Summer of Cricket thread

[Richie]

Richie, I get your summary regards to all the pyjama type cricket played but couldn't you question the mind factor lacking regards to being patient playing the red ball game ?
All these guys/kids idols have been the past magic test cricketers of the last 15/20yrs for eg. let alone hearing of the greats us ol codgers grew up with.

As discussed not seeing many young ones given a go having a ageing squad - we all talked about this post Ashes recently as well.
I sometimes wonder IF CA is partly to blame not encouraging or putting their neck out on debuting more young players in fear of loss's and the commercial/SMedia lash backs that are rife today.
Lets face its all about the revenue now and pecking order.
We have a lot of pressure period to perform let alone win every game tbh no matter what/who/when.

Or is it a fact we arn't producing period ?
I certainly don't see the cricket nets filled after school like I used to back int he day ??? nor do I see Shield cricket as prestigious or visible as it once was as well.
Just some random thoughts

LFC you surprise me with your cricket insite. Nail on the head on most points.
CA is more than partly to blame as with them the bottom line always comes first. Bums on seats, without them they dont have the revenue to pay our top blokes the big bickies to play Test cricket and or both formats and not be taken in by the obscene salaries that global T20 franchises can afford to pay. If asked I reckon all our centrally contracted Test/both format players, would say they are content financially, but the contracted short ball format only guys who believe they too could play Tests, may reckon they can make a better living playing those lucrative T 20 global franchises. So they are then lost to first class cricket and the talent pool is reduced.

 

[Richie]

It can't be under stated the impact on the Aussie spicy decks over the past season or two. I mean even test level batters are getting obliterated on these pitches.

There was a somewhat interesting article on how the Aus setup is viewing these differing stats now in this context:

https://www.cricinfo.com/story/how-australia-are-measuring-test-runs-in-challenging-era-1548929

My take is that the impact of short form cricket actually is more to do with the batters coming into red ball games and trying to bat COMPLETELY differently rather than just treating it mostly the same with the caveat that there is no limited overs to bat. I mean at the end of the day you've still got a bat and they've still got a ball. The over complication in the mind is the real battle of batting.

Good points. I too maintain that cricket, like all sports is played as much between the ears as on the playing field.
Interesting article. I can bring a similar situation to the table. If you asked ever world cricket fan who is the best cricketer, Donald Bradman or Steven Smith, 100% would naturally reply Bradman. But Smith has one over The Don, the 2019 Ashes as Smithy scored the largest percentage of Ashes runs by a single bat per every Aussie scorecard. Even Bradman was unable to compete with that as he had other greats batting around him. That is why former players said Smiths 2019 Ashes performance was the best ever.

 

[Richie]

View attachment 9002

Get em into Test cricket

 

[Hounddog]

Good points. I too maintain that cricket, like all sports is played as much between the ears as on the playing field.
Interesting article. I can bring a similar situation to the table. If you asked ever world cricket fan who is the best cricketer, Donald Bradman or Steven Smith, 100% would naturally reply Bradman. But Smith has one over The Don, the 2019 Ashes as Smithy scored the largest percentage of Ashes runs by a single bat per every Aussie scorecard. Even Bradman was unable to compete with that as he had other greats batting around him. That is why former players said Smiths 2019 Ashes performance was the best ever.

We never got to see Bradman bat live, but Smithy, Steve Waugh and AB often made runs when the team needed them most, shifted the momentum, of a game, and kept the team in the contest.

4 wickets down for 10 runs, we are still in the game if Smithy is at the wicket.

A great bowler can do the same thing, shift the momentum with a few quick wickets.

I don't think the Aussie side currently has a lot of players who perform consistently and can shift the momentum.