On 05/02/2010 at 06:47, High Tower said:

How on earth does Michael Clarke get a gig in the Twenty/20 side for Australia, let alone the captaincy for the Twenty/20 side ?

His Twenty/20 form is horrible.

Pathetic isn't it. Plus he has a chronic Back injury.

Young Pup can do no wrong- he is a chosen one obviously

Still have my doubts on his captaincy potential full stop.

He is a pretty boy who can play, but captain hmmmmmm...

  On 05/02/2010 at 07:51, why you little said:

Pathetic isn't it. Plus he has a chronic Back injury. Young Pup can do no wrong- he is a chosen one obviously Still have my doubts on his captaincy potential full stop

Don't let his pedestrian score of 32 off 26 balls fool you, in this Twenty20 game. Some will say if it wasn't for him....blah. FFS let Warner play his natural game pup. David Hussey was the man for me.

  On 05/02/2010 at 09:58, High Tower said:

Don't let his pedestrian score of 32 off 26 balls fool you, in this Twenty20 game. Some will say if it wasn't for him....blah. FFS let Warner play his natural game pup. David Hussey was the man for me.

Of Course David Hussey has played the MCG all summer but it seems to make little difference to the selectors.

  On 05/02/2010 at 10:03, why you little said:

Of Course David Hussey has played the MCG all summer but it seems to make little difference to the selectors.

What are you talking about ? David Hussey is playing he top scored with 40*. Meanwhile Bill Lawry is in his element with Tait breaking 160 plus and consistently over 150km/h. Aussies right in it with Pakistan now 4 down for 60.

  On 05/02/2010 at 11:03, High Tower said:

What are you talking about ? David Hussey is playing he top scored with 41. Meanwhile Bill Lawry is in his element with Tait breaking 160 plus and consistently over 150km/h. Aussies right in it with Pakistan now 4 down for 60.

Sorry i just got home i didnt realize hussey had been picked.

Game on.

Don't like the news of Siddle's stress fractures. Not good.

However, it opens the door for the likes of Clint McKay and Ryan Harris to get on the plane to NZ and play Test cricket.

It also gives Brett Lee some hope, if he's fit for the tour of England. But by then I think Hilfenhaus will be fit again, and he'll come in straight away.

Well, the Paki's have gone home winless and the One Day series began against the West Indies yesterday at the 'G' in front of just over 25,000 people on a glorius sunny day (32 C). Is one-day cricket on the decline, or can Friday nights Twenty/20 crowd of 60,000 + give some excuse as to the below par audience on Sunday ?

The scheduling could be a factor to the poor turn out on Sunday/night being the night before school, etc.

I reckon Sunday games generally draw lower crowds than Fridays, for starters. So let's compare ODIs with ODIs, and wait until the Friday ODI vs the West Indies next week. I'm tipping the crowd will be higher on the Friday. Although, there's a NAB cup game between Collingwood and St Kilda that day at Etihad. That could impact on the crowd.

But having and ODI 2 days after a T20, when the T20 leads into a weekend and the ODI leads into a work/school day, clearly the T20 is going to rate higher.

Was a good game to be at, though. Except for the damn cold wind.

  On 08/02/2010 at 03:40, titan_uranus said:

I reckon Sunday games generally draw lower crowds than Fridays, for starters. So let's compare ODIs with ODIs, and wait until the Friday ODI vs the West Indies next week. I'm tipping the crowd will be higher on the Friday. Although, there's a NAB cup game between Collingwood and St Kilda that day at Etihad. That could impact on the crowd.

But having and ODI 2 days after a T20, when the T20 leads into a weekend and the ODI leads into a work/school day, clearly the T20 is going to rate higher.

Was a good game to be at, though. Except for the damn cold wind.

This summers Cricket Schedule has been the worst i can remember, Australia have done well to keep winning, i will give them that.

But imagine if Melbourne played Richmond & the Kangaroos for an entire season. That too would get dull & extremely repetitive.

So i don't think crowd numbers are so much a reflection of the game formats as to more who is playing.

Pakistan are a Rabble with some talent, & the Windies were on strike weeks before they arrived here, so we should beat them.

I don't think the Triangle series should have been stopped either, it wasn't perfect but at least it had a Prize at the end.

The current ODI format means nothing at all sadly.

We have played two of the bottom teams in the competition.

The West Indies actually show for the first time in about 15 years that they are putting together some reasonable cricketers behind Gayle. Go on them. Cricket needs the calypso nature.

Pakistan despite having a couple of promising youngster, Mohammed Asif and Yousuf as a batsman were a rabble from the 3rd day of the Sydney Test onwards. I could not think of a more uninteresting outfit to see. Batsman who cant build an innings, cant run between wickets, cant field at all and a keeper that cant catch. And that just the problems on the field.

Australians love their cricket. They love competition and a fight to win. Despite a couple of spirited sessions, Australia has not been fully challenged. But that should not take anything away from some of the great performers this summer. Spectators are not that stupid (well the ones that dont run on the ground). The Pakistan ODI games were very predictable with some ordinary performances from a team that had lost what little mojo they started the tour with.

I sometimes think ODI has suffered from too many meaningless and forgetable ODI games over so many years. The format is predictable and tired. T20 has only magnified the shortcomings. A triangle series would not help. Could you think of anything more boring than WI vs Pakis?

As a lover of Test cricket, I still see a place for ODI and T20. However all 3 forms must be carefully managed to ensure no spectator fatigue. Personally I think T20 is a great way to attract supporters of Test cricket in the longer term who would not otherwise have made the transition directly.

  On 08/02/2010 at 10:16, Rhino Richards said:

We have played two of the bottom teams in the competition.

The West Indies actually show for the first time in about 15 years that they are putting together some reasonable cricketers behind Gayle. Go on them. Cricket needs the calypso nature.

Pakistan despite having a couple of promising youngster, Mohammed Asif and Yousuf as a batsman were a rabble from the 3rd day of the Sydney Test onwards. I could not think of a more uninteresting outfit to see. Batsman who cant build an innings, cant run between wickets, cant field at all and a keeper that cant catch. And that just the problems on the field.

Australians love their cricket. They love competition and a fight to win. Despite a couple of spirited sessions, Australia has not been fully challenged. But that should not take anything away from some of the great performers this summer. Spectators are not that stupid (well the ones that dont run on the ground). The Pakistan ODI games were very predictable with some ordinary performances from a team that had lost what little mojo they started the tour with.

I sometimes think ODI has suffered from too many meaningless and forgetable ODI games over so many years. The format is predictable and tired. T20 has only magnified the shortcomings. A triangle series would not help. Could you think of anything more boring than WI vs Pakis?

As a lover of Test cricket, I still see a place for ODI and T20. However all 3 forms must be carefully managed to ensure no spectator fatigue. Personally I think T20 is a great way to attract supporters of Test cricket in the longer term who would not otherwise have made the transition directly.

I agree far to many ODI's that are forgotten the day after. But the indians love them so they are played at every chance.

I actually really like ODI's with 2 top sides, so i hope they do not phase them out.

T20's are ok but to me its like cricket on speed-but its great to see young kids at the ground Pumped up.

and if it gets them interested in test cricket-awesome.

Next summer will tell a lot...India & England out here. 7 ODI's against each country (i think) personally i would prefer the triangular format with those sides.

I heard stephen Gough on SEN this arvo talking about it from the MCC point of view..worth a listen if the podcast is there.

No way the triangular series is coming back. It was scrapped because of the boring and unattended neutral matches every week. I mean, who wants West Indies v Pakistan in Hobart?

We can't play England, South Africa and India exclusively. Every so often we play lesser teams, like these two, and this is what happens. But one day the Windies will be strong again, and maybe it will be England who will attract complaints. Who knows.

Meanwhile, I'm loving the India-South Africa Test in Nagpur. India have been forced to follow on after Dale Steyn ripped through their batting order, taking 7. And in the follow on they've already lost Gambhir and Sehwag. Hopefully the Proteas have enough in the tank to get Tendulkar out early, and the match will be theirs.

  On 09/02/2010 at 00:20, titan_uranus said:

No way the triangular series is coming back. It was scrapped because of the boring and unattended neutral matches every week. I mean, who wants West Indies v Pakistan in Hobart?

Absolutely agree. Just another hollow tournament. Shane Warne might be right that ODI may be restricted to once every four years. I think ODIs series of more than 3 games in Australia are too many and TV and live spectators are voting with their feet (or remotes).

  On 09/02/2010 at 00:20, titan_uranus said:

We can't play England, South Africa and India exclusively. Every so often we play lesser teams, like these two, and this is what happens. But one day the Windies will be strong again, and maybe it will be England who will attract complaints. Who knows.

Agree. Australia has a commitment to play the major nations at Test Cricket on an agreed rotating basis. It was not too long ago when India was rarely touring Australia because of supposed lack of interest. Fancy that. It all goes in cycles.

FWIW, I think the scheduling for this summer with two 3 match Test Series was right. A couple of T20s ...fine. But too many ODIs against tired beaten oppositions should be a lesson.

Next year will be a big summer against the Poms. ACB are rightly promoting it now.

Sign of the future ?

  On 09/02/2010 at 00:37, Rhino Richards said:

Absolutely agree. Just another hollow tournament. Shane Warne might be right that ODI may be restricted to once every four years. I think ODIs series of more than 3 games in Australia are too many and TV and live spectators are voting with their feet (or remotes).

Immensely looking forward to the Ashes. But following the Tests there are 7 ODIs. Too many. Seems to me that CA is either contractually or otherwise bound to have 10 ODIs per season (there are another 3 before the Ashes vs Sri Lanka) or they don't get it. 3 would have been plenty.

  On 10/02/2010 at 00:23, High Tower said:

Sign of the future ?

Warne can get stuffed. We're the Bushrangers. Show some respect to your heritage I say.

  On 10/02/2010 at 01:09, titan_uranus said:

Immensely looking forward to the Ashes. But following the Tests there are 7 ODIs. Too many. Seems to me that CA is either contractually or otherwise bound to have 10 ODIs per season (there are another 3 before the Ashes vs Sri Lanka) or they don't get it. 3 would have been plenty.

Warne can get stuffed. We're the Bushrangers. Show some respect to your heritage I say.

All part of the evolution and changing landscape of Cricket. There is one common denominator in all of this. Money.

It's hard to care about cricket given that, as I type, we're playing our intraclub match, but I saw this on Cricinfo: New Zealand and Sri Lanka are going to play ODIs in Florida.

Also, Afghanistan is playing well in the World Twenty20 qualifiers. It'd be pretty cool if they could qualify.

Argh! Hashim Amla bats for almost 500 minutes for his 3rd consecutive century, and Morne Morkel at 11 bats for 22.4 overs, only for Harbhajan Singh to take his 5th wicket with 9 balls remaining to win the Test and retain India's No. 1 ranking. Frustrating!

Meanwhile, decent off-spinners have shown that JP Duminy is not the indestructible superstar we thought he was when we were playing them. First Graeme Swann, now Harbhajan have shown that a decent off-spinner can make the difference.

I keep doing double takes while watching the cricket these days.. more than a passing resemblance to Colin Sylvia in my eyes..

  On 19/02/2010 at 08:50, Kiss of Death said:

I keep doing double takes while watching the cricket these days.. more than a passing resemblance to Colin Sylvia in my eyes..

yes a very young Colin....!

and a bit like Riewoldt

Hodgey you Legend!

Lets not go over the baggy green debate again!

  On 20/02/2010 at 09:20, montasaurus said:

Hodgey you Legend!

Lets not go over the baggy green debate again!

Great win Vics, home final! Gotta say, I never used to watch much state cricket but it`s been far more exciting than the rubbish we watched the Aussies play against this Summer

  On 20/02/2010 at 11:53, Hell Bent said:

Great win Vics, home final! Gotta say, I never used to watch much state cricket but it`s been far more exciting than the rubbish we watched the Aussies play against this Summer

Can the Vics take honours in all 3 forms of the game ? They already have the T/20 in the bank, now they host the One-Day Domestic final on Sunday and are well clear on the Sheffield Shield table. Go Vics !

Bill Lawry you legend ! ("You need good luck, and I had luck - I was born a Victorian !")

Good win for the vics.

Check out the India South Africa scorecard - SA almost pulled off one of the most unlikely of wins.