Give Finch a break & also make Handscomb as Wicket Keeper
Maxwell can be the captain
Shaun Marsh can be vice captain

This website has gone down the drain, in terms of comments

the posts remain fantastic tho

Huh, why do you say Nuwan is seeing thru ‘Indian tinted’ glasses

his last name indicates that he is a Sri Lankan

Interesting !
If we are looking specifically, at Ashes, then I would pick more all rounders as top order is likely to crumble often
so it would be
Renshaw
Khwaja
Warner
Smith
Harris
Wade/Paine
Mitch Marsh / Wildermuth
Cummins
Neser
Starc
Lyon / Tremain

Excellent article, Ronan. Pleasure to read this.

Dhoni’s double ton in Chennai was extra-ordinary. I had commented the same

Dhoni, a force of nature in Chennai

one thing to add on Dhoni’s innings, is that, the reason for his murderous mood, was he had correctly realized that, Lyon (despite Pattinson) would be the biggest threat on the Chennai pitch. Which is why he attempted the pre-meditated shot to cow corner, from the first ball of Lyon

the Aussie selectors seem to have panicked and dropped Lyon for the next test, which is precisely what Dhoni would have wanted

I can remember Symonds & Katich. Who is the third one?

was the advice something like, swing the ball and make it hit the stumps. Because thats what happened in the last innings of that series.

Sheek, Kevin scored 300 in a single day. Of the current active cricketers, I can think of only Sehwag/McCullum/Gayle who could have done that.

In the group stage, Taylor was the best batsman after Kumar Sangakkara
And overall Taylor and DeVilliers were the two best middle-order bastmen of this WorldCup
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?batting_positionmax1=7;batting_positionmin1=4;batting_positionval1=batting_position;class=2;filter=advanced;orderby=batting_average;qualmin1=100;qualmin2=400;qualval1=batting_strike_rate;qualval2=runs;season=2014%2F15;size=200;template=results;trophy=12;type=batting

your idea is pretty good.

I had suggested my idea (in both Roar & Reddit) that as per the Market forces, T20 Franchise cricket in UK should be based on test venues.

The need for a franchise model in English Twenty20

Franchise based T20 in UK based on the major Test Match grounds from Cricket

The main objection was that Fans in South and East are most passionate and they would lose out by focussing on Test match venues.

Also Weather seems to be a major concern in UK

and there is the sentimental point that Winter sports like football are based in Cities but Summer sport like Cricket should be based in counties

Victory for a city in the summer

I can understand the sentimentalism, but time doesnt stand still and Premier League is taking over summer also and Cricket in England needs to fight back with their own “Champions league” and now!

I have the following suggestion based on your Idea. Currently counties are divided into 9 each of North & South. Instead divide them into 3 different regions of
North (Durham, Lancs, Yorks & Midlands) ,
Central (London, East(Kent, Essex etc) and areas around London)
South& SouthWest (Sussex, Hampshire, Somerset/Devon, Gloucestershire, Wales)

Let the league phase be like now, only on weekends, Home&Away within zone, but most importantly only 1 match per zone per day in 1 TV channel so that all matches can be televised and the game is given the maximum coverage within each zone

At the end of the league phase, have a super-6 Champions league instead of Semis, 2 back-to-back matches every day between each of these 6 teams. Zone 1st play other Zone 2nd at home (intra zonal matches are carried over) and the 1st vs 1st and 2nd vs 2nd are distributed equally home-and-away
Most importantly stop everything else during this 1 week and if possible give it a proper window like in parallel to existing champions league between IND-AUS-SA, because ICC already has a window for this in international schedule and since only a few players/sides qualify for this others will be available.

Then a Grand Final best-of-3 At Home&Away and Lords?

This can be implemented with least disturbance to existing county and TV rights deal

I got the same feedback from reddit user also, that fans along south&east are more passionate and will lose out on a move towards having T20 based on larger test match venues
This is what I had to say there

“… my main point in rationalising the T20 Market in UK is a valid one. Instead of dividing by 8 major regions we can classify based on zones

NORTH
Durham/NewCastle,
Leeds/Yorkshire,
Manchester/Lancashire,
Birmingham/MidWest,
Nottingham/MidEast

CENTRE
London North (Lords)
London East (Essex / Kent)
London South (Oval)
Outer London (Berkshire / Buckinghamshire etc)

SOUTH
Sussex (South East )
Hampshire (South)
Somerset/Devon (South West)
Gloucestershire (West)
Wales

Teams could play within zones first and followed by a Super6? At a minimum all matches should be televised and should not have scheduling clash (atleast within zone) and should be marketed better to get more TV audience, including tie-ups with Local Premier league clubs if necessary”

The whole thing can be done and dusted in 4-weeks with all matches televised.
First 3 matches, the sides play home & away within zone. 3 simulaneous matches a day (1 per zone). for 3 weeks. can be shown on 3 different channels, even 3 different TV bides by zone

4th week, 2 matches a day of super six matches all shown in 1 cricket channel. needs co-operation from weather for 2 back-to-back matches in same day

followed by a grand final between the best 2 sides

That should please both the traditionalists and the modernists I hope. Where there is a will, there should be a way!

Yes pitches create the right setting. I prefer bouncy pitches with long straight boundaries, which makes hitting six a matter of skill and not by using a heavy bat.

There are problems with 6-month long competition from TV point of view. It might work for a primary sport like football in England, but cricket window needs to be short and sweet to engage the maximum TV audience. My personal preference is that Eng & counties should build a 4-week window for Franchise T20 around the same time as Champions League T20 takes place between IND-AUS-SA.

This is because, the ICC itself has made available a window in International calendar for CLT-20 and not all sides qualify for it – and hence not all players play and the rest can be made available for an Eng Champions League cricket to be played around the same time.

Big variable in UK is the weather I am given to understand. The logistics would be challenging, but they must give it a sincere try and make this a commercial success

You are right that Ego is associated with top sports-people. I should add that KP needed the license to play his game and shots. As long as he was a great player and was delivering 50+ avg he had that license. But once his average dropped and captain changed, and also with his knee acting-up, I guess he lost the license to play his shots. As KP himself reveals in his book, he was a very sensitive soul prone to questioning himself even mid-innings and if the coach/captain fail to back him up to play his natural game then I am afraid thats it for him. Only regret is that the ECB could have gone about in a professional way like how Symonds was clearly told in his contract what was expected of him. But I guess Admins in English cricket still treat it like an Old Boys Club.

Contrast KP to Sehwag who couldnt care if John Wright shook him by his collar or Chappell filed pages of report against him to BCCI, he just wouldnt change his way. Only Gary Kirsten was able to get something out of him by pleading with him to stay till 40th over of ODI and not worry about shots and runs.

As per ICC, the charge against Anderson and Harbhajan, both carried the same level of offence. Harbhajan was accused of Racial abuse and Anderson was accused of physical contact, not just verbal abuse.

The Jadeja-Anderson incident occured within the stadium, so the ICC still bears responsibility to investigate the charge.

the first day pitch looks like day-4 pitch. match is unlikely to go past 3 days and all they are worried about is the next program for that day

they can show all the xtra programs they want on the 4th and 5th day

Great day of Test match cricket. ..absolutely loving every ball of it. that too it is a holiday. so can watch the match on Tv.

The bowling can be worked-upon but the batting is a real mess. Maybe the issue is with the batting coach and the short sighted selection policies. Australia at the moment dont know their best top-6.

Just have a re-look at the batting talent available.

No true openers after Hayden/Langer. Katich and Watto were both converted openers and not naturals.

Warner doesn’t have the ability to construct a test innings, when he is out of his comfort zone.

Hughes is not a test match player. He needs more ODI matches to build his confidence.

Clarke refuses to move up despite no Ponting and no Hussey

no consistent bowling all-rounder

I think Clarke needs to identify a core group of players and stick with them irrespective of the result.

Siddle is identified as test match specialist, so he must play all test matches, but he is not the pace leader. There needs to be some body else who is faster like Pattinson/Cummins/RyanHarris. There also needs to be a bowler who can take wickets with new ball like Hilfenhaus/Starc. There needs to be 1 more bowler who can take wickets with reverse swing and bowl steadily at other times (like Watson/SteveWaugh). Maybe Henriques needs to be groomed for this role.

Spin bowling is a major issue. Katich/Warner were never exploited properly for their part time spin bowling options like MarkWaugh. Maybe Maxwell can be the one. If Clarke/Arthur believe in him then he must play all matches and like Warne said he should be judged only by his strike rate and not economy rate.

A specialist wrist spinner should be selected and always play in the team. Finger spinners should only play in ODIs and not test matches. That will send a clear message to any aspiring spinner, that to get into the test team they should be a wrist spinner.

explain to me, why Katich was axed?

If India can open with two spinners, then definitely Australia can open with Clarke, their best player of spin? And it is criminal to risk the back of the only capable player of spin – from down under – by making him bowl. If Pattinson can be restricted to only 6 overs a day, then definitely Clarke also shouldn’t bowl more than a couple. For this reason alone Australia need to go with a second spinner – a left armer – as a backup to Clarke

My top-4 would be Clarke, Watson, Warner, Henriques followed by 2 out of Cowan/Hughes/Khwaja/Johnson
and Wade, Pattinson, Lyon, Doherty, Siddle/Starc would complete the line-up.

wow! Spiro. Great tip that – hold your hands close to your chest on the backlift. I always played away from my body and wondered why? Wish somebody had given me this tip 20 years earlier 🙂

on the mark with your analysis Brett. I just came across this article.

I’ve been thinking for a long time, that Clarke shouldn’t have been elevated to vice-captaincy so soon. Isn’t that also in line with the obsession with youth?

easy to put down Pollard. but no other Overseas player really stood out for that role as a finisher. That is why I thought maybe I can put Pollard here as he is the better fielder and proven ability to hit big although let down by strange strategies of his team and captain.

anyways, if I try to look-up the stat, the biggest sixes were hit by Morkel, and because he can bowl pace too, he makes a better option than Ross Taylor. Hopes and Hodge are down on strike rate / no. of sixes hit. Going by his abilities, Watson would be a perfect fit for this role, though I haven’t seen him used successfully in that position as a finisher.

You can take your pick….

I dont follow rugby, so I was unaware of that format, but that sounds interesting. Thanks for the explanation.

why cant we invite everybody to the party and still ensure that the quality is not compromised. We can have a midway elimination of weaker teams from the league/group, like what I proposed here http://www.theroar.com.au/2011/04/14/restoring-cheer-to-the-cricket-world-cup/

That way we can accommodate 3 groups of 5/6 teams each yet still have each game meaningful and total tournament length not more than 5 weeks