I'm a bit perplexed by Nathan Bracken's actions against CA
For those not in the know, Bracken is suing CA $1m for lost earnings and medical expenses for, 'allowing him to play with a knee injury'.
Now i know places in the squad are always at a premium, but surely it was Nathan's call ultimately as to whether he felt he should play- i highly doubt he was told, "You better play no matter what!"
I for one hope that the residing judge throws this out of court and tells Bracken, "Stop wasting Cricket Australia and tax payers money, and get a bloody haircut!"
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PCB are to get Pepsi sponsorship for Umpire DRS on the UAE tour against Eng and SLa- does anyone know how this will work, or have any more TLA's?
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Pat Howard for the new GM of CA... i don't have an opinion on this as i didn't know who he is, nor do i know what administrative skills he brings to the position. I know he has been 'High Performance manager' for Rugby Union Australia as well as a successful coach of Leicester in Union- i didn't know he was 12th man for a county game! Is that enough for the new position?
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Glen McGrath has come out and publicly praised new quick Pat Cummins, and with last nights T20 debut against RSA confirming his talent, Pidge seems to have called it well. Watto likes what he saw too and announced (earlier) that he thought Cummins is 'equal to any talent seen in the last decade.' Big call! Let's hope he is groomed correctly so that his T20 international debut is just a small stepping stone to the real stuff.
For what it's worth, Australia's 5 wicket win in the last over of the T20 last night (13/10/11) will probably only go further to reinforcing the "crowd pleaser" mentality of the format. Like it or not, non-traditionalists want 3 hours and a result down to the wire.
With that, i read too that White is calling for more games and better scheduling for the T20 format; well, he would given he won't be playing for his country in creams again! But i'm inclined to agree with him on one level: with the format becoming more entrenched into season fixtures and another T20 World cup looming the opportunities for teams to see themselves gel as a unit are very ad hoc. If this World cup is a success, it may be time for the ICC and all national boards to structure their fixtures better than just a game tacked on here and there before the commencement of a series.
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stoph verismo
Down the Wicket
Friday 14 October 2011
Tuesday 11 October 2011
The BIG Fix
So Australians were the biggest match fixers! Well, according to Mazhar Majeed the agent and former journalist in the hot seat of the bribery proceedings in a London court.
Well, it wouldn't be the first time Australian players have blotted their coffee book associating with dodgy sub-continental bookies, so if these allegations prove true, when will our blokes learn?
Of course coming from a Pakistani agent it sounds a little suss to start with... not implausible, just dubious for mine. Certainly affecting a game in "brackets" is less glaringly obvious than by other means; any batsman could declare they were "taking their time to get their eye in." And any bowler could claim, "I was bowling to a plan to draw a batsman into a false shot." So as long as no wager has been placed it all sounds a bit hollow; but if one has...
I would hope (call me naive), that in this age where the upper echelon of players CAN make a substantial living and so donn't need to 'chase the big bucks' fixing a game to earn a bit on the side with a bet. It has been touted that Pakistan players are more susceptible to this blight due to lower earnings and this is obviously an issue for the PCB, not me to sort out. More so because i don't see a lot of companies queuing up to get Pakistani cricketers endorsing their products- so there is no coin there for the players!
If this has happened, it is imperative that CA show they have ZERO tolerance and rip up players contracts and suspend them from every level of the game for LIFE!
With all and sundry speaking up about this in the media this morning- AB flatly denying its possibility, proof is now required from Majeed if he is to stand by his statement.
And THAT is what i think!
Well, it wouldn't be the first time Australian players have blotted their coffee book associating with dodgy sub-continental bookies, so if these allegations prove true, when will our blokes learn?
Of course coming from a Pakistani agent it sounds a little suss to start with... not implausible, just dubious for mine. Certainly affecting a game in "brackets" is less glaringly obvious than by other means; any batsman could declare they were "taking their time to get their eye in." And any bowler could claim, "I was bowling to a plan to draw a batsman into a false shot." So as long as no wager has been placed it all sounds a bit hollow; but if one has...
I would hope (call me naive), that in this age where the upper echelon of players CAN make a substantial living and so donn't need to 'chase the big bucks' fixing a game to earn a bit on the side with a bet. It has been touted that Pakistan players are more susceptible to this blight due to lower earnings and this is obviously an issue for the PCB, not me to sort out. More so because i don't see a lot of companies queuing up to get Pakistani cricketers endorsing their products- so there is no coin there for the players!
If this has happened, it is imperative that CA show they have ZERO tolerance and rip up players contracts and suspend them from every level of the game for LIFE!
With all and sundry speaking up about this in the media this morning- AB flatly denying its possibility, proof is now required from Majeed if he is to stand by his statement.
And THAT is what i think!
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