Is it time for the Comets to make a return to the Australian one-day domestic scene? With recent changes to what is now known as the Matador One-Day Cup, I think it is.
The Canberra Comets – why they went with Canberra instead of ACT I’ll never understand – were part of the then Mercantile Mutual Cup for three relatively unsuccessful seasons in the late 1990s, picking up two sixth places and a wooden spoon.
They won just three matches during those three years, going winless in what would be their final season. That’s the same number of wins that the Sydney Thunder have managed across their first three BBL seasons.
More recently the Comets (with a couple NSW Second XI guys thrown in) have taken on Afghanistan and Ireland in a series of World Cup warm-up matches, and are also taking part in the Sydney Grade T20 competition in addition to Futures League duties.
Wouldn’t another team mean a longer tournament?
Last year saw the format of the domestic one-day tournament changed to be a condensed season opening, month-long carnival with matches confined to a specific location – Sydney last year, and shared between Brisbane and Sydney this year.
Teams play seven matches each before the finals (one more than last year), but double-up on two opponents. However, adding a seventh team wouldn’t actually require any additional matches.
All teams would play six matches, but importantly they would all play each other just once – a proper round-robin tournament. Twenty-one matches followed by the finals, same as this year.
What about Canberra as a one-day domestic venue?
More and more top level cricket is already being played in Canberra, having hosted Sheffield Shield finals and a couple of ODIs in recent seasons.
Next month Manuka Oval is set to host an Australia versus South Africa ODI, in addition to the annual Prime Minister’s XI match and a handful of World Cup group matches early next year.
Cricket Australia have also decided to host this year’s Big Bash League final at Manuka, despite Canberra not having a BBL team, much to the shared dislike of teams, players and fans who see the move to a smaller venue, with smaller capacity, and no home crowd as a questionable move.
With that in mind, and the current preference to consolidate the domestic comp in limited locations, perhaps Canberra could host the one-day tournament in the future and let the Big Bash League final return to a more suitable location.
Canberra probably wouldn’t end up being the solitary host, but rather as a shared arrangement – like between Brisbane and Sydney this year – and that would work just fine.
Playing round-robin domestic one-day games in Canberra seems much more logical than relocating the BBL final.
A successful return to the one-day domestic scene – in terms of the performance of both the team and the venue – could also help the national capital’s eventual chances of landing a BBL franchise should the competition ever expand beyond the current eight teams. At least then there would be a genuine reason for holding BBL games at Manuka.
Would an ACT side be competitive?
As anyone who has watched the first week of this year’s Matador Cup can tell you, even the established state sides have off days. Just ask Tasmania. So, the competitiveness of the side that the Comets could put together shouldn’t really be seen as a great concern.
The current ACT squad perhaps doesn’t have the depth of talent and experience it would need to be competitive initially, especially considering they are currently on an eight-match losing streak.
However, if they could lure back a few of former players who have since landed in other states, I can’t see why they wouldn’t be able to piece together a more than reasonable side.
This includes guys like left-arm quick Jason Behrendorff (WA), promising middle order batsman Alex Ross (SA) and keeper batsman Ryan Carters (NSW), who was the leading first-class run scorer in Australia last season.
Going one step further, depending on international commitments, would Brad Haddin or Nathan Lyon perhaps consider returning to represent an ACT side, even if it’s only for a couple of matches?
The current NSW squad has shown they have more than enough depth that they wouldn’t be affected, and it would give a good boost to a relatively inexperienced Comets side.
So, let’s say, absolute best case scenario, getting both Haddin and Lyon, plus a few other ex-Canberrans, mixed in with the top performers in the current Comets line-up, what could a potential ACT squad look like?
1. Brad Haddin (NSW)
2. Jono Dean
3. Matthew Condon
4. Ryan Carters (NSW)
5. Michael Spaseski
6. Vele Dukoski
7. Blake Dean
8. Will Sheridan (VIC)
9. Shane Devoy
10. Jason Behrendorff (WA)
11. Nathan Lyon (NSW)
12. Jason Floros (Queensland)
13. Alex Ross (SA)
14. Joshua Bennett
15. Andrew Harriot
16. Nathan McAndrew
Of course, nothing says they would necessarily need bring back any former players, I’m just of the opinion that the added experience would help them be competitive right off the bat, rather than simply being there to make up the numbers.
What do you think? Would you like to see the Comets back in the one-day competition? Do you think they’d need the ring-ins to bolster their depth?
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Any extra team (ACT or other) has to be a team in both ListA and First Class teams, or nothing. It would be very difficult to attract and retain players on a partial contract. Part of the problem with the Comets before was that only those outside the Shield system could be attracted to play for them. And they lost ACT (and southern NSW) players who came through the Comets. Haddin the most obvious. Graeme Cunningham went to Tasmania for the chance of playing Shield crivcket, and there were others. I wouldn't mind seeing NSW split into Sydney and NSW or something similar, but ACT seems to fit best with the tradition of it being state based. And like other smaller states, if a few players choose to move to further their careers, and that supplements the local talent, so much the better. BBL is a completely different question, and being a franchise system ha no bearing one way or another on a Shield/ListA team.
The Plainsman
Guest
I think the ACT Comets joining the BBL or the Matador cup has some merit but then again I am a biased Canberran. I would prefer to see the Shield Competition expanded to include NSW Country, Vic Country and QLD Country. ACT as part of NSW Country might be a better fit. Thoughts?
Scott Pryde
Expert
Plenty of players in the U23's... They are there for a reason. Adding an extra team will only weaken the competition.
Craig Watson
Guest
ISN'T NATHAN LYON FROM YOUNG IN COUNTRY NSW?
Craig Watson
Guest
I 'M FOR THE CANBERRA COMETS MK2. IF THEY CAN PRODUCE PLAYERS THE CALIBRE OF HADDIN, CARTERS AND BEHRENDORF AND WAY BACK VALETTA, NO REASON WHY THEY CAN'T PRODUCE MORE OF THE SAME. ON ANOTHER NOTE ALEX DOOLAN HAS BROUGHT UP A SUPERB CENTURY IN UAE.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
BBL maybe, but a waste of time bringing them in for the one dayers if they're not going to have a sheffield shield team as well. That was always the problem for the old Canberra Comets - anyone decent is going to play for another team that has a shield team as well. At least in the BBL there is a little more movement of players and they can be capable of building a competitive team.
Gareth Kidd
Roar Guru
Couldn't agree more. The ACT has a good ground, and plenty of supporters down there! You don't need to fight to have Canberrans in the side though. Just like all the other states, there's plenty of movement. At this stage there's an overflow of players not cracking into the top leagues just in NSW that could saunter on down to the Nation's Capital.
Gareth Kidd
Roar Guru
Garbage. There's plenty of extra players cooling their heels in U23s. When we have CLT20 and international tours coinciding maybe not, but plenty of room.
Dean Robinson
Roar Pro
I think Canberra will eventually end up with a BBL team (although I'd rather Newcastle got one first for completely selfish reasons - maybe Newcastle and Canberra could share... but that's a discussion for another day), however at the moment - as backwards and odd as it may be - it feels like entry to the one-day cup is the stepping stone to the BBL and not the other way around. I can't decide how I feel about that, and I don't know if others agree. With the distinct separation of the one-day and shield seasons, I don't necessarily see it being a huge hurdle having players turn out for the ACT in the one-day comp and then return to their 'home' state for the Sheffield Shield. Bigger hurdle would be getting the 'home' states to release them... for example, I very much doubt WA and NSW are going to be super keen to let guys like Behrendorff and Carters go. Dilution of the talent pool is a reasonable concern, and I think that it is one of the key factors delaying the future expansion of the BBL to 9 or 10 teams. I'd argue that it's less of a problem in the one-day cup simply because there are less teams, and that the bulk of the ACT side aren't being plucked out of the existing state sides - ie. overall, it's expanding the pool of players rather than just stretching them to cover an extra team. That said, of the 7 non-ACT players in my suggested/fantasy list only Ross, Behrendorff and Carters are current regulars in their respective states one-day sides. Floros has played a couple of games for Qld, but Sheridan is currently playing 2nd XI for Victoria, while Haddin and Lyon aren't even in the country.
Ben Carter
Roar Guru
Hi Dean - YES. YES. YES. You can tell I'm a fan of domestic Cup cricket from rather a way back... And yeah, I also like the idea from Craig (above) about adding a city franchise (as well) to the Big Bash. The move to the tournament idea is both good (place in the calendar in October, all run and won inside a month, over half the games on GEM this summer, a decent 'get-to-know-the-faces-on-your-team' exercise for the fans after the winter) and not so goo (why oh why in just two states - why not rotate hosting across the nation in six "weekend" triple-header rounds, e.g. opening weekend Fri night (d/n), Saturday (d/n) and Sunday (day) in Queensland, then the next weekend it's Fri-Sa-Sun in NSW, then after that Fri-Sa-Sun in Victoria, etc, etc. With the semis and final always rotated in one city (e.g. The Gabba, North Sydney/Drummoyne/SCG/Homebush, Adelaide Oval/Glenelg Oval, MCG, etc, etc.) So aside from a couple of scheduling quibbles, yes, bring back the ACT. Manuka is becoming the neutral venue of choice for ODIs and so-on, though why it hosted the Big Bash final is a mystery to me! :-)
Joel
Roar Rookie
Diluting the talent pool for the sake of an extra team probably isn't the greatest idea, especially at a time when we are only just coming back from a torrid period for finding talented players. Maybe a BBL team would be a better option. At least then you could get some international players into the territory, combine that with a few guys with good experience locally a a few new talents. Maybe then you could generate the cash flow from the franchise to think about hosting a state cricket team and put some new names up in lights for national selection.
Scott Pryde
Expert
There are a couple of problems that I can point out... - First up if they have a one day team and take a bunch of the top players (Haddin, Lyon etc) then they would need to have a shield team as well. Players arent going to play for the ACT in the One dayers and another state in the Shield. - The ACT probably wouldn't be able to host the tournament. They have one ground (Manuka) which is up to quality for hosting List A games, which isnt enough. A partnership with NSW / VIC / QLD could work though. - Another problem I can pick out is at times the tournament isnt up to standard as it is. Do we have enough high quality players to create another team and keep the comp high quality and compeititive as the breeding ground for our national teams? A team in the ACT would be a good thing dont get me wrong, I just cant see it realistically happening any time soon.
Craig
Guest
Maybe as a development stepping stone, the Comets could be a new team in the Big Bash instead of an ODD Team. It might be a better fit especially in the PR stakes to have a team that regularly plays out of the ground and being involved in a format of the game always widely marketed as the 'future' of the sport.