Summer of 16/17

[No4918]

Well played NZ.
Aus team schedulers - give yourselves an uppercut.

 

[The torpedo]

CA schedulers on the summer's schedule:

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

I was having this conversation at my son's cricket game yesterday. Not one person thought that the schedule this summer made any sort of sense. Universally there was the suspicion that it's all been taken over by the marketing team and the bean counters.

 

[light]

The most disappointing aspect is that now we lose the #1 ODI ranking.

The selectors were always on a hiding to nothing by resting our best players and not picking form players from BBL like Klinger, Dunk, Bailey and to a lesser extent Cutting, Henriques.

I guess one positive from this series is that Stoinis could be something really special.

 

[Brumby Runner]

And it's still to be seen if resting Warner, Smith and Khwaja will have a positive impact in India. Not too many Aussie batsmen have had successful tours to India in recent times.

 

[Highlander35]

Why would you pick form players from the BBL rather than the form Matador Cup players?

 

[Braveheart81]

Why would you pick form players from the BBL rather than the form Matador Cup players?

Because the final was played on 23 October 2016 so the form players from that tournament could easily be out of form now.

And it's still to be seen if resting Warner, Smith and Khwaja will have a positive impact in India. Not too many Aussie batsmen have had successful tours to India in recent times.

Smith was withdrawn through injury.

Warner was rested and Khawaja was sent to Dubai early to train in the conditions (and presumably work on his batting against spin).

Outside of test cricket it is crystal clear that the scheduling is done entirely to generate as much revenue as possible. Ensuring that we can field our best team (or close to) for each fixture is an afterthought.

 

[light]

Smith was withdrawn through injury.

Warner was rested and Khawaja was sent to Dubai early to train in the conditions (and presumably work on his batting against spin).

This is the bit I struggled to understand. It's not as if Handscomb has experience in the sub-continent either yet they sent him to NZ and have now undoubtedly rocked his confidence.

It can't have been helpful for SMarsh or Maxwell to be facing the white ball with India on the horizon and it doesn't seem as if NZ was beneficial for them either.

In hindsight perhaps we should have thrown out the 'future planning' agenda for this series and picked a balanced experienced XI like:
D Hughes (386runs @ 64 in Matador Cup & 304 @ 43 in BBL)
A Finch
M Klinger (236 @ 47 in MC & 334 @ 37 in BBL)
T Head
M Henriques (414 @ 69 in MC & 263 @ 29 in BBL)
C White (457 @ 76 in MC & 227 @ 32 in BBL)
B Dunk
J Faulkner
P Cummins
M Starc
J Hazlewood

Stoinis could have slotted in anywhere in the middle/lower order.

 

[Braveheart81]

This is the bit I struggled to understand. It's not as if Handscomb has experience in the sub-continent either yet they sent him to NZ and have now undoubtedly rocked his confidence.

It can't have been helpful for SMarsh or Maxwell to be facing the white ball with India on the horizon and it doesn't seem as if NZ was beneficial for them either.

In hindsight perhaps we should have thrown out the 'future planning' agenda for this series and picked a balanced experienced XI like:
D Hughes (386runs @ 64 in Matador Cup & 304 @ 43 in BBL)
A Finch
M Klinger (236 @ 47 in MC & 334 @ 37 in BBL)
T Head
M Henriques (414 @ 69 in MC & 263 @ 29 in BBL)
C White (457 @ 76 in MC & 227 @ 32 in BBL)
B Dunk
J Faulkner
P Cummins
M Starc
J Hazlewood

Stoinis could have slotted in anywhere in the middle/lower order.

When Steve O'Keefe was pulled out of the Big Bash to play grade cricket (so he played more red ball cricket) Cricket Australia said it had been part of the plan for a long while. My guess is the same situation existed for Khawaja and they proceeded with it.

Handscomb being new to the scene wasn't involved in any longer term planning and subsequently ended up being drafted into the ODI side.

I think some of those plans to help with a series like India where we traditionally struggle are good but they probably also need to be more flexible to adapt it as they go (i.e. send Handscomb over early too).

I think your team above is a good one.

Part of our problem is how much we rely on Warner and Smith in all formats so it is difficult when one gets injured and the other is already scheduled to get a rest.

The obvious fix to that is to not have a schedule that requires players to be rested because it is so packed but we all know that isn't going to happen.

 

[light]

Interesting that they pulled SO'K out yet allowed Lyon to play out the tournament. Maybe that says something about the pecking order as it stands.

I agree with the flexibility thing, we have now lost three away ODI series in less than two years, including twice to NZ. The same excuses from after the RSA series are being used by CA now.

 

[Braveheart81]

Interesting that they pulled SO'K out yet allowed Lyon to play out the tournament. Maybe that says something about the pecking order as it stands.

My thinking there is that Lyon played the whole domestic test season whereas SOK only played one test, missed one or two Shield games with injury and was entering a period of the domestic season where the only cricket available was Big Bash.

I think Lyon will definitely be the first choice spinner. I think there's a very strong chance both will play the first test though.

 

[Brumby Runner]

http://www.cricket.com.au/news/stat...s-in-india-fast-bowling-v-spinners/2017-02-08

Here's a good read about the respective success rates of foreign bowlers in India since 1980.

As I've been posting above for some time, the history suggests that a concentration of spin bowling in the Aussie side to tour shortly looks to be a recipe for disaster. Not only because our rather second rate spinners will probably have little to no effect on the strong Indian batting lineup, but because it will force the very thin pace bowling to be over-used and therefore susceptible to injury and/or fatigue.

I fear we have another clean sweep of the tests by India coming up.

If the selectors had any balls, they would find an excuse to thin the spinners by at least two, maybe three, and get the likes of Cummins, Stoinis and Cartwright in there asap.

 

[Braveheart81]

What is your fascination with Cartwright?

He bowled 4 overs of low 120s in the Sydney test and is likely not to be seen again at least as an all-rounder.

I don't think Cummins has played a Shield game this Summer. Surely he needs to play some four day cricket and bowl more than 10 overs in a day before he can come anywhere near the test team.

I think a big reason we're only taking three pace bowlers to India is that the quality drops away quickly after that. Pattinson is still trying to make his way back into 4 day cricket so isn't really an option.

I'd guess the next pace bowler who missed out was Chadd Sayers but there isn't much else after him.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Cummins last played a Shield game in March, 2011 (You read that right)

There's absolutely no way he should even be thought of for an Indian cricket tour. Can't think of a better way to break him for good.

 

[Lindommer]

Hasn't Cummins played in a Second XI game (four day) for the Blues recently? He's down to play in a few SS during the remainder of the summer.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Hasn't Cummins played in a Second XI game (four day) for the Blues recently? He's down to play in a few SS during the remainder of the summer.

Think he may have played a futures game at the end of last year.

Hopefully he gets through those couple of SS games, then gets through a few more at the end of the year and then have a look at him for some of the ashes matches at the end of the year.

I just think it's crazy to expect the bloke to make a contribution to a 4 test match tour in 5 weeks in India, in March at the moment.

 

[Brumby Runner]

BH, my impression of Cartwright has been formed only by seeing him at test level. I thought he showed very good promise as a batsman and could easily have retained a spot on that basis alone - certainly looks a lot better and more comfortable than M Marsh. His bowling was hardly tested at four overs, but he had good control I thought and would imo be better value than a poorly performing spin bowler on Indian tracks. Certainly good enough to give the quicks a rest if needed.

Might remind people that Warne hardly looked a test match bowler in his first test either - a return of something like 0/150 as I recall. Cartwright will not be another Warne, but neither will any of Lyon, O'Keefe or the other trundlers selected for this jolly.

I'd certainly be prepared to take Cummins on the strength of his ODI bowling lately. Not necessarily as a front line fast bowler in tests at this stage but certainly as a shock bowler in short bursts. Pattinson also returns to SS this week. Will be good to see him available again for test selection when he's ready.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Interesting to look back at the bowling averages for previous games in India for some of the guys on this tour (& Moises)

Lyon 15 @ 37
Maxwell 7 @ 27
Henriques 2 @ 77
Starc 2 @ 100

Few others from the last 10 years
Johnson 21 @ 40
Pattinson 9 @ 27
Lee 8 @ 60
Siddle 13 @ 37
Watson 12 @ 33
Hilfy 6 @ 43

Hauritz, White and Doherty all went @ over 60
Krezja's famous 12 @ 29
Clarke had one memorable innings but 3 @ 102 otherwise

 

[light]

I'd guess the next pace bowler who missed out was Chadd Sayers but there isn't much else after him.

Hasn't he been good in the shield so far. 13 wickets in 3 innings and I'd argue he should be in our squad for the ashes at the very least.

If Cartwright can continue to score runs I don't know if we need to talk about his bowling. Be pretty amazing if we had a specialist batsman at 6, even better if he can bowl a little.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Yeah I watched with interest the WA v TAS Shield game and saw that Hilton batted at three and made 94. That's what I want to see out of him now that's had a taste and didn't look too out of place: go back to first class cricket and make a tonne of runs. I'd also like to see him play some county cricket this year if possible.