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Roar Guru
Joined July 2012
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Life Long Brisbane Rugby League supporter, first Redcliffe and now Broncos. also a mad cricket follower and casual everything else follower. Now under a new profile https://www.theroar.com.au/author/matth2/
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I would prefer to see it at the end of the season after the grand final, similar to how the two Intrust Super comps play after their respective grand finals for the title of best non-NRL team in the country. But to be honest it’s always been difficult to find a spot that suits everyone. And that’s a shame because as a concept it’s great.
But considering the NRL refused even to schedule a test match against the touring British Lions shows exactly where their priorities lie. They want to be more AFL and less Rugby Union, in terms of international priorities.
NRL interest in Super League showdown a world-class challenge
Good write up Scott and hard to disagree. A minor point and it might be too late for your other previews. For the Ins (and outs I guess but more for the Ins) are you able to put where they have come from?
Thanks
NRL 2019 season preview: Parramatta Eels
I just have to say that Lockyer pre knee injuries had lightning acceleration.
2019 will be the year of Ponga
If you have jinxed him Stuart you are going to have thousands of angry Novocastrians on your trail.
He is exciting, I’ll give you that. Who else in recent memory has burst onto the scene and just looked very very special from the get go? That can break a game to pieces either himself or through setting up supports?
Marshall as the author mentions.
Fulton as another poster mentions.
Brad Fittler as a ridiculously talented teenager springs to mind
Steve Mortimer circa 1979
Andrew Johns and Darren Lockyer of course.
Matty Bowen?
Phil Blake?
Greg Alexander won the Rookie of the Year one year and then the Dally M Player of the Year the next, the only player to do so. so he might take the cake.
2019 will be the year of Ponga
Bob Fulton, good call. He was that same package who could do it all himself and set up his supports.
2019 will be the year of Ponga
To me he will be a Mitch Johnson / Paul Reiffel – a very good number 8.
Pat Cummins: First the Allan Border Medal, next the captaincy
I feel like your captaincy examples don’t really help your case. Looking down that list you either have ordinary captains, Benaud and Imran Khan excepted, or players that were good captains but were not really front line bowlers – Illingworth for example.
As for Cummins, I’d let the boy play out his cricket and maybe down the track when he’s starting to slow down you could consider it then. He’s still played less than 30 first class games, so he has a lot to learn about the onfield stuff.
Pat Cummins: First the Allan Border Medal, next the captaincy
Should be a fun series. It will be interesting to see what the crowds will be like, with this one sandwiched in before the IPL. But when the crowds are up and about in India you get a great atmosphere, even for a nothing series.
My memory is fading but I seem to remember Mitchell Johnson announcing himself on an ODI tour of India early in his career. Even on their flat tracks his pace caused serious problems. I guess Starc is that man now.
My hopes for this series:
1. Finch rediscovers his mojo
2. Handscomb establishes his place and displaces Carey as keeper. I like Carey but he’s taking a batting spot and Handscomb is just better with the bat.
3. Turner takes his chance. I think this kid really has something
4. Maxwell goes Full Maxi at least once. Love him or hate him, it’s compelling viewing
5. Cummins goes to the next level in limited overs cricket. If he can crack the ODI code he will be seriously valuable to us.
6. Behrendorff gets a decent run and stays injury free. If the Dorff can stay fit for a year, then we have another very good all format bowler in the production line.
Australia face a nightmare tour of India
Well said Paul. In a low scoring series with bowlers set to dominate, fielding becomes even more important than usual. Who are the best fielders going around these days? I was hoping Agar would kick on with his batting to become our “all rounder” option because he is a gun fielder. Labuschagne seems pretty good as well, but I don’t see enough domestic cricket to comment on fringe players.
And Khawaja, man is he frustrating! Takes one of the best catches you will ever see early in the season and then goes downhill from there.
And of course Maxwell adds plenty with his fielding, but obviously not enough in the eyes of the selectors to make him an option. I honestly can’t see why they would be wary of a guy who averages over 40 in first class cricket, can change a game in a session, hit a century in India, is a legitimate 5th bowler option and is a gun fielder.
One area where the Aussie Test team can excel
Sounds like the comp has reached its first saturation point then. Everyone who was initially going to be a fan now is. It will be a lot harder to win significant gains from here.
What Cricket Australia must do to fix the Big Bash for 2020
Only that their historical performances are well ahead of the competition. And then they should have done time on the Australia A tour with a bit of luck. Warner was smashing them in grade but stiffer competition would be nice.
Even the Workd Cup would be game time.
For me I think we could safely assume they’d be in the top 8 bats in the country and therefore should tour.
A golden opportunity: Don't pick Smith and Warner
Slightly off-topic … I’ve heard that crowds are down and I personally didn’t go this year for the first time, but is it only average crowds that are down or aggregate crowds? If the averages are down but not too far, the extra games would mean more tickets sold in total.
What Cricket Australia must do to fix the Big Bash for 2020
I read Warne’s article and he’s not the most consistent guy.
Regarding Khawaja he says that runs against a terrible Sri Lankan side shouldn’t mean as much as those against India, so he drops Khawaja instead of Harris. There is an argument here, so so far so good. He uses the same argument to jettison Patterson for his boy Stoinis.
But then he drops Starc for Richardson on the basis of how good Richardson looked – against Sri Lanka. And keeps Joe Burns after his big game against – Sri Lanka.
Shane Warne has named his Ashes team, and it's actually not as ridiculous as we'd have thought
The ban was for 12 months. Whether you agree with that ban or not is irrelevant now. What is relevant is, if you don’t select them once the ban is over, you are effectively extending the ban without cause.
A golden opportunity: Don't pick Smith and Warner
They are obsessed with finding the next superstar with a brilliant left field pick. It’s narcissism plain and simple.
I suspect a good run with the Academy also helps.
The Dukes ball has made Ashes selections a whole lot easier
Shows Tremain is quality across all conditions.
The Dukes ball has made Ashes selections a whole lot easier
Really interesting article Ronan, thanks.
The Dukes ball has made Ashes selections a whole lot easier
I suspect if Paine can captain his team to an unlikely Ashes victory in England, he will get shower with medals of all kinds.
Put Tim Paine in the Order of Australia, but not the Ashes squad
Wade nearly single handedly destroyed Nathan Lyon’s career, with the amount of missed chances.
Put Tim Paine in the Order of Australia, but not the Ashes squad
The selectors obviously think Carey is next at this point. He appears to be thought of as a leader as well and I think the selectors like that. the keeper is in some ways the barometer and conscience of the team.
Put Tim Paine in the Order of Australia, but not the Ashes squad
So Paine’s stats are against test level attacks while captaining a dysfunctional and dispirited side, away to Pakistan and home to World number 1 India, without his two best batsman.
Wade’s stats are in domestic cricket batting at 5 or 6.
Paine’s average in this time is as you say 31.56.
Wade’s career average against test quality attacks is 28.5
Put Tim Paine in the Order of Australia, but not the Ashes squad
Whether Pucovski is ready or not or should be picked or not pretty much comes down to the performances of the incumbents. Assuming our current top 6 is shaping up as:
Warner
Burns
Khawaja
Smith
Head
Patterson
then the question will be, with a 49 average after 10 first class games, at 20, never having faced the Duke in England, is Pucovski a better bet than any of the incumbents (or I guess the two back ups, say Harris and Labuschagne).
The answer to that might lie in his scores over the next four rounds of the Shield against the Duke ball, compared to the others.
But if he can’t get through these four Shield games without having a break, then a tour of England that promises to be the most hostile in terms of crowds (thanks to the presence of Smith and Warner) is possibly not the place for him and he will be better of debuting at home with another 12 month’s cricket at Shield level behind him.
Pucovski is the future, not quite the present