The ultimate fielding XI
The Australian summer is over (not counting the Sheffield Shield, but sadly nobody seems to).
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Joined September 2017
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The Australian summer is over (not counting the Sheffield Shield, but sadly nobody seems to).
A talking point that often comes up regarding the state of cricket is the balance between bat and ball.
This article is another contribution to the annual state-of-the-game hand-wringing festival, so if you’re over that already, I totally understand and you’re free to go.
With all this imposed indoors time, I’ve been conjuring up any number of imaginary XIs, and here’s my latest idle idea: beautiful versus ugly. Graceful and elegant versus awkward and clunky.
Despite the complete lack of cricket to watch, I’ve found this period of time to be quite conducive to random pondering and what ifs.
Every time the Olympics come around, or perhaps at any moment for our sport-mad brains, we wonder which country is the best at sport.
You’re very true, good fielding is definitely more than just the highlights. Point taken
And you’re right about Steve Smith, he’s good for speccies but he can also drop some gimmes
The ultimate fielding XI
A fair few of the golden oldies here have mentioned Gus Logie, I should jump on Youtube to check him out. Cheers for your comment!
The ultimate fielding XI
Yeah it was hard giving a Pom a mention, but he deserved it! I still vividly remember that ODI catch he took off Hayden at backward point, he seemed to jump off an invisible step-ladder to pluck it
The ultimate fielding XI
You’re right, I should have said “…yet”. I haven’t seen all that baseball stuff but I’ve read opinions about its applicability for cricket, and it sounds like it’s still a few years away at least. Could be an awesome game-changer though when it does come in, I’ll be hanging onto those stats
The ultimate fielding XI
Hi Rellum, Maxwell was very close. For me he was next in line for a position on the ring, but I grew up watching Clarke and Symonds rule that area, so I had to give it to them.
Guptill’s there for his work in the outfield, which I haven’t seen Kane do as much of. If they’re competing for a position in the cordon then yep, Kane would get it over Guptill.
The other guys you mentioned I haven’t seen, so can’t comment. I agree Brett Lee was sharp, but I feel Mitch J was more athletic in his jumping and whatnot
McCullum’s an interesting one. He’s more of a personal favourite, and almost just because of that one feature I mentioned (hurling himself after balls at the boundary rope).
The ultimate fielding XI
Nice call on Bichel, I haven’t seen much of his fielding. Was he at his best as an outfielder, infielder or in the slips?
The ultimate fielding XI
Warner is very good, you’re right, and Hayden was my next choice for a cordon position (although Graeme Smith would be aheadh of him if I needed a pure slipper).
I agree Pat Cummins is very athletic and pulls of some sensational run-outs, but I haven’t seen him taken as many speccies as Boult or Southee
The ultimate fielding XI
I was a bit sneaky and combined a few places from both ODI and Test. You’re right if it were a real playing XI I’d need a few more slippers, but I’ve never found their work as visually spectacular as outfielding so I think that’s why they didn’t make it to this XI
The ultimate fielding XI
Hi Rowdy, no I’ve never seen Mallett, too young for him.
And maybe 10+ years ago I’d agree that we were the pre-eminent catching team, but recent years I’m not so sure. We’ve still got the occasional freakish fielder (Maxwell, maybe?), but I feel like I’m seeing more regulation drops than before. Probably all these current players got pulled into pathway cricket too early, without all that AFL and rugby to help
The ultimate fielding XI
Pool cricket is great, wild training for short ball prep and reaction times when the ball skims up off a mini wave. Awesome for classic catches too
Our backyard pitch was in the road category (driveway), but you can bring balance back when leaves sticks and gumnuts fall onto it. They’re definitely enough for the bowler
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Unbelievable! I’ve been working on an article and system for measuring fielding as well! Yours is nice, using the average value of a wicket is something I didn’t think about. I’ll keep going with my article and publish it eventually, just want to make sure you know it’s not a copycat!
Cricket needs a fielding score. How about this one?
how about Hazle-mins? sounds like hazel-mints
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I think he said that the boards would be compelled to pull the money directly from the players’ contract funds, in which case they would very much care!
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Pretty sure it’s referring to Labuschagne and our usual tortured pronunciation of his name
The Liebke Ratings: Australia vs India, second ODI
Yep it is possible, although obviously improbable. To automatically qualify a team needs to finish in the top 7 (out of the 12 test-playing nations + Netherlands). Even then, the bottom 5 go to another qualifying tournament, against associate teams, and need to finish in the top 2 to get into the World Cup.
So yep, the scenario of Aus missing out is possible, if we end up lower than 7 on the table and then stuff up the qualifying tournament (like the Windies nearly did for the last World Cup). It’s obviously pretty unlikely, but I seem to remember a few years we slipped down to 6 on the rankings, so not totally out of the question.
But based on our form, matching it with the two best teams recently (England and India), we’ll be fine methinks.
Batting firepower and rusty fielding dominate as Australia belt India
In terms of the domestic summer you might be right about its relevance, but when assessing “meaninglessness” now the existence of the Super League does change things. It means that points are on the line for every ODI, points which determine qualification for the next World Cup.
Of course these two teams are expected to get there (in fact India is guaranteed as the hosts), but it is still important to bank points and not have any nasty surprises near the end.
Batting firepower and rusty fielding dominate as Australia belt India
no no, it was a game we played at kanga cricket (recently called milo cricket i think, whatever brand name now). it involved 4 sets of stumps in a diamond formation, a batter in front of each, coach in the middle underarming the ball and everyone else fielding. it was basically continuous cricket: one batter would hit it, all 4 would run to the next one and keep going until the fielders got it back to the coach, who would underarm it whether or not the batters were ready. always a favourite amongst the kids 😁
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diamond cricket all the way
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How do you like an article? 😁 This was really fun to read!
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Hawthorn were top of the table 2013, but otherwise yep, weren’t top other years
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Yeah with a name like that he’s rather cursed, same with Allan Donald. Show us a reverse one then, I’m interested 😁
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Damn they’re some seriously good teams, bit jealous now 😂
The all-time alphabetical XIs
Haha jamb away, whatever that is! I don’t entirely subscribe to the rugby countries => better fielders theory, I just mentioned it as something I’ve heard not infrequently. I think it’d be a factor, just as AFL would be a factor, but one among many
The ultimate fielding XI