Following the conclusion of the Boxing Day test and another win for the Australian side – taking it to 4-nil for the series – the selectors made their first real change to the squad this summer (ignoring the mid-series “bowling cover” inclusions of Bollinger and Coulter-Nile). With Ryan Harris’ knees a potential worry and Shane Watson clearly not 100% in Melbourne, the selectors have added Tasmanian batsman Alex Doolan to the 13-man squad. So, will he play?
Three out of four ain’t bad, especially when the one I got wrong was the highest run chase ever in the BBL. No gap between rounds 2 and 3, as the Heat play their 2nd game in 3 days at Etihad Stadium tonight. Renegades v Heat (Etihad) – The men in red have been pretty…
The actual depth of the player pool is one of the biggest questions raised whenever expansion is discussed. So, is it possible to pull together a full squad using only players that aren’t already signed up for one of the real Big Bash League teams? I’ve given it a crack.
So my pick of an unlikely Thunder upset in Round 1 was wrong, and the Hurricanes/Striker game was a wash out, but I did successfully pick the Stars and Heat to get up. Round 2 commences on Boxing Day night over in Perth with the clash of two round 1 losers the Scorchers and Renegades.
Round 1 off BBL:03 saw the Stars get revenge over the Renegades, the Thunder continuing their two-tear long losing streak, a Hale-storm followed by a wash out and a finals rematch that featured some crisp hitting from Chris Lynn as he led the Heat to a repeat victory.
Action kicks off tonight with the Melbourne derby between the Stars and the Renegades at the MCG and wraps up with a double feature on Sunday. A couple of members of the triumphant Aussie Test team have released back to their teams for the round, and a couple of big international signings are unavailable for…
The third edition of the BBL swings into action tomorrow night, I’ve just put the finishing touches on my fantasy lineup with a couple of last minute changes. How well have I selected? Only time will tell, but on paper I’m pretty happy with the squad I was able to afford.
Quick wickets was Australia’s primary goal on the fourth morning, and while they perhaps didn’t wrap up the English tail quite as quick as they might have liked they didn’t let things get too out of hand. When their innings wrapped up England had set the Aussies 311 for victory and left them a little…
The Decision review system (DRS) has an annoying, if not fatal, flaw when dealing with LBW reviews, that flaw is “umpire’s call” ruling. Non-sense fence-sitting rubbish. The technology is there to remove the non-sense fencing sitting rubbish not contribute to it. The ball is either going on to hit the stumps or it isn’t. It really should be that simple. There should be no grey area. Grey areas just make people grumpy.
Day three was never going to match day two. 22 wickets fell across the first two days but the Aussies could only manage to pinch 4 on a day where England dug in. Pietersen and Cook resumed at 2/80 looking to build up a big lead. KP did most of the scoring early on, albeit…
What a day. Resuming at 4/78 Steve Smith picked up where he left off the day before and brought up his fifty soon after. 7 balls later he was out. Then Haddin was out. Then Siddle was out. Then Starc was out. Then Pattinson was out. All the while Phil Hughes stood at the other…
The selectors pulled a swift one throwing 19-year-old Ashton Agar a baggy green and a surprise test debut at the expense of Nathan Lyon. Steve Smith got the nod over Dave Warner. Shortly thereafter it was announced that Warner was being put on a plane and sent to Zimbabwe to meet up with Australia A…
We’re a week out from the first Test at Trent Bridge, and new coach Darren Lehmann didn’t mess around with making his mark felt. First he announced that Shane Watson would return to the top of the order for the first time since 2011 and then just prior to the final tour match he confirmed that Chris Rogers would be his opening partner.
In part one I discussed at length the (many) changes I’d make to the global structure of one-day cricket, but why stop there. What would I do to Twenty20 and Test matches? Well, more structure, more consistent scheduling, no IPL window, no Test Championship just for a start.
It’s a long standing discussion – what does the future hold for one-day international cricket. Some think it should/will die as Twenty20 takes over, some think it just needs to be reinvigorated, and other believe there is nothing wrong with where it currently stands. I think I sit in the “needs to be reinvigorated” group, but I’m not talking about changing the rules or the format – there’s no need, the 50-over format sits quite nicely between Test/First-class and Twenty20.