Why, why, why? The Ashes in Australia starts next month but instead of trying to recover the urn, it appears that Australian administrators are bypassing the issue.
Having regained the Ashes at home in 2006-07, Australia lost it 1-2 in England in 2009, 1-3 in Australia in 2010-11 and 0-3 in England this August.
To lose it three times in a row is morale-shattering. A fourth loss in a row is incomprehensible.
The last time Australia lost Ashes three times in a row was in 1956, which is 57 years ago.
If they lose this summer, it will be for the first time since 1888 that they will lose the Ashes four times in a row.
The recent 3-0 loss in England should have been a wake-up call for Cricket Australia to start the Sheffield Shield early and give our players practice for the must win Ashes this summer down under.
What happens instead? Ryobi 50-over matches are in progress in Sydney.
Then will start the tour of India next week including one Twenty20 international on October 10 followed by seven One-day Internationals (ODIs) from October 13 to November 2.
Why, why, this non first-class tour to India, I ask?
In which way the Ryobi Cup in Sydney and further ODIs in eight cities of India going to help the selectors in picking a Test team before the first Test starts in Brisbane on November 21?
I was in India two weeks ago and all the talk was on Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th Test appearance.
Will it be in South Africa or against the West Indies in Mumbai (his birthplace) or Kolkata which can accommodate 70,000 spectators?
The forthcoming tour of Australia for a series of ODIs did not receive any space in the Indian newspapers.
The absence of Michael Clarke will make this meaningless series even less rewarding and confidence-shattering.
It was only seven months ago that Australia and India were engaged in a Test series in India where the visitors were white-washed 0-4.
How will Australia under stop-gap captain George Bailey perform in India? Aaron Finch with his aggressive batting and Clint McKay with his hat-trick were behind Australia’s ODI win in England last month.
But India in India is a tough opposition, especially with Clarke unavailable.
Even though India are without their stars of yesterday (names like Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble) they have a confident team led by MS Dhoni and including promising batsmen Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and effective bowlers Ravichandan Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
I have said it before and will say it again. Forget the diversions (Ryobi one-day Cup, Big Bash T20 League, overseas ODIs) before the all important Ashes and concentrate on Sheffield Shield.
That was the main reason Australia had dominated the international scene for so long.
The Sheffield Shield needs to be the main dish on the menu and not an optional extra.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
It's comforting to know that Ian Chappell agrees with my viewpoint as presented in my post above. His story in today's CricInfo is titled: "Australia's pointless tour of India could lead to selection blunders."
B2
Guest
The only way to revive interest in Cricket is to let TALENT flourish and bring in some exciting NEW faces in the Australian playing team.They need not be 16 year olds , could be someone the selectors don't like.too.Also , it appears the TEAM mind set has changed or is in transition because some players are full of AGRO and some are docile ducks. Go one way , either become Gentlemen cricketers or Australian cricketers.
Tenash
Guest
the only delusional person here is you if you think the A-league is a bigger comp than BBL. LOL The BBL beats the Aleague in average crowds and absolutely smashes it in tv ratings. FFS, it might help your cause if u rely on facts rather than your delusions
Rocco75
Guest
Sorry to burst your bubble but it may be strong in places like India and Sri Lanka (and also to a lesser extent England) BUT in Australia we have other sports which are competing and infringing on cricket's place as the dominant sport of the Australian summer. AFL is infringing more and more on the cricket season. They are looking to start their season in March now. NRL already has pre-season in February and an early March start to their season. A-League now has a domestic competition with a better match day experience than T20 Big Bash and real passion and crowd involvement. Tennis if you think the contrived contest that is T20 cricket will be dominant in Australia, well you really are deluding yourself.
B2
Guest
In today's world THE COLOR OF MONEY calls the shots my friend .
Tenash
Guest
you would know that if you actually watched any T20 cricket around the world instead of just having a biased view
Dan Frogan
Guest
hey Kersi well expressed thoughts & ideas - you have hit the nail on the head 1- get rid of Sutherland & Howard who should have been shafted after the India & Ashes debacle - Mark Taylor to take over from JS 2- give the Shield back its importance so the players have 4 shield games before the Test matches & put the Ryobi cup back in the mix when you are in the city to play those 1st class games 3- make sure the 1st class players get a chance to go back & play grade cricket - where they originally came from ! 4 - introduce a performance based payment system - if you lose the test you get docked half your wages - contracts are for 1 year only & are again performance based 5- cut ties with the Indian cricket dictatorship - 2010 India - humiliated 2012 india again before an Ashes series - humiliated the Ashes is the pinnacle of World Cricket - don't devalue it or destroy the fabric that has been put in place over centuries 6- why are they going to India again for a meaningless lot of one-dayers before another important Ashes series ??? 7 - Let the fast bowlers bowl - this ridiculous rule of bowling limits for players U/17 is creating this injury problem now - I played for over 40 years as a fast bowler & my back is still ok - most of the injury concerns are mixed actions & over coaching 8- all the money JS negotiated for broadcast rights is now null & void as the Ashes series looks to be only on Fox & not on free to air - get rid of him & put the money back into junior & grade cricket which is dying in ALL Australian country regional areas 9 - bring back the Tooheys cup in regional NSW
cotts
Guest
Really? Never been stronger? Care to elaborate where attendances have been on the increase?
Don Corleone
Guest
I have a daughter who has been in one of the state academy systems and as much resources as possible is pumped into youth development and grade cricket. For instance, development officers and coaches are hard at work over the winter running development programs. Unlike, many cricket fans who think that money grows on trees, revenue has been tight over the last few years but the new TV rights deal (which many so-called 'fans' bitch about as being too big) has a significant proportion of it allocated to grassroots.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Good comments, B2. Money makes me sick. Hope you are well.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Roarers, Thanks for your responses. However, the debate has once again turned into Test v. T20. My post was about this coming must-win or must-not-lose Ashes series. That's why Australia should concentrate on it this season. It's a make or break season. Else we become third-rate. It's like appearing in HSC exam. No movies, no TV, no going out for drinks till the exam is over. Do it after the exams. Do you get me, mates? Job before fun.
Tenash
Guest
Tenash
Guest
I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but unfortunately for you guys T20 has been around for more than a decade now & it has never been more stronger (not just in Australia but all over the world) i.e its not going anywhere anytime soon
Tenash
Guest
I read somewhere on Twitter that the exact crowd was 819
Peter
Roar Rookie
With the latest broadcasting agreement, the ABC radio won't even be allowed to call the Shield on radio.
ChrisUK
Guest
It's split here between overall responsibility lying with the ECB, but the counties doing much of the liaison and day to day stuff. I've always thought wonderful the way Australia insists on their Test players retaining their club links. We don't have that at all.
ChrisUK
Guest
I see. OK, I only have what the ECB do here as a comparison (and that's quite limited in scope), but we have support for clubs in terms of equipment - particularly youth equipment - coaching courses, access to interest free loans and grants for clubs, the whole Focus Club/Clubmark scheme, Natwest Cricketforce and Chance to Shine initiative for clubs and schools to work together. It's split between compelling the counties to support clubs in their area and some that's direct from the ECB. Now, given the amount of money they get from Sky, the criticism they get is that it's nothing like enough, so don't remotely get the impression that I'm saying aren't they wonderful, because they aren't at all. What I was curious about was whether there is the same kind of thing in Australia, or do CA really do nothing at all?
Timmuh
Roar Guru
That is actually a very good question. I had always assumed club cricket was the responsibility of the states, but never really considered it.
62627
Guest
I think it's pretty clear now that Cricket has well and truly passed its peak here in Australia and is pretty much finished here.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Apart from maybe competition(and that is a big maybe) costs it was always nothing as far as I knew.