Roar Rookie
Joined August 2009
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Here's a salary cap suggestion: get rid of the Salary Cap and introduce a standard payment system, with bonus payments. All clubs pay their…
I have just finished watching a brilliant game of footy between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys. I have to declare here…
Seeing as we can’t split MJ and Haddin, should give it to Lyon….. He has been the unsung hero this series!
Seriously though, I was surprised MJ got the MoM in Melbourne. Obviously a 5-er, a 3-for and a pretty awesome runout outscore a 100 and a 50 (Rogers).
Is Haddin the man of the series ahead of Johnson?
G’day Simoc.
I have never had the opportunity to learn how to keep wickets. The only real cricket I played was as a youngster (pre-teen) and I only lasted two or three games….middle-order batsman who got scared whenever his older brother came in off a long run-up…
But, I do know the rules of the game, and I have watched the game on TV avidly, all my life. One of my earliest memories is watching ODIs on TV with my family. I used to watch every delivery of every day of every Test Match in the Aussie Summer. I grew up on Cricket. Never played it, except in the backyard or schoolyard. But that doesn’t mean that I know nothing about it.
You are correct, catches are to be caught. But I disagree with you that Healy never went for spectacular catches. Although they may not have seemed spectacular to everyone….
If by ‘spectacular catch’ you mean, the Keeper is horizontal to the ground, taking the ball in one outstretched glove….than yes, Healy didn’t take too many of that sort of catch.
Heals had the footwork of a brilliant Keeper. That may be why he appeared to never take a spectacular catch, because he was able to move into position to take the catch ‘easily’…. whereas lesser Keepers, unable to move their feet as well, need to dive ‘spectacularly’ to take the catch.
To me, a Keeper taking a ‘spectacular catch’ is more along the lines of a Keeper who will stay on his feet and move to the ball before diving, if needed. Footwork, just like when batting. Get to the ball and then go for it…. rather than react as soon as you see the line of the ball…. which, when Keeping Wicket, means you dive early and sometimes you miss the ball, sometimes you catch it, sometimes you drop it.
I still maintain that Healy was a better Gloveman than Gilchrist. I don’t care about the batting ability of the Keeper. I want to know that he will take every catch. Stop the LegByes and the Byes. Take the Stumping Chances. Stand up over the wicket to a medium-pacer when the Batsman is trying to stand out of his crease. Have the foresight and confidence to move himself and the slips cordon forwards or backwards when the ball is dropping short or coming through too high.
I have always maintained that Australia’s best Keepers in Test Cricket have been Tallon (who I never saw play), Marsh and Healy. WicketKeepers. Not WicketKeeper/Batsman.
Does Bailey's selection spell Haddin's demise?
I agree, Gilly wasn’t mediocre as a Keeper, but he wasn’t as good as Heals. IMHO
Does Bailey's selection spell Haddin's demise?
I think they’ve picked him as a future captain…. and will persist with him even if he fails because of that….
DIZZY: This is what we can expect from the Ashes series
I think that dispute is only in relation to the Shield Coverage…. Hope I’m correct….
DIZZY: This is what we can expect from the Ashes series
Other way around at my place…. I get the ABC Radio Commentary before I get the vision… it’s pretty awesome…. it means I can be doing a jigsaw puzzle while listening to the Commentary and hear the description of the delivery and look up in time to see it on the TV….
DIZZY: This is what we can expect from the Ashes series
I agree James, and I still maintain that I would pick Healy over Gilchrist every time!!!
I think that a Keeper with excellent Keeping Glovework and Footwork and an average Batting ability has more to offer to his team than a Keeper with mediocre/above average Keeping Glovework and Footwork and a Batting ability that could hold down a specialist batting position.
Does Bailey's selection spell Haddin's demise?
It all depends on whether you want to pick an all-rounder, a batsman who can keep, or whether you want a specialist, a keeper and if he can bat it’s a bonus. I would rather have a specialist keeper. Someone who is going to take every catch, going to take every stumping and assist at runouts, someone who is going to stop every bye and legbye. Give me a keeper like that, and I don’t care where he bats or how many runs he scores. Healy or Marsh over Gilchrist or Haddin. Any day of the week.
The rise and rise of the keeper-batsman