Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Jhye Richardson.
Five high-class Test bowlers, all fit and raring to go when the first Test starts in November. Throw in other possible candidates for a bowling berth like Chris Tremain, Jackson Bird and Michael Neser, and it’s hard to think of an era Australia has had more depth in its fast bowling ranks.
The situation was similar earlier this year, when Peter Siddle was included in this list and, as a result, Australia adopted a policy of resting some bowlers. The reason given was that the players had a grueling workload with five Tests scheduled over a six-week period.
That policy looks like continuing this Australian summer, with six Tests scheduled from November 21 until January the 7.
This sounds perfectly reasonable, but is this actually covering up problems that are within Cricket Australia’s (CA) power to fix?
The British Army created an adage known as the seven ‘P’s – Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. The seven ‘P’s should be applied to three things within CAs power.
1. Proper Tour Planning
2. Proper Pitch Preparation; and
3. Proper Fast Bowling Preparation and Workloads
Tour Planning
As previously mentioned, Australia had to play a five-Test series in six weeks in England and will play six Test matches in seven weeks this summer, but why are these agreed schedules?
In the case of the Ashes, moving the dates forward would have been impossible, given the final of the ODI World Cup was played on the 14th of July, allowing only a couple of weeks to prepare for the First Test. There no reason though, why the series could not have been played out over a longer period. After all, the final County games were being played on the 26th of September.
In similar vein this summer, the first Test starts on the 21st of November, yet prior to that, there are some T20 internationals of questionable significance in early November?
If those T20 have to be played before Christmas, why not play them in early October, a week or so after Pakistan finished its T20 series against Sri Lanka, which would dovetail nicely with the end of the first round of Marsh Cup ODI’s?
This movement forward would allow the First Test to be played at least a fortnight earlier, thus creating more time between Tests (with the exception of the Boxing Day/New Years Day fixtures).
Proper Pitch Preparation
Test pitches in Australia used to be renowned for a variety of characteristics. Some were bouncy and fast, while others helped the faster bowlers on days one and two, then broke up and helped the spinners on days four and five. All though helped a balanced attack, if bowlers were prepared to put in the effort.
Most of these traits have largely disappeared, so attacks are now faced with the real prospect of losing the toss, bowling a collective 150 overs in the first innings and possibly bowling another 100 overs in the second innings – then having to repeat the dose a few days later thanks to Piss Poor Tour Planning.
Australia is one of the few countries where tens of thousands of fans will flock to Test matches, so Cricket Australia wants to cash in by making sure games last five days. Curators though have gone a tad too far in their pitch preparation and one result has been an increased bowling workload.
The day-night Tests have shown competitive pitches can be produced by making only small adjustments to how strips are prepared. Cricket Australia needs to try and re-introduce the characteristics that made these pitches both unique in world cricket, but also a real contest between bat and ball.
Proper Fast Bowling Preparation and Workloads
The original heading for this topic was going to be “Proper Bowling Preparation and Workloads”, because Nathan Lyon too, should have been included as part of the rotation policy. Sadly, there’s no spinner good enough to take his place, so the rotation policy focuses on the quicks.
The world’s best Test bowler, Pat Cummins, will have an unusual preparation for the summer this year, as will his teammate Mitchell Starc.
Cummins has rightly been given an extended rest after his efforts in the World Cup and the 200 plus overs he bowled in the Ashes series. He has however, been included in the T20 squad to play against Pakistan and Sri Lanka? Why? How will this help him prepare for the Tests that start only two weeks after the last T20 finishes?
Starc too, has also been included in the T20 series which makes even less sense, given he’s the type of bowler who needs work and would benefit from playing as much red ball cricket as possible. His place in the Test side is far from assured and he should be given every chance to stake a claim, rather than being limited to a couple of Shield games.
The other factor both have to overcome are the different mindsets needed for four day versus T20 cricket. In Starc’s case, if his place was guaranteed, this wouldn’t be as much of an issue, but this chopping and changing formats will not help his cause unless he’s in red-hot form and his last performance against Queensland suggests he’s far from that.
The final piece of the bowling preparation puzzle is how much energy are all of the Australian quicks using up on training and bowling, once the season starts?
The modern trend seems to be all players having lots of practice time, gym sessions, hours of warm up before play starts, etc., which is fine for preseason and early games in a summer, but why is this carried onto Tests, especially when series are crammed together with little down time in between games?
Cricket at this level is way more mental than physical and it’s safe to assume all players are in good enough shape to cope with the rigors of five day Tests. Surely rest and time away from anything to do with the game would be more beneficial than a prolonged net bowling session?
Shouldn’t this preparation also taper significantly, both as the summer progresses, but also depending on weather conditions? Why would a fast bowler be out warming up for hours, if the forecast was for 40-degree heat and they could be expected to bowl at least 20 overs?
Rather than address these issues collectively, Cricket Australia has gone down the path of bowling rotation. In effect they’re telling selectors not to pick the best XI based on fitness and form, but using this approach to cover up failings in other areas.
If each of these failings was collectively addressed, players chosen for the First Test would know they were likely to keep their places for the rest of the summer, assuming form didn’t dessert them or they weren’t injured.
As it stands, a bowler can be pulled from the team, because selectors guess he might not make it through the summer. I wonder what the old fast bowlers union would have to say about that?
Baggy_Green
Roar Pro
"Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Jhye Richardson" Add a certain Riley Meredith to that list - fast and wicket-taking
dangertroy
Roar Rookie
Tours are compressed into a few weeks of back to back tests due to costs. It's expensive to tour a team. Your talking a squad of 16 odd players, probably a similar number of backroom staff, possibly family members too. Put them all in a hotel, in a large city, not too far from a big stadium. The accommodation bill must be enormous, to say nothing of all the other costs associated with the tour. A quick turnaround between tests could save hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Paragraphs have disappeared, but you can add all the emoticons you like. Then you can denote different thoughts with :boxing: :tennis: :football: :cricket: :rugby: :thumbdown: :thumbup: :sick: :laughing: :crying: :silly:!
Lewis Atkins
Roar Rookie
Great stuff, scheduling is a huge problem. Just too many games in such short periods, start the tests November ten and play white ball late January-March. Pitches are a pity too, the MCG is one of the best grounds and has possibly the most boring pitch in world cricket. It shouldn't have to be a day/night match to give us entertaining pitches
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Good points. On pitches, you wouldn’t have thought there was much extra value in having Tests last five days rather than 4 or 4 and a bit. For attendance, fifth days are often free anyway. For television ratings, I would have thought the overall numbers might be helped by having more exciting games rather than close games. Though I guess having Australia win either helps boosts ratings too. But note most of the England Ashes series went to the fifth day. The main thing is to get pitches with some life early on, decent conditions in the middle, and more spin and deterioration at the end. Not sure if this is a concerted policy, though. Rotating your seamers only makes the slightest sense if it really is hard to choose between them, or there really is a case for horses for courses, eg picking a Siddle over a Starc. Otherwise, choose your best, as you would your batsmen.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
CA has further shot their promotion of the longer game in the foot by agreeing to tour India in January, accepting a bid from free to air where they don't televise ODI'S and T20's, so essentially the greatest number of potential viewers don't see the Australian team play after N.Y. Test. If young viewers are shying away from Tests, then the BBL is their only exposure to cricket during peak holiday period! Who cares? Prior to the WC, the organisers did a survey to gauge the profile of the England team recognition, in light of total pay tv coverage for nearly a decade and the player most could name? Freddie Flintoff! Fast forward 10 years in Australia and despite a rampant Steve Smith in Tests, it's likely self promoter and pay commentator Warne will be the recognized name. CA is shooting itself in the foot with a short sighted money grab from the bbl circus with a supposed aim of that providing for the future of the game. What about the present careers of the players though? Don't they have a right to maximise their form without being sidelined because of ridiculous scheduling?
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Getting ‘backroomers’ to agree to what you’re saying is like asking architects to consider cars in their designs.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
"Workload “management” has generally backfired. While bowlers need to be fresh, they also need to be bowling. Pre-arranged rotations, limiting nets to virtually no work at all, keeping fresh bowlers out of the Shield because they are needed later, these have all been detrimental. Just pick the best fit eleven. If someone is clearly tired, they aren’t part of that “fit” eleven for a match; otherwise just let them do their job." Absolutely, plus, you'll never know who you may unearth having someone come in for a downed player. Don't ask Thommo what he thinks of rotation unless you want the unmitigated truth. We are very conservative, in Australia, when picking a squad / team.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Brilliant, Paul! I would suggest though, instead of agreeing to the Ashes after the WC, the Aussies should have pushed for this coming English summer, instead of cramming the series in or playing in sub optimal Autumn conditions. That would've allowed them to push for a productive 3-4 week lead in and realistically spaced Tests that allow for the right physical recuperation as prescribed by the million backroomers. Players are being used as money ball assets based on perceived pitch conditions, limited past results in those conditions and highly paid backroomers. The wickets in England were uncharacteristic from the start of the WC, but selectors went ahead with a plan which essentially said Cummins form was too good not to play, but Starc would falter because X pitch doesn't suit his style and he won't be able to back up. Ridiculous. The other consideration which is going to severely affect a bowlers form and possibly career is the concussion protocol and tight scheduling. I can see one of these chess pieces taking ten in a Boxing day, get hit in the 4th innings and have to miss N.Y. Test because it's starting under the prescribed 5 day rest. The next Test being an unsuitable venue for his style of bowling so he was being rotated out anyway and him not being considered for the early Feb tour to NZ because it too doesn't suit his style and him not getting a chance to play Shield because the BBL goes for ever. Every selector knows form is transitory, they played. They have to start tempering the back room influence, pushing for more logical scheduling as Paul notes and allow bowlers to ride their form, gain experience on different tracks while in form and formulate a long term Test winning plan which centres around our best asset at the moment, our bowlers.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
boom boom!
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Edit multi-paragraph replies after posting at your peril! Yes 5 Tests, not 6. The desire to have league approaches to Tests and ODIs - and no doubt iT20s will follow suit - is a good idea. It does however bring the challenges of trying to have an even approach of the same number of games in ODIs and T20s series among all nations and then trying to fit it all in to meet all nations scheduling requirements. Agree that the India ODI series is awkward scheduling, though Australia can hardly complain; it has steadfastly refused to tour South Africa or New Zealand to play Boxing Day Tests to suit their home calendars and meet their desire to establish marquee events, while almost demanding that those countries play the MCG Test. Not sure how CA and the other members can get on top of the crammed scheduling issue; Australia's schedule is relatively lightweight compared to India's though. Personally, for NZ and South Africa at least given our southern hemisphere summer alignment, I wouldn't mind seeing Australia play six Test series alternating across home and away. It would achieve three results; i) makes for a marquee event where two teams really go up against each other for an extended period of matches ii) fulfills both of the home and away series outcome in just one series, rather than having to fit in two separate series and iii) provides balance to the series outcome as Tests are played on both countries home grounds. I actually think February and March would be the perfect time for those series, still leaving 3 Tests in November/December/early January to fit in Windies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc. The 4/5 Test series against India and England could remain in their traditional season slots.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
The only rotating the spinners need to do is to the ball.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Two Tests against Pakistan, three against New Zealand. Where is this sixth test coming from?What am I missing? Australia will likely never play six home Tests again; Hobart has hosted its last and Canberra its only; and there doesn’t seem to be an away one this summer. That said, I do agree that scheduling and pitches are a serious problem. Melbourne, especially, is a wasteland of a deck kept alive only because it gets the prime spot in the calendar. The unfortunate reality is the calendar is overloaded with internationals trying to fit around T20 leagues, and India not being willing to shift the pointless ODI series in January hits this summer as well. And the BBL being in the middle of summer makes any sensible scheduling impossible. And availability, with so many southern hemisphere nations playing at the same time getting a nation here when we want them isn’t always an easy thing. Why should a team reschedule a couple of meaningless T20s to suit Australia if they have a Test tour in South Africa or New Zealand. Workload “management” has generally backfired. While bowlers need to be fresh, they also need to be bowling. Pre-arranged rotations, limiting nets to virtually no work at all, keeping fresh bowlers out of the Shield because they are needed later, these have all been detrimental. Just pick the best fit eleven. If someone is clearly tired, they aren’t part of that “fit” eleven for a match; otherwise just let them do their job. And what’s happened to paragrpahs recently? Has TheRoar had some update that fails to recognise carriage returns in replies?