Perth... thanks for being in another time zone!

Perth Test
as an eastern state living cricket nut, this is my favourite test outside my home.
it starts a half hour before i leave work... and goes into the evening! turn tv/dvd on for the kids, plug in receiver to mac, turn down the volume on mac/channel 9, turn on grandstand, enjoy beverage and barrage!

Siddle out... thank goodness. his tightness enforcing a rest now was such a bonus as i was ready to give it to all and sundry had he been selected. i know as a paceman he must have been looking forward to Perth, but the bigger picture has prevailed; see you on B-day Pete!

batsman told to get ruthless: reason being, no one has made a hunj this series... so what!
isn't it better all/most/many of the batsmen are averaging around their average for the series than failing?
what is better: one player gets a hundred and the next a duck, or both get 50? making 50 is being in form, a quacker isn't!

then what about S.Smith being picked with Hauritz injuring his finger!
i agree with T.Jenner, it is a bit too premature, and given his 1st class average at the moment is 75... yep, 75! he clearly hasn't learned his craft enough to ply it on the Perth track. McGain is the leading spinner in the country at present, but even as a leggie myself, the obvious choice if Ponting wants a specialist turner is Krezja. Tall, bouncy and with a proven doosra it is a dead set slap in the face for a bloke that has done all required to get back in, and is more suited to that pitch.

i hope CA doesn't crush Smiths building talent by throwing him in the deep end when his skill level isn't fully developed, on a pacemans pitch, and with a captain that doesn't know how to utilise a slower bowler!

priorities, people, public profile

while it may seem "un-Victorian", i can't help but wonder how the media work sometimes; this is purely a rhetorical question as i do understand the nature of media, but am still confused as to why in the week of the first test of the summer the sports segments of commercial news programs start with 3 AFL stories- including one about the Magpies annual pre xmas training and sight-seeing trip to Arizona! If it is annual, it is hardly news!

Then, after a story about some teenage draft picks anticipation about moving to Melbourne, we get something on the NATIONAL team of the seasons most popular sport! How does THAT work?

Sure, the Windies are a team in disarray, and many tout the series as bordering on a waste of time, but it IS a TEST, and IS being played here in Australia, so surely it should precede magpies on burro's going down a big ditch!

...i feel better now!


So what have we got to look at 2 days out from Brisvegas?

Firstly, it appears everyone that has ever (briefly) pulled on a baggy green is lining up everyone that currently gets use out of one to give career advice.

Rodney Hogg has sent down a short one at Lee telling him to give up Test and concentrate on ODI; probably sound advice, but Lee values Test above all so if he could, i think he'd do it the other way around. Still, in his press conference, Lee looked as if he had reconciled not playing for his country again.

Ian Chappell has written of P.Hughes chances of getting a spot... for a while.

Ian Healy must be worried about his public profile at the moment, as he has started up a new discussion. He believes M.Clarke is not durable enough to take the captaincy due to his recurring back problem. And that Ponting MUST lead Australia back to England for the next Ashes. Sure, why not Heals. As a batsman, it would be Punters best chance at getting a hat-trick...of defeats!
Others to weigh into the captaincy debate are Kim- don't cry for me-Hughes, and Steve -i've got a great mo, so i must be a sports star- Rixon. Rixon wants a change in the next 12 months, Hughes wants Ponting to stay on because of his great leadership... i don't need to touch that one, any remark Kim makes on leadership speaks volumes!

And then there is Shane: Windies lift or get torn apart. Oldies lift or get out of the AusXI.
I don't know if he is trying to improve the contest, or playing mind games with Windies, but it wouldn't be the start of a series without some brash comments from the greatest EVER player of the game.
Certainly he is correct in identifying the continued use of the excuses- rebuilding and transition, and has given up a list of young players that need to be given experience as soon as possible:

Henriques, Hughes and wristy Steven Smith are names Warne wants in.

Interesting too, that he has backed Hauritz's inclusion in the first test, interesting in that he obviously has a lot of faith in Krezja as he gave him the new nut on winning the toss in the all stars game. Another point regarding these two bowlers is the speculation that Haury will finally unveil his much worked on doosra, and that Krazy let one go in the state game when the result was already a certainty.

stoph verismo
down the wicket

Hauricane pick a fizzer

WATCH OUT!

Cricket Australia have feet flailing... in every direction!

Jason Krejza's injury has caused a typical CA knee jerk reaction with the call up of Nathan Hauritz.

What? You say. Hauritz! Didn't he get a run a few years ago in Mumbai on a turning pitch and get out bowled by part timer M.Clarke, you say?

Yep!, And at the moment he has 6 wickets for 40.67 in the Sheffield shield.
So why has he been called up? Only because he has International experience.

CA is clearly running with their stop-gap policy for fear of condemnation if an inexperienced player fails to perform- even though Hauritz must be considered inexperienced with only one test and eight ODI's. But Australia are playing New Zealand and are one test up, why not blood a new player?
If there isn't another spinner available in the First class competition, why not dig out a 19 year old from grade cricket? Give him a run. He may be carted (most likely in Adelaide), but he may step up and prove to be another champ that just needed the pressure put on to extract his best, what do we have to lose?

Instead, CA just fall back on someone that had a chance - sure Hauritz is on 27 and only got one go at test level, but where is the foresight in picking someone that now at best can only give seven or eight years service?

If we are are "rebuilding" our national side, why a retrograde call-up?