Roar Rookie
Joined July 2014
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This will make you laugh. The other day I saw one of those all-time best Aussie Test XIs and they’d picked Steve Smith instead…
In the joyous moments after Ash Barty’s Wimbledon win she was photographed in front of the honours board with her name already on it…
India’s fielding was poor in the first Test, but just how bad was it? It frustrates me that there is no effective fielding measure…
Seven decades ago, the newly independent nation of India came up against Australia in Test cricket for the first time. It was the beginning…
Australia has demolished South Africa in Cape Town in the third and final T20 to win the series two-one. This match bore a remarkable…
Well, what a rollicking game of cricket that was! Three and a half hours of quality entertainment in front of a capacity crowd set…
Night T20s in South Africa are a tough ask for Australian fans: this one started at 3 am in Sydney and Melbourne and finished…
Modern cricket is a madcap game. No other sport has such a bewildering number of formats. In short-form cricket alone there are 50-over, 20-over…
Can you name every country in which the Cricket World Cup has been played? If that’s too easy - and it might be harder…
The charms of the Sydney Cricket Ground are well known: the stands are a delightful mix of old and new, the atmosphere is loud…
Imagine this scenario. For five years the Australian cricket team has been forced to play all their ‘home' matches in, say, Canada. David Warner…
As a Sydneysider, I have come to admire the AFL. Did you know that it has the fourth highest average crowds for any domestic…
Do you like dead rubbers? Then you are going to love the cricket World Cup. Why? Because the entire 42-match group phase of this…
Yep, that’s me. Thank you – very nice to hear; glad you like the podcast!
Cricket needs a fielding score. How about this one?
Definitely. But most of cricket’s statistics are flawed when looked at in the short-term. Eg a bowler beats the bat five times but never gets an edge and another one bowls badly but flukes a wicket or two – and therefore has better figures even though bowling badly.
But over the long run they all do tell a story.
I assessed Green’s catch would be dropped 60% of the time so he was credited with 18 runs (60% of 30).
Cricket needs a fielding score. How about this one?
Yes, he has been, although his tends to be more about ground fielding only.
And – probably because he was one of the greatest ever – he holds fielders to an almost impossibly high standard!
Cricket needs a fielding score. How about this one?
Yes CricViz do have one. Last I saw it was similar in some ways but different in others. I first proposed my way three years ago and after I developed it saw that they already had one and that although it was different it was good.
I just assumed their way would become prominent – like WinViz has. But for whatever reason their fielding score seems to get much less publicity. So when India started dropping catches I went back and ran my method over the game and decided to publish the results.
Cricket needs a fielding score. How about this one?
Yes – it’s such a pity. Some of his matches on the 1938 and 1948 tours of England were televised in London but none of this was saved. That would have been the best to watch as the angle would have been good.
When only Bradman’s batting stopped an Indian upset
I honestly think it was a huge toss to win. SA did bowl well and Aus should have batted better but I think if Australia had batted first they’d have won.
Australia, seemingly cruising to victory, lose the second T20
I definitely agree re Hazlewood over Richardson. Richardson is good – and he’s clever – but I think Hazlewood showed at the back end of the BBL that he’s just as effective in T20 as in Tests and should be in the national side.
Australia annihilate South Africa in the first T20
I agree – and with spin playing such a big part in T20s and Australia having big grounds hopefully he’ll be a star in the upcoming World Cup.
Australia annihilate South Africa in the first T20
Thanks! Yes, you’re right. In fact at the international level England persisted with the red ball for ages in ODIs: even for the 1997 Ashes tour they used red balls for the 3 ODIs they played against Australia.
I have fallen into the habit of using ‘white ball cricket’ to mean limited overs cricket, even though for much of its history that was not literally correct. I should have made this clear in the article.
Cheers
Paul
Cricket's white-ball revolution began very quietly
Thanks Paul! I think one way or another one day cricket would eventually have emerged. Two-innings cricket over multiple days really was a 19th century invention and it’s pleasantly amazing it has remained as popular as it has been for so long. But without faster versions I don’t think cricket could have remained a major sport. The rise of the professionals quite probably did influence the timing, as you say.
Cricket's white-ball revolution began very quietly
There were even a few crowds of 80,000+ at the MCG in the 1980s. I miss the days when ODIs seemed to really matter. Now only World Cup ODI games really do.
I don’t blame T20 – I think ODIs were losing popularity anyway. I like the BBL – I find it fun, plus it’s introducing a new audience to the sport. I think the BBL will help safeguard Tests in this country and that makes me happy.
Cricket's white-ball revolution began very quietly
Thanks! Yes, it’s difficult. The fact Scotland and England play as separate teams makes it seem appropriate to separate them – but it’s complicated somewhat by the fact Wales effectively play as part of England!
How many countries have hosted the Cricket World Cup?
Your memory is better than mine. I’d forgotten that series – just looked it up. It was in 2004 – Australia beat Pakistan in the final. And yes, very rain-affected: 2 games rained off and another needed Duckworth Lewis. Only one full 50-over game.
How many countries have hosted the Cricket World Cup?
I agree completely with the difficulty of buying them. Was going to include this in the article but it would have been too long. I once bought tickets to a test match in Durham in the north of England. I think it was only the second test ever held at the venue but they were far far superior to us: you could you choose the exact seat/s you wanted on an interactive mat – and you could also flip perspective and see exactly what your view of the pitch would be in each seat.
The SCG: A great ground that could be better
Thanks Will! Pleasingly the SCG have just contacted the Roar to announce pass outs will be offered for this test. First time ever! This despite them saying they won’t be on their website – and when I phoned them to check yesterday.
The SCG: A great ground that could be better
I do enjoy the experience; I want it to be better. Do you think that appalling food and no pass outs are acceptable? As for the prices, Cricket Australia should not be allowing profiteering to take place. They are custodians of the game – nothing more – and pure profit (especially shortsighted short-term profit) is not what they are meant to be about.
And I don’t think the market supporst these prices anyway – I expect lots of empty seats this year.
The SCG: A great ground that could be better
I guess I place ultimate blame with Cricket Australia. They run the game – it isn’t good enough for them to let a stadium do as they please, to the detriment of their product.
The SCG: A great ground that could be better
Yeah the pass outs thing is unbelievable. I rang them just to make sure and they confirmed there are still none.
The SCG: A great ground that could be better
There’s a huge difference in the way members are treated from the rest. Although I will say in their defence that back in the full strength days it could get pretty ghastly by the final session – beer being hurled everywhere etc.
The SCG: A great ground that could be better
Absolutely! They need to get serious about swing and reverse swing once and for all or this will just keep happening.
Humiliation in the UAE a true sign of Pakistan's willpower
Thank you!
Yes, one of the main decisions was whether to account for the batter in question and game situation. Ultimately I chose not to because my aim is to measure how good a fielder someone is not what impact their fielding had on a match.
I think my way provides a more accurate long-term assessment of a fielder. For example, imagine if Warner dropped a sitter off Kohli and he went on to get 200 and Warner thus copped minus 200 to his score. At the end of the series Warner most likely would have the worst score on either side, despite potentially fielding better than everyone else except for one lapse.
But there is no reason both methods couldn’t be used. Mine to assess pure fielding and the other way to assess the actual impact of fielding on the specific series.
Cricket needs a fielding score. How about this one?