If he was to miss the test, they'd give Quiney another go and drop Watson down the order. Haddin is not an option.

If he was to miss the test, they'd give Quiney another go and drop Watson down the order. Haddin is not an option.

Ferguson, Doolan and Henriques have all been doing well in the shield this year too, but if it were up to me I'd probably go with Khawaja.

Aww I missed it. Who took the gloves for that over?

Now I've seen this before with Dhoni but why the fuck are you bringing on your keeper who has never bowled a ball in a game of first class cricket to bowl when you're still looking to win the match!? :lol:

The idea is when the batsman are set and look untroubled you are unlikely to get a wicket just before a session break as they tend to shut up shop. The hope by bringing in a non bowler is that they might lose concentration, or maybe a shocking ball gets bowled (eg. slow full toss or half tracker) and the batsman gets excited and manages to hole out somewhere. Especially when runs aren't an issue when trying to bowl a side out it is a very little to lose, lots to gain type situation.

Jackson Bird in for Hilfy.

Still no love for Ben Cutting

Seriously, who's wife did he bang?

Still no love for Ben Cutting

Seriously, who's wife did he bang?

Cricket rolls dice in $200m takeover

by: Peter Lalor From: The Australian December 22, 2012 12:00AM

CRICKET Australia will dip its toes into the water in the Melbourne and Sydney Tests, before plunging headlong into a $200 million gamble to take over the running of international cricket in Australia.

Previously the game has been run by the states, and the various associations have taken the frontline profits and losses when international matches come to town, but the parent body is looking to buy out and control those games.

The Boxing Day and New Year's matches against Sri Lanka will be run from CA's Melbourne headquarters with Cricket NSW and Cricket Victoria given a guaranteed sum regardless of whether the games are washed out, ignored or packed to the rafters.

It is a nervous time for cricket administrators, although they are publicly bullish. There were crowds of fewer than 3000 people a day for the gripping final two days of the Hobart Test.

The Big Bash League, which The Weekend Australian recently revealed had budgeted for a $10.56m loss this year, is tracking badly and expected revenue streams have not eventuated.

...BBL crowds are down 30 per cent on last year and ratings - while still good for pay television - are also significantly lower.

The competition's nadir was reached at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night when 4101 people attended - a historically low figure for the revamped league and only marginally worse than the 4329 who attended a washed-out game in Perth earlier in the month.

The BBL has lost more than $20m over two years, with the money being gambled against a new broadcast deal in 2013.

The BBL rights currently owned by Fox Sports will be sold - ideally in an auction - at the same time as the other Test and ODI international matches currently broadcast by the Nine Network.

The Weekend Australian understands that Seven West Media, which it was hoped would push the current rights holders into overstretching, has developed cold feet and will not make a significant bid, although this could not be confirmed. Test match cricket enters any negotiation hobbled by government regulation and unable to attract what it believes is its true value.

Cricket Australia argued unsuccessfully to the government's 2009 Anti-Siphoning Review that the anti-siphoning legislation dramatically discounted the sort of broadcast deals cricket could negotiate because of its protected status. All free-to-air networks are in a worse financial position than when the last, $315m, seven-year broadcast deal was signed with Nine.

Despite declining ratings and crowds, the BBL will attract a far bigger rights deal than the lesser product that was sold last time.

On the live cricket front, the Sydney and Melbourne Tests are a trial run for the parent body before it locks in a four-year guarantee to all states, and at this stage that looks to be a $200m investment - or an 18 per cent increase in distributions across the four previous years.

Mike McKenna, architect of the revamped Big Bash and executive general manager of operations at Cricket Australia, denies that either the T20 tournament or revenue guarantees are a gamble.

"When you look at the history of revenue growth in Australian cricket, particularly at this time when we are about to sign a new media rights deal, what this does is not increase risk for Cricket Australia - it just makes us that more efficient as a business and there will be direct benefits, plus we will be able to spend the money better," he told The Weekend Australian.

McKenna says that acting as one company frees the associations to focus on their strategic imperatives while Melbourne headquarters runs the business.

"States and Cricket Australia can now spend our time focused on the things that are our specialties," he said.

"The risk is eliminated for them and when you are Cricket Australia running all international cricket then you can balance that risk. If we have a good match in Brisbane and a poor one in Sydney no one is going to be worse off or better off. The states get their guarantee and we balance the risk across a number of years."

The risks to states have never been more obvious than this year. Queensland Cricket has battled a financial storm that saw it borrow money from Cricket Australia and negotiate a bank overdraft following a $2m loss last year.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/cricket/cricket-rolls-dice-in-200m-takeover/story-e6frg7rx-1226542093258

Tendulkar quits one-day game

New Delhi
Published: December 23, 2012 - 6:45PM

Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar has announced his retirement from one-day cricket.

Tendulkar, who turns 40 in April, made the announcement on Sunday after speaking to Board of Control for Cricket in India president Narainswamy Srinivasan.

"I have decided to retire from the one-day format of the game," said Tendulkar, who will continue to play Test cricket and in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians.

"I feel blessed to have fulfilled the dream of being part of a World Cup-winning Indian team. The preparatory process to defend the World Cup in 2015 should begin early and in right earnest.

"I would like to wish the team all the very best for the future. I am eternally grateful to all my well-wishers for their unconditional support and love over the years."

Tendulkar, the most-capped player in one-day internationals with 463 games and also the batsman with most runs (18,426) and centuries (49), made the announcement as national selectors were in the process of announcing the team for a limited-overs home series against Pakistan.

Tendulkar is also the only batsman to have made a double-century in one-day cricket.

Former chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth said he was shocked at the timing.

"Sachin's announcement has come as a big surprise," Srikkanth told the CNN-IBN news channel. "I thought he would play in the one-day series against Pakistan."

AP

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/tendulkar-quits-oneday-game-20121223-2btg3.html

Cricket Australia argued unsuccessfully to the government's 2009 Anti-Siphoning Review that the anti-siphoning legislation dramatically discounted the sort of broadcast deals cricket could negotiate because of its protected status. All free-to-air networks are in a worse financial position than when the last, $315m, seven-year broadcast deal was signed with Nine.

Boozy cricket fans, protestors ejected from Boxing Day Test at MCG

by:
Alex White From:
Herald Sun December 26, 2012
7:35PM

BOOZY revellers are among 22 troublemakers booted from the MCG during day one of the Boxing Day clash against Sri Lanka.

Six were evicted for being intoxicated while a further 12 were asked to leave after smuggling alcohol inside the grounds.

One man was removed before the first ball after he was found with a small tin barrel of rum and coke.

A further four people told to leave were Tamil protestors – who had rallied against the Sri Lankan cricket team outside the grounds before the match – and were found in the crowd holding a banner with a political slogan written on it.

Police superintendent Rod Wilson said eviction numbers had been low but warned officers were on red alert during the final hours of the game.
.
"It has been good behaviour but we still have a few hours to go. In the past at Boxing Day matches a lot more people get evicted toward the end," Supt Wilson said.

"It has been pretty low but a lot of the evictions will happen from now until stumps.

Four of those evicted were Tamils who had a banner other than a flag, which is an offence. They were treated the same as anyone else who has a political banner.

"There have been no arrests everyone we asked to leave has left."
Extra police officers had been deployed to watch over the rally after hostile clashes in 2010.

Refugee Alliance spokeswoman Sue Bolton said it was a peaceful protest and cricket crowds were less hostile than previous years.

"I am sure a lot of people don't want us here but a lot more people now know why we are here," she said.

"We are here to say shame on the Sri Lankan Government and Australia should boycott the Sri Lankan cricket team because it is closely related to the government."

Up to 66,000 people packed the stadium - a figure lower than previous years.

A police spokeswoman said the crowd had been well behaved compared to previous years.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/boozy-cricket-fans-protestors-ejected-from-boxing-day-test-at-mcg/story-e6frf7kx-1226543589931

Omg, you are a fucking retard Johnson. Who the fuck bowls a no ball on a hat trick ball