The Australian cricket non-official thread!

Matty76 said:
Okie dokie! Time for round chew...
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1. Mark Taylor has been Australia's greatest Test captain since the retirement of Allan Border in 1994, and his legacy remains criminally undervalued.

2. In the modern "batsman-friendly" era, a Test average of 60+ is the actual mark of greatness, instead of an average of 50+.

3. Australia will not win a Test series in England or India for at least another twenty years.
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1. Mark Taylor has been Australia's greatest Test captain since the retirement of Allan Border in 1994, and his legacy remains criminally undervalued.

Sadly, I can't really comment on this as I saw none of Taylor's career and don't have any memories of Waugh either. Personally I find it hard to rate captains - so much of their success is arguably due to the players in their team, and it's hard to tell how much success is actually due to the captain himself. I will say though that he definitely isn't mentioned in the same breath as Border and Waugh when people talk about great Aussie Test captains, but whether that's fair or not I'm not sure.

2. In the modern "batsman-friendly" era, a Test average of 60+ is the actual mark of greatness, instead of an average of 50+.

Disagree. I just did a very quick, basic statistical analysis which told me that 53 is the new 50. Looking at the list of highest Test batting averages, there are a lot more people averaging higher than 50 than ever before, but, conveniently, relatively few are averaging 53+ compared to previous eras. If you take 60 as the benchmark then only Smith and Voges are currently modern-day greats, and who knows how long Smith's average will stay there. Guys like Sangakkara, Kallis and Tendulkar are clearly "greats" even though they didn't average 60. It'd be interesting to revisit this question in 10 years time when players have played their entire careers in the "T20 era" though.

3. Australia will not win a Test series in England or India for at least another twenty years.

Geez, I hope not! Yeah, disagree. We got so, so close against India, and that was with a couple of guys with very little Test experience and against a pretty darn strong Indian team. I reckon we're a chance of winning our next series in India, with a bit of luck. We should have a pretty settled, experienced team by then. Winning in England is hard too, but we always seem to be thereabouts over there even if we don't win. I'll back us to win at least one series in England or India in the next two decades - it'll be a pretty sad couple of decades if we don't!
 
Did anyone watch 4 Corners on ABC last night? A really interesting episode about the life of professional athletes after sport and how dangerous it can be. Nathan Bracken was one of their examples and I couldn't believe how serious his issues were. A must watch.
 
Keatoboy said:
Did anyone watch 4 Corners on ABC last night? A really interesting episode about the life of professional athletes after sport and how dangerous it can be. Nathan Bracken was one of their examples and I couldn't believe how serious his issues were. A must watch.
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I briefly read about the episode but didn't get to watch it. What sort of things did he talk about?
 
Irrespective of what side you support, how does everyone think the current Cricket Australia vs Australian Cricketer's Association dispute will play out? @Scotty_WCE, we might have to assemble our post-Hobart Test "OzCardTrader" squad again in readiness for the Ashes series mate!! I'll put my hand up to bat at No. 11, bowl lobbed sucker-ball rubbish and field at deep backward square :-)
 
Matty76 said:
Irrespective of what side you support, how does everyone think the current Cricket Australia vs Australian Cricketer's Association dispute will play out? @Scotty_WCE, we might have to assemble our post-Hobart Test "OzCardTrader" squad again in readiness for the Ashes series mate!! I'll put my hand up to bat at No. 11, bowl lobbed sucker-ball rubbish and field at deep backward square :)
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It's a pretty ugly situation at the moment, isn't it. You'd have to imagine it'll be sorted soon but it's hard to say which side is going to give in first.

But for the sake of the OCT XI let's hope it's a stalemate, so we can all make our long-awaited debuts! I'll have to start growing my Mitch Johnson mo' in readiness :)
 
We kick off our Champions Trophy campaign tonight against New Zealand. Should be a cracking game, reckon we might see a couple of 300+ scores.
 
I think Australia's exit - well, the manner of it - was about what the team deserved. We most probably would have been beaten by New Zealand when the rain came and in turn had England on the rack but couldn't make further breakthroughs.

I don't like David Warner's public accusation that Cricket Australia attempted to half-sabotage the campaign by virtue of releasing a pro-CA video which highlighted the importance of grass roots cricket funding and why the current pay model is fairer than that proposed by the ACA. Just shup up and play cricket, mate.
 
Ch Ten in voluntary administration.

Big Bash on 9. Games farmed off to Fox is my bet.

I'm actually sickend to think Slater, Healy and co commentating it. They'll think no one's been watching it for six years.

Sigh.

Good luck on the pay deal too. Players won't be getting what they think they will.
 
Tests and ODIs are dead to 9. I can see them shifting their entire focus to BBL. And the OTT glitz and glamour they go on with. It's been over 10 years, and they still talk to the audience like it's a) a new product and b) people are unfamiliar with the game.

1 million people a night in summer watching on Ten says to me most pundits know whats going on. Far out, NRL fans are begging for 9 to lose the NRL rights just because their coverage is so dour, so crap. No wonder Fox's simulcasts are taking 9's audience.
 
Whilst I don't claim to understand the mechanics of what is going on at Channel Nine and Ten "balance sheet"-wise, I do agree with @The Mad Hatter re: the production of international cricket on Nine. It is appalling, amateurish, blokey, in-jokey and it half-mockingly asks its viewers: "well, where ELSE can you watch the cricket?". Nine would make a thorough hash of BBL coverage. Although not a fan of T20 cricket in general, I watch the BBL coverage religiously as the people commentating on it are entertaining, instructive and respectful of the audience. I really liked the Fox Sports coverage of it as well, in its early incarnations.

I can't help but compare Channel Nine to Sky Sports in the UK - during the last Ashes series it was actually preferable to listen to Sky commentary than the free-to-air offering!! The current Champion's Trophy tournament is a great example - when Warne, Slater and the like are paired with a "straight man", they provide thoughtful insights and commentary.

It is my hope that Channel Ten survives (if only to cover the BBL!) and that Nine DO decide that their bottom line prevents them from bidding for free-to-air rights again. Maybe Channel Seven instead? As long as it's NOT the ABC!!
 
Australia have announced a 13-man squad for the two-Test tour of Bangladesh in August:

Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Wade

With possibly one more fast bowler to be added after the Australia A tour of South Africa next month.

No Marshes to been seen in the squad which I'm sure will please a few on here :P Also no O'Keefe - Trevor Hohns has basically said that Agar will play as the second spinner, which I'm very happy about :)
 
Matty76 said:
Irrespective of what side you support, how does everyone think the current Cricket Australia vs Australian Cricketer's Association dispute will play out? @Scotty_WCE, we might have to assemble our post-Hobart Test "OzCardTrader" squad again in readiness for the Ashes series mate!! I'll put my hand up to bat at No. 11, bowl lobbed sucker-ball rubbish and field at deep backward square :-)
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I know that quoting YOURSELF is the same as "liking" your own Facebook post, but these are desperate times gentlemen!!

The pay dispute has reached breaking point, with 230 cricketers now left unemployed. It is an extremely sorry state of affairs, but in times of crisis you must separate the men from the boys....the leaders from the followers.

To this end, I call on the following OzCardTrader General Cricket Forum contributors from 1st October 2016 to current (it's taken me all f**king morning to search pages and pages of posts! :-)) to make themselves available for national selection! I will update this post (or a new one a bit later!) with a list of candidates.

@The Mad Hatter @bigrob2307 @Scotty_WCE @aflcards2015 @Keatoboy @Wookiedragon @Angry @Parrapaul @Eels Guru @Brendan_B @Jayden35 @220 @Mogg06 @aussiecricketer @mounteverest @Matt26 @BLOWN8 @aussie26 @nazimcricket

Please reply below - including your batting, bowling and fielding preferences - and we will form a mighty, fighting team. You've heard of the Invincibles. Well, let us be known as...er...um....the Unmentionables!! :-)
 
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