Cricket Discussion - Part 3

Remove this Banner Ad

Saw footage of an old Australia A game vs the Windies in the 90's the other day there were guys facing Ambrose wearing nothing but ACB caps including Greg Blewett pulling him through midwicket.. must have been real beer men back then.


Dean Jones batting for Australia A, trying to show the selectors he not a spent force at 34...

Kholi and Smith were century machines now get out under 20 constantly.

Father time will always win
Virat Kohli's career average has dropped down to 46.85.

Smith is still averaging 55.86. They not in the same league in terms of drop off.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

The older Crash Craddock gets the more bizarre his opinions become. Craddock is now suggesting that the selectors will look at elevating Travis Head to open in Sri Lanka. Did Craddock and the selectors learn nothing from the Steve Smith experiment?
Dont blame Crash, blame the dopy selecrors

They were close to having Head open against India before the first test. The fact McSweeney did well in 2 games against India A and 2 shield games changed that.

Remember the BS in India 24 months ago by selectors? Drop Head because we had too many left handers, play Hanscombe and Renshaw, we loose easily, then get him back in the side. Head bats at 5 for 2nd test but Warner misses 3rd and 4th test and instead of playing opener Renshaw as an opener, they move Head up to open, he does well, and Cam Green is available for the 3rd and 4th test and play him down the order.

The nut job selectors arent convinced about Konstas against spinners so rather than test him out, they say Head did the job for us as opener 2 years ago, lets give him another go.

Crash is just reporting their dopy thinking.
 
Dont blame Crash, blame the dopy selecrors

They were close to having Head open against India before the first test. The fact McSweeney did well in 2 games against India A and 2 shield games changed that.

Remember the BS in India 24 months ago by selectors? Drop Head because we had too many left handers, play Hanscombe and Renshaw, we loose easily, then get him back in the side. Head bats at 5 for 2nd test but Warner misses 3rd and 4th test and instead of playing opener Renshaw as an opener, they move Head up to open, he does well, and Cam Green is available for the 3rd and 4th test and play him down the order.

The nut job selectors arent convinced about Konstas against spinners so rather than test him out, they say Head did the job for us as opener 2 years ago, lets give him another go.

Crash is just reporting their dopy thinking.
Why can't McSweeney be given another chance as opener in Sri Lanka? He won't have to face anyone of Bumrah's class.
 
Why can't McSweeney be given another chance as opener in Sri Lanka? He won't have to face anyone of Bumrah's class.
True, but just let Konstas open and stop trying to be too clever by half.

If they are planning for the Ashes and longer term for tour of India in early 2027, then getting Konstas to play in Sri Lanka is excellent experience.
 
Last edited:
I was thinking of the long term implications of Konstas and also Will Pukovski on Oz's future batting fortunes between the 4th and 5th test.

Since Greg Chappell's debut in 1970, where he became the 2nd Aussie batsmen to average 50+, if they have made 2000 test runs or more, about every 7 or 8 years a batsman debuts for Australia that will finish their career with a 50+ test run average and a similar sort of time frame for someone who will average between 45 and 49.99, post Chappell's debut.

I've drawn the line at 3000 runs as since the 747 jumbo age, the best players now play long enough to get to 3000 test runs, unlike before that, and especially pre WWII.

1970 G Chappell - hit 50 average for 10 consecutive tests in 1975 kept up the average until last test in 1984
1978 Border - hit 50 average in 1981, last test in 1994
1985 S Waugh - hit 50 average in 1997, last test in 2004
1994 Hayden - hit 50 average in 2003, last test in 2009 and he was "blocked" from playing tests by Slater until 2000
1995 Ponting- hit 50 average in 2004, last test in 2012
2005 Hussey - hit 50 average in 2010 last test in 2013
2010 Smith - hit 50 average in 2018 - still going

45.00 - 49.99 average and 3000 test runs since Greg Chappell debuted;

1984 Jones 46.55 hit 45 average for 10 consecutive tests in 1987 kept up the average until last test in 1992
1992 Martyn 46.38 hit 45 average 2001, last test in 2006
1993 Langer 45.27 hit 45 average 2003, last test in 2007
1999 Gilchrist 47.60 hit 50+average in first 10 tests by 2000, only once in first 80 tests was it less than 50, retired in 2008
2001 Katich 45.03 hit 45 average in 2010 last test in 2010
2004 Clarke 49.11 hit 45 average in 2008 last test in 2015
2018 Labuschagne 47.24 hit 45 average in 2021 - still going

So over the last 50 years Australia has been strong when its had 1 batsman averaging 50, 1 over 45 but under 50, and 1 or 2 other blokes also in the lower 40's eg Boon, Taylor, Slater, Mark Waugh, Warner, Khawaja, Head etc as well as having great bowlers.

Pukovski appeared to be a player who could have been added to 1 of the 2 lists above, but his problem with concussion means Oz will lose a potential long term star batsman. Its probably also why Oz needs Konstas or a young player in his low to mid 20's at the moment, to come thru and be added to 1 of the 2 above lists over the next decade.

I think Oz will always turn out star bowlers, especially fast bowlers, but we need to find star young batsmen to keep our place on top of the test pile.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Cricket Discussion - Part 3

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top