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David Schout is a Melbourne-based freelance journalist who has written and reported for the likes of The Guardian, the ICC, Sportsbet, and AFL Media. You can follow him on Twitter at @david_schout.
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While some of his contemporaries are still donning the whites, Andrew McDonald has achieved in four years what few coaches boast in an entire career.
Shane Warne made a career out of confusion. Armed with an array of deliveries that made even the most accomplished squirm, countless batsmen would end up befuddled, walking back to the rooms wondering just what had happened.
The Aussies are winning, the Poms are losing, and an 18-year drought on UK soil may just be broken later this year. Or so say the optimists.
By opting for Joe Burns and Kurtis Patterson against Sri Lanka, the Australian selectors have come good on their promise to reward Shield runs with national selection.
At the halfway point of a newly-extended season, complaints of BBB (Big Bash Boredom) were hardly unexpected.
As far as squad announcements go, yesterday’s 13-man outfit to face Sri Lanka appeared to appease the increasingly irate masses.
The time for excuses has passed. In fact, justifications were already stale last summer.
Since Steve Smith not so much threw the MCC coaching manual out the window as set fire to it, the appreciation of distinctive or unusual batting techniques has risen.
The overwhelming rhetoric that the Optus Stadium wicket will suit Australia’s bowlers over India’s conveniently ignores what happened in Adelaide and the pace qualities of the tourists in general.
It’s the video that sent club cricketers gushing, pundits purring and rivals retching.
Victoria’s decision to deny Aaron Finch an opener’s berth in the Sheffield Shield is an intriguing power play directed at new Cricket Australia leadership.
As Shaun Marsh strolled off Adelaide Oval on Monday after a classy 163 not out for Western Australia, certain cricket fans were unconvinced.
“It’s cricket, but not as you know it” reads Foxtel’s summer tagline, and for many fans in the last week, this rang frustratingly true.
A disastrous year in Australian cricket that has claimed chairman, CEO, captain and coach has one more victim who, to this point, remains standing. But only just.
The jargon was heavy, the irony stark, and in the end Cricket Australia’s response to its own corporate failings went exactly as expected.
The lead story on Cricket Australia’s digital platform on Friday morning read: “Baggy green bat-off: How the hopefuls fared“.
Never had a result been so assured at the halfway point of a sporting match.
In a week where Australia’s batting deficiencies were again laid bare in the UAE, the exploits of two young guns in the West showed that the future, at least, is bright.
Justin Langer’s approach to the Australian coaching role since May has been met in some quarters with a strong dose of scepticism.
Justin Langer said something in his first press conference as Australian coach that was of huge relief to Glenn Maxwell.
If Bairstow, Buttler and Stokes are ‘county-level’ then most of Australia’s top order are club-level
Why Australia are still firm Ashes underdogs
Oh absolutely, will be competitive. But I agree, any hopes of winning are fairly ambitious at this stage. Some good points raised
Why Australia are still firm Ashes underdogs
Hard to argue with those points, Chris. Well put
Now, more than ever, is time to pick and stick
I actually agree with you in that Pucovski should have played. The pleasing outcome from it, though, was that the selectors haven’t hastily chop-and-changed like we’ve become accustomed to.
Re: Burns, I wouldn’t be so sure. He has spent time on the County circuit there, and his home deck is obviously The Gabba, which often provides something for the seamers.
Now, more than ever, is time to pick and stick
Those figures don’t include Foxtel BBL numbers
Yes, the BBL is slightly long. But does it matter?
Paul, the piece primarily addresses viewers who are simply bored of the longer season, not a deeper issue of potential player burnout. Word limits, and all that.
As for your suggestion that the expanded format is not set in stone, let me tell you that it is. If CA were concerned about a longer schedule (*they’re not), they could ask Foxtel execs to go back to a shorter season, but will be laughed out of the room.
Yes, the BBL is slightly long. But does it matter?
Oh, absolutely. When players’ form in the BBL is used for selection in other formats, that is an issue.
Yes, the BBL is slightly long. But does it matter?
You’re not really grasping my argument. A Day One pitch on the biggest cricketing day on the calendar NEEDS to offer something. India could well roll Australia and my argument remains the same.
If the Perth pitch was ‘average’, the MCG is diabolical
Fair enough Waxhead, but who are the four candidates? I can only think of Stoinis who can bat six and bowl 15 seam upright overs. By no means am I saying Marsh was banging the door down, but his performance yesterday justified the selection. And he did threaten, several times in fact. Without him, the three quicks would have been cooked going into a 36 degree day – the recipe for a long-term injury.
If the Perth pitch was ‘average’, the MCG is diabolical
I don’t subscribe to that theory at all, Paul. 215 runs and two wickets in a full day of test cricket means you can very much make that that conclusion before both sides have batted.
If the Perth pitch was ‘average’, the MCG is diabolical
He averages 38.65, which is the third-highest (behind SMarsh and Khawaja) in the current squad. The knock of ‘doesn’t average 40s in the Shield’ is not as applicable today as so few players actually do. Burns, Patterson and Maxwell do (*just), and should be considered as frontrunners should Handscomb be dropped.
Handscomb and the spotlight on being different
Vijay, both innings. Second one was 19th over, which agreed might be tenuous calling new ball, but still got Australia under way.
Yep, and the test immediately before those 10 you mention he took 9 poles in Durban to be man-of-the-match. He’s in a form slump that he’ll emerge from.
Perth pitch no guaranteed perk for Aussies
Ha, all good Paul! Um, I don’t think it’s just a media thing. Just from personal experience, all the chat at cricket training last night was about the Kohli video. There’s a real fascination about him, understandably. I don’t really understand the lack of scrutiny on Rahane and Pujara, as referenced in the piece.
Nets video underlines Australia’s Kohli obsession
Cheers Tock and absolutely it can, but it won’t. Big Bash is the money-spinner for CA now, and given they’ve increased fixtures this season, it’s hard to see it moving back. I think there’s an acceptance that it will now bookend the season (fixturing-wise) but what players want to see is its return to a bona fide competition, treated with respect and without tinkering/’player management’.
The cost of devaluing Shield cricket
What a little legend your son is! Agree re: smaller grounds, too.
The cost of devaluing Shield cricket
To say it ‘serves no other purpose’ than be a player factory is one of the primary reasons our test team is entirely mediocre right now.
The cost of devaluing Shield cricket
Cricket at the Prince of Wales – what a combo. Ha brilliant, I think most cricket tragics remember where they were!
How I missed the most remarkable ODI ever seen
Most of his concussions actually haven’t been from bouncers, Paul. There’s been one from footy, one from hitting a door, one from fielding and one from an errant ball in the nets.
Shield youngsters strike cause for optimism
Yeah they’re struggling aren’t they Paul? No 50+ score for either since the Ashes. They need runs soon, but I’m one of the (seemingly) few that think our best side has them in it. Especially Shaun, whose experience we need going into next year’s Ashes. If Mitch continues to be below-par with the bat, he’ll need to be bowling well to retain his spot.
Langer picks up Lehmann's slack
Exactly right Andre, you wouldn’t blame him. But he’s reiterated this morning that test cricket is still his no.1 goal which was nice to hear. Pretty resilient bloke.
Glenn Maxwell betrayed by mixed messages
It’s a fair question James but no, I think he’ll play again. A big JLT and strong shield form pre-Christmas could even see him in with a chance this summer. But then again, non-selection in a 15-man squad might suggest he’s pretty far down the pecking order…
Still trying to get my head around it tbh.
Glenn Maxwell betrayed by mixed messages
I think merely looking at stats is unfair in the subcontinent. Runs on a spitting deck in India or Sri Lanka are worth far more (IMO) than on a flat Gabba. Maxwell’s 45 in Dharamsala last year against India doesn’t look amazing on paper, but was comfortably our top score, for example.
He is ‘proven’ in the way he plays spin (in all formats) in India, somewhere he has been 13-14 times for international and IPL duty. Watch him at the crease.
In terms of the comparison with Finch, I disagree completely.
Selection trials loom for Test and ODI hopefuls
I don’t think they’re ‘excluded’ as such, just further down the order than they guys picked for the A tour. I think for Finch there’s questions whether his temperament and skill set would succeed abroad. No doubt he could make test runs in Australia and a good Oct-Nov in the Shield could see him rewarded this summer. But if you ask whether I see him playing in next year’s Ashes in the UK, I’d say no.
His name is always thrown about on the back of white ball form, so he needs a solid period of four-day cricket to come into the reckoning.
Selection trials loom for Test and ODI hopefuls
Correct Paul, at least not in the subcontinent. I see them down the pecking order, and believe the selectors do too. Big shield runs early doors could obviously change that.
Selection trials loom for Test and ODI hopefuls
It’s a good point, Paul. Gillespie could have easily landed the England job, too. He was seen (in many eyes) as the frontrunner before Bayliss got it in 2015.
Calm amongst the chaos: McDonald’s meteoric rise