This weekend we’ve seen the World Club Challenge and club trials in rugby league, AFLX and ALFW in Australian Rules and the 2018 season of Super Rugby kicking off in South Africa.
The footy season is upon us which inevitably means that the summer of cricket is drawing to a close.
In a period of just over three months, we’ve seen a women’s Ashes Series, a men’s Ashes series, domestic cricket in all its forms and an international one day series. We finish up with Australia in the final of a Twenty20 tri series mid week and the final of the women’s domestic one day series next weekend in Sydney.
At the start of the season, most Australian supporters would have settled for the men’s team winning the Ashes back from England. Not many would have tipped the 4-0 scoreline. However, we learnt plenty more than that during the summer.
Here are my top ten of what we learned. Please feel free, disagree or indeed add to the list.
1. We will start with the obvious. Steve Smith is the best Test batsman in the world. His statistics over the five Tests were amazing: 687 runs, a double century, two centuries, two fifties and an average of 137.4.
The forecast battle of the captains between Steve Smith and Joe Root became a non event. Steve Smith was dominant. The stress of winning the Test series led to fatigue and a disappointing one day series for Smith but he is now well rested and ready for a tougher assignment in South Africa;
(Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)
2. Apart from being an outstanding role model for girls interested in playing cricket, Ellyse Perry confirmed her high standing in the game with a 213no against England in the one off Test match. The Australian women’s team won the Ashes, the Perry captained Sydney Sixers won the WBBL and the NSW Breakers are into the final of the one day tournament next weekend. All in all, not a bad summer for Ellyse Perry!
3. If there was a chink in the Australian batting order through the Test matches, it was probably Cameron Bancroft. A series that promised so much with his unbeaten 82 at the Gabba morphed into a battle for Bancroft, who looked sadly out of touch by Sydney. His form for the Perth Scorchers was good so he hopefully will regain it against South Africa.
If not, he will be looking over his shoulder at Matt Renshaw, who has been scoring plenty of runs for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield of late;
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4. Typically, after an Ashes loss, someone in the UK media will blame the first class cricket set up in England. While we all snigger at another excuse, there may be something in it. There is a lot more Twenty20 and one day matches in English cricket, which is perhaps behind their high standing in these two forms of cricket.
It may have been a detriment to their Test cricket however, with James Vince and Mark Stoneman consistently wafting at balls that they should have left to the keeper.
5. At the start of the summer, Alex Carey, Peter Nevill and perhaps even Matt Wade were in the race to be the Australian wicketkeeper for the Ashes series. When Tim Paine was picked, many were questioning the intelligence of the selectors, but it proved a masterstroke with Paine having a great summer.
Tim Paine is 33 years old and the choice of an experienced head for the pressure of an Ashes series and an away South African series was a sound one. Alex Carey’s BBL form and composure in his limited international appearances to date means that he is now firmly next in line;
6. Much has been made of the Marsh brothers this summer and the statistics speak for themselves. Shaun Marsh found consistency over the series whist Mitchell Marsh had obviously worked tirelessly on his batting while injured.
Playing against a strong South African pace attack on wickets suiting the bowling will test the entire Australian batting unit, but if these two can continue their form into this series, Australia will be a strong chance;
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
7. D’Arcy Short seems to be taking the David Warner route, with his strong BBL form leading to a spot in the Australian Twenty20 team and an impressive start thus far…and all this before he has really cemented a spot in a Sheffield Shield line up. There’s plenty of water to flow under the bridge as yet, but it will be great to watch his development over the next few years.
8. We all knew that Joe Root was a great batsman coming into this Ashes series. Not all of us knew that his one failure was his inability to convert many fifties into hundreds. If we didn’t know it before, we certainly knew it after with Root scoring five fifties and no centuries. While he still topped the batting averages for the English team, the difference between him and the Australian captain could not have been any starker.
(Nigel French/PA Wire)
9. It is a battle between Australia and South Africa for the best bowling attack in the world. England’s only draw was on a road in Melbourne with Mitchell Starc out of the attack. At full strength, the Australian attack consistently dismissed England on wickets good for batting. As much as Australia’s batting line up will be a tested in South Africa, Australia’s bowlers will be counting down the days.
10. Australia women’s cricket is on the rise. North Sydney Oval was the venue for the Test match and it also held two double headers over consecutive days in the WBBL. All matches had attendances that far exceeded expectations and TV ratings are also on the rise.
The WBBL/BBL home double headers drew good crowds while the WBBL also hit a number of regional centres. The end goal of Cricket Australia would be to attract large crowds to stand alone matches and that’s why I think we will see a lot of women’s matches towards the start of the Australian summer in years to come.
So, there we are at the end of a summer of cricket where the Australian teams have largely excelled and we’ve learnt plenty. For the men, a tour to South Africa awaits while the women will shortly hop on a plane to India. The summer of cricket may be over but cricket itself never stops.
Matt H
Roar Guru
The biggest selection blunder? Australia have won all their T20's so far, chasing down whatever score is put in front of them. The two openers picked for Australia were Warner and Short. Short topped the BBL run scoring and basically dragged an otherwise ordinary Hobart to the final. Warner is the captain, is close to the best Australian to have played in the IPL, captaining his side to the final. He doesn't get to play BBL, so a comparison with Khawaja there is impossible. I'm not saying Khawaja is not very good. He is excellent in this format. but it is not as obvious as you make out that he should play ahead of Warner and Short. Short's BBL season - averaged 57, strike rate 149, top score 122* Khawaja's BBL season - 3 games only - averaged 46, strike rate 146, top score 85 Warner's IPL season 2017 - average 58, strike rae 142, top score 126 Short for Australia - averaged 49, strike rate 145, highest score 76. I would say the bigger blunder was not picking Khawaja for the 50 over games. i know his record for Australia in that format has not been the best (given limited opportunities), but Smith needed a rest and Khawaja would have really helped that side at number 3.
Matt H
Roar Guru
Yes, if they can get Pattinson on the field for a whole season, then I'll be converted.
Matt H
Roar Guru
Amla is the only player to come close on an all round basis. He doesn't get the accolades, but his ODI stats are close to Kohli's. Amla is the only one close to Kohli's innings per century. Amla has beaten Kohli to all the ODI runs milestones (i.e. first to 1,000 runs, 2,000, runs etc).
Matt H
Roar Guru
I hear you and time will tell, but at the moment Smith's away average is still better than Kohli's overall average, even after Kohli's brilliant South African series. Smith has a better record in most countries than Kohli. Ranking may not be an exact science, but Smith's recent rankings are miles in front of all others. He now has a ranking that only Bradman has bettered. Having said all of that, Kohli went to another level in South Africa. I'm happy to say that these two are the standouts at the moment and who is considered better may fluctuate series by series. Sort of a Lara vs. Tendulkar narrative.
Matt H
Roar Guru
We learned that Michael Clarke really, really is looking forward to Married at First Sight.
DavSA
Guest
Ha ha Dexter , but I simply cannot ignore what I see on the Park. Take Kholi out the equation and India would have been humiliated. He can bat.
Dexter The Hamster
Guest
Here I was thinking we could get through a discussion about the Australian cricket summer without mention of King Kohli, but here we are, about 4 comments in, and here he is. And from a saffa...
Flemo
Guest
Mitch I agree 100% with you, not having Khawaja in the T20 side is the biggest selection blunder right now, not only does he average an insane 50 in bbl history he also strikes it over 150 and is simply the best batsman in the power plays, this year he single handily heat the Perth scorchers on his own in his first game back, and like you said he plays good cricket shots and not hit and miss shots
Flemo
Guest
Ryan you make good points, Khawaja is the most valuable player to the Thunder, their win rate with Khawaja playing is absurdly good and without him they almost always lose. Khawaja should be playing in the T20 side and at the minimum he should be part of the 12 man squad
Mitch
Guest
Not only is Khawaja one of our best T20 batsman it is the way he scores his runs. Classic and O so good looking shots that are played with such ease and most importantly safely. He can be going at a plus 150 strike rate and it as if he hasn't any kind of risk at all meaning the bowler has to get him with a good ball rather then waiting for a mistake.
DavSA
Guest
Nope , did not miss it James. I had this same discussion recently with Ronan and his argument was the same as yours . That was based on a single series where Kohli was in a form slump. I too have based my argument on a single series ie. SA vs India . On spiteful wickets and with the ball doing plenty he was the only batsman on either side to show some command at the crease . The likes of ABDV and Amla despite having home advantage and having played tons of cricket in their careers on pacy SA wickets looked lost at sea.I am aware of test rankings and do not ignore them but they are not an exact science. Too many variables.When AUS arrive here shortly we will then see just how good Smith really is .He is going to be tested.
Mick_Lions
Roar Pro
The selectors do deserve credit for their test and T20 teams. I for one thought they'd dropped their marbels all over the floor when they picked the Marsh bros. I'm glad someone mentioned scheduling. The BBL had massive public support and the final should have been considered a show case. Triple M's commentary was fantastic and they deserve credit. Ben Cummins deserves special mention for finally delivering a full series and showing us why he was so hyped as an 18 yr old. Definitely a star on the rise. Elyse Perry may well pull a Cameron Smith this year by winning everything she plays as captain and being the best in the country and perhaps the world. She. Is. Awesome.
Mick_Lions
Roar Pro
I actually agree that Kohli and ABdV or better all round batsmen as they dominate in all formats. Smith is hands down the best TEST batsmen in the world.
Mick_Lions
Roar Pro
Wow! I wish I'd thought of that Michael! Loved the Triple M team.
AREH
Roar Guru
Khawaja deserves it, I agree, especially based on his blistering BBL knocks almost every time he kits up for the Thunder. But the Aus T20 side has performed far better than expected I think, and now the question is where would you even fit Usman in? Because it's hard to see who he now displaces from a top six of Warner, Short, Lynn, Maxwell, Finch and Stoinis - which is extremely powerful and dynamic.
Stephen
Guest
I agree, khawaja is actually a better T20 and ODI player then even the longer formats, for T20 he is a class above anyone else at the moment, i would slot him in as opener with warner when all test stars are availalbe for T20
David Holden
Roar Guru
Paul, agree completely re Nathan Lyon. From someone who barely held onto his spot just over 12 months ago, he would be one of the first picked now.
David Holden
Roar Guru
DavSA, pretty sure that no one would argue against Kohli being best in the world across all 3 formats. However, Smith is well in front in terms of test matches.
Paul
Roar Guru
The 11th thing we learnt was CA has zero idea about schedulling. The domestic ODI series was an early season after thought, there was no 4 day cricket once the Tests started and the debacle with players not being available for the BBL finals games because they were playing for Australia verges on the incompetent. The 12th thing we learnt was to the selectors need to pick players in form. They did so in Tests and T20, but why Maxwell didn't get a run from game one in the ODIs. or why Smith continued to be chosen when clearly mentally tired, are questions the selectors need to think about moving forward. The 13th thing is how much Lyon has progressed as a spinner in the past few years. Made Moween Ali look like a trundler, picked up key wickets in nearly every innings and was more than useful in the field. I won't be surprised if he doesn't have a big say in at least one of the SA Tests.
Don Freo
Guest
I wouldn't credit the rehab department with that. They would need to explain the absence of Pattinson, NCN, Behrendorff, Paris, Stanlake from domestic 4 day cricket...all Oz merchandise they keep warehoused.