First Morning in Brisbane 2002

I said decent:p

Up there with General Haig

Dhoni and Smith are the two best atm. That said, they've both got brilliant sides at their disposal. Both are a little too defensive though. I'd rate Smith just above Dhoni personally.

Dhoni and Smith are the two best atm. That said, they've both got brilliant sides at their disposal. Both are a little too defensive though. I'd rate Smith just above Dhoni personally.

Vettori. Not for his captaincy, but more for his forced change over time to a more-than-competent allrounder due to his team's horrendously shit nature.

Been watching the T20 in NZ, he's not playing or has he given up T20... the young kid whose compared to Bond isn't bad

Andrew Hilditch must be first to go, says Michael Slater

Peter Lalor From: The Australian January 01, 2011

COMMENTATOR and former opening batsman Michael Slater believes much must be done following the failure to regain the Ashes.
And the first thing to do, Slater believes, is sack chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch.

Slater said administrators must take a lot of blame for the failings that included keeping Michael Hussey and Doug Bollinger in an overseas Twenty20 side when they should have been preparing for the Indian Tests, and naming a football-team sized squad as some sort of marketing exercise.

He said there had been confusion surrounding selections throughout the summer and questioned whether the delay in naming a squad for this Test was to do with concerns over Michael Clarke's captaincy.

"They spent over five hours naming a squad, which didn't differ in any way from Melbourne apart from two injury omissions," he told Ninemsn. "I suspect they were seriously considering the captaincy role and whether naming Michael Clarke was the right way to go, but it was strange and indicative of the way the whole summer has been run."

Slater slammed the lack of long-term planning from the administrators.

"I've reached the point where I've lost faith in the decision-makers and there needs to be a big shake-up," Slater said.

"Australia's participation in this Ashes summer of cricket has been messed up from the very beginning.

"Think back to when they decided to name the Ashes squad 10 days out from the first Test, with several players desperately needing to prove they were worthy of selection and with a whole round of Shield games remaining in which to do so.

"The selectors saw the folly in the fanfare squad announcement date, and did the only thing they could to save the situation which was the farcical naming of an extended squad."

The Nine network commentator said he thought Bollinger's side strain and Hussey's pre-series form could be blamed on the actions of the Australian hierarchy.

But he kept his harshest criticism for the chairman of selectors and coach Tim Nielsen, who recently was re-signed to a three-year deal.

"The one man who definitely has to go, though, is Andrew Hilditch," Slater said. "Greg Chappell, as the full-time selector, has to be appointed chairman and he should appoint a new panel.

"The current group have had their opportunity and Australia has gone backwards during their tenure. Tim Nielsen is also under the pump and his three-year contract extension has to be reviewed as well."

Slater believes the treatment of players has been confusing and erratic. "They told Bollinger not to play in a Shield game when he was declared fit, because they wanted to rest him, and then they left him out of the Gabba Test because they said he wasn't match fit," he said.

"Mitchell Johnson was touted as the strike bowler for the summer, dropped after Brisbane, and then kept in the nets in Adelaide instead of returning to his state side to find form under match conditions.

"Then there was the way they handled Nathan Hauritz. In the weeks prior to the first Ashes Test, Hauritz was told by none other than the chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, that he was Australia's No 1 spinner. Then out of the blue drops Xavier Doherty and suddenly Hauritz is on the scrap heap.

"Of course Doherty was then dumped for Perth with Michael Beer plucked from absolute obscurity to take his place. Beer hasn't bowled a ball in anger since, despite the balance of the team for Melbourne screaming out for a spinner by any name."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/andrew-hilditch-must-be-first-to-go-says-michael-slater/story-e6frg7rx-1225979637237

Young players' excitement is infectious Ricky Ponting

From: The Australian January 01, 2011

IT is frustrating and disappointing to be ruled out of next week's Test against England, but I'm already excited about my watching brief.
Two young players, batsman Usman Khawaja and spinner Michael Beer, have a chance to make their debut.

Every time a new players comes through it's like you get a new lease of life, that some of the energy and enthusiasm they bring to the team rubs off on you.

That is one of the most exciting things that has happened around the team during the last three or four years since the great players we had moved on.

About 30 players have debuted since I became captain of the side, which is pretty remarkable.

That has been one of the biggest motivating factors for me to keep playing as long as I have, and why I have taken so much pride in what I've done and the team has done.

It's for the sake of those younger guys. They freshen everything up, make things exciting for me as a player, and that makes it exciting for us as a team.

It's challenging for me and the rest of the group to make sure we give these young guys the best guidance possible.

If Usman and Michael do play next week, that's another step in the right direction for Australian cricket.

Should Usman play in my No 3 spot he needs to try to relax and play his own game.

It's important not to think about it as being a pivotal spot.

The more you think about it as a hard place to bat, or such an important responsibility, the worse off you're going to be. I've always loved batting at No 3 because I've always known what I'm going to be confronted with.

I know I'll come off the ground, be straight into my pads, and be waiting to bat.

That was always easier for me than sitting around during the first 15 or 20 Tests of my career waiting to bat at No 6. If I end up batting at six again, I'll be far better for that experience.

Usman has always been a top-order batter, so he'll have that side of things pretty well worked out.

The hardest thing for him will be to relax into his innings and not try too hard to score runs for himself or impress other people along the way.

He certainly doesn't have to impress me or any of the guys in the team, or any of the guys who have seen him play in the past, because we all know how exciting and how talented he is as a young batsman.

He has just got to get out there and trust himself and trust his ability and do the best that he can for the team.

There has been quite a bit of talk about the fact that I should move down the order, and now I'm out for a while with my broken finger I've got plenty of time to think about it.

It's not about what's right for me, it's about what's right for the team and the make-up of the team.

I knew as soon as the ball hit the little finger of my left hand in Perth I was going to have a couple of hard weeks ahead of me. I knew straight away that it didn't feel right and I thought I'd broken it.

I got through the Melbourne Test a lot better than I thought I'd be able to.

The way I managed it through the game was fine, but when I got the news straight after the game that the fracture had moved a significant amount I was really disappointed to find out I wouldn't be out there in Sydney. That hit home straight away once the specialist gave me the bad news.

I really wanted to be out there, one because I need to start making some runs and two, even though we can't win the Ashes there is still a great chance to level the series. We certainly haven't lost it yet.

There is plenty to play for this week, but unfortunately I'm not going to be a part of it. I'll do whatever I can and give as much support as I can to Michael Clarke as captain and all the other guys, particularly the younger guys.

I won't be out there with them in the middle, but I'll be an extra set of eyes and ears if they want to talk about anything as far as their game is concerned or what they need to do to play well at Test level.

There are plenty of things to be frustrated about at the moment. The team's performance and how wrong things went last week in Melbourne compared with the week before in Perth.

One thing I have had during this tough time is unbelievable support from a lot of people.

There's no hiding the fact it has been a tough few weeks for my wife Rianna and I.

It's wonderful that our little daughter Emmy is always around the corner to put a smile on your face no matter how bad things get.

It just gives you a different perspective on life.

Happy new year.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/young-players-excitement-is-infectious/story-e6frg7t6-1225979659477

The AFL is to blame for the alarming lack of newcomers

Stephen Samuelson
January 1, 2011

Australian cricket is sick. But as a cure, sacking captain Ricky Ponting would merely be the anaesthetic before the lobotomy.

Ponting's runs have been sorely missed, but the Australian captain is not responsible for the nurturing of talent, the selecting of teams and the development of techniques. And dismissing him from his post does not solve these problems. There are personnel at Cricket Australia whose job it is to do that.

The reality is, however, that the well of talent may just be drying up. El Nino has hit Australian cricket but it is a strong southerly breeze that is inducing the drought. Despite the pronouncements from the mythology machine down south – indigenous code means unique to, not universally embraced by – cricket is Australia's true national game.

The football codes, principally AFL, are siphoning talent from it. This is not merely a local observation; the English press have picked up on it too.

The seasons are no longer clearly defined and professionalism demands monogamists, not swingers. Long gone are the days when Keith Miller kicked 42 goals for St Kilda or Ray Lindwall played in a grand final for St George.

Popular history has it that Tom Wills invented Australian Rules football in 1858 to keep cricketers fit during the winter months. It's a pecking order worth admiring but long since ignored. Is it a coincidence that the AFL scheduled their 2009 draft to start on the same day as the start of Cricket Australia's international season? It's one thing being a big fish in a small pond, but the only fish? Diversity of the species is a necessity.

The economics of it are simple. The football codes offer more players a professional living than what cricket provides.

Cricket Australia has 25 centrally contracted players each year. Any one of the 16 AFL clubs needs 22 professional players on match-day alone. The AFL, NRL and Super Rugby clubs offer talented sportsman more pay, more opportunities and greater certainty.

Cricket Australia knows this to be true. The expansion of the Big Bash to an eight team city-based league next season is an attempt to redress the balance. Better financial reward for cricketers may end the reliance on NSW to prop up the Australian team.

If Doug Bollinger plays in the Sydney Test, eight of Australia's XI will have originally hailed from NSW and Queensland. The AFL dominated states will provide just three. South Australia will not be represented at all. Its state team is dominated by interlopers seeking an opportunity. Tom Cooper, Dan Christian, Aaron O'Brien and Tim Lang hail from NSW. Ben Edmondson has drifted in from Western Australia while former Victorians Michael Klinger and Aiden Blizzard are mainstays at the top of the order.

What happened to the talent line that produced the Chappell brothers, David Hookes, Tim May, Darren Lehmann and Greg Blewett, let alone a bevy of perfectly acceptable first-class cricketers?

But the AFL wants to grow their sport in Sydney too. Rugby league is thought to be the code most under assault from the GWS Giants venture, but if it is successful world cricket's most valuable nursery might be under threat.

For some people having an indigenous code is a source of national pride, and there is no denigrating that, but we don't want Australian sport to be a monogenetic.

So by all means embrace the cash cow that is AFL. Digest the mythology, join in the eulogising, but don't complain too loudly when Australia are thrashed by an innings a 157 runs at the MCG. Your slavish, unquestioning support for the indigenous code has ensured it.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/cricket/the-afl-is-to-blame-for-the-alarming-lack-of-newcomers-20110101-19ch3.html

SCG is a mystery for Michael Beer

Will Swanton From: Herald Sun January 01, 2011

MICHAEL Beer has taken Test inexperience to stratospheric levels. Not only has Australia's latest spinner not played at the SCG, he'd never even seen the ground.

Beer will receive the honour and privilege of making a Test debut for Australia tomorrow - but mystery surrounds the cap presentation.

Michael Clarke would be expected to give Beer a baggy green as captain. But when the Australian team visited Prime Minister Julia Gillard at Kirribilli House yesterday, injured skipper Ricky Ponting still spoke on behalf of the side.

Will Ponting do the honours with Beer's cap despite Clarke having the captaincy?

When asked what experience he had of the traditionally pro-spin SCG deck, Beer said: "Experience? This is the first time I've been inside the SCG today.

''I've trained a couple of times out on the training decks before a one-dayer at Hurstville and a second XI game in the past, but this is the first time I've been out on the ground."

Beer is a Victorian but plays for Western Australia after not being able to break in to the Bushrangers team.

"I really like it looks different on TV," he said about the SCG. "Obviously I'll talk to a lot of the guys, the senior guys between now and the start, and I'll hopefully learn a lot about how to bowl here.

"There's a lot of NSW blokes in the side with Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke. I'll sponge as much info as I can off them."

There's a twinkle in Beer's eye. Apparently he sledged Kevin Pietersen in the Western Australia-England match in October.

You can imagine it. He gives the impression of wanting to roll up his sleeves, spit on his hands and get dirty with England.

Beer's parents flew to Perth last month when it seemed certain he would be playing. They ended up watching a Test without their son in it after he was omitted at the 11th hour.

"Obviously I thought it was coming because the way the wicket was, although the cameras were there if I did get to play and get presented with my baggy green," he said. "I was a little disappointed but I've enjoyed being a part of the group."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/the-ashes/spinner-michael-beers-likes-his-first-view-of-scg/story-fn67w6pa-1225980004628

Very interesting. I think it is true. cricket has often been left out of the debate over the so-called 'code wars' but I think they are very much a key player.

The Big Bash is fine the way it is, it get's massive crowds and a lot of publicity already, the international player rule is just strengthening it even more, especially when the player is someone like Chris Gayle or Keiran Pollard.

there changing in next year or the year after to cities.... i agree i like the format but this way it will be an extended format, more teams, more international players and a real rival to the IPL

A rival to the IPL:lol: :lol:

I heard about the idea, didn't know they were going through with it, should be good, any idea how many teams and which cities?

Just out of interest, has any one heard any word on who'll be touring Australia next summer?

India IIRC.

Sri Lanka and India isn't it?

Makes sense...we can't have played Sri Lanka in aus in five years or so now.

They came over a few years ago didn't they?