If you could sell confidence, if you could bottle it and market it, you would be richer than you could ever imagine. Confidence is what every cricketer, every sportsman, craves. If you have it, the world is your oyster. If you don’t then a shell to hide in is what you yearn for. How quickly it can come and go in this game is impossible to comprehend.
But the example of Mitchell Johnson is mystifying. No more than a fortnight ago Johnson’s confidence was down around his ankles. He couldn’t bat, he couldn’t bowl, and he couldn’t field. Like a cancer, his bowling woes had spread to every facet of his game. It hit an almost incurable point. If he had a shovel at the Gabba he would have dug a hole and climbed in. Everyone had an opinion, everyone had an answer, and everyone called for his head.
The Australian selectors took the only action they could, and left him out in Adelaide. But rather than play for WA or his grade side Wanneroo, as so many suggested he should, he spent his time away working in the nets.
Suddenly, in Perth he is super-Mitch again. He played with freedom with the bat, wielding his blade in spectacular and eye-catching fashion. He played with a natural freedom and flourish that has been absent since he tore the Proteas to shreds in March of 2009. Not surprisingly, his 62 was only his second half century since that tour, and his first in 15 Test matches.
Then, with the ball, something truly remarkable happened. He swung the ball away from the left-handers and into the right.
Johnson was feeling his way with his first two overs on the opening evening. He might have lifted a cog if Hussey had caught a catch he never saw when Andrew Strauss flashed through gully.
But on the second morning his shot of confidence came from an Alistair Cook error. Cook, choc-full of self-belief, over-extended, driving at a ball that left him with minimal footwork. Hussey pouched the chance and Mitch’s reaction was relief. The gorilla on his back reached for a nearby branch.
The Silverback had both hands on the branch in Johnson’s next over when he swerved one back to the right-handed Jonathan Trott, who was so plumb he almost walked.
The gorilla leapt off and disappeared into the jungle three balls later, as Johnson claimed Confidence’s poster boy Kevin Pietersen. Again it was a rapid inswinger that trapped England’s number four in front. Pietersen went from 227 to 0 in a fortnight, Johnson from no-hoper to hero in two days.
Johnson’s reaction to Pietersen’s removal told the story. For weeks he had not smiled. For months he’d fretted and slunk his shoulders. A lamb in lion’s clothing, they had written.
The lion had suddenly roared and Johnson raised a fist to the Press Box.
It was a gesture that some will brand ugly, some will brand immature, but at the end of the day it was something to show that he’s back. It was for the so-called “journalist” that sought quotes from his estranged mother during the 2009 Ashes. It was for those scribes that had panned his poor performances. It was for all those ex-players, who could not comprehend his plight, claiming he couldn’t “bowl a Hula hoop down a hill”.
Johnson’s demeanour changed in an instant. Prior to the over he’d been on edge, serious, and focussed. After the over he was smiling, relaxed, joking with fielding coach Mike Young on the rope at fine leg, and signing tons of autographs for the punters who, an over earlier, had treated him like a leper.
It was an extraordinary transformation. Johnson then produced his coup de grace, removing Paul Collingwood with one that pitched outside the Geordie’s off stump and seared back into his pads like an Exocet missile.
Collingwood’s footwork was a study in confidence itself, particularly when contrasted with Ian Bell. Collingwood was anchored deep in the crease. His right foot back near the stumps, like a first-time bungie jumper holding on to the rail, fearful of taking a step over the ledge. Meantime Bell moved forward and back as decisively as a champion fencer, and with the confidence, balance, and bravado of a tight-rope walker. Collingwood departed for a nervous 5. Bell compiled a classy 53. The latter really has graduated from Sherminator to Terminator and a promotion can’t be far away.
But in fairness to the combative Collingwood, he got an absolute corker from the left-armer. Johnson wasn’t standing the seam up in conventional fashion. It was the type of delivery that would have made Sir Isaac Newton sit bolt upright in his 283-year-old grave.
They are curveballs in baseball parlance. They defy any conventional coaching manual of swing bowling. And they are made even more difficult to handle given they don’t appear consistently.
Johnson had every instruction at his finger tips in the form of the bowling guru Troy Cooley and the master Dennis Lillee. But rumours suggest they haven’t re-invented the wheel. Johnson’s core strength was well down according to internal testing. His drive through the crease and general ability to keep his action, when tired, had diminished significantly.
However, for all the technical jargon, nothing can replace the confidence he received from his batting, Hussey’s first catch, and the Trott LBW.
If he could bottle that confidence up and take it wherever he goes, he and Australia will be unbeatable.
If only cricket were that simple.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Come in Spinner, but don’t close the door
There was a sign erected at the WACA ground during a one-day match between Australia and the West Indies in January 1997. It was the summer Australia missed the Carlton and United One-day series finals, which eventually led to the sacking of Mark Taylor as limited-overs captain, and the initial foray into having separate squads for the two different forms of the game.
The sign read:
“Lost: The Plot. If found please return to the Australian dressing rooms. Ask for Tubby.”
One wonders whether or not the gentlemen who erected that sign still has it, and whether he might bring it out again next week during the third Ashes test. Only one change needs to be made. Replace “Tubby” with “Digger”, and they may have it spot on.
Chairman of selectors Andrew “Digger” Hilditch announced Australia’s Test squad for Perth last week. In it appeared the name Michael Beer, the tenth Australian spinner to be selected for Australia since Shane Warne’s retirement. Ten since January 2007.
Can you name them all?
Take a deep breath because it will take awhile. Stuart MacGill, Brad Hogg, Beau Casson, Cameron White, Jason Krejza, Nathan Hauritz, Marcus North, Steve Smith, and Xavier Doherty all have been used as Australia’s number one spinner in Test matches since Warne’s departure.
To put that into perspective, English Premier League club Newcastle United just named Alan Pardew as its manager last week after sacking Chris Hughton. Pardew is the eighth manager to take charge of the giant Tyne-side franchise since January 2007. In that time they have bounced from the Premiership, to the Championship, and back to the Premiership. They are currently the laughing stock of English football.
If Beer plays in Perth on Thursday he will be the least credentialed of all nine spinners named, which by the way is no mean feat, having played just five first-class fixtures for a return of 16 wickets at a cost of 39.93 apiece.
Cue Hilditch.
"Michael is a left-arm orthodox spinner who has been very impressive at domestic level this year. He took wickets against England in the tour match earlier this summer and we expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground," Hilditch said.
We’ll ignore the fact that the Chairman had to describe Beer as “a left-arm orthodox spinner” just in case anyone listening did not know.
Very impressive at domestic level this season? Just 16 wickets at an average of 39.93 with a best of two three wicket hauls is Beer’s return. Does that mean that Wade Townsend’s 202 runs at 28.85 for Queensland with two half centuries have also been very impressive?
He took wickets against England in a tour match earlier this summer? He did, with figures of 3 for 108 from 24 overs and 2 for 99 from 16.4 overs. The wickets included Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Kevin Pietersen, and Paul Collingwood. They are reasonable figures. However fellow left-arm orthodox Aaron O’Brien claimed match figures of 3 for 112 against England for South Australia, and New South Wales left-arm tweaker Steve O’Keefe took 4 for 88 in England’s first innings against Australia ‘A’.
We expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground? So Beer has been picked because he knows the conditions well? He’s played three first-class games at WACA. They are two of just six first-class or grade matches he’s played in Perth having moved from Melbourne during the winter to begin a first-class career at age 26.
O’Brien, O’Keefe, and Xavier Doherty have all played more cricket at the WACA than Beer.
So why is he in the XII? Because Shane Warne mentioned his name in a newspaper column?
It is not Beer’s fault that he has been selected. Every Australian fan will hope he performs well should he play. But on recent record, getting selected to play for Australia as a specialist spinner is like getting a knock on your door from the Grim Reaper.
Beau Casson took three wickets on test debut in Bridgetown, June 2008, in the third test against the West Indies. He then wasn’t selected for the following tour of India, as White, McGain, and Krejza went instead. Since then he has played nine Shield matches for NSW, taking just nine wickets at 78.44 per scalp, as well as being pulled from the attack in a match at the Gabba for two high full tosses in an innings. He was last sighted collapsing in Sydney Grade cricket trying to make a return from the debilitating illness Chronic Fatigue syndrome.
Cameron White played in Casson’s place throughout the 2008 tour of India. He claimed just five wickets at 68.40. Since then he has scarcely bowled in first-class cricket having claimed just six wickets in two and a half domestic seasons. He is now trying to push his case as a batsman.
Jason Krejza took a stunning 12 wickets on test debut. He then missed the next test match Australia played because the Gabba strip called for four seamers and no spinner. Krejza then injured an ankle in the lead-up to the second Trans-Tasman test against a weak New Zealand batting line-up. Hauritz filled in before Krejza returned to take on a mighty South African batting line-up on freeway at the WACA. The Proteas chased a monstrous 414 to win in the fourth innings. Krejza finished with match figures of 1 for 204. Brett Lee and Peter Siddle also only claimed one wicket for the entire test. The two quicks retained their place for Melbourne, and Krejza was banished back to Shield cricket where he has since struggled to retain a regular place for Tasmania.
Marcus North played as the sole spinner in his first two tests in South Africa, scoring a century as well as taking a wicket in each victorious test. He missed the third due to illness and opened the door for Bryce McGain’s inclusion.
Debuting ten days before his 37th birthday, McGain went wicket-less in 18 overs that cost 149. His career was over before the test match concluded. McGain has since claimed six wickets in last year’s Sheffield Shield final but at 38 is seen to be clogging up the system.
Nathan Hauritz was given the most extended run of any spinner tried, and was the most successful as a result. Yet ironically, his first-class record was worse than the part-timer North when he was selected. Hauritz was ineffective in India recently, taking just six wickets at 65. But he’s not the first and won’t be the last to suffer on the sub-continent. Warne averaged 50 with the ball in the famous 2001 series in India.
Two bad tests theoretically should not end a career. Xavier Doherty has averaged 103 with ball in hand as the replacement for Hauritz, yet the Queensland –born New South Wales off-spinner feels so disenchanted that he gave away his test clothing at garage sale. Although he wouldn’t require it if recalled due to a change of CA sponsorship, the symbolism of the gesture, and his quote: “I don’t play for them (Australia) anymore”, suggests he’s been told in no uncertain terms that he is no longer an international cricketer.
Doherty has gone the way of McGain and Krejza before him. Tried, failed, and discarded.
One fears for Beer as well. But his first-class career has barely got off the ground. So what happens if his test career ends in one or two innings like those before him?
Steve Smith on the other hand would have to do a lot wrong to be treated like the nine aforementioned spinners. He has been anointed as a long term project. But his selection as a batsman is baffling. A first-class average of 43.77, with four centuries, in just 20 matches puts him ahead of the likes of Shaun Marsh and Callum Ferguson on record alone, but unlike those he’s hardly batted above six for New South Wales. Very rarely has a Test batsman been picked having not been a top-four regular for their state. He has just recently moved to four for New South Wales. His Shield average this season stands at 32 without a century.
If Smith averages 35 with the bat and 42 with the ball after 21 Test matches, will he be dropped like North? You would hope not, but few would disagree with North’s axing.
What happens next is anyone’s guess.
But hear this in mind. Shane Warne’s first four bowling efforts in Tests amounted to a 1 for 337, and six opposition players scored centuries with Ravi Shastri scoring a double.
Last question Mr Hilditch. If Shane Warne had debuted under your Chairmanship, what would have happened?
The sign read:
“Lost: The Plot. If found please return to the Australian dressing rooms. Ask for Tubby.”
One wonders whether or not the gentlemen who erected that sign still has it, and whether he might bring it out again next week during the third Ashes test. Only one change needs to be made. Replace “Tubby” with “Digger”, and they may have it spot on.
Chairman of selectors Andrew “Digger” Hilditch announced Australia’s Test squad for Perth last week. In it appeared the name Michael Beer, the tenth Australian spinner to be selected for Australia since Shane Warne’s retirement. Ten since January 2007.
Can you name them all?
Take a deep breath because it will take awhile. Stuart MacGill, Brad Hogg, Beau Casson, Cameron White, Jason Krejza, Nathan Hauritz, Marcus North, Steve Smith, and Xavier Doherty all have been used as Australia’s number one spinner in Test matches since Warne’s departure.
To put that into perspective, English Premier League club Newcastle United just named Alan Pardew as its manager last week after sacking Chris Hughton. Pardew is the eighth manager to take charge of the giant Tyne-side franchise since January 2007. In that time they have bounced from the Premiership, to the Championship, and back to the Premiership. They are currently the laughing stock of English football.
If Beer plays in Perth on Thursday he will be the least credentialed of all nine spinners named, which by the way is no mean feat, having played just five first-class fixtures for a return of 16 wickets at a cost of 39.93 apiece.
Cue Hilditch.
"Michael is a left-arm orthodox spinner who has been very impressive at domestic level this year. He took wickets against England in the tour match earlier this summer and we expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground," Hilditch said.
We’ll ignore the fact that the Chairman had to describe Beer as “a left-arm orthodox spinner” just in case anyone listening did not know.
Very impressive at domestic level this season? Just 16 wickets at an average of 39.93 with a best of two three wicket hauls is Beer’s return. Does that mean that Wade Townsend’s 202 runs at 28.85 for Queensland with two half centuries have also been very impressive?
He took wickets against England in a tour match earlier this summer? He did, with figures of 3 for 108 from 24 overs and 2 for 99 from 16.4 overs. The wickets included Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Kevin Pietersen, and Paul Collingwood. They are reasonable figures. However fellow left-arm orthodox Aaron O’Brien claimed match figures of 3 for 112 against England for South Australia, and New South Wales left-arm tweaker Steve O’Keefe took 4 for 88 in England’s first innings against Australia ‘A’.
We expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground? So Beer has been picked because he knows the conditions well? He’s played three first-class games at WACA. They are two of just six first-class or grade matches he’s played in Perth having moved from Melbourne during the winter to begin a first-class career at age 26.
O’Brien, O’Keefe, and Xavier Doherty have all played more cricket at the WACA than Beer.
So why is he in the XII? Because Shane Warne mentioned his name in a newspaper column?
It is not Beer’s fault that he has been selected. Every Australian fan will hope he performs well should he play. But on recent record, getting selected to play for Australia as a specialist spinner is like getting a knock on your door from the Grim Reaper.
Beau Casson took three wickets on test debut in Bridgetown, June 2008, in the third test against the West Indies. He then wasn’t selected for the following tour of India, as White, McGain, and Krejza went instead. Since then he has played nine Shield matches for NSW, taking just nine wickets at 78.44 per scalp, as well as being pulled from the attack in a match at the Gabba for two high full tosses in an innings. He was last sighted collapsing in Sydney Grade cricket trying to make a return from the debilitating illness Chronic Fatigue syndrome.
Cameron White played in Casson’s place throughout the 2008 tour of India. He claimed just five wickets at 68.40. Since then he has scarcely bowled in first-class cricket having claimed just six wickets in two and a half domestic seasons. He is now trying to push his case as a batsman.
Jason Krejza took a stunning 12 wickets on test debut. He then missed the next test match Australia played because the Gabba strip called for four seamers and no spinner. Krejza then injured an ankle in the lead-up to the second Trans-Tasman test against a weak New Zealand batting line-up. Hauritz filled in before Krejza returned to take on a mighty South African batting line-up on freeway at the WACA. The Proteas chased a monstrous 414 to win in the fourth innings. Krejza finished with match figures of 1 for 204. Brett Lee and Peter Siddle also only claimed one wicket for the entire test. The two quicks retained their place for Melbourne, and Krejza was banished back to Shield cricket where he has since struggled to retain a regular place for Tasmania.
Marcus North played as the sole spinner in his first two tests in South Africa, scoring a century as well as taking a wicket in each victorious test. He missed the third due to illness and opened the door for Bryce McGain’s inclusion.
Debuting ten days before his 37th birthday, McGain went wicket-less in 18 overs that cost 149. His career was over before the test match concluded. McGain has since claimed six wickets in last year’s Sheffield Shield final but at 38 is seen to be clogging up the system.
Nathan Hauritz was given the most extended run of any spinner tried, and was the most successful as a result. Yet ironically, his first-class record was worse than the part-timer North when he was selected. Hauritz was ineffective in India recently, taking just six wickets at 65. But he’s not the first and won’t be the last to suffer on the sub-continent. Warne averaged 50 with the ball in the famous 2001 series in India.
Two bad tests theoretically should not end a career. Xavier Doherty has averaged 103 with ball in hand as the replacement for Hauritz, yet the Queensland –born New South Wales off-spinner feels so disenchanted that he gave away his test clothing at garage sale. Although he wouldn’t require it if recalled due to a change of CA sponsorship, the symbolism of the gesture, and his quote: “I don’t play for them (Australia) anymore”, suggests he’s been told in no uncertain terms that he is no longer an international cricketer.
Doherty has gone the way of McGain and Krejza before him. Tried, failed, and discarded.
One fears for Beer as well. But his first-class career has barely got off the ground. So what happens if his test career ends in one or two innings like those before him?
Steve Smith on the other hand would have to do a lot wrong to be treated like the nine aforementioned spinners. He has been anointed as a long term project. But his selection as a batsman is baffling. A first-class average of 43.77, with four centuries, in just 20 matches puts him ahead of the likes of Shaun Marsh and Callum Ferguson on record alone, but unlike those he’s hardly batted above six for New South Wales. Very rarely has a Test batsman been picked having not been a top-four regular for their state. He has just recently moved to four for New South Wales. His Shield average this season stands at 32 without a century.
If Smith averages 35 with the bat and 42 with the ball after 21 Test matches, will he be dropped like North? You would hope not, but few would disagree with North’s axing.
What happens next is anyone’s guess.
But hear this in mind. Shane Warne’s first four bowling efforts in Tests amounted to a 1 for 337, and six opposition players scored centuries with Ravi Shastri scoring a double.
Last question Mr Hilditch. If Shane Warne had debuted under your Chairmanship, what would have happened?
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
If, If only
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;” Rudyard Kipling, If, 1865
The British Nobel Laureate Rudyard Kipling would not have had cricket in mind when he penned his ode to Victorian stoicism, but the Australian Selectors could do worse than read his verse before they meet to discuss Australia’s disastrous defeat at the Adelaide Oval.
They should take note of another line from Kipling’s poem. “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same;” Kipling wrote “then yours is the Earth, and everything that is in it.”
The Earth is not Australia’s right now, nor are the Ashes, and one could argue that part of the reason is that the Australian selectors have not treated the imposters of triumph and disaster just the same.
They did in 2009.
The triumph was an innings victory in Headingley to level the Ashes series 1-1. They “risked it all on a game of pitch and toss” by gambling with a fourth quick, Stuart Clark, and banking on a green seamer in Leeds. It worked. England won the toss and lost 20 wickets for 365 to book-end Australia’s only innings of 445.
Australia went unchanged to the grass-less, baron-dry, dusty Oval. The disaster came. With no specialist spinner, Australia removed 19 English wickets for scores of 332 and 373 declared. Hardly the run-gluts you may have expected given what was written in the post-script. But Australia managed a meagre 160 in their first innings, with pace-man Stuart Broad claiming five of Australia’s top seven, and off-spinner Graeme Swann bagging four of the rest.
The selectors met with disaster just the same. Ten of the eleven Australians present in both Leeds and London started in Brisbane a fortnight ago. The only change made was the introduction of Tasmanian left-arm orthodox spinner Xavier Doherty, with all of 35 First-Class fixtures of experience that had yielded just 84 wickets at 49.45. Meantime Clark was discarded to the scrapheap after the Oval debacle. His 94 test scalps at 23.86, including 30 English bats for a cost of 20.63 apiece, are currently leading New South Wales who sit atop the Sheffield Shield table.
But yet after a draw in Brisbane, where both teams claimed just 11 wickets each on one of the flattest wickets curator Kevin Mitchell Jr has ever concocted, the Australian Selectors dropped Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus for fear of a flatter surface in Adelaide, meaning that since Australia’s defeat to Pakistan at Headingley in July, nine different bowlers have been used in five different combinations, across five different tests against three opponents on three different continents.
Is it any surprise Australia has lost four of five tests, its worst losing slump since 1988.
The ex-members of Australia’s fast bowling cartel, as well as the tight knit spinning fraternity, are screaming blue-murder. Their kind are being made scapegoats for a batting unit that is consistently not carrying its weight.
This, to a certain extent is true. The Oval disaster was a batting failure not a bowling one. Likewise in Adelaide, despite a poor display by the bowlers, when you are defending a first innings total of just 245 you are asking to get beaten.
The problem is that the bowlers are dispensable. Aside from Mitchell Johnson, whose problems run deeper than a simple form slump, the next best test record of the nine bowlers used is Peter Siddle with 66 wickets and three five-wicket hauls. It is the equivalent of having a batting group whose most experienced player has only 1000 test runs and three centuries. For all those who felt Nathan Hauritz was hard done by, he took his first Sheffield Shield five-wicket haul only last week. Name the last Australian batsman to play 17 Tests having not made a Shield century?
Meantime, the batting woes are led by the captain and vice-captain who simply can’t be dropped. In the five winless test matches, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke have combined for just six half centuries and no hundreds in 19 innings between them. Even the man in the gun, Marcus North, has posted a hundred in that time, if nothing else.
Even the opening combination, for all the praise they’ve received for being the bedrock of the side and the comparisons that have been drawn to the great combinations of yesteryear, are not as fruitful as they appear to be.
Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook in just four innings of this Ashes campaign have scored three individual hundreds between them, including a double-century from Cook.
Simon Katich and Shane Watson have achieved just four centuries between them in 15 Tests as a combination.
Katich and Phillip Hughes managed three in one Durban Test match 21 months ago, ironically to seal the last significant Australian Test series victory.
As Cook and Strauss showed at the Gabba, and as the likes of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, Michael Slater and Mark Taylor, and Geoff Marsh and Taylor again have shown over a span of 21 years, double-century partnerships at the top of the order demoralise opponents to breaking point. There is a feeling of frustration, then panic, then helplessness, then defeat that seeps through the mind and soul of those trying to remove them. It’s been 21 months since Australia have achieved such dominance.
And it has exposed a soft underbelly. So what is the answer? Replacements? The bowlers would say it’s only fair. But who do you replace them with?
Herein lies the inherent, systemic problem that plagues Australian cricket right now. It is a problem that no number of selectors, commentators, writers, or pundits can solve. The cupboard is bare because the system is broken.
Once upon a time, when Australia was in its prime, selectors had the likes of Jamie Siddons, Stuart Law, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann, Jamie Cox, Michael Di Venuto, Martin Love, Brad Hodge, and Chris Rogers plundering tens of thousands of Sheffield Shield runs year in, year out, as merely back up to the incumbents in the Test squad.
Now the candidates range from two immeasurable, but hardly worldly, talents in Phillip Hughes and Usman Khawaja, and four others in Callum Ferguson, Shaun Marsh, Adam Voges, and Cameron White, all of who have played in excess of 50 Sheffield Shield matches, none of who average in excess of 40.
Perhaps some would argue that this is merely a less talented generation of Australian cricketers?
Then how must the rest of the world be going, if Australia are the current holders of the U19’s World Cup, and the last Australian side to achieve the feat featured White and Marsh?
If it isn’t the talent, it must be the system. Cricket Australia’s National Academy is no longer the breeding ground it was with staff, coaches, intakes, programs, and focus changing almost annually to the point that it’s unrecognisable from Rod Marsh’s Adelaide Institution that fostered arguably Australia’s greatest era of players.
The nation’s State Second XI competition, once the envy of the world for its strength and depth, has been reduced to an Under 23’s league, played under different rules to the Sheffield Shield, and thus has pillaged the foundations of Australian cricket as scores of players over the age of 23 leave grade cricket for work, travel, or family reasons because the chance of progression to State ranks has become virtually impossible. Runs and wickets against fellow 23 year olds do not a first-class cricketer make. There isn’t a cricketer alive who will tell you he was a better player before his 23rd birthday than he was after.
All the while, contracted cricketers over the age of 23, not in the Shield side can’t play in the Second XI competition.
The rise of T20 cricket has also led to a generation of Australian boys becoming more intent on the riches of the IPL, or the bright lights of the expanding Big Bash as opposed to winning a Shield cap.
Indeed CA ordered Doug Bollinger and Michael Hussey to stay with the Chennai Super Kings at the T20 Champions League rather than join the Test squad to prepare for a tour of India. The expectation that Hussey would go from thrashing as hard as he can as quickly as he can on one-day wickets in South Africa, to batting time and absorbing pressure from Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha on raging turners in India is akin to expecting Roger Federer to win the French Open after playing table tennis for a month. Likewise, to expect Bollinger to be fit for Tests in India after bowling four overs a day is laughable. That he broke down is anything but. Even worse, the rumour that he was fit to bowl through pain on the last day in Mohali only to be told to rest for the first Gabba test that he eventually wasn’t picked for, is something not even the England and Wales Cricket Board could have conjured its darkest days.
The ECB and their selectors “kept their heads when all about them were losing theirs” at the Oval in 2009. An innings defeat at Headingley heard calls for 40-year-old Mark Ramprakash to be recalled to sure up a fragile batting line-up such were the lack of options available. Instead they called upon the 28-year-old Jonathan Trott, with 8419 First-Class runs 131 matches, who delivered with a match-winning hundred. Now, 15-months and as many tests later, he is in the top ten players in the world and averaging 60 as England’s immovable number three.
England has learned from its mistakes. To paraphrase Kipling again, "they’ve watched the things they gave their life to broken and stooped and build 'em up with worn out tools."
They have done an Australia to Australia. They prepared thoroughly. Like Border’s heroes of 1989 they banned wives and partners until after the third test. They’ve played three first-class fixtures before the first test, two on test match venues. And they’ve picked an Australian-style team. Gone are the desperate days of trying to fit five bowlers in a Test XI. They’ve picked six specialist batsmen, a wicket-keeper, three quicks and a world-class spinner.
The Australian selectors don’t have the luxury of turning to a Trott as they did to Hussey or Hodge after 2005 to begin a 16-Test winning streak.
This clearly isn’t 2005. This is more 1988 as results and team experience suggest. The selectors and administrators are "watching the things they gave their life to broken, and now they must stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools."
The worn out tools are the Australian way. In 1988-9 during a one-sided summer against the West Indies, they picked Mark Taylor to make his debut in the fourth test after three successive defeats, and they stuck by the talented but inexperienced, and inconsistent, Steve Waugh at the expense of second test centurion Graeme Wood. They won in Adelaide, and six months later the pair made twin hundreds in the first Ashes test at Headingley. A dynasty of Australian cricket was born.
Otherwise, Australia can do an England and threaten to match the 31 players used in that 1989 series.
Australian selectors and Administrators take note of Kipling;
“ If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;”
...
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And – which is more – you'll be a Man my son!"
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;” Rudyard Kipling, If, 1865
The British Nobel Laureate Rudyard Kipling would not have had cricket in mind when he penned his ode to Victorian stoicism, but the Australian Selectors could do worse than read his verse before they meet to discuss Australia’s disastrous defeat at the Adelaide Oval.
They should take note of another line from Kipling’s poem. “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same;” Kipling wrote “then yours is the Earth, and everything that is in it.”
The Earth is not Australia’s right now, nor are the Ashes, and one could argue that part of the reason is that the Australian selectors have not treated the imposters of triumph and disaster just the same.
They did in 2009.
The triumph was an innings victory in Headingley to level the Ashes series 1-1. They “risked it all on a game of pitch and toss” by gambling with a fourth quick, Stuart Clark, and banking on a green seamer in Leeds. It worked. England won the toss and lost 20 wickets for 365 to book-end Australia’s only innings of 445.
Australia went unchanged to the grass-less, baron-dry, dusty Oval. The disaster came. With no specialist spinner, Australia removed 19 English wickets for scores of 332 and 373 declared. Hardly the run-gluts you may have expected given what was written in the post-script. But Australia managed a meagre 160 in their first innings, with pace-man Stuart Broad claiming five of Australia’s top seven, and off-spinner Graeme Swann bagging four of the rest.
The selectors met with disaster just the same. Ten of the eleven Australians present in both Leeds and London started in Brisbane a fortnight ago. The only change made was the introduction of Tasmanian left-arm orthodox spinner Xavier Doherty, with all of 35 First-Class fixtures of experience that had yielded just 84 wickets at 49.45. Meantime Clark was discarded to the scrapheap after the Oval debacle. His 94 test scalps at 23.86, including 30 English bats for a cost of 20.63 apiece, are currently leading New South Wales who sit atop the Sheffield Shield table.
But yet after a draw in Brisbane, where both teams claimed just 11 wickets each on one of the flattest wickets curator Kevin Mitchell Jr has ever concocted, the Australian Selectors dropped Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus for fear of a flatter surface in Adelaide, meaning that since Australia’s defeat to Pakistan at Headingley in July, nine different bowlers have been used in five different combinations, across five different tests against three opponents on three different continents.
Is it any surprise Australia has lost four of five tests, its worst losing slump since 1988.
The ex-members of Australia’s fast bowling cartel, as well as the tight knit spinning fraternity, are screaming blue-murder. Their kind are being made scapegoats for a batting unit that is consistently not carrying its weight.
This, to a certain extent is true. The Oval disaster was a batting failure not a bowling one. Likewise in Adelaide, despite a poor display by the bowlers, when you are defending a first innings total of just 245 you are asking to get beaten.
The problem is that the bowlers are dispensable. Aside from Mitchell Johnson, whose problems run deeper than a simple form slump, the next best test record of the nine bowlers used is Peter Siddle with 66 wickets and three five-wicket hauls. It is the equivalent of having a batting group whose most experienced player has only 1000 test runs and three centuries. For all those who felt Nathan Hauritz was hard done by, he took his first Sheffield Shield five-wicket haul only last week. Name the last Australian batsman to play 17 Tests having not made a Shield century?
Meantime, the batting woes are led by the captain and vice-captain who simply can’t be dropped. In the five winless test matches, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke have combined for just six half centuries and no hundreds in 19 innings between them. Even the man in the gun, Marcus North, has posted a hundred in that time, if nothing else.
Even the opening combination, for all the praise they’ve received for being the bedrock of the side and the comparisons that have been drawn to the great combinations of yesteryear, are not as fruitful as they appear to be.
Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook in just four innings of this Ashes campaign have scored three individual hundreds between them, including a double-century from Cook.
Simon Katich and Shane Watson have achieved just four centuries between them in 15 Tests as a combination.
Katich and Phillip Hughes managed three in one Durban Test match 21 months ago, ironically to seal the last significant Australian Test series victory.
As Cook and Strauss showed at the Gabba, and as the likes of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, Michael Slater and Mark Taylor, and Geoff Marsh and Taylor again have shown over a span of 21 years, double-century partnerships at the top of the order demoralise opponents to breaking point. There is a feeling of frustration, then panic, then helplessness, then defeat that seeps through the mind and soul of those trying to remove them. It’s been 21 months since Australia have achieved such dominance.
And it has exposed a soft underbelly. So what is the answer? Replacements? The bowlers would say it’s only fair. But who do you replace them with?
Herein lies the inherent, systemic problem that plagues Australian cricket right now. It is a problem that no number of selectors, commentators, writers, or pundits can solve. The cupboard is bare because the system is broken.
Once upon a time, when Australia was in its prime, selectors had the likes of Jamie Siddons, Stuart Law, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann, Jamie Cox, Michael Di Venuto, Martin Love, Brad Hodge, and Chris Rogers plundering tens of thousands of Sheffield Shield runs year in, year out, as merely back up to the incumbents in the Test squad.
Now the candidates range from two immeasurable, but hardly worldly, talents in Phillip Hughes and Usman Khawaja, and four others in Callum Ferguson, Shaun Marsh, Adam Voges, and Cameron White, all of who have played in excess of 50 Sheffield Shield matches, none of who average in excess of 40.
Perhaps some would argue that this is merely a less talented generation of Australian cricketers?
Then how must the rest of the world be going, if Australia are the current holders of the U19’s World Cup, and the last Australian side to achieve the feat featured White and Marsh?
If it isn’t the talent, it must be the system. Cricket Australia’s National Academy is no longer the breeding ground it was with staff, coaches, intakes, programs, and focus changing almost annually to the point that it’s unrecognisable from Rod Marsh’s Adelaide Institution that fostered arguably Australia’s greatest era of players.
The nation’s State Second XI competition, once the envy of the world for its strength and depth, has been reduced to an Under 23’s league, played under different rules to the Sheffield Shield, and thus has pillaged the foundations of Australian cricket as scores of players over the age of 23 leave grade cricket for work, travel, or family reasons because the chance of progression to State ranks has become virtually impossible. Runs and wickets against fellow 23 year olds do not a first-class cricketer make. There isn’t a cricketer alive who will tell you he was a better player before his 23rd birthday than he was after.
All the while, contracted cricketers over the age of 23, not in the Shield side can’t play in the Second XI competition.
The rise of T20 cricket has also led to a generation of Australian boys becoming more intent on the riches of the IPL, or the bright lights of the expanding Big Bash as opposed to winning a Shield cap.
Indeed CA ordered Doug Bollinger and Michael Hussey to stay with the Chennai Super Kings at the T20 Champions League rather than join the Test squad to prepare for a tour of India. The expectation that Hussey would go from thrashing as hard as he can as quickly as he can on one-day wickets in South Africa, to batting time and absorbing pressure from Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha on raging turners in India is akin to expecting Roger Federer to win the French Open after playing table tennis for a month. Likewise, to expect Bollinger to be fit for Tests in India after bowling four overs a day is laughable. That he broke down is anything but. Even worse, the rumour that he was fit to bowl through pain on the last day in Mohali only to be told to rest for the first Gabba test that he eventually wasn’t picked for, is something not even the England and Wales Cricket Board could have conjured its darkest days.
The ECB and their selectors “kept their heads when all about them were losing theirs” at the Oval in 2009. An innings defeat at Headingley heard calls for 40-year-old Mark Ramprakash to be recalled to sure up a fragile batting line-up such were the lack of options available. Instead they called upon the 28-year-old Jonathan Trott, with 8419 First-Class runs 131 matches, who delivered with a match-winning hundred. Now, 15-months and as many tests later, he is in the top ten players in the world and averaging 60 as England’s immovable number three.
England has learned from its mistakes. To paraphrase Kipling again, "they’ve watched the things they gave their life to broken and stooped and build 'em up with worn out tools."
They have done an Australia to Australia. They prepared thoroughly. Like Border’s heroes of 1989 they banned wives and partners until after the third test. They’ve played three first-class fixtures before the first test, two on test match venues. And they’ve picked an Australian-style team. Gone are the desperate days of trying to fit five bowlers in a Test XI. They’ve picked six specialist batsmen, a wicket-keeper, three quicks and a world-class spinner.
The Australian selectors don’t have the luxury of turning to a Trott as they did to Hussey or Hodge after 2005 to begin a 16-Test winning streak.
This clearly isn’t 2005. This is more 1988 as results and team experience suggest. The selectors and administrators are "watching the things they gave their life to broken, and now they must stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools."
The worn out tools are the Australian way. In 1988-9 during a one-sided summer against the West Indies, they picked Mark Taylor to make his debut in the fourth test after three successive defeats, and they stuck by the talented but inexperienced, and inconsistent, Steve Waugh at the expense of second test centurion Graeme Wood. They won in Adelaide, and six months later the pair made twin hundreds in the first Ashes test at Headingley. A dynasty of Australian cricket was born.
Otherwise, Australia can do an England and threaten to match the 31 players used in that 1989 series.
Australian selectors and Administrators take note of Kipling;
“ If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;”
...
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And – which is more – you'll be a Man my son!"
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Davis Cup Disaster
If it were the Ashes, it would be front and back page news. If it were the Socceroos, heads would role. If it were the Olympic Games, there would be a government inquiry.
But none of that will come from what took place in Cairns last weekend. In fact, few in the Australian sporting landscape will even know what happened.
What transpired is a crisis of our national sporting identity. A proud tennis nation, a Grand Slam host, a winner of 20 individual men’s Grand Slam titles in the open-era (the third best return of any nation), and a 28-time Davis Cup Champion was humbled at home by Belgium, a nation with no male Grand Slam champions, no Davis Cup victories, and with their best result being a finals berth in 1904.
It was a play-off for a place back in the World Group. A place Australia’s tennis history should suggest is a minimum annual requirement. New Australian coach Todd Woodbridge said pre-tie that the credibility of men’s tennis in Australia was at stake in Cairns.
Everything was stacked in Australia’s favour. Belgium travelled minus their highest ranked player Xavier Malisse (55). The two key pillars of their squad, Olivier Rochus and Steve Darcis, were ranked 78 and 121 in the world. Neither having ever reached the last eight of a Grand Slam, nor having cracked the world’s top 20 at any stage.
The Australians had recent history on their side. They had not lost a tie on a hard court since 2004. There was Flemish frustration at the standard of this hard court, evoking memories of Yevgeny Kafelnikov’s complaints of the potato patch on which he and his Russian teammates had to play a Davis Cup semi-final, in the same state, in 1999.
Alas there was no fervour stirred from the Belgium comments. Barely a ripple was created by the Tie in the wider media. Lleyton Hewitt stood on the precipice of becoming Australia’s most successful Davis Cup player, but that milestone went virtually unrecognised.
Hewitt did equal Cup record holder Adrian Quist with a hard fought four-set win over an unknown 22-year-old left-hander Ruben Bemelmans, who was representing Belgium for just the second time.
The South Australian then combined with Paul Hanley in the doubles to set up a 2-1 lead and become our best ever, with 44 wins covering all surfaces including carpet.
But the manner in which Australia lost the tie from there is as frightening as it is sobering.
Hewitt withdrew from the reverse singles with a damaged wrist that would sideline him for three weeks. But he would, no doubt, have been comfortable with the fact he had done enough to ensure Australia’s safe passage back to the world group.
One of either Peter Luczak or Carsten Ball needed only beat the aforementioned Rochus and Darcis. Rain ruined Sunday’s play forcing a Monday finish to the tie. Such is the lack of interest in Davis Cup at present, host broadcaster Channel Seven pulled the plug on their coverage leaving only the Cairns paying-public with the opportunity to view the tennis.
As it turns out, Seven may have done Australian tennis fans a favour.
The glimpse into Australian men’s tennis post-Hewitt looked decidedly grim as first Luczak, succumbing to a plucky Rochus in four knife-edge sets, and then Ball, folding meekly to the 121-ranked Darcis in three, consigned Australia to the Davis Cup wilderness for another twelve months.
Captain John Fitzgerald’s comments post-tie are worth noting.
''These are tough situations that they haven't faced a lot,'' Fitzgerald said of his young charges such as the 23-year-old Ball.
''And you learn a lot from the tough days to get those really good ones. And they are worth waiting for. When they happen they make up for the tough times.
''It is hard to swallow [being out of the World Group] but it is a different sport now. It was a different competition back then - you have to be realistic about it.''
Fitzgerald is right about one thing. It is a different sport now. No longer can a 23-year-old tennis player be considered a young charge. Rafael Nadal just won his ninth Grand Slam title at the age of 24. Roger Federer had won five Grand Slams before his 24th birthday.
But whilst you scoff at the comparisons to two of the greatest players of all time consider this; Hewitt had won two Grand Slam singles titles, made a third final, won a Grand Slam doubles title, two Masters Series Cup finals, two Davis Cups, played in two other Cup finals, and been World number one for two consecutive years all before his 24th birthday.
If you’re still not convinced, Novak Djokovic, 23, is a Grand Slam winner and twice runner-up. Juan Martin Del Potro, 21, beat Roger Federer in a US Open final. Andy Murray, 23, is twice a Grand Slam finalist.
So if the 23-year-old Ball and 31-year-old journeyman Luczak haven’t faced these situations a lot already, and have not coped with them when challenged, then when are they ever going to?
The reliance on Hewitt has never been greater and yet his tenure left in the game has never been shorter.
Fitzgerald again.
''In the last eight or 10 years there has been a lot of pressure on Lleyton,'' he said. ''We have got to keep trying to support the boys to step up - I have got confidence in what they can do. We will keep building a team, continue the fight.''
Two-time Grand Slam champion Patrick Rafter was shattered by the loss. His presence in Cairns, as a so-called “orange boy” has already created rumours regarding Fitzgerald’s job, with Tennis Australia’s President-elect Steven Healy said to be a huge Rafter fan.
Rafter was scathing of Australia’s system proclaiming the youngsters coming through have it too easy.
''One thing I'm really jamming down the kids' throats is that we've got to make it tougher for them, they've got to toughen up as well and there are ways to do that,'' Rafter said yesterday.
''By giving them everything, it's not helping to find solutions. If we give them a tough situation where they are on their own for a few months with no coach, no nothing and make them do it tough in Europe, you've got to find different solutions and ways of getting around it.
''It's just life skills to me that these kids could take into their game as well and, when they are on the court, they've got to tough it out for themselves and not have someone tell them what to do all the time.''
Who are the kids you ask? Well they’re not Ball or Luczak, or even the 543rd ranked player in the world, 25-year-old Chris Guccione.
The kids Rafter is referring to are three 17-year-olds; the already well publicised Bernard Tomic, Wimbledon junior runner-up Ben Mitchell, and World-junior number three Jason Kubler.
Despite the despair of the state of senior men’s tennis in this country, Australia are currently the holders of the junior Davis Cup, and have won two of the last three titles.
Ben Mitchell was an “orange boy” at the recent tie in Cairns whilst Tomic and Kubler have played in the main draw of the Australian Open. Tomic famously reached the second round earlier this year and nearly claimed a major scalp in Croatian Marin Cilic, but lost in an epic five-setter.
Unfortunately for Tomic his immaturity spoilt what was a fabulous performance when he blamed the prime-time scheduling and late-night finish for his loss. Tomic and his advisors obviously losing sight of the fact that he had not earned his way into the draw, rather accepting a wild-card and that he’d been placed on centre court in prime-time, a privilege usually reserved for the world’s very best.
Tomic the individual, not to mention the Tomic family, is a story for another time. But this is exactly what Rafter is talking about.
Perhaps it’s time to throw him in the deep end.
Hewitt, like Tomic, was an impetuous ambitious teenager who was an “orange boy” for the Davis Cup team in the late 90s. In the lead-up to the tie in Cairns Hewitt credited the foresight of then captain John Newcombe who backed his young charge and give him an opportunity.
Hewitt made his Davis Cup debut in July 1999 in a quarter final against the United States, having like Tomic never progressed beyond the second round of a major, although he had won two ATP titles. His opportunity came on the back of a knee injury to Mark Philippoussis.
His first Cup opponent was American veteran Todd Martin who had played in the 1994 Australian Open final and would make the final of the 1999 US Open. The South Australian won in four sets.
Hewitt was 18. He featured in the Semi-final against Russia where he beat a two-time Grand Slam champion in Kafelnikov, and a future duel Grand slam winner in Marat Safin. He then played in the final against France, on clay in Nice, where he lost to Wimbledon finalist Cedric Pioline in straight sets (two were tie-breaks) and a dead reverse singles rubber to Sebastian Grosjean, who had made two Masters Series finals that year on both clay and hard court.
With the Davis Cup on the line, and a group of twenty-somethings to choose from such as Jason Stoltenberg (29), Sandon Stolle (29), Richard Fromberg (29), and Andrew Ilie (23), Newcombe went with a teenager.
In 2010, with Australia still outside of the world group, a situation that hasn’t changed since 2007, the time is now to inject some youth into the squad.
If Fitzgerald has faith in the likes of Ball and Luczak then one wonders if he is the man to take the next generation forward. The current Davis Cup captain gave Tomic his Cup debut in March, with great success albeit against a weak opponent in Chinese Taipei, the Queenslander winning both his singles rubbers. But Tomic’s name was not mentioned in the lead-up to Cairns.
If not Tomic, then Kubler or Mitchell must surely be given an opportunity to either “sink or swim” as Rafter put it.
The Hewitt years are fading fast. His presence at further Cup ties will be like precious gold. If the Hewitt experiment of 1999 was anything to go by, the time is now to build from the ground up or risk one of Australia’s richest sporting traditions, in the Davis Cup, becoming extinct.
But none of that will come from what took place in Cairns last weekend. In fact, few in the Australian sporting landscape will even know what happened.
What transpired is a crisis of our national sporting identity. A proud tennis nation, a Grand Slam host, a winner of 20 individual men’s Grand Slam titles in the open-era (the third best return of any nation), and a 28-time Davis Cup Champion was humbled at home by Belgium, a nation with no male Grand Slam champions, no Davis Cup victories, and with their best result being a finals berth in 1904.
It was a play-off for a place back in the World Group. A place Australia’s tennis history should suggest is a minimum annual requirement. New Australian coach Todd Woodbridge said pre-tie that the credibility of men’s tennis in Australia was at stake in Cairns.
Everything was stacked in Australia’s favour. Belgium travelled minus their highest ranked player Xavier Malisse (55). The two key pillars of their squad, Olivier Rochus and Steve Darcis, were ranked 78 and 121 in the world. Neither having ever reached the last eight of a Grand Slam, nor having cracked the world’s top 20 at any stage.
The Australians had recent history on their side. They had not lost a tie on a hard court since 2004. There was Flemish frustration at the standard of this hard court, evoking memories of Yevgeny Kafelnikov’s complaints of the potato patch on which he and his Russian teammates had to play a Davis Cup semi-final, in the same state, in 1999.
Alas there was no fervour stirred from the Belgium comments. Barely a ripple was created by the Tie in the wider media. Lleyton Hewitt stood on the precipice of becoming Australia’s most successful Davis Cup player, but that milestone went virtually unrecognised.
Hewitt did equal Cup record holder Adrian Quist with a hard fought four-set win over an unknown 22-year-old left-hander Ruben Bemelmans, who was representing Belgium for just the second time.
The South Australian then combined with Paul Hanley in the doubles to set up a 2-1 lead and become our best ever, with 44 wins covering all surfaces including carpet.
But the manner in which Australia lost the tie from there is as frightening as it is sobering.
Hewitt withdrew from the reverse singles with a damaged wrist that would sideline him for three weeks. But he would, no doubt, have been comfortable with the fact he had done enough to ensure Australia’s safe passage back to the world group.
One of either Peter Luczak or Carsten Ball needed only beat the aforementioned Rochus and Darcis. Rain ruined Sunday’s play forcing a Monday finish to the tie. Such is the lack of interest in Davis Cup at present, host broadcaster Channel Seven pulled the plug on their coverage leaving only the Cairns paying-public with the opportunity to view the tennis.
As it turns out, Seven may have done Australian tennis fans a favour.
The glimpse into Australian men’s tennis post-Hewitt looked decidedly grim as first Luczak, succumbing to a plucky Rochus in four knife-edge sets, and then Ball, folding meekly to the 121-ranked Darcis in three, consigned Australia to the Davis Cup wilderness for another twelve months.
Captain John Fitzgerald’s comments post-tie are worth noting.
''These are tough situations that they haven't faced a lot,'' Fitzgerald said of his young charges such as the 23-year-old Ball.
''And you learn a lot from the tough days to get those really good ones. And they are worth waiting for. When they happen they make up for the tough times.
''It is hard to swallow [being out of the World Group] but it is a different sport now. It was a different competition back then - you have to be realistic about it.''
Fitzgerald is right about one thing. It is a different sport now. No longer can a 23-year-old tennis player be considered a young charge. Rafael Nadal just won his ninth Grand Slam title at the age of 24. Roger Federer had won five Grand Slams before his 24th birthday.
But whilst you scoff at the comparisons to two of the greatest players of all time consider this; Hewitt had won two Grand Slam singles titles, made a third final, won a Grand Slam doubles title, two Masters Series Cup finals, two Davis Cups, played in two other Cup finals, and been World number one for two consecutive years all before his 24th birthday.
If you’re still not convinced, Novak Djokovic, 23, is a Grand Slam winner and twice runner-up. Juan Martin Del Potro, 21, beat Roger Federer in a US Open final. Andy Murray, 23, is twice a Grand Slam finalist.
So if the 23-year-old Ball and 31-year-old journeyman Luczak haven’t faced these situations a lot already, and have not coped with them when challenged, then when are they ever going to?
The reliance on Hewitt has never been greater and yet his tenure left in the game has never been shorter.
Fitzgerald again.
''In the last eight or 10 years there has been a lot of pressure on Lleyton,'' he said. ''We have got to keep trying to support the boys to step up - I have got confidence in what they can do. We will keep building a team, continue the fight.''
Two-time Grand Slam champion Patrick Rafter was shattered by the loss. His presence in Cairns, as a so-called “orange boy” has already created rumours regarding Fitzgerald’s job, with Tennis Australia’s President-elect Steven Healy said to be a huge Rafter fan.
Rafter was scathing of Australia’s system proclaiming the youngsters coming through have it too easy.
''One thing I'm really jamming down the kids' throats is that we've got to make it tougher for them, they've got to toughen up as well and there are ways to do that,'' Rafter said yesterday.
''By giving them everything, it's not helping to find solutions. If we give them a tough situation where they are on their own for a few months with no coach, no nothing and make them do it tough in Europe, you've got to find different solutions and ways of getting around it.
''It's just life skills to me that these kids could take into their game as well and, when they are on the court, they've got to tough it out for themselves and not have someone tell them what to do all the time.''
Who are the kids you ask? Well they’re not Ball or Luczak, or even the 543rd ranked player in the world, 25-year-old Chris Guccione.
The kids Rafter is referring to are three 17-year-olds; the already well publicised Bernard Tomic, Wimbledon junior runner-up Ben Mitchell, and World-junior number three Jason Kubler.
Despite the despair of the state of senior men’s tennis in this country, Australia are currently the holders of the junior Davis Cup, and have won two of the last three titles.
Ben Mitchell was an “orange boy” at the recent tie in Cairns whilst Tomic and Kubler have played in the main draw of the Australian Open. Tomic famously reached the second round earlier this year and nearly claimed a major scalp in Croatian Marin Cilic, but lost in an epic five-setter.
Unfortunately for Tomic his immaturity spoilt what was a fabulous performance when he blamed the prime-time scheduling and late-night finish for his loss. Tomic and his advisors obviously losing sight of the fact that he had not earned his way into the draw, rather accepting a wild-card and that he’d been placed on centre court in prime-time, a privilege usually reserved for the world’s very best.
Tomic the individual, not to mention the Tomic family, is a story for another time. But this is exactly what Rafter is talking about.
Perhaps it’s time to throw him in the deep end.
Hewitt, like Tomic, was an impetuous ambitious teenager who was an “orange boy” for the Davis Cup team in the late 90s. In the lead-up to the tie in Cairns Hewitt credited the foresight of then captain John Newcombe who backed his young charge and give him an opportunity.
Hewitt made his Davis Cup debut in July 1999 in a quarter final against the United States, having like Tomic never progressed beyond the second round of a major, although he had won two ATP titles. His opportunity came on the back of a knee injury to Mark Philippoussis.
His first Cup opponent was American veteran Todd Martin who had played in the 1994 Australian Open final and would make the final of the 1999 US Open. The South Australian won in four sets.
Hewitt was 18. He featured in the Semi-final against Russia where he beat a two-time Grand Slam champion in Kafelnikov, and a future duel Grand slam winner in Marat Safin. He then played in the final against France, on clay in Nice, where he lost to Wimbledon finalist Cedric Pioline in straight sets (two were tie-breaks) and a dead reverse singles rubber to Sebastian Grosjean, who had made two Masters Series finals that year on both clay and hard court.
With the Davis Cup on the line, and a group of twenty-somethings to choose from such as Jason Stoltenberg (29), Sandon Stolle (29), Richard Fromberg (29), and Andrew Ilie (23), Newcombe went with a teenager.
In 2010, with Australia still outside of the world group, a situation that hasn’t changed since 2007, the time is now to inject some youth into the squad.
If Fitzgerald has faith in the likes of Ball and Luczak then one wonders if he is the man to take the next generation forward. The current Davis Cup captain gave Tomic his Cup debut in March, with great success albeit against a weak opponent in Chinese Taipei, the Queenslander winning both his singles rubbers. But Tomic’s name was not mentioned in the lead-up to Cairns.
If not Tomic, then Kubler or Mitchell must surely be given an opportunity to either “sink or swim” as Rafter put it.
The Hewitt years are fading fast. His presence at further Cup ties will be like precious gold. If the Hewitt experiment of 1999 was anything to go by, the time is now to build from the ground up or risk one of Australia’s richest sporting traditions, in the Davis Cup, becoming extinct.
Perth's Stadium debate
Dear Mr Barnett,
I was wondering if you could do me a favour. It is in relation to Perth’s Sporting Stadia.
I realise you are waiting with baited breath as to the outcome of Australia’s World Cup bid in December, before you make a decision on what is to happen with Perth’s major sporting venues.
Can I suggest you do some reconnaissance before then? I have just returned from a weekend in Melbourne, and what I’m about to ask you is deadly serious, and in no way should you infer any sarcasm.
Book a tax-payer funded holiday to Melbourne for a weekend in September. Book a flight for either Thursday evening or Friday morning. Once you’ve taken off, unbuckle your business class seat-belt and take a stroll down to economy class. Have a chat to some of the other passengers and ask how many of them are going to Melbourne for a weekend of football and shopping. You will be surprised at the numbers who respond in the affirmative.
When you arrive in Melbourne, book a hotel room in the heart of town. Preferably on Exhibition Street or Collins Street. During the day on Friday take your wife via tram to Chapel Street for some shopping. Buy a couple of nice Armani suits and some Aquila shoes while you’re there. Enjoy a coffee and lunch in any of the fine restaurants and cafes.
On Friday night walk to the MCG from your hotel room for Friday night football. The walk will be no more than ten minutes. You’ll find plenty of company. Take a seat in the MCC members alongside Mr Brumby for awhile in the first half. Ask him about the ground. Tour the media boxes, the corporate boxes, sit in the Ponsford and Olympic stands for a period, and walk around to the Southern Stand. Take in the views, the atmosphere, and survey the amenities as well.
At full-time walk back to the city. It’ll be cold so make sure you wear a warm coat and scarf, and feel free to pop into an establishment for a drink to invigorate the soul.
On Saturday morning, take yourself out for breakfast. Might I suggest Flinders Lane. It is a hub of activity and there are some very nice cafes down there.
In the afternoon walk back down to the Sporting precinct. Visit the National Sports Museum at the MCG. Head across to Melbourne Park and see the Walk of Champions. It’ll be early evening by then. So make your way into the newly-built AAMI Park for an A-League fixture. Again survey the ground, the seats from all angles, the amenities, and the corporate and media facilities. Take note of how enjoyable it is watching soccer in a purpose built rectangular stadium.
After that head across to Southbank for a late evening meal. There are plenty of high-quality restaurants open on the waterfront.
On Sunday, get on the tram on Collins Street and ride it all the way across town to Docklands to watch football at Etihad Stadium. Pick a seat, any seat. I guarantee you will not find a bad pew in the place. They should have the roof closed. You’ll love the atmosphere. It is an incredible stadium to watch sport in.
On Sunday evening head back to Tullamarine for the flight home. Again once on the plane take note of how many West Australians are on board heading home after a great weekend. Talk to them about their experiences, what they saw, and what they did.
On Monday morning head into your office, call your budget team in, lock the door and crunch the numbers for two new stadiums to be built in Perth. One a 70,000 seat oval stadium and one a 30-40,000 seat rectangular stadium. Look at their viability, but also look at the tourism dollars they may attract if the equal of people that were on your flights to and from Melbourne come to Perth in same manner from the eastern states or overseas. I guarantee just as many will come to watch world-class sport in world-class stadia. I also believe given the length of the journey here they might stay for longer than a weekend. They may take a week off work and add a trip to Broome, the Kimberley, or Ningaloo, or a week in Margaret River touring the wineries.
The Eagles and Dockers will attract 40,000 plus every week as a minimum, with 60-70,000 for Derbies and finals. Twenty20 International cricket will also attract 50,000 there. The rectangular stadium will get 20,000 plus to Perth Glory and Western Force fixtures and at least 15,000 to the NRL franchise that will be housed there from 2013 onwards, factoring in, of course, the possibilities of those numbers expanding with the rise in our population over the next three decades. 40,000 will turn up for the Socceroos and Wallabies fixtures that Perth will attract at the venue.
If fund-raising is a concern, consider the land-value of both Subiaco and Perth Oval. Both are dilapidated facilities beyond repair. Just run them into the ground whilst you build new ones and sell the land to reclaim your outlay. If you are still short, ask our mining magnates to pitch in, so long as you continue to protect their interests at a federal level.
Once you’ve done the economic forecasting and seen the enormous long-term benefits out-weigh the initial short-term costs, employ five architects to draw up plans for these stadiums. Build them close to town, either in East Perth, or even Langley Park where you plan to have the inlet. Somewhere that will attract people to the city, that’s accessible by public transport, and can enhance Perth’s quality restaurant, cafe, and night-life scene.
Once you’ve picked the designs that suit our city the best, put it out to tender, seal the deal, and go to the site with your hard-hat on and media-throng in toe and break ground.
Forget the World Cup bid. If you do all that I have asked of you Mr Barnett, I can guarantee that you will go down as one of the greatest Premiers and most brilliant visionaries in Western Australian history.
Good luck to you sir.
Kind regards,
Alex Malcolm
I was wondering if you could do me a favour. It is in relation to Perth’s Sporting Stadia.
I realise you are waiting with baited breath as to the outcome of Australia’s World Cup bid in December, before you make a decision on what is to happen with Perth’s major sporting venues.
Can I suggest you do some reconnaissance before then? I have just returned from a weekend in Melbourne, and what I’m about to ask you is deadly serious, and in no way should you infer any sarcasm.
Book a tax-payer funded holiday to Melbourne for a weekend in September. Book a flight for either Thursday evening or Friday morning. Once you’ve taken off, unbuckle your business class seat-belt and take a stroll down to economy class. Have a chat to some of the other passengers and ask how many of them are going to Melbourne for a weekend of football and shopping. You will be surprised at the numbers who respond in the affirmative.
When you arrive in Melbourne, book a hotel room in the heart of town. Preferably on Exhibition Street or Collins Street. During the day on Friday take your wife via tram to Chapel Street for some shopping. Buy a couple of nice Armani suits and some Aquila shoes while you’re there. Enjoy a coffee and lunch in any of the fine restaurants and cafes.
On Friday night walk to the MCG from your hotel room for Friday night football. The walk will be no more than ten minutes. You’ll find plenty of company. Take a seat in the MCC members alongside Mr Brumby for awhile in the first half. Ask him about the ground. Tour the media boxes, the corporate boxes, sit in the Ponsford and Olympic stands for a period, and walk around to the Southern Stand. Take in the views, the atmosphere, and survey the amenities as well.
At full-time walk back to the city. It’ll be cold so make sure you wear a warm coat and scarf, and feel free to pop into an establishment for a drink to invigorate the soul.
On Saturday morning, take yourself out for breakfast. Might I suggest Flinders Lane. It is a hub of activity and there are some very nice cafes down there.
In the afternoon walk back down to the Sporting precinct. Visit the National Sports Museum at the MCG. Head across to Melbourne Park and see the Walk of Champions. It’ll be early evening by then. So make your way into the newly-built AAMI Park for an A-League fixture. Again survey the ground, the seats from all angles, the amenities, and the corporate and media facilities. Take note of how enjoyable it is watching soccer in a purpose built rectangular stadium.
After that head across to Southbank for a late evening meal. There are plenty of high-quality restaurants open on the waterfront.
On Sunday, get on the tram on Collins Street and ride it all the way across town to Docklands to watch football at Etihad Stadium. Pick a seat, any seat. I guarantee you will not find a bad pew in the place. They should have the roof closed. You’ll love the atmosphere. It is an incredible stadium to watch sport in.
On Sunday evening head back to Tullamarine for the flight home. Again once on the plane take note of how many West Australians are on board heading home after a great weekend. Talk to them about their experiences, what they saw, and what they did.
On Monday morning head into your office, call your budget team in, lock the door and crunch the numbers for two new stadiums to be built in Perth. One a 70,000 seat oval stadium and one a 30-40,000 seat rectangular stadium. Look at their viability, but also look at the tourism dollars they may attract if the equal of people that were on your flights to and from Melbourne come to Perth in same manner from the eastern states or overseas. I guarantee just as many will come to watch world-class sport in world-class stadia. I also believe given the length of the journey here they might stay for longer than a weekend. They may take a week off work and add a trip to Broome, the Kimberley, or Ningaloo, or a week in Margaret River touring the wineries.
The Eagles and Dockers will attract 40,000 plus every week as a minimum, with 60-70,000 for Derbies and finals. Twenty20 International cricket will also attract 50,000 there. The rectangular stadium will get 20,000 plus to Perth Glory and Western Force fixtures and at least 15,000 to the NRL franchise that will be housed there from 2013 onwards, factoring in, of course, the possibilities of those numbers expanding with the rise in our population over the next three decades. 40,000 will turn up for the Socceroos and Wallabies fixtures that Perth will attract at the venue.
If fund-raising is a concern, consider the land-value of both Subiaco and Perth Oval. Both are dilapidated facilities beyond repair. Just run them into the ground whilst you build new ones and sell the land to reclaim your outlay. If you are still short, ask our mining magnates to pitch in, so long as you continue to protect their interests at a federal level.
Once you’ve done the economic forecasting and seen the enormous long-term benefits out-weigh the initial short-term costs, employ five architects to draw up plans for these stadiums. Build them close to town, either in East Perth, or even Langley Park where you plan to have the inlet. Somewhere that will attract people to the city, that’s accessible by public transport, and can enhance Perth’s quality restaurant, cafe, and night-life scene.
Once you’ve picked the designs that suit our city the best, put it out to tender, seal the deal, and go to the site with your hard-hat on and media-throng in toe and break ground.
Forget the World Cup bid. If you do all that I have asked of you Mr Barnett, I can guarantee that you will go down as one of the greatest Premiers and most brilliant visionaries in Western Australian history.
Good luck to you sir.
Kind regards,
Alex Malcolm
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Round 15 2010 Carlton v Western Bulldogs
Alex Malcolm and Matt O'Leary are your commentators for Sunday Twilight football, with Carlton hosting the Dogs. It's a huge game for both clubs. Each have eight wins, each have top four aspirations, each have questions marks surrounding them. The winner draw a step closer to the four, the loser will find more questions are asked. Click on the links below for the call.
Preview
1st term
2nd term
3rd term
4th term
Wrap up
Preview
1st term
2nd term
3rd term
4th term
Wrap up
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Round 5 2010 Collingwood v Essendon
Alex Malcolm and Chris Robinson are your commentators for the 16th edition of the Anzac classic between the Magpies and the Bombers. The old foes come in with contrasting form, Collingwood 3-1 whilst Essendon are 1-3. But Anzac day has always been a great leveller.
Preview
1st term
2nd term
3rd term
4th term
Wrap-up
Preview
1st term
2nd term
3rd term
4th term
Wrap-up
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Round 2 2010 Richmond v Western Bulldogs
Alex Malcolm and Matt O'Leary in commentary for Sunday twilight football from the MCG as Richmond host the Western Bulldogs. Both sides are coming off a loss in Round one. Who will respond better? It looks one-sided on paper but with Melbourne almost gunning down Collingwood, Richmond would want to put in a good performance against one of the flag fancies in the Dogs. Click on the links below for the call.
Preview
1st term
2nd term
3rd term
4th term
Wrap-up
Preview
1st term
2nd term
3rd term
4th term
Wrap-up
Monday, March 29, 2010
Rd 1 2010 Fremantle v Adelaide
Alex Malcolm and Mat Bartnik are your commentators for Sunday twilight football from Subiaco as Fremantle host Adelaide. Mark Harvey enters his third full season in charge under pressure after two consecutive 6-win years, but with a talented young group that made the NAB Cup semi. Meantime Adelaide limp to round one after after horror pre-season. Neil Craig's men have the weight of expectation on their shoulders after finishing a kick short of a preliminary fina in 2009. Click on the links below for the call. The first term sound quality may not be as good as the rest.
Preview
1st term
2nd term
3rd term
4th term
Wrap up
Preview
1st term
2nd term
3rd term
4th term
Wrap up
Thursday, March 4, 2010
An entree too good
I have begun writing for an upstart cricket website in New Zealand called twenty20.co.nz. It has been set up by a good friend in Marc Ellison.
Here is a piece following last Sunday's T20 International in Christchurch.
An entree too good
Here is a piece following last Sunday's T20 International in Christchurch.
An entree too good
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Vettori seen as only threat
I have written a preview for the upcoming Australian tour of New Zealand that was published in New Zealand's biggest selling newspaper The Herald. Click on the link below.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10625981
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10625981
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Twenty20 Big Bash
I have been covering the Domestic Twenty20 Big Bash for Cricinfo.com. Below are the links to each report that I have written.
WA v SA @ WACA Dec 29 - Foreign recruits plot South Australia win
Tas v NSW @ Bellerive Dec 30 - Openers and Steven Smith do it for NSW
Tas v WA @ Bellerive Jan 1 - All-round Naved downs Western Australia
Vic v NSW @ MCG Jan 2 - All-round Bravo stars in Victoria's win
SA v QLD @ Adelaide Oval Jan 3 - Mark Cosgrove steers Redbacks home
SA v Vic @ Adelaide Oval Jan 7 - Tait and Pollard push South Australia closer to finals
WA v Vic @ WACA Jan 10 - Warriors move to second with easy win
NSW v QLD @ Stadium Australia Jan 13 - Queensland end defending champions' reign
NSW v SA @ Stadium Australia Jan 17 - David Warner dominates one-sided fixture
WA v SA @ WACA Dec 29 - Foreign recruits plot South Australia win
Tas v NSW @ Bellerive Dec 30 - Openers and Steven Smith do it for NSW
Tas v WA @ Bellerive Jan 1 - All-round Naved downs Western Australia
Vic v NSW @ MCG Jan 2 - All-round Bravo stars in Victoria's win
SA v QLD @ Adelaide Oval Jan 3 - Mark Cosgrove steers Redbacks home
SA v Vic @ Adelaide Oval Jan 7 - Tait and Pollard push South Australia closer to finals
WA v Vic @ WACA Jan 10 - Warriors move to second with easy win
NSW v QLD @ Stadium Australia Jan 13 - Queensland end defending champions' reign
NSW v SA @ Stadium Australia Jan 17 - David Warner dominates one-sided fixture
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