Top End Tour

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

EDIT: We last played Sri Lanka in Australia in November 2007

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 3/1/2011 08:14:30 PM

Are Brisbane and Hobart in the Top End now;)

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 3/1/2011 08:15:50 PM

Why are the Victorian Bushrangers so unrepresented in the Australian team?

Rod Nicholson From: Sunday Herald Sun January 01, 2011


BOB Parish, chairman of Victorian cricket in the 1960s and '70s, believed in a mandate when picking a team.
"We are here to produce players to represent this nation silverware is a mere bonus."

Parish rigorously resisted the temptation to import players, despite the ilk of Gary Sobers playing for South Australia and NSW winning 12 consecutive Sheffield Shields.

He certainly would not recruit players from interstate only a few who arrived because of business commitments, such as Queensland paceman Ross Duncan, were even considered to represent the Big V.

The upshot was that Victoria introduced potential first-class cricketers, developed them and gloried in their improvement and elevation to the Test team.

Circumstances changed much of the landscape when World Series Cricket began in the late 1970s. Many under-prepared players were thrown in at the deep end, but Graham Yallop survived to become Test captain. He was 24 on Test debut.

The 1980s threw up regulars Dean Jones (debut, days before his 23rd birthday) and Merv Hughes (days after his 24th birthday), and the following decade was the domain of Shane Warne (debut at 23), with a few appearances from Matthew Elliott (25).

Brad Hodge made six Test appearances from 2005-08. But Hodge was a month shy of his 31st birthday on debut.

Victoria has struggled to supply players since, despite the 2003-04 Shield success, and current back-to-back Shield wins as well as dominance in the the shorter versions of the sport.

Appropriately, Victoria has eight representatives in the 30-man squad for the World Cup next month.

Veteran Hodge, regulars Cameron White, Clint McKay, John Hastings and Peter Siddle, along with Andrew McDonald, David Hussey and young gun James Pattinson.

But the Test ranks remain almost barren.

Fast bowler Siddle was the only Victorian in the reckoning during the Ashes series.

So it is interesting to read Cricket Victoria's goals.

"Make Victoria the most successful state in interstate competition and in developing Australian representatives," is its mantra.

Are we now a state where success is defined by silverware, rather than representation in the Test side?

Not so says coach Greg Shipperd. "We have played in 13 of the past 15 finals in the three different styles of games (Shield, one-dayers and T20) and we have been of the opinion that team success will breed individual success and therefore opportunities for higher honours," Shipperd said.

"Since Michael Hussey made his Test debut (end of 2005), Australia has picked 26 (new) players eight from NSW, six from Victoria, four from Tasmania, three each from South Australia and Western Australia and two from Queensland.

"The problem with the Victorians (Hodge, White, Siddle, McDonald and McKay and Bryce McGain) is that they have been picked reluctantly, for make-shift positions, except for Siddle who has been groomed for a long-term future.

"We have won 85 points and conceded only 10 to win the past two Shields and the individuals within the team are hardened competitors.

"I think the level of cricket has been underestimated.

"It is frustrating but we will continue to present players capable of international honours."

Clearly this summer the selectors made assessments on several experienced Vics, who have been instrumental in its successes.

They are batsmen Hodge (36 and retired from first class), Hussey (33 and overlooked too often) and opener Chris Rogers (33), leg-spinner McGain (tried and discarded and now 38), and pacemen Dirk Nannes (34) and Shane Harwood (36).

On a more sober note, Victoria does have quality players capable of Test honours. Batsman White (27), keeper Matthew Wade (23), all-rounders McDonald (29) and McKay (27), paceman Pattinson (20) and left-arm spinner Jon Holland (23) are viable options.

And Victoria is looking to the future, as shown when the state recently played England at the MCG.

Alex Keath, 19, scored 46 and 20-year-old Ryan Carters, also on debut, scored 68.

Keath will tackle England in the Prime Minister's XI on January 10.

And opener Michael Hill, 22, upstaged everyone with an unbeaten maiden century.

There is a long way to go if any of this trio makes Test ranks, but at least youth is being given a chance.

That's the way it should be.

And the way it must be if Victoria is again to have a major impact on Test team selection.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/cricket/why-are-the-victorian-bushrangers-so-unrepresented-in-the-australian-team/story-e6frfg8o-1225980084865

hmmm i swear they played in Darwin and Cairns a few years ago

How are they coping without Murali anyway?

They'll always struggle in tests, because as a nation, and the board itself, they seem entirely infatuated with ODI's and T20's

Ponting shouldn't be in sheds: Chappell Jamie Pandaram
January 4, 2011

AS IT was announced Ricky Ponting would undergo surgery today, former Australian captain Ian Chappell said the injured leader should not have been in Australia's dressing room during the first day's play at the SCG.

Ponting remains confident he will be fit for the World Cup next month, and will have surgery to treat the broken little finger that has kept him out of the final Ashes Test.

Ponting sat in the team's dressing room yesterday, speaking with Usman Khawaja before the 24-year-old walked out for his debut innings, and generally observing proceedings under Michael Clarke's leadership.

''I think there should be someone in the Australian set-up who says, 'Look Ricky, you're not captain in this game. Michael Clarke is captain','' Chappell told Fairfax Radio. ''I think it would have been better if Ricky had been away from the team and just left it to Michael Clarke. It's not Michael Clarke's team as yet but I just think it would have been much fairer to Michael Clarke if Ricky Ponting hadn't been around.''

Chappell also believes Ponting will not return as Test skipper. ''He's being unrealistic to talk about going on as the Australian captain,'' he said. ''As far as I'm concerned, that was his last Test in Melbourne as Australian captain and it's time to move in a new direction, and you don't move in a new direction with the team and keep the old captain.''

Ponting had decided to keep his finger in a splint and attempt to let it heal naturally, but after further consultations decided surgery was necessary if he was to recover in time for the subcontinental trip.

He had been involved in Australia's Test preparations and was asked by Clarke to be around the team for this match. Clarke said on match eve that he was glad to have Ponting present, although he affirmed that all on-field decisions would be made by him.

Ponting said after the embarrassing MCG loss he intended to return to captain Australia in one-dayers and Tests. He will be campaigning for an unprecedented fourth consecutive World Cup victory. The tournament will be played in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The 36-year-old injured the little finger of his left hand attempting a catch in the third Test in Perth, but was cleared to play in Melbourne despite being forced to field in the uncustomary positions of mid-off and mid-on to avoid further damage.

He recently stated his desire to keep playing and captaining the Test team despite a lean run with the bat and becoming the first Australian skipper in more than a century to lose the Ashes three times.

''That [I've played my last Test] is not in my thinking at all,'' said Ponting. ''I want to keep playing, I've made that pretty clear not only this week but right through the summer.

''I think I've got a lot to offer as a player and as the captain of the Australian team and I want to continue to do that, so unfortunately I can't play this week. It's probably going to mean I'm going to miss the one-dayers in Australia as well.

''But with a World Cup around the corner I want to be the best player and leader I can through that tournament and to hopefully win our fourth consecutive World Cup would be great.

''And I want to play Test cricket post-World Cup as well, so that's what's in the future for me.''

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/ponting-shouldnt-be-in-sheds-chappell-20110103-19dvd.html

hmmm i swear they played in Darwin and Cairns a few years ago

They haven't been down here for a while and it would be interesting to see just how much they've improved in the past few years.

edit: sorry, NZ for two tests then, personally I'd still like to see Bangladesh down here.

Bangladesh for Boxing Day

Bangladesh could give anyone a real run for their money, they've definitely shaken off the tag of that shit team everyone always beats.

At home they have. They put up more of a fight away, but still get beaten fairly regularly, and fairly easily.

I put it forward that Jacques Kallis is the greatest cricketer of all time.

Discuss.

I put it forward that Jacques Kallis is the greatest cricketer of all time.

Discuss.

I don't think he is even the greatest South African cricketer...that title belongs to Clive Rice imo.

Greatest Saffa. potentially
Greatest ever. No
Greatest All rounder. Would go mighty close

Jaques Kallis Test Batting average 56.91 Test Bowling average 32.01

Sir Garfield Sobers Test Batting average 57.78 Test Bowling average 34.03

In 2000 Sobers was named by a 100-member panel of experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century. He received 90 votes out of a possible 100. The other four cricketers selected for the honour were Don Bradman (100 votes), Jack Hobbs (30), Shane Warne (27) and Viv Richards (25).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfield_Sobers#1965.E2.80.931974:_West_Indies_captaincy

Steyn to Pujara, OUT, 133.6 kph, That's Shane Warne at 134 kph! That's the end of Pujara. You need a huge dose of luck if you want to survive these. Pujara didn't have it. Steyn gets the away movement going again, this time from leg stump. It landed on a length and opened Pujara up as he desperately tried to cover the line. It defeated his prod and thudded into the back pad in front of middle. What. A. Ball.
   

CA Pujara lbw b Steyn 2 (17m 14b 0x4 0x6) SR: 14.28