The state of Michael Clarke's back has raised an interesting point in player management. Many players are singing the praises of CA for rotating or resting players with heavy loads; most notably Ponting, Johnson, Haddin and Hussey. Interestingly only one of these guys has had any known injury issues (Haddin with a broken finger). Even more interestingly Clarke has been withdrawn from various series - but unlike Johnson, Ponting or Hussey - as a direct result of an injury.
With addition of cricket to Australia's calendar through 20/20 'cricket' players experience more pysical demands than ever before. With all and sundry in the test mix in this country declaring Test cricket as the pinnacle it is bewildering that anyone would even consider Clarke going over to India to compete in a meaningless exercise of revenue generating. Perhaps Clarke didn't read his coach's comments about the need to ensure he is right for the upcoming summer of real cricket. Then again, why would CA annoint Clarke as 20/20 captain so that he plays in all 3 formats when he has know back troubles?
Personally I believe that 20/20 is just a bit of fun and for those that disagree, you can have state players who will likely do just as well. I am not saying this in reference to the Champion's Trophy, which I realise is club based and so not representative of a nation's ability to play the game. But I believe it's likely that NSW, Vic or Cape Cobras would give more than just a shake to India or South Africa in any case. Freeing up the core test players from playing 20/20 for Aus allows more recovery time, family time - and even representation of their state if some preparation is required. The last thing CA needs is more egg on its face when Clarke or another highly valuable test player can't get himself right for 5 days of cricket because they've been playing hit and giggle.
it is amazing that our most consistant batsman of late is risked playing such inane cricket.
ReplyDeletenot that i think we should have rules dictating age or whatever for each format, but why would CA run Clarke ragged when he already has a (well publicised) gimpy back?
it is an excellent point Lefty, that Clarke is rested only when he suffers from the workload, when others are rested for the sake of rotation and rest. why?
i think i will post this link as a question on their site... and get the typical responce...
In breaking Mt Lofty news we’re in all kinds of poo leading into this Saturday. We batted first (sent in) and made 113; one guy retiring hurt with a stuffed knee. Yours truly made 48 opening up. Mylor are already 0/42 in reply with 70 overs to bat this Saturday. We’re staring down the barrel of an outright loss!
ReplyDeletei sent this topic off to CA... oddly, an email thanking me, but with no 'real' response.
ReplyDeletemordi limited overs made 70-something-not-enough all out with 12 overs remaining! i went in at 10 with a steely determination to see it out again and have a decent go at it.
seeing the ball well i was in no hurry and left any crap -i'm a slogger, doing that is a new skill!
when the tweekers came on i felt ready for business as i feel i play them better. the first over to the other batsman was a maiden- bleeding as they looked like pies!
next over was (to me) was a chinaman (strangely one of the only non-asian players in the side full of Pakistanis, Viet and Chinese aussies!) first ball was a rank full toss that should have been lifted over gully but had me bug-eyed due to the P.Adams frog in a blender action!
the next ball was an pitched right (but a tad full) and hit me LBW while i was still looking at the back of the bowlers neck! i did swing, but i was so bamboozled by his action it was way too late.
the umpire (our keeper) apologised as we walked off, but it was sooo plumb, none was needed.
our opening bowlers ripped in well and we were constantly getting wickets but they were also getting runs. during the 10th over the cap told me to warm up (as i normally come on then) but added that they only needed 10 more runs!
4!
6!
don't worry about that warm up.
they won by 4 wickets with 26 overs to spare!
admittedly we were one down in the field -batsman had to leave due to family emergency- and another down in the 9th over due to rolley-foldey ankle, but...
Bugger Stoph!
ReplyDeleteYou never give the bowlers a chance when you’re defending a paltry score. You have to take any and every chance that comes your way. I dropped one at second slip last Sat. Went very fast and low to my left and honestly I just put my hand there to stop it and it smacked my fingers. I didn’t even partly curl my fingers around it. Tough chance but a chance nonetheless. I feel terrible for our bowlers who don’t really have a hope this Sat. Mylor need one an over so we need a lot of wickets very quickly.
It seems to be such a problem with our club – unable to post decent scores. It’s so frustrating when you bowl first and keep a side down to a gettable total and the batsmen stuff it up. A talented allrounder down the order or a free-swinging bowler may get you some extra runs late in the piece but you can’t rely on that. More often than not numbers 7 to 11 won’t get you all that many – and it’s not their bloody job! I don’t know how you address undisciplined batting. When you don’t have the luxury of dropping players there’s no punishment for not doing the team thing. I watched 7 wickets fall from the other end on Sat. I’ve never seen anything like it. At least half were bad shots but a couple of guys looked completely out of their element.
Are you back playing Nospmas?
No, I am not playing yet Lefty. I trained on Thursday night with the view of playing and during a fielding drill I tried to take a ball in mid stride at my ankles and my hip twanged again. Not bad but enough to let me know I am a couple of weeks away still.
ReplyDeleteInjuries take a lot longer to get right on the wrong side of 30.