging that his bowling. He and McKay would also appear to be dueling for the same spot in the team.

With the retirements of both Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, and the injuries to Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, that means that four of the top six from Australia's ODI team from 12 months ago are currently unavailable. Last year Peter Forrest was given an extended run in the ODI team, which brought one century and some other promising starts, before he failed to produce in the West Indies and England. George Bailey now filled that gap, with opinion varied as to his success or failure in that position. New players need to be found as the team continues to grow older - Clarke, Watson, Bailey and David Hussey all resides over the age of 30.

Australia's success or failure in the ten ODI's coming up against Sri Lanka and West Indies may decide the fates of a number of players. More than ever, however, what it does show is that form with either bat or ball can propel you into the national team, and at the moment even quicker than has been the case in the past twenty years.

Tony Greig

There was a lovely tribute to Tony Greig at the 3rd Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Sydney this morning. Tony died from a heart attack that was no doubt related to his lung cancer on December 29, and he will be missed in the cricket world.

Bill Lawry remembers his mate and famous partner

On Facebook a few days ago I put my own thoughts, which went as such:

Tony Greig

In 1977 my grandmother made sure she bought the first four editions of the Woman's Weekly, because each week they had a part of "Cricket - The Tony Greig Way". I wore out those inserts reading about Tony's thoughts on batting, bowling and fielding.

As a result of this series, although I barracked for Australia in the Centenary Test played in March of 1977, I hoped secretly that Tony Greig would score a hundred and take 10 wickets. Instead he got smashed by David Hookes, and I had my appendix removed on the final afternoon of the Test, meaning I didn't see the end and Dad had to go back and forth to the TV in the waiting room to watch it.

Tony was also party to making me hound Mum to buy Nutri-Grain for breakfasts. His ads with Greg Chappell, sprouting such classic lines as "Invite the whole team around for breakfast" and "They're like mini cricket bats with holes in them" was enough to make me want to eat it. I was not disappointed when finally given the opportunity.
 
My first bat at the age of 11 was a St. Peter bat (SP), which had been Tony Greig's equipment sponsor through his career. It was a great bat that I oiled and sanded with love.

When Billy Birmingham turned up with "It's Just Not Cricket" in 1984, the world discovered how amusing Tony Greig actually was. From this moment on he was viewed in a completely different light as a commentator, and i think he certainly played up to this, and it made him a better commentator as a result.

I did not always agree with his opinions, but I admired his championing of Sri Lanka and South Africa in particular. Though he was also very important in pushing India as they became the ruling power of world cricket, he was not afraid in vocalising his disappointment in the BCCI not using the DRS technology. Anyone who followed his Twitter account would know that he was never afraid of airing his opinions, no matter how much flak he copped from his followers from all over the world.
Through Twitter I was fortunate enough to have a number of conversations with Tony on a number of subjects in the past two years. One in particular when it was raining in Galle in 2011 was funny and informative.

Tony made you think about the game, putting forward statistics that then provoked discussion and argument both in the commentary box and in the lounge room. After The 12th Man albums, Tony entertained as much as he analysed, and his stints of commentary were never boring.

He has been noticeably missing in commentary this season, and now he will never return.

Vale Tony Greig. Thanks for the memories. Your services at every level of cricket shall never be forgotten.