Overhauling the domestic season schedule

[Pete Cash]

Also on the surface there is nothing wrong with only having a handful of guys averaging 40+ over a period of time if they are fixtures in the team. What our list of guys shows is only three blokes in peak of their career and one of them (khawaja) just slides in

The rest were at the back end of their careers over the period. We can see how many batsmen have failed just by the amount of test cricketers we have used.

Mitch Marsh has scored what 200 more test runs over the entire period than Ponting did in way less tests. 28 innings for punter to 58 for marsh. This was not golden era Ponting either

 

[Mr Spock!]

Stuart Law

“The staging of the Big Bash right in the middle of the Test summer probably isn’t the smartest move,” Law said. “I keep hearing that the Big Bash is doing so well. If it’s doing so well, play it in March. Don’t take up the time of Test match cricket, because the boys should be playing red-ball cricket alongside the Test matches.”
“Australia have definitely got the talent” but that “they’ve just lost track of what’s important”.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/16/stuart-law-west-indies-trouble-england-test-series

 

[Pete Cash]

I still think its contentious to say the big bash league is causing it. Its looking for an easy fix. The results show we have not been producing test batsmen this decade full stop.

 

[Bazal]

I still think its contentious to say the big bash league is causing it. Its looking for an easy fix. The results show we have not been producing test batsmen this decade full stop.

Correct.

There are massive problems and they start at grass roots levels, and carry all the way up to Shield cricket.

We have taken a system that produced quality cricketers and tinkered with it to the point that it cannot possibly produce quality batsmen regularly

 

[herbert henry1908]

It is way too easy to blame the BBL. The issues run much deeper than that. Kids are fast tracked into first class cricket before they are ready. Does anyone think it is insane that Edwards has played for NSW before he has scored a century AT ANY LEVEL. Back in the day young players who got fast tracked were genuinely scoring runs. Ponting was carving it up at every level he was playing at.

It honestly feels like performance managers hope that unearthing a young talent and fast tracking him will prove their position as needed.

If we all think back to 2011 we had just been slaughtered by England in a home ashes and we wanted answers. The argus review introduced our good pal Pat Howard and various changes. What has happened since then ???Well I picked a random date of 1st of august 2011 (I can't remember the exact date the Argus review was handed down) and it doesnt make pretty reading. Sorted by averages

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...al1=span;team=2;template=results;type=batting

Here it is in picture form for anyone too lazy to click a link.

7 Batsmen have averaged over 40 in that time period. Smith, Voges, Hussey, Clarke, Warner, Rodgers and Khawaja. Ricky Ponting who we would all agree was pretty much done by 2011 is the 9th best averaging batsman over that time period.

Smith, Hussey, Rodgers, Clarke and Khawaja debuted before the argus review. Voges was a very experienced player at the time of his selection. Warner was selected in the series directly after the review iirc.

By my count there has been 105 centuries scored in the 8 years or so since the argus review. Smith and Warner have scored 42 percent of them. Smith, Warner and Clarke have scored 55 percent of them.

The entire structure of cricket in Australia has failed. We are just not producing test batsmen any more. Blaming the BBL is missing the forest for the trees

I asked the NSW Cricket CEO about Edwards on twitter, he steadfastly defended it even when I pointed out his club cricket record. They’re completely blind to the problem.



When he made this tweet Edwards shield average had fallen to 26 and he was still defending him.

 

[Mr Spock!]

I still think its contentious to say the big bash league is causing it. Its looking for an easy fix. The results show we have not been producing test batsmen this decade full stop.

Look at how we played the one day game.

No longer have players looking for pressure through running between the wickets. It's now about the big shot.

 

[Benji Magic]

I asked the NSW Cricket CEO about Edwards on twitter, he steadfastly defended it even when I pointed out his club cricket record. They’re completely blind to the problem.



When he made this tweet Edwards shield average had fallen to 26 and he was still defending him.

Wow I had no idea he hadn't scored a 1st grade century. In fact he hasn't scored a century in any grade ! Would this be the first time a player has been picked for NSW as a batsmen without a grade century to his name?
Do U/19 international runs carry more weight than consistent grade performances?
I could think of 2 from Hawkesbury and one from Bankstown who have been scoring consistent runs but no opportunity.

 

[herbert henry1908]

Wow I had no idea he hadn't scored a 1st grade century. In fact he hasn't scored a century in any grade ! Would this be the first time a player has been picked for NSW as a batsmen without a grade century to his name?
Do U/19 international runs carry more weight than consistent grade performances?
I could think of 2 from Hawkesbury and one from Bankstown who have been scoring consistent runs but no opportunity.

They’ve swept aside the 24yo+ group largely. It’s just youth, youth and more youth.

 

[franklin2323]

Chairmans XI game was good to test the next in line to get longer form practice. 3 of them running alongside the test series would be great.

If you are a young guy on the edge of state selection. You'd go the T20 route. You see many guys that are no where near test quality going well. It is the way you get noticed these days.

Play it for a few years. Then be up for test selection

 

[typicalfan]

Its not that the bbl is ruining our test and odi team, it's just when the test series is in full swing or the odi side is named and plays there is no long form cricket to rely on domestically. It is the scheduling. It's unfair on the players to be expected to go from 20 over games to 5 day games without decent preparation.

 

[bazza]

Its not that the bbl is ruining our test and odi team, it's just when the test series is in full swing or the odi side is named and plays there is no long form cricket to rely on domestically. It is the scheduling. It's unfair on the players to be expected to go from 20 over games to 5 day games without decent preparation.

Should at least play shield cricket till the week before Boxing Day
In a regular summer it would only be the Boxing Day and NY test matches to go - so the Boxing Day team would be able to have players in form and the NY team changes would be based on something only a few weeks old

 

[Timbo]

Interesting article overnight from the Caribbean, the WICB are requesting that the ICC mandate tour matches be first class:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_...es-seek-icc-support-call-first-class-warm-ups

They are - justifiably - annoyed that they pulled test prospects out of actual first class cricket so that England could have a strong opponent for their warm ups only for England to go 'yeah, yeah nah' and have a glorified centre-wicket net.

I am huge fan of these matches being mandated as first class. In an Ashes year, it could also conceivably give us 77 blokes vying for test selection instead of 66.

What about this in an Ashes year (or, in an India 5-test series year which is hoped for next time):

• Play four rounds of the Shield in the run in to the first test.
• No Australian matches to clash with these matches.
• Three 4-day, FC warm up matches to run alongside rounds 2-4 of the shield vs. a CA XI.
• Round 5 of the shield to run alongside the first test.
• Round 6 of the shield to be a day/night round between the first and second tests, and run alongside a 4-day, D/N FC match between the CA XI and the touring team.
• Australian test players to be made available for the shield - please f**k off Pat Howard.
• The CA XI to be a hybrid Australia 'A' side and a development side with each of the six states contributing one veteran, and one up-and-comer to give the touring side a real opposition. Have a coach like Ponting or Gillespie oversea it to ensure it is getting fair treatment from CA.
• The CA XI to play as a squad for all four tour games in order to increase their cohesiveness, and it made clear you can be selected from the CA XI into the test side.
• Round 6 of the Shield to run alongside the third test.
• Season now breaks for BBL - however, CA nominates 8-10 players next in line for the test side. Along with 10-12 up-and-comers, they make up the squads which play a CA XI vs. Chairmans XI 4-day match starting on Boxing day to maintain form.
• Then if there is a two-match test series to close out the summer, it is held in February, post BBL with an abridged version of the above starting with Round 7 of the Shield running concurrently.

I know it'll never happen, because of clashing schedules and whatnot but I'm just trying to work out if there's a way CA can have it's cake and eat it too.

 

[typicalfan]

Should at least play shield cricket till the week before Boxing Day
In a regular summer it would only be the Boxing Day and NY test matches to go - so the Boxing Day team would be able to have players in form and the NY team changes would be based on something only a few weeks old

And what about the ODIs?

If I remember rightly the T20 series between Australia and India was played before any BBL cricket. So even our T20 international scheduling is terrible. Do CA even want us to be competitive?

 

[herbert henry1908]

Some changes being considered by CA

• Moving BBL start date back to Boxing Day
• Getting rid of the state limited overs carnival style format and moving them back to being played with shield cricket

No signs of making the shield season just run right through without a break though

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_...ers-changes-bbl-domestic-one-dayers-schedules

 

[Twizzle]

^^^

Howard's departure, alongside that of the former chief executive James Sutherland, is believed to have helped open up broader discussion about the state competition

If this isn't all an admission of error, I dont know what is.

 

[Timbo]

I have no problem with the 50 over competition played as a World Cup-style carnival, as I got the logic of how they were doing it. If you'll recall, for a long time before they did it this way the 50 over comp had one of the most disjointed draws of any major sporting event - you could play four games in October, one in late November then not play again till January, whilst other teams would have completely different schedules. Playing it like a World Cup style tournament isn't a bad way to get players used to it.

However, I would have seven teams - include the CA XI, but unlike the Mickey Mouse version that competed in it for the last few years, as per my post above about warm up matches, each of the six states would have to include a 'veteran' into the squad so that the young up-and-comers got some real benefit from it. Then it would have to be home-and-away, so each side plays 12 matches.

That's a 42 game schedule, and if you play a top 3 finals system, it's a 44 game season. Play it over the course of a month with double headers here and there and I think you have a pretty good system.