Absolutely. Watched this last night mate, someone posted the clip here. Bicknell got absolutely carted.
How good was the sight of a bloke in yellow, in a hat, smacking the ball to all parts of the Gabba, which was packed to the rafters...
Ah, the days when the Gabba had the old dog track around the perimeter and great crowd atmosphere before it turned into a soulless monolith.
I love watching the old games better than live ones much of the time. And he is a big reason for that. Not looking through rose-coloured glasses, just reflecting on what was the emergence of my absolute love of cricket - which has been such a huge part of my life, watching and playing.
I’m now in middle-age. And a childhood hero has sadly passed on. For many us, and countless others in Australia, and around the world also. RIP Deano.
Although I started following cricket regularly just after the Border/Deano/Merv Hughes era in 1995, just as players started to become full-time professionals and better athletes (e.g. very few fielders were athletic and could bullet 80+ metre throws from the boundary fence before Ricky Ponting's era), I agree that ODI matches from when I was growing up and even watching highlights from matches in the decade before mine ('80s) were much better than today. The balance between bat and ball was more even and the pitch/conditions offered more for bowlers, which separated the "wheat from the chaff". Below-par batsmen couldn't just score runs with consummate ease like they do these days.
Now, with the multitude of rule changes that have occurred over the past 15 years, as well as the rise of T20 cricket, the ODI format has become nothing more than a longer, glorified 7 hour version of T20, where for the most part it's just "wicket, 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, 6, occasional wicket etc". The value of hitting a 6 has diminished when top edges clear the rope. The skill of developing partnerships in the middle overs (which ICC/tournament organisers deemed as "boring", which then led to the constant rule changes starting from 2005) has nearly disappeared, most batsmen have no idea what to do on the rare occasion when the ball moves slightly (like Warner who looked completely clueless in the 1st ODI of the recent tour of England, when Woakes/Archer got the ball nipping around in the air and off the seam in the first few overs).
Deano had the natural flair during his generation, but at the same time had the skill and concentration to hang in there and develop those long batting partnerships in difficult conditions.
