We at 51allout are a reasonably international bunch. Some of us even have passports and have been to far-off exotic places like Benidorm and Wales. Despite this, however, it's fair to say that we're mainly England fans when it comes to cricket. And with that come certain responsibilites, such as shaking one's head whenever a teamsheet contains the words 'Wright, Luke' and laughing at the misfortunes of the Aussies.
Throughout the 2010/11 Ashes series there was an awful lot of the latter and none of the former, at least until the ODI series came around. Australia, with just a single series lost at home since 1993, were given a genuine thrashing, beaten by an innings three times. It seems barely believable now, but it definitely did happen (and we have charts to prove it).
Given this, it was inevitable that Australia would have to do something of a rebuilding job, bringing in some new (or new-ish) faces and putting some of the previous 'golden generation' out to pasture. This week saw the first step in that process as Australia announced their list of centrally-contracted players for the 2011/12 season.
There were a couple of new names, specifically Patrick Cummins and James Pattinson, but by far the most controversial choice was the omission of Simon Katich. As mentioned elsewhere on the blog, Katich is the second highest run scorer in Test Cricket over the past two years, behind only Alastair Cook. In addition to that, his opening partnership with Shane Watson has proved to be the strongest part of the Australian batting lineup in recent years.
The real problems for Australia during the Ashes came after Katich and Watson: Ricky Ponting (113 runs at just over 16) and Michael Clarke (193 runs at 21.44). With Clarke now captain and Ponting seemingly allowed to make his own decision about when he should finish playing, the Australian selectors were left with a choice: either keep the top five the same and be accused of burying their heads in the sand or drop one of Katich and Mike Hussey (570 Ashes runs at 63.33). They chose to drop Katich, apparently on the basis that 'a new opening partnership would take time to gel'.
It's very hard to agree with the selectors' statements. Bringing Phil Hughes in at the top of the order is good news for opening bowlers around the world, while the number six spot remains a problem area. Far more logical (and brave) would have been to ask 36 year old Ponting to step aside. This would have made space for the great Australian hope Usman Khawaja at three. Shane Watson could then have moved to the problem position of six, allowing Hughes (a shotmaker) to come in alongside Katich (an accumulator) at the top of the order.
Regardless, the decision has been made. Simon Katich's response is at the bottom of this post and is well worth twenty minutes of your time. He's very honest and open and genuinely sad and the applause at the end suggests that his audience agrees with everything he's said. The talk around unfair dismissal isn't something that would do any favours to the game but it's easy to understand where he's coming from. Having got into the Australian team (twice) through hard work and commitment he now faces the end of his international career purely due to a face-saving exercise from the national selectors.
Comment and analysis by cricket numpties, for cricket numpties.
Showing posts with label Simon Katich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simon Katich. Show all posts
Friday, 10 June 2011
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Some Things We Have Learnt This Week
Three Year Itch
Since May 22nd 2008, the first day of the first Test between Australia and the West Indies at Kingston, only two men have scored more runs than Sachin Tendulkar (2,910) in Test cricket. Despite his poor run in 2010, Alastair Cook is leading the way with a colossal 3,274 runs. But have a guess at who is in second place. Possibly a South African? Maybe Kallis or Amla? How about another Indian? Sehwag's scored a truckload hasn't he?
Nope. In second place with 2,928 runs is Simon Mathew Katich. The hairy left-handed Australian. The makeshift opener who isn't Shane 'Shirley' Watson. A man whose parents can't spell Matthew properly. Admittedly he's a competent batsman, one who can defend staunchly and who generally* contributes to his team, but finding this out put us into the kind of confused shock that normally only follows seeing Marcus North score runs under pressure.
Nonetheless, when Cricket Australia announced their 25 contracted players for the 2011/12 season this week, Katich was the notable absentee from the list. Afterwards the chairman of selectors Andrew Hildreth described him as a 'fantastic player', which would lead one to assume that there must be equally fantastic players ready to replace him, though on the basis that Katich's replacement in the Ashes was Phillip Hughes, this may be another on the growing list of Australian selection howlers.
*except the first innings at Adelaide, 2010/11.
Since May 22nd 2008, the first day of the first Test between Australia and the West Indies at Kingston, only two men have scored more runs than Sachin Tendulkar (2,910) in Test cricket. Despite his poor run in 2010, Alastair Cook is leading the way with a colossal 3,274 runs. But have a guess at who is in second place. Possibly a South African? Maybe Kallis or Amla? How about another Indian? Sehwag's scored a truckload hasn't he?
Nope. In second place with 2,928 runs is Simon Mathew Katich. The hairy left-handed Australian. The makeshift opener who isn't Shane 'Shirley' Watson. A man whose parents can't spell Matthew properly. Admittedly he's a competent batsman, one who can defend staunchly and who generally* contributes to his team, but finding this out put us into the kind of confused shock that normally only follows seeing Marcus North score runs under pressure.
Nonetheless, when Cricket Australia announced their 25 contracted players for the 2011/12 season this week, Katich was the notable absentee from the list. Afterwards the chairman of selectors Andrew Hildreth described him as a 'fantastic player', which would lead one to assume that there must be equally fantastic players ready to replace him, though on the basis that Katich's replacement in the Ashes was Phillip Hughes, this may be another on the growing list of Australian selection howlers.
*except the first innings at Adelaide, 2010/11.
Simon Katich
Everybody Get Up
Even if the followers of Twenty20 are getting bored of the crash, bang, wallop of pillocks in the crowd dropping 'snakes' of empty pint glasses and the fizz-pop of a display of Poundstretcher fireworks, it seems unlikely that the organisers will be reducing the duration of matches further. Sunday's match at Tunbridge Wells between Kent and Hampshire was reduced to a farcical five overs per side due to rain. This format may have suited Michael Lumb and Jimmy Adams who took Hampshire to 78/1 (Kent limped to 58/2 at a frankly pathetic rate of only 11.6 runs per over), but thankfully this manic form of cricket is highly unlikely to become a regular occurrence. Ritchie, J, Abs, Scott and Sean (we looked them up, honest) can rest easy at night: their 5ive logo is safe for now.
Such a Shame
By and large, England weren't really blessed with spinners in the 1990s, hence Min Patel's two appearances in 1996. Phil Tufnell should almost certainly have won more than his 42 caps but for a variety of reasons he didn't. Tuffers played only 12 Tests in England, with his first appearance of the 1991, 1992, 1997 and 2001 summers all being at The Oval, where his performances were often good enough to warrant a winter tour, before being replaced at the start of the next summer.
In the last ten years or so, the likes of Giles, Panesar and Swann have certainly provided England with consistency, but Gareth Batty still played seven times. So imagine our surprise when we found out just which two spinners had the best economy rates in the last 20 years for England (excluding Robin Smith's 4-2-6-0). Given that the King of Spain generally performed a containing role and Swann is currently the best spinner in the world, we assumed it might be them. But no: the honours here go to Robert Croft (2.37) and Peter Such (2.38), followed by Phil Tufnell (2.42). His debut 6/67 against Australia aside, our memory of Such is really of him being a (Peter) rabbit with the bat - including a 51-ball duck against New Zealand - and a flopsy, mopsy, cottontail bowler. Our sincere apologies. And congratulations to the stalwart of Sophia Gardens, still out-bowling Dean Cosker a mere 22 years after his first-class debut.
Even if the followers of Twenty20 are getting bored of the crash, bang, wallop of pillocks in the crowd dropping 'snakes' of empty pint glasses and the fizz-pop of a display of Poundstretcher fireworks, it seems unlikely that the organisers will be reducing the duration of matches further. Sunday's match at Tunbridge Wells between Kent and Hampshire was reduced to a farcical five overs per side due to rain. This format may have suited Michael Lumb and Jimmy Adams who took Hampshire to 78/1 (Kent limped to 58/2 at a frankly pathetic rate of only 11.6 runs per over), but thankfully this manic form of cricket is highly unlikely to become a regular occurrence. Ritchie, J, Abs, Scott and Sean (we looked them up, honest) can rest easy at night: their 5ive logo is safe for now.
Such a Shame
By and large, England weren't really blessed with spinners in the 1990s, hence Min Patel's two appearances in 1996. Phil Tufnell should almost certainly have won more than his 42 caps but for a variety of reasons he didn't. Tuffers played only 12 Tests in England, with his first appearance of the 1991, 1992, 1997 and 2001 summers all being at The Oval, where his performances were often good enough to warrant a winter tour, before being replaced at the start of the next summer.
In the last ten years or so, the likes of Giles, Panesar and Swann have certainly provided England with consistency, but Gareth Batty still played seven times. So imagine our surprise when we found out just which two spinners had the best economy rates in the last 20 years for England (excluding Robin Smith's 4-2-6-0). Given that the King of Spain generally performed a containing role and Swann is currently the best spinner in the world, we assumed it might be them. But no: the honours here go to Robert Croft (2.37) and Peter Such (2.38), followed by Phil Tufnell (2.42). His debut 6/67 against Australia aside, our memory of Such is really of him being a (Peter) rabbit with the bat - including a 51-ball duck against New Zealand - and a flopsy, mopsy, cottontail bowler. Our sincere apologies. And congratulations to the stalwart of Sophia Gardens, still out-bowling Dean Cosker a mere 22 years after his first-class debut.
Robert Croft
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