Handled the Ball - The Cricket Blog

Ashes Rumours

2009-08-03T18:47:00.005+10:00

Sometimes I love twitter. When I have not been next to the TV or radio, I have been able to follow the ashes by watching the feed of my friends' twitter updates (I am @marcwestius), and not only do you get frequent updates, you get all sorts of colour in the form of personal opinion. Of the Ashes cricketers, Graham Swann, Jimmy Anderson and Phil Hughes are on twitter, with Hughes notably informing us of his sacking before the Edgbaston team was announced. By the way, does anyone else think that it is completely NOT in the spirit of twitter for Hughes to send his messages to his agent, who then sends them to "the IT guy" in India to update the twitter stream? Hardly fast-paced microblogging!

Anyway, one of the cool things that twitter does is aggregate opinion on various topics. By using a hashtag, status updates can be pooled by subject. One the best topics recently is #ashesrumours, started by @FollowTheAshes. There are some common themes, here are some of the best so far:

on the same flight that david boon drank 52 cans of beer, geoff lawson drank 52 west coast coolers
Shane Warne broke Boons 52 beer record at his daughters ballet recital.
Sally left Brand Power as it has been taken over by a former English skipper and renamed Brand Gower.
Justin Langer is in fact the first Terminator prototype, he went missing from a factory in Singapore in 1994
as punishment for his poor bowling performance, @philtufnell was once made to run 10 laps of Mike Gatting
Several Australian batsmen have been forced to sit out training after contracting Swann Flu
@swannyg66 wanted to be the next Warney.....but he lost his mobile phone
in honour of his father, bruce lee, brett lee once starred in a film called 'enter the batsman'
Brett lee is the love child of a stripper name crystal and bing lee
andrew strauss is a cyborg....but a really annoying one
Andrew Strauss can carry 12 cricket balls clenched between his buttocks
when don bradman met king george in 1934 he only referred to him as the 'g-dog'
Ricky Ponting will change his nationality to a New Zealander if he becomes the 1st Aussie capt. to lose the Ashes twice in Eng
Ricky Ponting and George W Bush swapped jobs for a period of 7 weeks in 2006 without anyone noticing
Graeme Manou doesn't even know who he is
Shane Watson & Sth African rugby player Percy Montgomery to play Prince Charming in Shrek 4. Darren Lehmann to play Shrek
Shane Watson once broke his neck shaking his hair
Shane Watson once cut his arm off whilst filing his nails
shane watson once broke his leg padding up to bat.
What, a buttock strain now? Shane Watson confident that his injuries are behind him
Stuart Broad is still dressed by his mum before every match. She also does his hair.
Nathan Hauritz likes to play with his new transformers figures for at least 30 minutes before taking the field
graham Onions only realised he had an amusing surname when Monty Panesar started making bhaji jokes.
eddie mcguire is also the president of paul collingwood the cricketer
Andrew Flintoff practices his bowling style by throwing rocks at puppies.
Umpires Billy Doctrove and Rudi Koertzen often enjoy a spliff or two during breaks
despite being the great great grandson of alexander graham bell, ian bell has never used a telephone
Ian Bell is so virile that he made 7 women pregnant, just by smiling at them
shane warne's smoking makes up 50% of aus's greenhouse emissions.
Sir Geofrey Boycott killed 17 Nazi Stormtroopers with a stick of his Grandmother's rhubarb
Boycott to take all 11 batting slots at Edgbaston - as the only man who can do it properly.
Boycs once killed a man with his bare hands for batting 'like a woman'
Rumour has it that Mitchell Johnson can bowl
Ravi Bopara can, in fact, bat.
If he wanted to, Mitchell Johnson could probably hit a barn door at 10 paces
Marcus North is taping a series of commercials in which he sells GPS devices to Mitchell Johnson.
3 women died of excitement at Lords, when Jimmy Anderson smiled at them
At Lords, the Queen slipped her phone number to @JimmyAnderson9
Daniel Radcliffe to be announced as 12th man, with a special brief to fill in for J Anderson if required.
@jimmyanderson9 was once mistaken for derek zoolander. Actually, it may have been twice.
The Headingley Test of 1981 was re-enacted on location in the Arizona desert when tapes of the original were lost.
when simon katich wears a woollen jumper, the static from his chest hair powers his car.
Richie Benaud invented the Flipper in honour of his favourite TV show.
The pitch at Edgbaston is so wet that one of the rollers sank.
Ian Thorpe will be 12th man for Australia at Edgbaston.
Swimming googles have been supplied to all the players and officials for start of play at Edgbaston
Phil Hughes had a small role as a House Elf in the new Harry Potter film
It wasn't only Phil Hughes in the Potter film - Andrew McDonald played one of the Weasley brothers
stuart broad was also in harry potter as malfoy's double. But he just couldn't look evil.

Looking forward to more!

Who will win the Ashes from here?

2009-07-22T16:27:00.003+10:00

With England up 1-0 after 2 Tests, can Australia fight back? Or is the momentum now against them? They fought back from 1-0 down in 1997 in England, but that was a vastly different team. Have a vote in our poll - we'll shut it down just before the 3rd Test to capture what people are thinking at this stage of the series.

Test Retirement

2009-07-19T19:20:00.001+10:00

There was a time when players used to retire from cricket at the end of their career. However a new concept has begun to raise it’s ugly head; “Test retirement”. The second announcement in a week of a prominent cricketer came today when Chaminda Vaas announced that he was retiring from test cricket to focus on Twenty20 and Limited Overs cricket. This coming of course, off the back of the much publicised announcement from Andrew Flintoff of exactly the same thing.

It comes as little surprise for this generation of players. Test cricket is a long cruelling game of stamina and can quite easily take it’s toll on the body, so it’s natural to understand why players like Flintoff who has struggled with injuries throughout his career would clearly look to find a way of extending it. Having a long career in cricket can be very lucrative these days, with all the money from the IPL it has never been a better time to play cricket.

In fact, the pay difference between playing test cricket and Twenty20 cricket is so great, that it’s getting to a point where Test cricket is actually becoming a bit of liability.

Look at the recent turmoil currently taking place with West Indian cricket. Pay is the central problem at the moment in the dispute – one can easily speculate the catalyst for this dispute, or at the very least one of the major pain points for some of the high profile players. The Test series between England and the West Indies. It was not part of the Future Tours Program, and the Windies had just recently defeated the English on home soil in a war of attrition 1-0 series. With Sri Lanka pulling out because of their players commitments to the IPL, the Windies were a last minute replacement, and the impact of this meant that star players like Chris Gayle were suddenly out of pocket, significantly.

The reality of the situation is that, unless you’re Australian, playing Test cricket can actually cost you money. Only Australian’s have voluntarily omitted themselves from playing in the IPL, this year Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson were all high profile players that chose to make themselves unavailable for this competition – in fact Clarke and Johnson have steadfastly avoided even being a part of the draft process entirely. Is it really just a coincidence that these players are actually the top 4 money earners under lucrative Cricket Australia contracts?

It’s because they’re just about the only players who can afford it.

Ashes survival guide (if you're into science...)

2009-07-16T10:24:00.000+10:00

Ashes backyard cricket
Originally uploaded by westius.

The sporting highlight of 2009 is here! The Ashes cricket series between Australia and England means little sleep for cricket-obsessed Aussies, and little work done by the English.

Here is our science survival guide to the Ashes:

Ashes success and El Nino

Manoj Joshi

El Nino Southern Oscillation

The Ashes

Could El Niño Southern Oscillation affect the results of the Ashes series in Australia?

Weather

How to rank cricketers

For many people, including me, cricket isn't just a sport, it is a way of life.

These words could easily have come from me, but are actually the words of

Rob Eastaway

International Cricket Council

cricket-ratings

Science, Psychology and Cricket

TV coverage of cricket becomes more spectacular and technological

The curse of the duck

Science, Cricket, Fitness and Psychology

from the School of Human Movement at Charles Sturt University who has found that indeed you really do not need to be as physically fit to play cricket as you do other sports such as football. We also chat to

Dr Allistair McRobert from Liverpool John Moores University whose work has shown that the best batsmen can predict to some extent where a bowler will bowl. This work encompasses a look into the subconscious mental game of cricket and how the most successful players are more mentally prepared for the top level than lesser players. More on this topic can also be found in our article The Science of Cricket.

Sex before Sport?

It is the virile sports-person's eternal question - should one abstain from a little bit of nookie before a big sporting event? If I was Michael Clarke and engaged to Lara Bingle, I wouldn't be...

Economists, oil, cricket and correlation

Can we predict cricket results using the price of oil? Or is this just bad stats. Also see our article Poor correlations, or why it's not the fault of Aussie cricketers.

Good luck to all and come on you Aussies!

Choosing the right sub-atomic particle analysis facility is a little bit like medium pace bowling

2009-07-14T10:02:00.000+10:00

I love this clip of former Australian cricket Damien Fleming on the comedy show Thank God You're Here, the Australian theatre-sports style show which essentially aims to embarrass celebrities. In this challenge, as Australian sportsmen tend to talk a lot about things they don't know, Fleming was set the challenge of marketing the Australian Synchrotron. His opening line, "choosing the right sub-atomic particle analysis facility is a little bit like medium pace bowling" is brilliant. Check it out below or on the youtube video:

The Sri Lankan Big Bash

2009-07-11T16:47:00.001+10:00

With the seeming failure of the Southern Premier League getting off the ground, Australia's Big Bash Twenty20 tournament is taking matters into their own hands with Cricket Australia allowing each state to recruit up to two international players to their teams. This is a great idea as the appeal of the Indian Premier League has shown that the lure of international stars is big business. Of course while the Australia competition can't compete in money terms with the IPL the timing of the tournament means that it's a good additional option for international players as it will never clash with the cashed up Indian tournament.

Without having a clear understanding of the touring schedules of the different nations it's interesting to see that just about every state has gone for Sri Lankan players. Ajantha Mendis for South Australia, Lasith Malinga for Tasmania and there's talk of Kumar Sangakkara playing for New South Wales and most exciting is the possiblity of Muttiah Muralithuran playing for Victoria. In fact, the only other international stars announced so far appear to be West Indian, with Chris Gayle for Western Australia and Dwayne Bravo for Victoria. Chances are they are the only nations who don't have conflicting tours during the time of the competition mind you there's also word that former Queenslander Brendon Nash is on a bit of recruiting drive for his former state in attempts to lure some of his West Indian tour mates to play for the Bulls, but it will be interesting to see what other players are announced in the coming weeks. A question I have, does Queensland want Brendon Nash? And if they do, does he count as an international player these days? And if they don't want him - isn't that a bit of an awkward situation?

I can just imagine the conversation between the Queensland Bulls rep and Brendon Nash:

BULLS: Hi Brendon, we're looking to recruit some players for the Big Bash tournament this summer.

NASH: Oh sure, I'd be happy to come back and play for you guys!

BULLS: Uh, yeah, um, that's great that you're keen, but, uh, we were kind of wondering if you could have a chat with some of your team mates.

NASH: Oh. Okay then.

Burn.

Ranking Cricketers

2009-06-04T11:04:00.000+10:00

Cricket is one of the world's most statistical sports, and mathematicians in cricket-loving nations love nothing more than delving into the minutiae of the numbers and diving into averages, strike-rates and custom-made measures of batting and bowling effectiveness.

For many people, including me, cricket isn't just a sport, it is a way of life.

These words could easily have come from me, but are actually the words of Rob Eastaway, a cricket-loving mathematician from the UK, and originator of the official International Cricket Council cricket-ratings which rank not only teams, but players within each team. Over at The Mr Science Show podcast, I chat to Rob about how you mathematically rank cricketers.

Listen to this podcast here - note a few audio issues, see below:

Ranking individual batsmen and bowlers is no small task. A common method of comparing batsmen is their average, which is the average score the batsman compiles each time he comes in to bat. This method, however, has a number of issues as it does not take into consideration the opposition, playing conditions and how recently the runs were scored. How can you compare a score of 60 against a world-class opponent on a dodgy pitch with a score of 150 against a lowly rated team in easy batting conditions? This is what Eastaway's ranking system attempts to do - and the maths is quite difficult (far more difficult, in Rob's words, than the Duckworth-Lewis method of determining the winner in a rain-effected game!) As well as taking into consideration the strength of the opposition and playing conditions, the ranking system places a greater emphasis on recent performances. The overall system has a number of feed-back loops - the individual player ratings contribute to a team's rating, which effects how many rating points an opposition player can earn against that team - remember, a score of 50 against tough opposition will be worth more than 50 against low-class opponents. Similarly, how each player in a match performs influences how many points are on offer. For example, a score of 45 out of an overall team score of 100 will be more highly valued than a score of 45 out of 450. As such, large amounts of historical data are used to come up with the final numbers. Limited overs cricket has the additional dimension of strike-rate - a batsman who scores his runs quickly will be rated more highly than a slow scorer.

The system was first developed in 1987 by Eastaway with former English cricketer Ted Dexter and colleague Gordon Vince, and at first the system was greeted with scepticism by many cricket lovers. Nowadays, however, it has gained credibility and has even been used by international cricketers to help negotiate their contracts - for example, Michael Bevan was for a long time rated number one in the One Day International version of the rankings and used this in contract negotiations, however he could not secure a Test spot. Known originally as the Deloittes Ratings and in later years the PwC Ratings, the system was officially adopted by the International Cricket Council in January 2005.

With a background in Operations Research and a love of cricket, Eastaway is essentially my idol! You can read more about the maths of his system in his article Howzat in Plus Magazine.

As many of the equations used in this system are now copyrighted, you can't find the exact algorithms published anywhere. However, if you are a big nerd like me, you might like the book Deloitte Ratings: The Complete Guide to Test Cricket in the Eighties by Marcus Berkmann. The book details the ratings changes after each Test series in the 80s, and the appendix contains many of the equations which underpin the system. I was given this book when I was 10 and didn't much understand it back then, but I was very happy to find it in storage when I returned from the UK, and I now find it a maths-cricket-nerd's delight!

I'm fascinated to know if they come up with something for Twenty 20. The ultra-shortened form of the game brings in loads more complexities, not least of which is that unless you are an opening batsman, you may not even get a bat! Here's hoping Australia can win the World Twenty20 - oh and The Ashes! If only I was in the UK this summer!

I hope you enjoy this podcast - however, please note there are some audio issues. I had a great chat with Rob in a cafe in London, however my recording equipment was set on the wrong setting and so captured a lot more background noise than I had hoped! So please hang in there - this was one of my very favourite interviews. Rob is a fascinating person and had some really interesting observations on maths and sport. I really shouldn't have gone to The Chemical Brothers the night before, I probably would have had the microphone on the right setting!

Listen to this podcast here:

Richie Retires

2009-02-19T09:52:00.006+11:00

The recent news that Richie Benaud is set to retire saddens me, not so much because Ritchie is retiring, but because of the bunch of commentators he’s leaving behind. I liken Richie to Bert Newton - they both look a bit like frogs, they’re old blokes in the TV industry and I don’t completely understand their appeal, but they’re pretty good at what they do. I like Richie as he doesn’t over-commentate like so many of his colleagues - he doesn’t pretend to know why the ball deviated at 11.3 degrees off a crack, as opposed to some others like Ian Chappell or Mark Nicholas who try to wow us with their knowledge. I love the non-stop natter of cricket radio commentary, but on TV, I love the sound of the crowd, the leather on willow, the Channel 9 cricket theme song - not the commentators! Ritchie never said more than he needed to, and when he did say something, it contributed.

And another thing, whilst we’re ranting, why is it that the commentators throughout the Twenty20 commentary have to continually tell us how good it is, how it’s such a different game, how kids bring their parents along yadda yadda yadda. We know! That’s why we’re watching it!

I’d like to see James Brayshaw do more cricket - he’s big in Victoria, has some insight and is interesting to listen to. But for some reason he’s hosting the new Channel 9 show “WipeOut” - it beats me how a modern-day version of “It’s a knock-out” got through a programmers’ meeting, but anyway… Brayshaw would be much better than some of the others - you can pretty much bet against anything Healy says. If he says in his monotone that Bracken is going to try and bowl a yorker, Bracken will bowl a bouncer. If he says Ponting is due for a big score, call up John the bookie and put $10 on him for under 10 runs. As for Mark Nicholas, well, he’s OK, but if I'm allowed a moment of patriotism, does Channel 9 really need to pay Nicholas to come out to Australia for 6 months of each year chasing the summer, simply to hear his Westminster accent? Not that he’s bad, he’s quite good, but there are certainly better commentators in Australia. As for Michael Slater - as a batsman, he was great - fearless and exciting. Nowadays he’s clearly been through a few too many media-training courses for Sunday morning TV.

I’ll miss Ritchie and I think we’ll feel his void when he’s gone.

Cricket on Wii

2009-02-16T10:19:00.003+11:00

Finally it looks like cricket is coming to the Wii!

Cricket is one sport tailor made for Wii, and there has been much speculation for a long time about if and when cricket will debut on Wii. There is this youtube group and the very popular Wii want cricket campaign.

EA Sports has called the game 'Cricket 9' and it is accredited to Electronic Arts in Canada, which was responsible for the 2008 NHL and FIFA games.

However a platform for the title isn't specified . I hope it comes to X-box too.

The Children Are Our Future

2009-02-05T15:38:00.005+11:00

Having gotten used to Australian dominance for the last decade or so, our recent slump in form has me kind of worried about the state of Australian cricket. The selectors, who are not the most popular of people here at HTB, have decided that it is time to blood some young talent in an effort I suppose of starting afresh and rebuilding the side and restoring our glory.

This was evidenced initially by the selection of Dave Warner into the shorter form games, with debatable success.

I think the gutsiest call though has come with the selection of Phil Hughes as the replacement for Matthew Hayden on the South African tour. I think it's particularly gutsy because of the elevated importance of tests over one dayers and Twenty20 matches. Where a throwaway selection happens all the time in one dayers, and Twenty20's test match selection, particular a tour squad selection is a much more considered thing, due to the importance of the matches themselves over one dayers. Sure you have the odd injury related call up to anyone of citizenship who is playing in the local competition, but when you're named in the touring squad and it's clear you're the only option they're selected, this is a deliberate thing.

Phil Hughes is a starter for Australia, and he will be the youngest player since Craig McDermott to debut for Australia. His form has been sparkling, and he totally deserves his spot. He's a young and exciting player, and I praise the selectors for taking a punt on what could be great investment for the future.

The Prime Minister's XI Uniform

2009-01-30T06:54:00.003+11:00

I know this must seem like such a trivial issue, but why have people gone into the effort to produce a specific uniform for the Prime Minister's XI and then have the players wear white pads? It just looks stupid. How hard is it to get some blue pads for the players? You went this far to have a uniform (which I think is great), why not complete the set?

I'm in two minds about this Chappell-Hadlee series. I feel like Australia needs to lift its game, and I always like to see us win. It's looking like with the Black Caps weakened line up we'll get the wins no worries, but will it be a useful challenge for us in the lead up to the South African tour? Oh well, I suppose at the very least it'll be a good punching bag for us to vent some frustration.

Sorry, lump of cow dirt...

2009-01-27T21:15:00.002+11:00

Being in New Zealand, I was interested to see how New Zealander's reacted to the news of Brendon McCullum playing for NSW, forgoing his own domestic duties with Otago on the promise of guaranteed Champions League opportunity later in the year. That issue became all but moot after Andrew Symonds piped up with some poorly chosen words, which to be honest, I'm still not sure I completely understand why he said it, given the point I believe he was trying to make.

First of all, in New Zealand - no one was really bothered with McCullum's action; Otago had already qualified for the semi-finals and because of the Chappell-Hadlee he wasn't going to be able to play in the semi or the final (should they win) anyway. Otago saw it as an important opportunity to firm up the squad for their finals campaign, and so with their blessing and that of New Zealand Cricket he went. As it turns out he was only being paid $6,000 for the match, and he donated that money to Otago Youth Cricket, so as far as McCullum was concerned, he was squeaky clean.

From New South Wales perspective, they were going to be short many of their star players, not least of which bright star Dave Warner who played a large part in getting the Blues into the finals. With the amount of players absent due to international duties there were no players who realistically were serious contributors to NSW's success that would miss out - in fact, they were going to be short of quality players. Enter McCullum to solve that problem. As a New South Welshman, I was all for the idea. On a good day, McCullum is an amazing player to watch, and he holds the record for the highest Twenty20 score, playing for the Knight Riders.

Finally, for McCullum - the Champions League is worth millions. As great a lineup as the Knight Riders are on paper, their first year in the IPL was somewhat lacklustre, so their chances of qualifying this time around is no certainty, playing this one game for NSW guarantees him a place in a team that is going. If they go all the way, he will cash in. And more importantly if they do win, he will have been a part of their success - presumably having made quite significant contributions in the process.

So, it all makes sense to me really. I think Symonds had probably had a few drinks before doing the interview. Perhaps it's time for Cricket Australia to stop their players from speaking to Roy & HG. First we get "obnoxious weed(s)", now we get "lump(s) of cow dirt".

So, from the New Zealander perspective, McCullum was fine, this was all a non-issue, and then Symonds had to open his drunken mouth.

The Aussie Summer is here

2008-12-16T09:28:00.002+11:00

I have missed the Aussie cricket season over the last few years. Just the other day I bought my tickets to the first day of the SCG test vs. South Africa and am looking forward to that feeling of mild-drunkenness, the smell of sun-screen mixed with sweat and the debilitation effects of sunstroke that you only get from a day in the Doug Walters stand.

I have high hopes for a top-quality series. I am very disappointed to see that Stuart Clark is out because I believe he is one of the main reasons that we have remained pretty close to top of the Test heap over the last few years - him, Hussey and Ponting. I am not convinced about Peter Siddle yet - and I'm not sure what Bracken and Hilfenhaus did wrong. Please, please let them pick Krezja...

And it's good to see that Graham Smith has come over with his mouth shut. He was put firmly in his place last time SA toured after he came out sledging and talking-the-talk. He seems to be a much wiser cricketer now. Given Australia's current fortunes, Ponting could learn from him.

And finally, this may be sacrilegious, but I was very disappointed England did not beat India in the first test. But at least it took a record chase for India to win. After all the drama surrounding this tour, I would be surprised if England could put up such a fight in the next Test.

What's wrong with this statement?

2008-11-19T10:10:00.002+11:00

From Andrew Hilditch, Aussie chairman of selectors:

"For us, the simple formula is to pick our best six batters and our best four bowlers."

When in recent memory have the selectors actually stuck by this simple formula? Cameron White one of our best 4 bowlers? Shane Watson one of our best 6 bats?

Let's lay off Ponting...

2008-11-13T11:19:00.003+11:00

Poor old Ponting. He lets the over-rate slip, we get stuck into him. He tries to get it back on track, we get stuck in. He can't win.

Now, there is no doubt he is not our best ever captain (I like Tubby Taylor). But he's not too bad. His own batting has certainly picked up since becoming captain - he averages 59.78 as captain vs. 55.97 when not.

If Ponting lost the Test, he lost it at the toss. And let's remember that even if he had bowled his good bowlers instead of the part-timers, he would have bowled a completely out-of-form Brett Lee and the over-rated Shane Watson. It's not like he spurned McGrath and Warne. And he was bowling Jason Krezja, the bloke who took all the wickets anyway, from the other end. Also, in theory, he brought on our number one spinner in Cameron White.

Where Ponting did fail was letting us get behind in the over-rate in the first place. Dhoni did it, but they won so it didn't matter. Ponting may have to get used to not winning and work out a way to get the overs in - stop changing fields every 3 balls would probably be a good start.

Ponting was just doing what he had to - especially in these troubled times of neurotic worry about Twenty20. Gideon Haigh has a good take on this. I also suspect that this was a team decision - it certainly wasn't simply down to Ponting.

My questions are, why didn't he bowl Katich? And why haven't we sacked the selectors yet?

The [Insert Location Here] Royals

2008-11-13T11:10:00.005+11:00

In an interesting development in the continued commercialisation of cricket, the reigning IPL Champions, the Rajasthan Royals are looking to "globalise" their franchise. They've stated their intent to sell shares in the franchise in an effort to raise some cash to take the Royals worldwide, and their focus appears to be on South Africa and Australia, presumably to get a piece of the Southern Hemisphere Twenty20 competition action.

Sounds like a reasonable idea to me, cricket is big money business these days, and as far as cricketing businesses go, the Royals have made a pretty good fist of it, they made a profit in their first year in the IPL, the only team outside of the insanely marketed Kolkata Knight Riders whose Bollywood star owner Shahruhk Khan pretty much whored himself out day and night to promote his team, and they were smart enough to get an IPL franchise at a bargain.

So, are we going to see the Royals setup shop in the Southern Hemisphere Comp? Will they setup Warnie with his own team, the Victorian Royals and just extend the contracts of his players to cover this comp - will we effectively see stars like Warne tour the world playing in all the lucrative Twenty20 comps under the Royals brand? I could see that working, and working well.

Of course, there would be all sorts of confusion when it comes time for the Champions League. What happens when the semi finals consist of the Rajasthan Royals versus Victorian Royals on one side, and the Middlesex Royals are taking on the KwaZulu-Natal Royals in the other? Could get awkward!

Finally, I wonder what other worldwide global franchise would like to diversify into cricket and cash in on this booming sporting frontier? Will we see the Sydney Galaxy or perhaps the Auckland Yankees in the near future?

Absolutely Krazy

2008-11-08T14:59:00.005+11:00

I am still in shock after day 2 of the fourth test. When I discovered that Jason Krejza was in the Australian side at the expense of Stuart Clark while Cameron White gets to fill space once more, I was pretty confident I knew how things would turn out.

India would score 400+ runs, and Krejza would conceed at least 200 runs in the process. I was spot on.

What left my jaw hanging on the floor was the fact that he took 8 wickets! In a performance that could be described as the best and worst debut ever, he's gone ahead and equalled the record for most wickets taken in a debut innings, and broken the record for the most runs ever conceded in a debut innings.

Krazy is the word. So my question is - does a massive amount of wickets make up for conceding a massive amount of runs?

What does the I in ICC actually stand for?

2008-11-05T16:23:00.006+11:00

India seem pretty intent on being a big bully when it comes to world cricket. It feels like they're trying to project themselves as bigger than the game with their refusal to accept Gambhir's one match ban for elbowing Shane Watson. The situation seems pretty clear, under ICC regulations, the appeal verdict is final and cannot be questioned by a player or his board. Yet the BCCI has gone ahead and drafted a "strongly worded letter" protesting the verdict.

Well boo-hoo India. I haven't seen the incident, so I'm not in a good position to comment. I must admit the notion of someone elbowing another player sounds like reasonable grounds for a ban, but that completely aside, an appeal process has been conducted and the verdict upheld - is this not end of story?

I wonder if India's credibility to appeal is all that strong, they come across oftentimes as being a powerful cricketing board that accepts nothing less than getting their way. It smacks of audacity for them to even take this step of publicly and officially rejecting an ICC decision, and it concerns me that a board that is as powerful as it is, and commands so much commercial strength should take this aggressive stance rather than be a stalwart for the game.

It seems clear that BCCI's interests are purely their own, and more specifically that of making money, and not for the good of cricket. International cricket is worse off for having them with that attitude.

Scarily enough, this is not the first time that the BCCI have been so belligerent that they would reject the banning of a player - back in 2001 the 3rd test against South Africa was declared unofficial after the Indian's "rejected" the ban imposed on Virender Sehwag for excessive appealing.

India need to learn to cop it sweet. When it comes to cricket, the only time they should have a cry is it they get slapped in the face - and even then they should learn to grow some balls.

Champion$ League

2008-11-05T13:26:00.000+11:00

I guess it comes as no surprise really, but I was feeling a bit ambivalent about Michael Hussey deciding to play for Chennai rather than WA in the Champions League . To be fair I'm not sure how many games he actually played for either side on their way to qualifying for the tournament, but I feel it's a bit of a shame that he's siding with the money rather than his state. Seems a bit old fashion to think that state loyalties should supersede financial interests I suppose. It would be different matter if he ever chose IPL over playing for Australia, but I suppose when it comes to state cricket, who can blame him?

It could be an interesting situation when the Southern Hemisphere competition kicks off and a conflict like this arises? Will it turn into a bidding war at that point? How will the contracts be written up for the use of players at that point?

Do India have the balls to beat Australia?

2008-10-29T14:47:00.002+11:00

To me, Australia's 2005 Ashes loss was an aberration. It should not have happened. A lot has been said about the reasons why, and I think a lot of it came down to "reverse swing bowling" to over simplify the issue. There has been quite a bit of talk about how it was that the English were able to engineer such reverse swing, with speculation ranging from a specific type of breath mints, to the English pitches, to the type of cricket balls used.

Whatever it was, it was something that wasn't present when the English visited Australia in late 2006.

Anyway, it seems like the Indians are using the same balls that the English used and there is speculation that this is what has given them the winning edge.

Personally I think it's no excuse for Australia not to be able to play reverse swing, they should be able to use tennis balls with duct tape on one side for all I care, I don't see how a powerful cricket nation like Australia can't deal with reverse swing.

From my point of view, the only way a specific cricket ball was a factor in our Ashes loss was when Glenn McGrath stepped on one during training before the second test and injured himself.

That's what lost us the Ashes.

The only way a specific cricket ball will lose us the series in India this time around, is if they put one in the hands of Jason Krejza.

Thankfully, we've dodged that bullet - for now.

The Southern Hemisphere Twenty20 Competition

2008-10-26T08:58:00.001+11:00

I'm excited about the prospect of a southern hemisphere domestic Twenty20 competition featuring franchise teams from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Makes a lot of sense to me commercially, in many way it's replicating the Super 14 rugby notion of combining the three small to medium sized markets into one mega market. What surprises me a bit is the announcement itself, and how they're earmarking all of this to happen in 2011. Seems like a long way away.

I suppose that seems prudent, giving yourself ample opportunity to setup the competition, but when you consider the IPL was announced in September 2007, and the first ball was bowled in April 2008 - I can't help but wonder, how long does it really take to put one of these things together?

For me, I'm totally sold on the idea, I think it will be great. I just wish it would happen sooner.

So, we've lost this test...

2008-10-21T16:54:00.005+11:00

I don't buy this argument that Australia has no depth and that this crushing defeat is a sign of things to come.

I think it is a sign that the selectors - Andrew Hilditch, David Boon, Merv Hughes and Jamie Cox - really need to have long hard think about the next Test. It's not the retirement of champion players that has left us in this position, it's some very poor selections. I can't comment on Cox and Hilditch, but Boon and Big Merv were never known for their intellect.

I am not at all surprised we couldn't bowl out India, but I am surprised at how badly the batting fell apart. We need some steel - it is not the time to be trying out pretty blond-haired boys like White and Watson who simply are not good enough to be there. The selectors have been trying for years to get them into the team, but Watson kept getting injured and there wasn't a big enough excuse to get White in. You can't argue that they are both players who haven't the attitude to play for Australia - White has been a quality captain of Victoria and Watson has impressive first-class numbers. But in Test cricket, what counts are results. Watson batted well in one innings, but couldn't buy a wicket. Isn't half the excuse to have him in the team because he can bowl a bit? Is he really "the future" as the commentators kept saying? As for White, well he simply isn't up to it and you can't polish up any argument for his inclusion.

So why are we relying on these guys? We have quality players like Bollinger and Hilfenhaus in the wings who can actually bowl (not to mention Bracken), and Jacques, Hodge and David Hussey are just waiting to have another crack. And if we must try a spinner - which is one area where I will concede we are lacking - then what really is wrong with Casson or one of the other guys who actually give the ball a tweak? Why bother contracting Casson if we're not going to play him?

In the next Test I'm not sure what the best option is but would consider a four man pace attack with Clark back for White. Siddle did OK and could keep his place but his promotion above the aforementioned Bollinger and Hilfenhaus is quite odd. Katich should have a bit more of a bowl, and I never thought I'd say it, but wouldn't Andrew Symonds be handy right now? With a team of this balance, Watson's position must be under threat but he seems to have done just enough for now. Perhaps we will turn to Krejza?

Well played India, you certainly deserve this win and even with our strongest possible current team I think you would have beaten us. I'm not surprised at Ponting's fight with Lee, he must be at his wits end with the selections. We almost got past England in 2005 when we had a bit of a selection problem, but we are not as good as that team and India are better than England were.

It's a shame we couldn't give India a good game.

Sheffield Shield Player to Watch: Younis Khan

2008-10-20T17:05:00.001+11:00

I am all for international players being a part of our domestic competition, but I think it's strangely random that of all people Younis Khan should be playing for South Australia.

They desperately need someone with his skill (or even just skill full stop) to help them actually win games. I wonder how on earth it came to be that Younis got into the picture. Does he have family there? Is there something about South Australia that appeals to a Pakistani? (I assume it's not the wine).

I hope this the start of a trend towards more of this. I'd love to see some promising Kenyans and Bangladeshi's get a go as well (provided they can make the cut) as a means of fleshing out our competition. We've already got a few Zimbabwean's in the competition which I think is great, I look forward to seeing more.

Have we ever had such a long and strange batting line-up?

2008-10-10T11:14:00.007+11:00

So we went with Cameron White to bat at number 8. Interesting. I presume we have had a change of tactics as White is not a bowler. And we have Watson at number 6. Not a bad bat, but not as good as Jacques. And not a Test class bowler.

So, let's theorise what the selectors are doing, as it's clearly not obvious. I think that they are so unfathomably keen to get Watson in the team that they had to find a way to get him in there. Instead of picking a proper bowler, they picked a bloke (White) you can bat reasonably well to cover for the fact that Watson really isn't that good a bat. And the selectors seem to like White too, so having Watson there is cover for White's own lack of bowling skills.

It's a strange circular argument - use White to cover for Watson, and Watson to cover for White. The better solution? Pick a decent batsman in Jacques and a decent bowler in, well.... Maybe there is the problem. Picking White is conservative. The selectors probably thought "we don't have enough bowlers to bowl them out, so there is no way they are going to bowl us out." What a shame we seem to have to go against the way we have picked teams over the last 15 very successful years - that is, 6 good bats, 4 good bowlers and a keeper. Haddin is a top batsman, we should not forget. We don't need this much lower order cover and we need a spinner, not Watson's medium pace (and White is pretty much a pace bowler too given that he doesn't really spin it!)

It's the strangest line-up since Bevan was picked at number 7 in the Test team. The difference then was that Bevan could actually bowl and took the South Africans apart!

And what happened to Casson? Is White plus Watson really better than Jacques plus Casson (or Bollinger or Siddle or West - probably not Krejza)?

Oh well, Watson will probably go and score 100 and White take 10 wickets now. We are lucky India are not the team they were a few years back when I have no doubt they would have taken us apart.

A team of selections that didn't work...

2008-10-02T15:25:00.003+10:00

In light of some of the odd recent selections that the Aussie selectors have come up with to try and fill the void left by the retiring legends, here is a team of not-so-inspired Australian selections that I can remember from recent years. Some of these guys have time to turn it all around, and I hope they do, especially Rogers who is a fine player:

1) Mick Lewis

A Victorian trundler who managed to concede 113 runs off 10 overs in an ODI - the world record.

2) Darren Patterson

We didn't say they had to be picked for Australia. This Aussie was picked for England having only played 11 first-class games for Victoria and Nottinghamshire. He did OK, but even he didn't agree with his selection: "I probably didn't agree with the selection, as it was," Pattinson said. "I don't think I'd be picking someone to play the one Test when they haven't really played that many first-class games and weren't in the squad." Needless to say he probably wont be picked again.

3) Shane Watson (in Tests anyway)

Ever since we lost the Ashes in 2005, the selectors have been after a Flintoff-clone, even though we already possessed the world's best all-rounder in Adam Gilchrist and some other pretty good bowlers and batsmen. Watson has been given so many chances at the expense of players who actually deserve to be there, like Katich, and just keeps getting injured. He'll probably go and get 100 in the next Test now, but really, a Test player? A top one-day player, who still has more to deliver there, he also has bad hair, an annoying attitude and poses nude.

4) Nathan Hauritz

Comprehensively out-bowled in the spin department by Michael Clarke in his one test, although he himself did OK. Seems like a nice guy, but I always got the impression I could spin it as much if I tried.

5) Scott Muller

"Can't bowl, can't throw" - was it muttered by Shane Warne or Joe the Cameraman - he was actually not too bad, but threw a bit of a hissy fit in a later state game and was never going to be picked again. At least the whole thing helped Brett Lee's band Six and Out release a single Can't Bowl, Can't Throw.

6) Shaun Young

Good solid state player found himself in the right spot at the right time and got a Test call-up in the 1997 Ashes series in England when Jason Gillespie got injured and Paul Reiffel went home for the birth of his child. Really didn't have a chance to do anything and never got another Test.

7) Wayne Phillips

I may be the only person in Australia who remembers "the other Wayne Phillips". Came in for one test to partner Mark Taylor at the top of the order in the 90s.

8) Brad Young

A spin bowler who played a few ODIs and had a bowling average of 251. I seem to remember him taking a hat-trick whilst cricket was still at the Commonwealth Games, but that was not an official game. Also slid into the fence, ruining his knee and his international ambitions.

9) Chris Rogers

A quality player, still has time to make it, but did not impress in his single Test. Unfairly lost his central contract, I hope he comes back.

10) Simon Cook

Australia tried some interesting bowlers when the big guys were injured, and Cook was just that. He took 7 wickets on debut, played another Test, then was never picked again. I honestly don't know what happened, whether he got injured, lost form, or there was simply no room for him.

11) Not sure yet, but wait till this season is over, I'm sure we'll be able to fill this position...

Would like to hear of anyone I may have left off.

So, about this team....

2008-09-29T15:54:00.003+10:00

I feel like I've been a bit out the loop. I leave the country for 18 months, only to return and find out I only know half the Australian cricket team.

We all knew the Aussie team would change with the retirements of McGrath, Warne and co, but I never expected to find a team with the likes of Peter Siddle in it. Apparently, one of the world's best ODI bowlers, Nathan Bracken, is not good enough for the squad to India.

It's nice to see Bollinger get a go after being injured, and I was always going to be surprised by the spin bowling selections, because it was always going to have to be a punt after the retirements of Warne and MacGill, who were so much better then the rest, so good luck to Jason Krejza and Bryce McGain.

If somehow Shane Watson gets in ahead of Simon Katich - and the selectors will be trying to work out a way to make that happen seeing as they seem to love Watson and hate Katich - it will be a travesty. They came up with bad excuses for his dropping last time, and they will do it again. Even though Symonds has been left at home, there may not be space for the best batsman in the country, and this is a crying shame.

It should be a good series with India as they aren't the team they were, and either are we. I just hope they all keep their mouths shut and get on with the cricket.

How did they ever invent the game?

2008-09-02T22:25:00.002+10:00

With my 18 month sabbatical to the motherland almost over, I will go home to Australia with only one regret - that I never got to play a game of cricket.

However, this is not through lack of trying. I had games booked in for various Cambridge, London and other shire teams. But it was not to be. Six from six games were rained out. That's a 100% strike rate. It got to the stage of knowing that if I had a game of cricket planned, I should take my umbrella.

How did England ever invent this game? No wonder they have to import half their players from countries where there is some actual sun!

Is Symmo afraid of the Bangers?

2008-08-31T15:25:00.001+10:00

What the hell is going on with Andrew Symonds and matches involving Bangladesh? So there's some bizarre controversy going on over the fact that Symmo went fishing instead of attending a compulsory team meeting the day before the first match against the Bangers in Darwin, and now he's been sent home for the rest of the series.

Sure, it's hardly going to affect the outcome of the series, especially considering the first game was a 180 run thrashing to the Aussies, but you've really got to wonder what Symmo's problem is. Is it just that he really doesn't see Bangladesh as any kind of challenge whatsoever that he'll turn up to games drunk or go fishing instead of attending team meetings? He's going to need to fix his attitude and fast.

Money Changes Everything

2008-08-15T08:27:00.002+10:00

While I'm not naive and I know that professional cricket is a commercial thing and that money makes the world go around in the capitalist society we live in, but I have to admit I was really taken aback by the news that the Twenty20 Champions League dates had been shifted, and as a result the test between Australia and South Africa at the WACA had been moved.

Since when, in the history of cricket has a domestic match forced an international match to be moved, and a Test match no less!? Shame!

A White Player in the West Indies?

2008-08-15T08:10:00.001+10:00

It's been a long time since a white player has represented the West Indies - at least to my recollection, but with the announcement that former Queenslander Brendan Nash has been drafted into the Windies squad for the upcoming Tri-Series in Canada, that drought may come to an end. I've just been so used to seeing an all-black Windies side it will be almost kind of funny to see a white player in the team.

One of the things I've always liked about cricket is that as a sport, you can't knock it for not being racially diverse. You can't exactly look at it and go - it's a rich white man's sport for example, and I love that fact. That said, Brendan Nash playing for the West Indies isn't a bad thing at all, more power to him. I do wonder how the Windies feel about the notion - from cricketing powerhouse to picking Australia's dregs? Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Twenty20 at the Olympics

2008-08-05T14:34:00.004+10:00

Motivated possibly by the shocking lack of Twenty20 competitions being played, Adam Gilchrist is proposing that Twenty20 cricket becomes an Olympic sport. Personally I think it's a great idea, and for me it will actually make me care about the Olympics for a change.

When you consider how many ridiculous sports make the cut, it only makes sense that a sport that's actually popular around the world should be included. The biggest obstacle has always been the length of the game but with Twenty20 only taking 3 hours I think that's overcome.

At this stage it's only a pipe dream, and I wonder if I'll be watching it with my grand kids, if it ever happens, but this Twenty20 juggernaut doesn't look like stopping.

Want to start your own Champions League?

2008-08-01T18:07:00.005+10:00

Have a few million dollars lying around? Love cricket? Then why not start your own Twenty20 Champions League? Or just create your own competition with big prize money for the winner. You can watch it, as the owner, whilst being fanned by topless women with palm leaves (that's what I would do anyway...)

This week we have had the revelation of 2 separate Champions Leagues cashing in on the popularity of the newest form of the game, to go with a number of new national Twenty20 competitions and the Sanford competitions.

They wont all survive.

I have said on this blog previously that I love lots of cricket being played, and compared the situation to football where there is almost a game everyday in the UK and no one tires of it. But the difference between the current Twenty20 situation and that of football is that all the cricket competitions are largely meaningless and the result of international cricket board fights. When football is on every night, the competitions are well recognised, prestigious tournaments. Tournaments created out of thin air tend to fail, or strong teams don't show up (world club championship, various intercontinental cups and friendlies, for example).

We have known about the BCCI backed Champions League for some time. This year it will involve 2 IPL teams, 2 teams from Australia, 2 from South Africa, 2 from Pakiston and originally 2 from England. There are plans to expand with teams from more countries. But because some Kent players played in the ICL, the BCCI is not allowing them to play. It's not surprising really, the BCCI are on a crusade to control the game. You can make any argument you like about how they are protecting their financial investment - well, why not just ban the players, why the whole team? Some of the blame should also lie with the ECB, who obviously haven't given the best information to their county players and clubs.

So the ECB did what they had to do and set up their own Champions League. The England and Wales Cricket Board announced this week that it has secured a £750m deal over 10 years for a rival Twenty20 Champions League, in which of course its teams will qualify along with teams from every other senior test playing country.

The ECB's event is backed by Middle Eastern investors and will take place in Dubai or Sharjah in October. The ECB has also recently been involved in setting up the Stanford Super Series series involving England, an All Star team sponsored by Texas billionaire Sir Allen Stanford, Caribbean Twenty20 champions Trinidad & Tobago and bizarrely, Middlesex.

Let's have a look at what is happening over the next year in Twenty20 - it's a packed schedule!

Champions League
29 September to 8 October
Venue: Jaipur, New Delhi, Mohali
Teams: 2 from Australia, England, India, Pakistan, South Africa
Cash: Approx £2.5m per team

ECB Champions League
Early October
Venue: Dubai or Sharjah, UAE
Teams: 2 from the IPL, South Africa, Australia and Middlesex and Kent
Cash: £750m over 10 years

India Cricket League Invitation Cup
Sep / Oct
Venue: India
Teams: Eight franchises
Cash: Unknown

Stanford Super Series
25-28 October
Venue: Antigua
Teams: England, Stanford Super Stars, Trinidad and Tobago, Middlesex
Cash: £50,000 to Trinidad and Tobago, Middlesex, plus £100,000 for winner of their match

Stanford Super Series Winner-takes-all
1 November
Venue: Antigua
Teams: Stanford Super Stars v England
Cash: £10m

ICL Twenty20 Indian Championship
Nov / Dec
Venue: India
Teams: Eight franchises
Cash: Unknown

Indian Premier League
10 April- 29 May 2009
Venue: India-wide
Teams: Eight franchises
Cash: £500m over 10 years

ICC World Twenty20 Championship
June, 2009
Venue: Various venues across England
Teams: Nine Test playing teams (Zimbabwe excluded) plus three qualifiers
Cash: £1m (£300,000 to the winners)

My prediction is that although the burgeoning middle class of India love their cricket and are largely funding these new competitions, the IPL and ICL will not both survive. The World Twenty20 Championship will survive but I can't see how two Champions Leagues can. Indeed, I can't say I care much about either. At least this year, international Australian players will miss out on the BCCI comp, and Indian players will miss the ECB one. And do I care about cheering for Victoria and WA against created franchises from India, for which one will include Shane Warne (not playing for his native Victoria)?

This will not last. Think about other sports where capitalism has gone crazy. Super League and the ARL eventually merged in Australia to form the National Rubgy League; the Grand Slam Cup was merged with the ATP World Championship to form the Tennis Masters Cup; there are countless examples. Sanford may have changed cricket in England, perhaps the world, forever but even when Kerry Packer did something similar, eventually it sorted itself out. The good thing for Australia is that because we're good, we get invited to all competitions striving for respectability!

I just hope this doesn't take away from Test cricket. I view it like this: Test cricket is like the very hard working and highly intelligent academic working away on his research. Truly the smartest and best people go down this route, changing the world with little recognition. 50 over cricket is like the fast talking business graduate - a dime a dozen, self important but with some skills and paid well. You do need them from time to time. Twenty20 is the cat walk - very high earning, good looking with a skill set but often superficial. I love Twenty20 (as I love good-looking models) but I have a deep respect for academics. Test matches are still the pinacle. I hope that the money spinning from the short game channels into Tests.

It may be some time till we all work out which Twenty20 competitions are important and which are flash-in-the-pan. All we know now is that the cricketers will get richer.

Read more about this in The Independent

Howzat? Not out. Are you sure??

2008-07-25T08:48:00.003+10:00

Sri Lanka and India are playing the first test match under new umpire challenge rules, and I'm not sure if I like where this is going.

I'm sure Tillakaratne Dilshan will disagree as he managed to appeal a decision and was given not out.

I can just see this whole idea failing. Each team is allowed 3 challenges per innings. On field the authorisation to challenge a decision will obviously fall with the captain - but it makes me wonder about the batting side. I'd expect those three challenges will be used up pretty quickly by the top order, leaving the number 5 batsman probably without any opportunity to challenge the poorly given out catch while he's fighting hard to keep a crumbling innings together.

I've always been a strong proponent of using technology to aid the game of cricket, but I don't think players challenging the decision is the answer. I think it compromises one of the fundamental elements of the game which is to respect the umpires decision. This has already been sadly compromised after the Darrell Hair incident, but it needs to stop.

I'm more thinking along the lines of real-time 3rd umpire decisions. Such as accurate and instant hawk eye and snickometer calls that can be feed to the onfield umpire so the delay time is minimal in making a decision. If I have to wait a few years for that to come to fruition, that's fine by me.

Who Wants to be a cricket coach?

2008-07-17T12:07:00.003+10:00

Applications are now open to the position of coach of the Black Caps. Sounds like a sweet gig to me. You get to travel a lot, get to watch lots of cricket. Best of all, expectations are low for performance. Being in New Zealand, the Kiwi's have pretty much resigned themselves to continual defeat at the Test area. One Dayers are a bit different, but they do have some promising prospects for success there. So long as they don't continue to lose players to rebel cricket leagues, it should be fine. Hurry though, applications close August 4.

Maybe they should consider making an "America's Next Top Model" kind of contest out of their search?

Weet-Bix Shield?

2008-07-16T10:37:00.004+10:00

In keeping with their breakfast theme for domestic competition sponsorship, Cricket Australia have announced the new sponsor of the Australian Domestic 4-Day Competition will be Weet-Bix. Unfortunately the news is that they will be calling it "The Sheffield Shield", a sad departure from the name steeped in almost a decades worth of tradition, The Pura Cup.
The Pura Cup, which many of us grew up with since 1999 has been put to one side and will now assume some meaningless name without the proud commercial brand name attached to it.
It is a sad day for Commonwealth Bank Presents Australian Cricket, brought to you by Travelex.

The Big Man Strikes

2008-07-11T19:36:00.004+10:00

One of our reasons for existence at HTB is to keep you up-to-date on the Big Man, Dwayne Leverock.

Well, he has struck again, taking 10 for 129 against Canada in the ICC Intercontinental Cup. This is a cool little comp, consisting of second tier international teams Bermuda, Kenya, Scotland, Canada and Ireland (and with any luck next year's one will include Zimbabwe).

As you can see from the pic, Leverock has maintained peak physical fitness from the World Cup, and does not need to place a mid-off or mid-on as those positions are covered by his girth (thanks Nick for that joke). Long live characters in international sport (well before they die of heart attacks anyway).

What a weird week

2008-07-03T01:28:00.005+10:00

It has been a weird week for cricket in the British Isles. There have been two rather strange games - the record breaking New Zealand vs. Ireland ODI, and the controversial ODI between England and New Zealand.

Let's deal with the first game. There was a time when records in cricket were hard-earned and represented the highest achievements in the game. No more. New Zealand's 290 run win was the biggest ever win in a ODI. Taking a look at the list of biggest wins by runs, you have to look down to Australia's 232 run win against Sri Lanka in 1985 to find a game between 2 genuinely competitive teams. This result lies 8th on the list. India's 256 run victory over Hong Kong this week also lies above it. If you look at the list of victories by ball remaining, you have to go down further than 8th to find a genuine contest between quality teams.

When did it become so easy to break records like this? When did the ICC start handing out official status to these exhibition games? With all due respect to Ireland who performed outstandingly in the last World Cup, any team whose players are forced to play county cricket over their national team can't really be respected as a fully fledged international team.

So what do we do? Allow more mismatched games like this so to spread the word of cricket? Or only allow quality teams to play in official games? Anyone who follows HTB or my science blog will know I'm a stats nerd, and I like my numbers clean. Games like these make our stats useless. Is New Zealand the most outstanding team in world ODI cricket ever? I think official status should only be granted to these games in the World Cup.

The second game that caught my attention this week was the final ODI between New Zealand and England, which NZ thankfully won despite their number 11 Mark Gillespie missing 4 balls in a row in the final over when only 2 runs were need for victory. That they won on an overthrow on the last ball, when all England needed was a cool head to lob the ball back to the bowler, was justice after the controversial runout of Grant Elliot. If you haven't seen it, watch the clip below and make up your own mind on whether Collingwood should have recalled Elliot after he collided with Sidebottom. In my opinion, yes! But if it had been at a crucial moment in the World Cup final, I'm really not so sure. It was unlucky and there was no unfair play, but the spirit of cricket, something so trodden upon by India and Australia recently, should come into play. It was good to see the nicest man in world cricket, Daniel Vettori, win the series as captain. They are dark horses for the World Twenty20.

Bring on the Twenty20

2008-06-22T21:55:00.000+10:00

I am officially a convert to Twenty20. If we ignore what money will do to the game of cricket, possibly devaluing Test cricket and all the rest, there is one very good thing about Twenty20 - you can wander down after work and watch a full game of exciting play. The days are long enough in England that you don't even need to turn the ground lights on - not that many of the grounds have lights anyway. And the teams play lots of games so there is a game on most nights of the week.

This week I saw Hampshire play Surrey at The Oval, and it was fantastic. When Twenty20 was first played in Australia, it seemed the side that batted first always won, but the county teams have sorted the game out, and nearly every game in this year's Twenty20 Cup has gone down to the last over with run rates of more than 8 an over. The game I saw was no different, with the bizarrely named Surrey Brown Caps failing to defend 175 against the Hampshire Hawks, with Hampshire winning with 6 balls to spare.

The funny thing about cricket though is that it is not like football or rugby. No matter how much you condense the game, the spurts of action are still very short and you spend a lot of the time talking to your mates, reading the paper, drinking beer and simply soaking up the atmosphere. You don't watch it like you watch football. This means you end up missing some of the action. and whilst there is a lot of action in Twenty20, the game is so short that if you blink or go grab a drink, you can miss 50 runs. I remember the first game of Twenty20 I saw at North Sydney Oval (with one Mr Nick Scott actually); Brad Hodge scored a century and I can barely remember it, yet 100 in a Twenty20 game is astounding!

I still prefer the intrigue and mental clashes of a Test match, but any form of cricket whereby I can drop by after work and watch some high class play is good by me. We really must have a debate about the various forms of cricket (why is there a county 40 over competition? That's simply weird), but that topic is for another day. It is worth noting that now there is lots of money available in Twenty20, no one seems to be whinging about playing too much any more. Funny that...

The Kat goes to the dogs

2008-06-20T01:06:00.007+10:00

It looks like Simon Katich is about to become the unluckiest cricketer ever. With Matthew Hayden set to come back into the Australian Test team, Katich will probably be dropped despite the fact he has scored back-to-back test centuries. This has happened to Katich before when he was dropped following a century in order to make room for Andrew Symonds.

But it seems The Kat has a new relaxed attitude, and doesn't seem as bothered this time round, which helps his cause as I still think he should be a contender to be the next Australian Test captain. It's premature to look to Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey has the very unfortunate ODI captaincy record of 0 from 4 - including failing to defend 346, 336 and 272, as well as a 10 wicket loss - and who else is there if Ponting gets injured?

Just because a batsman is dynamic and young doesn't make him necessarily a good captain, and Clarke has no pedigree. Mark Taylor was one of our least dynamic batsmen, but in my opinion has been the best and most interesting captain during my lifetime. I'd love to see The Kat step up next time Ponting is injured, even if he is not in the current XI!

Fleming vs Richardson

2008-06-11T23:55:00.004+10:00

I remember seeing this a few years back in New Zealand, and thought it was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time. Watch the first video, then watch the second for an explanation. Good stuff from the kiwis!

Twenty20 Champions League

2008-06-10T15:07:00.001+10:00

In a further attempt to make Twenty20 cricket a cash cow like soccer, another blatant name rip off has been announced in the form of the Twenty20 Champions League. The "announcement" wasn't much of one if you ask me. Didn't we already know about this? And considering they didn't even say where it was going to be, I guess all we really found out was that it's actually happening (they weren't bluffing) and that it's happening about the Champions Trophy. This year is truly a year for champions I suppose.

I'm looking forward to it. I only hope that it takes place at a time that I can watch it because as interesting as the IPL seemed to be, it was mostly lost on me because of the hopelessly inaccessible time it was broadcast in Australia. However, considering now I'm in New Zealand, and that there are no kiwi teams in the inaugural Champions League, I wonder how much attention it will really get over here. Perhaps another reason to get Sky TV...

I'll be curious to see how Australia fares, I think the most interesting thing to come from this is that, despite all the big bucks thrown around in the IPL, the eventual winner the Rajasthan Royals was actually a cheap team without big stars. If you look at the Victorian Bushrangers and take the IPL salaries of players like Cameron White, David Hussey, and whatever other stars that played for IPL teams that didn't make the Champions League and so therefore will play for the Vics, and let's say we just slap every other player with the average IPL salary, I wouldn't be surprised if you end up with a theoretically more "expensive" team of stars than the Royals. (Marc you're good with maths and stats, are you able to confirm or deny this?)

80s and 90s Test team cause oil price rise

2008-06-03T01:59:00.002+10:00

Petrol prices have recently risen. What is it caused by? Energy insecurity or the Iraq war? No! It's the fault of cricket, in particular Aussie cricket. Let's check out the Australian Cricket Team's Test winning percentage between 1982 and 2004 and compare it to the oil price rise over the last 8 years.

As you can see, the correlation is remarkable! So, when you fill up this week and notice the latest price rise, you can blame Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh for improving the results of the Aussie Test Team! By the way, the data are completely real - make it for yourself at Cricinfo.

I put this together over at Mr Science to show how things can look correlated when they actually have nothing to do with each other - check it out for some more info on the maths behind it.

Test Cricket Photos

2008-06-03T01:47:00.003+10:00

An interesting group on Flickr is the Test Cricket Photographs group.

The (audacious) goal of this group is to bring together photos of every day's play in every Test of cricket played. Pretty audacious, but it's looking good for recent tests. Using the flickr tags, you can search for whatever day of whatever Test you like. Check it out. My recent Test photos are up there too.

MacGill throws it all in - but it's a long hop and it's quickly smashed to the boundary for four

2008-06-02T10:30:00.001+10:00

So after years upon years of living in the shadow of the greatest leg spinner in Australian (and Test history), arguably Australia's second greatest leg spinner Stuart MacGill has decided to retire. It seems like a rash decision, but at the same time it made me think it was very in keeping with the kind of personality MacGill has given off during his career.

He's always come across as a bit of a hot-head, or to be more specific very hot and cold. He was a great bowler who could turn the ball at near right angles, and was at times unplayable. Unfortunately at the same time he could bowl long hops and full tosses that would make Michael Bevan blush. When things didn't go his way, like an appeal turned down, he would get very fired up - like a guy frustrated that it wasn't all turning out the way he wanted it to.

And I suppose that has in many ways typified his career. It never quite went according to plan. He would've had an amazing career at literally any other time in Australian cricket history - he just had to pick the Shane Warne era. I can't even say I will particularly miss him because he never really had a chance to get much of a foothold, in the team or in the fans hearts and minds. Now was his time, but for him, it had already passed.

The saddest part of it all is, Beau Casson is next in line. Dear god.

Money buys stars, but Teams win championships

2008-05-27T16:42:00.008+10:00

There's the adage that a champion team can beat a team of champions any day. This much is true for the Rajasthan Royals. They were the cheapest team in the IPL. The franchise itself was purchased for the least amount of money, ($67 million, compared to the $111.9 million payed for the Mumbai franchise), and then when it came to buying players, the Royals spent so little, they were fined for not spending enough!

No one gave them a chance, but now they find themselves at the top of the table, and worthy leaders. They have been a team that has played consistently well, sometimes with a bit of fortune, but always with a winning attitude. They have had but a few stand out performances, and mostly all round team performances. The true hallmarks of a championship team.

Before the competition started, my money was on the Knight Riders - partly because of their strong line-up, but also because of their awesomely ridiculous name. Now, I'm all for Warnie and Royals to take it home.

Warne to the rescue?

2008-05-23T12:21:00.003+10:00

I like the thought of having Warnie frozen in a glass container with the words "Break in case of Emergency" written on it. Warnie has gotten some attention over comments he made that "if required" he would don the creams again and roll the arm over for Australia in the Ashes.

Good ol' Warnie, when it suits him, he'll play for us. I'm not complaining - the guy is so bloody good, I'll gladly take him whenever he wants to. Any terms he makes, they're going to be worth it.

Of course, I don't think we need to panic just yet. MacGill is still around, let's see how he goes against the Windies. I have no idea what the future holds for our prospects with Beau Casson, but we're not quite at def con 2 yet, so Warnie can stick to taking the Royals to the IPL finals.

The Kat is back!

2008-05-23T12:11:00.004+10:00

The career of Simon Katich has been, in my opinion, a strange one. He's struggled to find his place after showing promise early but being struck with chronic fatigue or something held him back. Till now he's had what I think is a one day career longer than he rightly should have, and a test career shorter than he deserves. Well now it seems he will get a temporary reprieve as he is playing in the first test against the Windies, replacing Hayden.

Unfortunately it seems he's already batted and only got 12. So the resurrection of the Kat's international career may be brief.

The End of the Tri-Series

2008-05-22T11:33:00.003+10:00

I always had visions of it becoming even bigger, from a tri-series to a 5-series, where a series of 5 teams, always featuring Australia and New Zealand would play in a massive round robin tournament across Australia and New Zealand. It equalled more games in total, and less non-Australia matches because half would be played in NZ.

Anyway, those grand dreams have been dashed, and the tri-series altogether has been scrapped from the Australian calendar. It was very inevitable, but it's sad in a way. I have grown up with that formula and it dictated my summer.

However, I will not be sad for long, because it's place is a very robust little setup. 5 match series against two nations and featuring 2 and 3 test series as well. All in all, more Australia matches to enjoy and you can't complain about that.

Of course, I won't be in Australia come this summer, but I'll still be able to enjoy it on television, and mark my words - I will.

Can't wait for it!

The Hallowed Baggy VB

2008-05-22T11:02:00.004+10:00

A lot of people have gotten very worked up about the fact that the Australian cricket team played a tour match against a Jamaican Select XI wearing caps featuring their sponsor VB rather than their traditional baggy green caps. The traditionalists, the ones I'm sure have already claimed that one day cricket and Twenty20 cricket will be the death of the game, got stuck into the Australians for their disrespect.

Well, it turns out it was actually all Brad Haddin's fault, because he hasn't played a test match yet, he doesn't actually possess a baggy green, therefore he would have to wear a broad brimmed white hat, which as we all know looks pretty naff, especially when you're the wicket keeper. The team management had decided that in a show of support, they would all wear the VB sponsored baseball caps.

Riiiight.

They quickly changed back the next day to shut everyone up.

I think the first clue should've been the fact they were playing a "Jamaican Select XI", "Select XI"?? Doesn't Jamaica just have a team of it's own? Sounds like the pickup truck scenario I mentioned before, either that or maybe it was the first eleven locals who came to the ground that day. That said, I wonder if eleven people actual did turn up to the ground to watch this.

I guess what surprises me more is that everyone got so upset that the Aussies were wearing the VB caps, but they didn't say anything about the fact Symmo was wearing thongs and stubbies - that's what you wearing when you're just playing a bit of backyard cricket, right?

Funny Sky Sports Cricket Ad

2008-05-21T19:51:00.002+10:00

This is great!

Lord's Test, England vs New Zealand 2008

2008-05-19T22:37:00.005+10:00

There is no greater experience for a cricket lover than watching a Test match at the home of cricket, Lord's. Whereas watching cricket in Sydney is synonymous with sunstroke, sunburn and body odour, a day at Lord's is all picnics, boater hats and polite applause. Even when you see very little cricket because of bad light, as we did, it is still a nice day out.

Part of this may be the fact that it is quite upper class and the ground only holds around 25000 people. For the first time ever, I actually heard someone say "What-ho old man". It was a special occasion for us (my birthday), so we were happy to pay the £60 ticket price each ($AU 130 and falling...), but these were the cheapest tickets on offer. Most of the crowd were in suits, and walking to dinner through the rather exclusive St John's Wood (Kate Moss lives there), these same chaps could be seen letting their hair down with their chums at Gordon Ramsay's gastropub - you could tell as they had taken their ties off. Much of the crowd had prearranged picnic baskets containing Veuve Clicquot and the best French cheese, which they ate in the shadow of the WG Grace statue whilst on the phone to their fund manager. There is something quite wonderful about the whole upper-class-ness of it all - and something a bit wrong. The Lord's tradition of mustard-striped ties and plummy accents makes it very special, but also very out-of-reach for most of us. The class system is nowhere near dead in England!

Anyway, to the cricket, and whilst I normally think that it is a privilege to see top class cricketers in action, when the cheapest ticket on offer is £60, they can play in some poor light! I looked out the window of the restaurant at 9pm and thought to myself that I would play in the light on offer at that time, and have done, let alone how light it was when they went off countless times throughout the day. Given that the English were wearing their new bleached bright white outfits, surely the batsmen could see the red ball with that as background! The new uniforms made the kiwi creams look dirty. Apparently it is so the ECB can sell more Test shirts on the high street - white is more fashionable than cream I take it.

Sidebottom bowled really well, and Vettori batted with guts - until for some reason he left a straight ball that took out his middle stump. Cook and Strauss looked very comfortable against the Kiwi opening bowlers - they were very rarely troubled, so I don't know why they accepted the offer of poor light from the umpires. Given the bad light, and that Vettori cleaned up the English batting line-up the following day, it would have been great if Vettori had brought himself on a bit earlier. We may have seen more play and more action.

One interesting thing I learnt about the NZ team was about their opener Aaron Redmond, who was making his debut. His father Rodney played one test, in which he scored 107 and 56. He couldn't adapt to wearing contact lenses and retired. Aaron scored a duck...

So, even though we only saw 50-odd overs play, we read 3 newspapers, the programs, had one bottle of champagne, too many chips, a whole chicken, a bottle of dry ginger ale and a little sleep in the afternoon. A perfect day at the cricket! And certainly it's about time Lord's got some floodlights and the cricket authorities worked out how to play cricket in bad light. Pink balls, flood lights, day-night tests, it doesn't matter. Let's just get some more game-time. It was strange that the players were going off in the light they did.

You can see my photos from the day on my flickr site.

Shannon Noll, the voice of English cricket

2008-05-13T18:38:00.002+10:00

It's 28 degrees outside, the cricket is just about to start, the days are long, and people are finally talking about bat-pads and third men instead of goals and defenders. Folks are flocking to the beach, the tabloids now have cricketers' wives on page 3, the national wicket-keeper is a big-hitting batsman with a broad Australian accent, and the dulcet tones of Shannon Noll are advertising the test television coverage.

Are we in Australia?

No, we are in England. Whilst Tim Ambrose is a pretty good player, our finest export to English cricket this summer is the runner up from Australian Idol 2003, Shannon Noll. Channel Five is using Noll's song "Shine"as part of their cricket coverage, so even on the other side of the world, you can not escape his rocky nasally voice.

Finally, the English cricket season is upon us

2008-05-09T00:33:00.006+10:00

Finally in London we are about to enter that beautiful window where no football is played. After the FA Cup final next week, football (soccer to us southerners) finally goes into its off-season - all two months of it...

And in this little summer opening, cricket takes it's worthy spot atop the English sporting tree.

The press here seem to take delight in pummeling the team when they do not do well, which has been quite often since the 2005 Ashes. But they're not such a bad team. If Flintoff comes back (and Justin Langer, who is still going around for Somerset, thinks he is the best bowler in the world) then they will look much stronger than they did last year.

The selectors made an interesting decision last year to persist with Strauss, and he rewarded them with his highest score of 177 in the final test versus New Zealand. However, he scored less than 100 runs in total in his other 5 innings that tour, so still has a big question-mark hanging over him. As does Vaughan, who has yet to shine in the early county games and averaged only 20 against New Zealand. People say he is worth his place through his captaincy alone, and as a Mark Taylor fan I can't argue that logic. Vaughan does have something not many recent English captains have, and that's an Ashes series win. But Collingwood would make a very able replacement, and England have longer term prospects in Pietersen and Cook, so Vaughan needs to impress.

The man that England really should have gone for, but for whom I fear the boat has left, is Mark Ramprakash. Although his test record was pretty poor before they dropped him (averaging 27), one day a couple of summers ago he awoke to be a completely different player, easily topping the county averages, averaging 101 in 2007 and 103 in 2006. At the moment in 2008, he is already averaging 99. I think they should have picked him to bolster their batting after the 2005 Ashes series when everyone got injured. Probably would have made a good captain for their Ashes campaign of 06/07 too.

Such numbers are difficult to ignore, but it has happened before. Ramps seems to have done a Michael Bevan or a Dean Jones. At some stage he must have done something to someone, and now he will never be picked again. Bevan only stumbled a couple of times at Test level and never got another go - even though he was the best batsman in the country, possible the world, especially in one-dayers. Who knows what Jones did, but he was discarded averaging 44 in the test team after only 50-odd tests.

But at least Ramprakash can console himself with the fact he won Strictly Come Dancing.

I am going to be living the dream on my birthday by going to Lords to see the 2nd day of the England / New Zealand test match (well, not quite the dream, that would be an Ashes test, but this is still pretty good!) England are expected to win, but with Brendan McCullum set to be the next Gilchrist, especially after his heroics in the IPL, and Daniel Vettori keen to impress as captain, the Kiwis should not be written off. As an Aussie, I can't really go for either team, so I'll adopt the concept of the IPL and support individual players. I expect McCullum and Vettori to do well for the Kiwis, and I think Sidebottom should continue his fine form for the Poms. I'd like to see Hoggard back, but think we might have seen the last of Harmison. Cook should accumulate the most runs on either side. The Kiwis will miss Shane Bond who has been inexplicably banned from playing for them as he chose the wrong Indian Twenty20 competition. I think they will struggle to bowl out the English, and Vettori will do a lot of bowling, if fit.

Now the sun has finally arrived, let the cricket season begin!

The Mighty Windies?

2008-05-08T22:10:00.001+10:00

With Australia's upcoming tour of the Windies, I couldn't help but think - does anyone think the West Indies really have any chance of wining here? Does anyone even remotely think they're going to be competitive?

Even without all the star players that made up Australia's dominant team, I don't think there's much doubt we're going to run through them. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Who do they even have left in their team anymore?

Lara plays in the ICL, Chris Gayle plays well only when he can be bothered, which isn't often enough and what ever happened to the feared fast bowling attack of old?

The Windies haven't actually officially named their squad yet - I think they're still driving the pickup truck around the Caribbean with the sign "Hop in the back if you want to play a game of cricket" on it.

My cabbie tells me....

2008-05-06T22:07:00.003+10:00

Late last night I hopped into a minicab and started having a chat to the driver. He told me that 2 IPL captains and one umpire had been found guilty of match fixing over the weekend. Having been away, I hadn't heard anything about this, and this morning's frantic Internet search has not come up with any results. Does anyone know anything about this? Is Handled the Ball breaking a big story here, and does my London cabbie have some inside knowledge? I need to know more!

Twenty20 double century

2008-05-06T11:16:00.003+10:00

Cricinfo are reporting that a batsmen in Singapore club cricket has hit the world's first Twenty20 double century. Now, of course the level of competition in Singapore isn't great, but when you consider this guy scored the runs off just over 50 balls, that's quite an amazing feat. I don't think I could do that against my brother in the backyard, let alone in match conditions. Short of the opposition slowly lobbing full tosses at him and kicking the ball to the boundary for him in the field, I don't see how he managed to do it.

See Sreesanth Cry

2008-04-30T17:38:00.005+10:00

Funny stuff. Can't wait to see footage of the actual slap.

Karmic Balance?

2008-04-28T10:01:00.002+10:00

Don't get me wrong, I like Indians, I love their passion for cricket, but I don't care much for their players and their team. Some players I think are fantastic and I have plenty of time for them, such as Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble and yes, even though he slaughters us more often than not Laxman, but there are others I don't care so much for.

This week, during the IPL I had the satisfaction of seeing two of my least favourite Indians combine in some kind of bizarre karmic retribution. Harbhajan Singh in a typical display of sportsmanship befitting his measure as a man slaps Sreesanth after a match. Now, I blame both of these players for exascerbating the race issues between Australia and India; Sreesanth first for his stare out of Symonds that generated the ill will towards him on the Aussie's last tour, and of course Bhaji for calling Symonds a monkey.

Now, Harbhajan is suspended, and Sreesanth apparently cried like a girl when he got hit. Sweet justice.

IPL Gets My Thumbs Up

2008-04-25T19:24:00.005+10:00

In Australia, the time difference to India means most of the games are very late at night. It turns cricket into a fast food, vapid (but fun) spectacle, and has a very tacky Bollywood-esque feel to it all, but the IPL is bloody fantastic.

As a lover of the game of cricket, beyond country allegiances, I think the combination of the some of the best talents in the world together is everything that other franchised sports have offered, and that is a good thing.

My opinions of the game of Twenty20 aside, I think it's the best thing that's happened to cricket since World Series Cricket. I have no idea if in the long run it will work, I have no idea if the franchises that have spent ridiculous millions on the teams are going to make their money back, but I absolutely love the concept, and think it's about time!

I just hope the ICC reorganise the Future Tours Program so they don't clash with the event.

The Kolkata Knight Riders?

2008-03-19T20:36:00.004+11:00

One of the more humorous things I have heard recently is the name of the Kolkata team in the Indian Premier League.

Clearly taking from one of the best TV shows of all time, the team will be known as the Knight Riders!

We have exclusive pics of the team's captain (right).

I expect the following pre-game entertainment at each game. Hopefully KITT will show too....

Cricketers are getting better at rugby

2008-03-05T21:01:00.002+11:00

Check out the improvement in the tackling abilities of cricketers between the 1980s and 2000s.

Terry Alderman put himself out of the game and didn't recover his bowling form for a number of years. Andrew Symonds, on the other hand, should be recruited by the Queensland Reds.

Alderman:

Symonds:

Matthew Hayden should lose his book deal

2008-02-29T23:16:00.008+11:00

I was very disappointed this week to hear that Matthew Hayden called Harbhajan Singh an "obnoxious weed".

As a senior player in the team, he really should know better than to use such inflammatory language. Clearly he meant noxious weed.

As Hayden is an author, such poor copy-editing should not go unnoticed. I call on ABC Books, publishers of his smash hit book The Matthew Hayden Cookbook, to pull all funding until Hayden goes back to English class.

Whilst I'm sure Harbhajan is obnoxious, a weed can't be obnoxious.

ob·nox·ious

adj.

1. Very annoying or objectionable; offensive or odious: "I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution" Ulysses S. Grant.

2. Archaic Exposed to harm, injury, or evil: "The town ... now lies obnoxious to its foes" John Bunyan.

3. Archaic Deserving of or liable to censure.

nox·ious

adj.

1. Harmful to living things; injurious to health: noxious chemical wastes.

2. Harmful to the mind or morals; corrupting: noxious ideas.

I wait to hear that the BCCI are threatening to pull out of the tour due to Hayden's poor grasp of English.

Ban Sledging? Monkey Bastards!!

2008-02-14T17:27:00.004+11:00

In their latest efforts to control cricket and completely turn it into crap, the BCCI are expected to request a ban on sledging. Seems these monkey bastards have gotten into a big huff in the aftermath of the Sydney Test fiasco and since their guys can't keep up with the rampaging Aussies they're going to try and silence everyone. I wonder how they're going to honestly expect to police this. Are we going to see school kid mentality where players dob others in, "Sir, he called me a dummy!" The simple fact is not all sledging is offensive, some of it is just clever and sometimes people find things offensive that just isn't intended to be, so who is going to objectively enforce it? At the end of the day it's all just gamesmanship, you can't stop it, and you shouldn't try.

Matthew Elliot Retires

2008-02-12T15:48:00.000+11:00

So, Matthew Elliot decided to retire. As far as his international career is concerned, he'll probably be best remembered (if at all) for running into Mark Waugh back in 1999 and damaging his knee so badly he couldn't play for years. Elliot was one of those players that would score a mountain of runs at state level but never converted it into an international career, and it made me think about those "Champion First Class Players" that just can't seem to cut it on the big stage.

Clearly they have the skill, you just can't keep scoring mountains and mountains of runs or take bags and bags of wickets without having a bit of talent, but at the end of the day I suppose sometimes nerves can get the better of a player and they can freeze up and underperform.

Elliot is a prime example, I think Bichel and Kasprowicz (who incidently has also retired just recently) are bowlers that never quite made it despite showing so much form at state level. I suppose in a way Michael Bevan was another example (at least at test level) along with Simon Katich and maybe Chris Rogers...

Effigies of Handled the Baller writers burnt on the street

2008-02-05T01:42:00.000+11:00

Indian Cricket fans have reacted angrily at comments about the BCCI and Harbhjan on the popular cricket blog Handled the Ball by burning effigies of the writers on the streets.

As the photos below graphically show, an effigy of Scott in an Australian playing guernsey was prepared to be burnt in front of school children, whilst West and Steve Bucknor (who came under enormous flack after the Sydney test) were portrayed as donkeys with misspelt names.

HTB writers have remained silent on the issue, however Greg Chappell and Sourav Ganguly - who have both been burnt many times - stated that such a burning was actually a sign of affection.

Thanks to The Corridor (A Cricket Blog) for the pics

Emotional Exhaustion?

2008-01-31T14:56:00.000+11:00

So, Shaun Tait decides to quit cricket "indefinitely" citing "physical and emotional" exhaustion as his reasons for doing so. Emotional exhaustion?

What does that even mean? He's really exhausted after all the emotions he's expended while playing cricket? Is frustration an emotion?

Sounds to me like the guy couldn't get a regular gig for the longest time, mostly due to injury and once he got his chance he stuffed it up and now he's packed up his toys and decided to go home.

Boo hoo I say, there's a million other guys waiting to take his spot. If he can't hack it, go pack shelves at Coles and let people like Doug Bollinger step up instead.

Good riddance.

Monkey Business

2008-01-31T10:12:00.000+11:00

There's always something to say in the world of cricket. Handled the Ball stood silent through the World Cup final fiasco, the entire Twenty20 World Championship, and all through Australia's tour of India (where the monkey incident started). So much has happened and still the lazy bloggers at HTB said nothing.

But now it's impossible to keep quiet.

Where does one begin? What the hell??

So, the charge has been downgraded from racism to "offensive". It completely misses the point. As Symond already pointed out, he's not overly sensitive to racial remarks, he was just taking a stand against it, saying there is no place for it. He wasn't actually offended. Being called a monkey is at best mildly offensive. Except when it's intended as a racial slur, and in that context it's more about drawing a line in the sand saying no comment of a racial nature is acceptable. To ignore the comment as being what it was, racial and just making it out to be a regular offensive comment, misses the point entirely.

Secondly, let's forget about all the nonsense about "monkey gods" - you only need to go back to the Australia tour of India to see the crowds to understand the context behind the comments in the first place. It's not about the much revered Hanuman, it was implying a person was less the human because of their skin colour. That's not on.

The monkey incident in India was much worse than what happened at Sydney. It was disgusting. It should not have been resurrected in Sydney.

That of course assumes he actually even said "monkey" in the first place.

What a joke....

2008-01-30T21:20:00.000+11:00

Handled the Ball is back!

We've been brought out of our hibernation by the countless ludicrous scenarios that have been played out in this summer's contests between India and Australia. And whatever you think about the individual (or collective) combatants, there is only one loser, the great game of cricket. Corny as that sounds, the face of cricket has changed this summer, and not in its best interests.

For now we have entered an era of the game where its future and direction is determined by cricket boards with money. At least in the old days when the old men of Lords with the mustard striped ties were running the show, we knew they had the best interests of the game at hand - as out of touch as they sometimes were.

The players are also to blame - running around like prima-donnas - but we'll get to that.

In the 80s when World Series Cricket was born, no one playing cricket was being paid. It was what cricket needed - money talked but so did boards and governments and after some time, the game was better for it. It may be hindsight talking, but the revolution ended up bringing better conditions and more opportunities to players and administrators. Fast forward to 2008. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rapidly become, on the back of 1 billion passionate cricket supporters and countless sponsorship deals, the richest body in world cricket. This in itself is not a bad thing. However, when a board with money threatens to pull out of tour when it does not get its own way, threatens the livelihood of the game in another country because of lost revenue, and gets a foreign player's international contract torn up, we really must wonder where the game is heading. As opposed to World Series Cricket, no one would argue these are good things. There were three incidents that particularly hurt the game recently:

The "Monkey Row" and player behaviour

If you are interested in cricket and have not been living under a rock, you could not have missed this story. Harbhajan Singh allegedly called Andrew Symonds, Australia's only black player, a "monkey" during the Sydney test. Following this, on the basis of a few Australian players' words, he was banned for three games. Watch the video here.

The BCCI, having already cried foul about the spirit of cricket during the Test match (see below), promptly said that they would pull out of the tour if the decision was not reversed. Now, the BCCI has every right to appeal - sport these days is a business and as such is subject the civil and criminal laws. And indeed, the initial verdict was a bad one given that there was no evidence. But since when, if things don't go your way, are you allowed to take your bat and ball and go home? Even the Bodyline series was completed!

So to the appeal, and apparently the BCCI had a chartered plane ready to take the players home if they didn't get the verdict they wanted. Cricket Australia for their part feared it would be sued for $60 million if India quit the tour. Was the new decision ever in doubt? The ICC court found Harbhajan guilty of offensive language, but not of racial vilification.

So what did he say? He apparently said something offensive to be fined half his match fee. Is "monkey" not a racial term but simply an offensive one? I have been called worse on the field by my own team mates. Or did he say "maa ki", which is Punjabi abuse? If so, Symonds would not even understand the abuse and it could hardly be offensive.

Or was he, as the Australian Indian Community allege, in the heat of battle, actually praising Symonds? It's worth reading their statement:

United Indian Association President Raj Natarajan:

"Considering that the “Monkey God” is one of the revered idols of Hindu mythology and worshipped by millions, it is surprising it was considered a racist term. Even more surprising is that the word “monkey” is considered by the match referee serious enough to slap a three match ban on Harbhajan Singh. Many other more unsavoury words exchanged on the field go un-noticed."

There is a humourous and scientific take on this (so it appealed to me) here

The whole thing is ridiculous. Apparently Harbhjan is from a humble background and is an upstanding young man. But I would love to know what he said. It was offensive, sounded a lot like monkey, but wasn't racist. Racial vilification needs to be stamped out of all society, not only cricket. Everyone says stupid things on the field - and most of the time the actual players are not offended. But it is abhorrent in all society that someone should turn to racist words when in the heat of battle - that these are the words in your grabbag. These players are seen by billions each day - they should behave accordingly. I think the way the Australians behave a lot of the time is awful too (we'll get to that....) but this is not the point. The BCCI has got their outcome by flexing their financial muscles - we have a ludicrous outcome where Harbhjan has been found to have said something offensive - probably monkey - but not been punished accordingly. At least Darren Lehmann, when he went on his tirade against the Sri Lankans, admitted it and took it on the chin. The BCCI should be as against racism as the rest of society.

According to Tendulkar, Symonds misheard Harbhajan - but apparently it was still offensive. Gimme a break....

Which brings me to the behaviour of the Aussies. I think Australia lost their way on the field after Mark Taylor. Just because Steve Waugh redefines sledging as "mental disintegration" doesn't make it OK - likewise, simply because they have a Code of Conduct doesn't mean Ricky Ponting and team are pillars of virtue. Simply because Gilly walks doesn't mean every time he appeals he is right. The Australians sledge too much and, as many Indian readers have pointed out in newspapers, can't take it when they get it back. Remember McGrath and Chanderpaul?

McGrath: What does Lara's c*ck taste like?
Chanderpaul: Ask your wife

McGrath was livid and ugly. His reaction, mainly due to the fact his wife was sick, was outrageous, especially given he was so comprehensively outpointed in the sledge department by Chanderpaul. I personally think we should fine players and suspend them for the stuff they get up to. And Ponting should stop talking to umpires.

But this is not the point here. Racial vilification is a definite no. The result of all this is very very bad for cricket. The BCCI should have had more moral strength and not have been so cowardly. The ICC should have had the balls to stand up to the BCCI. And all the players should just shut-up.

The Umpires

The second black mark against the BCCI is their directing of the ICC to get rid of Steve Bucknor after a number of poor decisions in Sydney. Since when does a board have this power? In cricket, the umpire it always right. It is one of the pillars of the game. You can't complain when a few decisions go against you. Does the BCCI not remember pretty much every foreign tour before independent umpires where introduced? The number of tours that would have abandoned because of bad umpires....

You can not threaten to leave a country on this basis. Also, the umpires should have handled the Sydney Test much better. In my opinion, it was their fault that the match got out of hand. They should have gone to the third umpire on catches and been consistent, they should have calmed the players down, and they should have shut Ponting up. Clarke of course should have walked too.

Shane Bond

Oh well, if India do leave, then perhaps CA should invite Shane Bond over for a few games. He's had his contract torn up by the New Zealand Cricket Board because he had signed on to play with the new Indian Cricket League, even though it had previously said it was OK to do so. His original contract with New Zeland Cricket allowed him to play for third parties when his NZC commitments allowed. Three months ago Bond sought and was granted consent by NZC to sign with the ICL in line with his playing contract. He also ensured his ICL contract released him for international duties if required.

So why was he sacked? Well, have a think... NZC is concerned about loosing money if the BCCI take a stand against them, given that the ICL is not sanctioned by the BCCI. So, NZC caved, simply because Bond was going off to play in a competition that the BCCI did not sanction. I hope that Bond takes NZC to court as this is ridiculous, unfare, and deprives us of seeing one of the world's best bowlers in action.

OK, rant over. I seriously hope that this situation improves soon. The next World Cup is in 2011, where? The sub-continent. The rotation basis for the World Cup meant that it was to come to Australia and New Zealand, but oh, that's right. Money.

A question for all sports people?

2007-08-24T19:43:00.000+10:00

Should you have sex before sport?
Vote in the poll

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The Science of cricket

2007-04-27T10:15:00.000+10:00

With the Cricket World Cup coming to its conclusion, I thought it was time to do a story on some interesting scientific aspects of cricket that have arisen recently.

Are cricketers fit?

Having watched the likes of David Boon, Darren Lehmann and Ian Botham strut the international cricket stage with distinction, you might believe that you really do not need to be fit to play cricket. Don’t you just stand around in the outfield avoiding the ball for most of the day?

Studies conducted by Dr Rob Duffield at the School of Human Movement at Charles Sturt University have found that indeed you really do not need to be as physically fit to play cricket as you do other sports such as football.

Dr Duffield and Dr Marc Portus, the Sports Science Manager of Cricket Australia, have studied the effects of international cricket on the body.

During a test century, which takes on average three and a half hours of batting, a batsman will stand still for two hours, walk for an hour, jog for ten minutes, spend only five minutes running hard, and about a minute and half sprinting.

It seems that the key to being a good cricketer is lots of net practice to keep the skill base high, the ability to tackle the psychological aspects of the game, and plenty of natural talent.

“Physical conditioning and muscle training is not going to necessarily improve your performance in cricket,” Dr Duffield said. “Having a high oxygen consumption or a faster twenty metre sprint time doesn’t mean you are going to be able to bowl better, or get more wickets, or score a century.”

This does not mean, however, that you can be completely unfit and compete at the highest level. It seems the fitter you are, the less likely you are to succumb to injury, and the quicker you recover from fatigue. This helps maintain performance throughout a long day’s play, or over a five day test match.

For more info, check out the CSU report.

Third World Congress of Science and Medicine in Cricket

Barbados recently hosted Third World Congress of Science and Medicine in Cricket.

The aims of the Congress are to:

To provide a state of the art review of the basic, applied and clinical sciences as they relate to cricket and the impact of cricket on society.
To provide a forum for integrating knowledge from the contributing sciences which address key areas in the prevention and management of cricket injuries and the enhancement of performance.
To identify those areas where our scientific understanding is incomplete and to encourage discussions of the challenges that face all involved in the advancement of the game of cricket.
To provide a forum for the dissemination of scientific information relating to cricket.

The congress attracted doctors, coaches, therapists, psychologists and sports trainers who all shared information regarding the fitness and abilities of cricketers.

Dr Llewellyn Harper, one of three doctors on the medical board panel of the West Indies Cricket Board, stated that the West Indies team had become very fit over the last decade, however had suffered because, in general, fitness was not given the recognition it deserved.

“The West Indies are definitely a better team in terms of physical fitness,” he said. “What the players need to do now, is take ownership of the regimes that we have put in place, so that level of preparation can be maintained. They are interested in making their careers longer, so they are aware of what they have to do, and how often they have to do it.”

For more info, check out the congress website

Stupid Stats

And to finish up, here is a statistical oddity for all you science and cricket nerds out there – and I mean that as a complement, as clearly I am one. This comes from an article by Andrew Miller on the very comprehensive and well-regarded cricket website, Cricinfo.

Prior to the start of the Australia vs Sri Lanka game on April 16, the One-Day International statistics for Australian fast-bowler Shaun Tait had a rather unusual bent to them – they were a computer geek’s dream - everything was in binary.

Matches played 11, Innings 1, Not Outs 0, Runs 11, Highest Score 11, Average 11.00, Balls faced 10, Strike Rate 110.00, Hundreds 0, Fifties 0, Fours 1, Sixes 1, Catches 1, Stumpings 0.

So there you go, the guys over at Cricinfo have too much time on their hands….

If you are indeed interested, this binary number 1110111111001011000001110 is equal to 31430158 in decimal.

What is wrong with Watto???

2007-04-04T15:28:00.000+10:00

Anyone else out there a bit sick of Shane Watson getting injured? We gave him a pretty good run here at Handled the Ball, and hoped beyond our deeper instincts that he would become the genuine world class allrounder that he could be - not necessarily a world beater, just a good cog in the wheel for Australia.

But he's broken down again!! The guy is 25 and seemingly has been injured more often than he's been fit. I know I shouldn't be criticising poor Watto from behind my computer screen whilst he's out there fighting for Australia, especially since I myself have succumbed to injuries brought about by my work place - well by bad ergonomics - but still.... Perhaps we should fly Andy Bichel, the never injured, always honest, big hitting and big hearted bowler over to replace Watson?

Our man Dwayne

2007-03-20T16:02:00.001+11:00

Just take a look at this....

He is the chosen one

You can't script this stuff

2007-03-19T21:30:00.000+11:00

Where do you begin? First The Netherlands take an all mighty spanking, as expected against both South Africa and Australia - the highlight of course being Gibbs' 6 sixes off a van Bunge over, raising the obvious question of whether or not associate nations have any place being at the World Cup, only to have the Irish team convincing beat Pakistan!!

The Paki's can rig a loss with the best of them, but it is so unbelievable that the Irish could possibly beat Pakistan that it has to be true. What's more, if you take a look at the Group D point table, Ireland sit at the top!

Of course the loss came at an enormous cost. Inzamam quitting, and Bob Woolmer dying. It's been an absolutely crazy shocking weekend.

And that's without even mentioning the Bangers beating India.

Who is gonna win?

2007-03-13T00:33:00.000+11:00

So it's all just begun! The World Cup is officially on after an apparently very long opening ceremony.

Now is the time to predict who is actually going to win.

The pool stages look to be fairly straight-forward to predict. Australia and South Africa will comfortably top Group A. Sri Lanka and India should top Group B, but perhaps Bangladesh can cause some discomfort to their Asian neighbours. Bermuda wont do much, but we'll be watching our hero Dwayne quite closely. New Zealand and England will top Group C, but can Kenya cause an upset? They were semi-finalists last time around (albeit a few forfeits helped them out...) Pakistan and the West Indies will lead Group D, and although they have a proud World Cup history, Zimbabwe are not the team they used to be.

This takes us to the Super 8's, where the minnows start to drop out and the real quality should rise to the top. With the top 2 teams of each group qualifying, and then every team playing each other (except the other team from their group - the previous result carried forward), we should be in for some quality cricket. You may be able to drop a game or two here, but I would expect this to be a terrific part of the tournament with the real top teams rising to the top. Anyone could make it through.

I predict Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka will finish in the top 3. Australia and South Africa are quality teams and would succeed anywhere, and I suspect the small grounds and slow wickets will favour a quietly confident and under-rated Sri Lanka. As for the 4th team through, it really could be anyone. The Windies at home are a chance, and I have a soft spot for the Kiwis (I know, I'm an Aussie and this is not a good thing to say...) England will really need to play well, Pakistan could beat anyone but I'm not sure they can string enough games together against the other Super 8 teams to make it through, and India need to learn to play well away from home but have such a quality batting line-up that they could cause some problems.

But to round out the semi-finalists, I'm going for New Zealand on the back of Vettori and Oram.

So to the final, and I think it will be contested by Australia and Sri Lanka, with the Aussies to win. The South Africans have found a way to loose the last few World Cups, so perhaps it is their year, but I think the class of the Aussies and Lankans will carry them through.

As for the final, heart says Australia, head doesn't know!

Vote in our poll, which is in the sidebar. Who do you think will win? Hey Nick, who do you think is gonna get up?

If you can not see the poll, go here to vote.

Bermuda is everyone's bitch

2007-03-08T18:49:00.000+11:00

I'm all for the associate nations having a go at the World Cup, but let's face it there really are only 9 teams that can play competitive cricket, and I update that from 8 because the Bangers have beaten Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka now so I'm convinced. The Zimbabweans are minnows once more, not that they really were much more than "super minnows" at best, and the Kenyans try hard but they just don't play enough cricket to really be a chance.

Each World Cup I like to see the associate nations play because I'm curious as to how badly they have their arse handed to them, or because I'm hoping that they might topple one of the giants. The Bangers did it against the Pakis two World Cups ago, and Kenya did it against Sri Lanka at the last World Cup.

My pick for the team that is going to have their arse pounded in the most cruel and unusual way is Bermuda. In the World Cricket League where it was just associates, they got smashed there too - what chance do they have against the big boys? Admittedly the Netherlands seem to enjoy a good shellacking, as evidenced by their world record performance against the Lankans last year where they conceeded 443, but my pick are the boys from Bermuda getting annihilated by the Lankans in Game 4. 443 wasn't enough for Sir Lanka, they want to crack the 450.

Can Watson do a Symonds?

2007-03-08T18:37:00.000+11:00

Last World Cup, Andrew Symonds was a bit of a dodgy selection - we've always had a place for an all rounder in our World Cup squad, no matter how dodgy they actually were as all rounders (like Tom Moody and Brendan Julian), and Symonds seemed like another one of them. He was only really put into the team because Shane Watson who looked like a potential genuine all rounder got injured just before the 2003 World Cup. Symonds of course went on to completely dominate the game and firmly establish himself as an invaluable member of the Australian team. Now however the situation is reversed, Symonds is injured and Watto is going to have to step up. Can he do it? I was a knocker at first, but I think he has potential. He genuinely can bat and can bowl, it's just a matter of him putting it all together. He takes wickets with the ball, he's decently economical, and when he opens he's put up the runs. He's not a big striker like Symonds, despite his size, he's more of a run accumulator, and to be honest he's definitely more of a bowling allrounder versus Symonds being a batting allrounder. My opinion, it would be great if lightning struck twice and we suddenly find ourselves with a world class allrounder all over again, but even if we don't, he's good enough.

Matthew Hayden - Australia's Greatest Cricketer?

2007-03-08T18:20:00.000+11:00

Well, of course the answer is no, but when you consider the fact that in the past decade of dominance from the Australian cricket team, the records that are likely to stand the test of time will be the highest individual test score and one day score which happen to both be held by Matthew Hayden. It was fitting at one point that the Don held the highest test score, but now Haydos has that, albeit against Zimbabwe, so it hardly counts but it's there in the record books now, and may be some time before that gets beaten. Now he holds the highest one day score. Does it make him the best Australian all round batsman? No. But it does show that he is a big innings player.

Sentimental Hero of the Cup

2007-03-07T10:11:00.000+11:00

So the preliminary games have started. Australia has stumbled loosing 5 games in a row (I'm sure we'll blog on this soon....).

But the most important news is of course that all-time crowd pleasers Bermuda are playing, and playing well (well, not that well, Ireland and the Bangers did much better in their warm up games.)

But the do boast this man, Dwayne Leverock - the sentimental, heavy-set hero of the cup.

At 19-stone, he'd have to be one of the heaviest men to play international cricket - and he's not a bad bowler actually, having taken 2 for 30 something off his 10 overs against England, including Kevin Pietersen's wicket.

The funny thing is he stripped off 14 kilo for the tournament! Go Dwayne!

Hello all

2007-02-15T12:33:00.000+11:00

I'm Marc, and Nick's 2nd in charge over here at Handled the Ball.

I was once given out Handled the Ball in a game for the Galston Glenorie C grade team. So it is an honour to be blogging here.

I pick Australia to pick themselves up off the ground and win the World Cup. Perhaps they'll struggle early, but they'll be there at the end. South Africa might do OK, especially on the small Windies grounds which will be similar to their own, but they have recently been home-town bullies on their tiny and altitude blessed grounds and have tended to crumple at the busy end of big tournaments, so I think Australia without Mick Lewis should account for them.

Would be good to see the Kiwis do OK, you can't discount any team with Mohammad Yousuf, Murali or Lara in it, but the Aussies to win, and hopefully Kenya second.

Welcome

2007-02-14T21:36:00.001+11:00

Welcome to my blog on all things cricket. I decided to name this blog "Handled the Ball" after the unusual mode of dismissal that has unfortunately befallen 7 people in the history of test cricket, and only 2 in ODI's. 5 out of the 9 "Handled the Ball" dismissals has featured Australia.

The 2007 World Cup is coming up soon. Can't wait.