I have been pondering starting a blog to express my opinions about all things sport. What pushed me to do it is the announcement yesterday of the Australia A cricket squad to tour Zimbabwe yesterday.
I should start with a confession: I am a rabid fan of Queensland Cricket and specifically the mighty Queensland Bulls. That confession dealt with, let the blogging begin.
To the National Selection Panel named the following “provisional” squad to go to Zimbabwe:
George Bailey – TAS;
Michael Beer – WA; 26
Luke Butterworth – TAS; 27
Trent Copeland – NSW; 25
Nathan Coulter-Nile – WA; 23
Patrick Cummins – NSW; 17
James Faulkner – TAS; 20
Callum Ferguson – SA; 26
Aaron Finch – VIC; 24
Peter George – SA; 24
Jon Holland – VIC; 23
Phillip Hughes – NSW; 22
Usman Khawaja – NSW; 24
Nathan Lyon – SA; 23
Nicolas Maddinson – NSW; 19
Mitchell Marsh – WA; 19
Shaun Marsh – WA; 27
Stephen O’Keefe – NSW; 26
Tim Paine – TAS; 26
James Pattinson – VIC; 20
Steven Smith – NSW; 21
Mitchell Starc – NSW; 21
Matthew Wade – VIC; 23
David Warner – NSW; 24
When I first read this this afternoon I thought I must have misread. On a second reading I confirmed what I hoped was not true.
No player on the books of the Queensland Bulls has made the team.
When you add in the squad that is presently playing in the World Cup, that means there are no present Queensland Bulls players in the top 40 or so players in Australia.
Before anyone points out that Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson are from Queensland, they are do not presently play for the Bulls and having chosen to turn their backs on Queensland cricket do not count for the purposes of this discussion.
So what does this mean?
Forget the usual conspiracy theories, they have been put forward enough times to seek to explain any imbalance in selections and do not warrant a repeat.
One would have thought that performances during the season would have played a role in selection.
What do the stats (sourced from the Cricket Australia website) have to say about this team, or better put, say about no Queensland players being selected?
The Top 10 runscorers in Sheffield Shield cricket in 2010-11 were: Quiney, Cosgrove, Finch, Lynn, Blizzard, Khawaja, Hopes, Voges, Jacques, Manou.
The Top 10 wicket takers in Sheffield Shield cricket in 2010-11 were: Butterworth, Copeland, Maher, Duffield, Faulkner, Siddle, Feldman, Swan, Hogan and Hopes.
I am not for one second suggesting that any of the players selected in this preliminary squad do not deserve to be picked. But whatever happened to picking on form?
Aside from Chris Lynn’s great run scoring in the Shield this year, he is a player of the future and dealt with one of Australia’s allegedly premier fast bowlers, Peter Siddle, in his last innings with aplomb and ease.
I know because I was in the members stand watching him bat. Surely, he is one of the form young batsmen in the country and yet he does not get a call up.
Aidan Blizzard and Adam Voges could also equally feel aggrieved by missing out on selection given their form lines.
What about with the ball? Luke Feldman has bowled the house down for the second year in the row. Where is his reward for being consistent and bowling well?
He has not been selected for no real apparent reason. This is even more confusing when a number of bowlers selected such as Butterworth, Copeland and Faulkner have been picked on form.
Obviously, some of these players selected are project players for Cricket Australia. How else would, for one, Mitchell Marsh be selected?
He has been injured for the bulk of, if not all, of the domestic summer.
The selection of this squad really makes me wonder what cricket the selectors have been watching in the last couple of months. It is easy to “bash” the selectors. Indeed it is an Australian tradition.
Equally the failure to pick Chris Lynn and Luke Feldman is so astonishing as to warrant a “please explain?”
After the season that was (losing the Ashes and the present labouring performances in the World Cup) surely the focus of the selection panel would be selecting based on domestic form rather than on the basis of who are project players and who might look good spruiking mobile phones.
Is the National Selection Panel selecting players that have done well in all forms of the game? The statistics do not support this and more to the point what does performing in the Twenty20 hit and giggle fest have to do with playing for your country in four day first class cricket?
One should not forget that it is intended that two four day games and a one day series (not under the idiotic Ryobi Rules but under international rules) are being played on this tour and NO Twenty20 games.
A final comment on the player who has to have by now taken over the mantle of Australia’s unluckiest cricketer from previous holders including Stuart Law and Martin Love. What does James Hopes have to do to get selected?
He is in the top 10s in both batting and bowling and has proven his mettle this season as a leader when the Queensland team was a certifiable basket case during the middle of the season.
I am one fan who thinks he should be in India / Sri Lanka right now doing the job he has consistently and competently done over the years at number 7 in the order and bowling 10 tight overs.
His replacement, an amalgam of Cameron White and Steven Smith one supposes, has done nothing of merit. I for one would feel much safer with Hopes walking out at 7 or being thrown the ball. Alas not only is he not over there, he is not required to train on to go to Zimbabwe. To say that is astonishing would be understatement.
What is the answer?
I do not know. I do know that as a fan of cricket I would love to see selection on form be the priority. I can not say with any certainty that form is presently a criteria that is high on the NSP’s list when it comes to selection.
One can only hope that the “three wise men” of cricket (Border, Waugh and Taylor) look at this issue in their upcoming review.
Kumar Sangakara
Guest
Sadly while Hilditch is still around the lunacy will proceed. On the off chance that this survey does not bring about a noteworthy update starting from the top, I expect years of average quality will take after. Gracious and I totally concur with you on Hopes. "You don't recognize what you have 'till it's gone" from 'Enormous Yellow Taxi' appears to be extremely able judging from the monochrome way of our knocking down some pins assault, which verges on Neanderthal in it's bash and crash mindset. http://ccl6t.com/india-live-streaming/
Slasher
Guest
It is time Queensland Cricket stood up to be counted and complained long and hard about this continuing situation; it's also time Andy Bichel, who should know exactly what's going on, broke the oath of secrecy and passed on the facts to his fellow-Queenslanders .
Lolly
Guest
Lynn is in the one day squad but not the four day. Strange that but at least they've rethought things. The one day attack for the one day squad is a real doozy. The players they've cut out of the provisional squad must be feeling rather put out, considering some of the players they've kept.
Josh Burnell
Guest
I agree with Lynn and also I can't understand how George Bailey maeks it from Tasmania when mark Cosgrove has been head and shoulders above any other batsment from that team and almost the comp this year
fisher price
Guest
The omission of Lynn, Feldman and Hopes is quite strange - and worrying in terms of where the selectors' heads are at. Form-based selection would be nice. In terms of not warranting selection, I'd also single out Michael Beer; although at least O'Keefe is again on the radar. I suspect the selectors believe Mitch Marsh to possess an 'X-factor' which, as we know, serves as a leave pass from scoring runs and/or taking wickets with any consistency.
Lolly
Guest
Lynn not being in the squad is very odd and quite possibly criminal, but the others? You can sort of understand. Sort of. The ones who I think are very lucky as the two Mitchells. Starc has been elevated to the national ODI team and to squads with literally nothing behind him at first class level and Mitchell Marsh has been injured so much in the past 2 years it's hard to know where he is in his development at all. Hopes is on the shelf now. Not really sure why but there it is.
JohnB
Guest
I'm a Qld-er too let me start by saying. None in a squad of 24, and no current reps in those above this squad certainly doesn't look good - particularly when they've at least been at the same level as all the other states (bar NSW it unfortunately has to be said) in the Shield this year (and came 3rd of course). Lynn (particularly) is very unlucky not to be in a squad like this, although they didn't actually choose a lot of specialist middle order batsmen - of those chosen you can make a case for pretty well all of them. I think George Bailey would be the most obvious to drop out after a pretty ordinary season, made very ordinary if you discount one big knock. Burns has started well but you can't really complain about him not being picked when he's only played a handful of games. Incidentally, Dan Harris from SA strikes me as unlucky given performances in the last few games. They've picked a lot of pace bowlers and a fair few all-rounders, so Feldman does also look unlucky, but again you can make a case for all of the pace bowlers picked. Feldman being a left armer might have got him ahead of one of the numerous right armers maybe? Hopes - you can only assume his card has been marked as "too old" and "will never quite be up to playing test cricket" and that keeps him out of this squad. Hard to see any other reason. Hartley - would not be out of place in any team but unfortunately for him the same could be said of both Paine and Wade.
GD
Guest
Well, look at it this way: as long as our best players are continually overlooked for national duty, we can continue to dominate the domestic competitions! Oh, wait...
Daniel Gray
Guest
Unfortunately while Hilditch is still around the lunacy will continue. If this review does not result in a major overhaul from the top down, I expect years of mediocrity will follow. Oh & I completely agree with you on Hopes. "You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone" from 'Big Yellow Taxi' seems very apt judging from the monochrome nature of our bowling attack, which borders on Neanderthal in it's bash and crash mentality. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
formeropenside
Guest
I don't think its anything wrong with Queensland's players, more a problem with the selectors. Hopes, Feldman, Lynn and young Jim Burns are all unlucky, as is the tragically overlooked Hartley. Steve Smith is already being talked about as a future Australian captain: please, isn't this exactly the problem that led to all the angst about Clarke? Smith is very lucky to have played test cricket for Australia; certainly his figures dont command selection. Well done once again Cricket Australia.