Cricket 38: Ashes Openers Crash and Burns

[Paxter]

Yeah you’re probably right that it turns on his ability to maintain that average. Guys like Ponting, Gilchrist and Hussey couldn’t do it. 

I’ll be interested to see how he fares against India this summer. Marnus and Warner did all the run-making against Pakistan and NZ in 2019.

[williamjm]

I thought Cricinfo had a good summary of the possible cricket that might get played in various countries: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29194952/state-game

After all that's happened it does seem slightly surreal that England look like they may still get to play all their Tests this summer (I'm not particularly devastated at some random ODIs being cancelled), although it will be weird not having a Lord's test match.

[Paxter]

Thanks for the update @williamjm. It’s going to be odd watching test cricket in England and Australia with no crowds.

But even stranger will be the T20 World Cup being played behind closed doors. I would definitely look to postpone that one if I were an administrator.

[williamjm]

7 hours ago, Paxter said:

Thanks for the update @williamjm. It’s going to be odd watching test cricket in England and Australia with no crowds.

But even stranger will be the T20 World Cup being played behind closed doors. I would definitely look to postpone that one if I were an administrator.

There was some mention of some of the smaller boards being reliant on the income they should get from the T20 World Cup so I think there will be some pressure to keep it scheduled if possible. I agree T20 would be particularly weird without crowd noise.

[Hereward]

9 hours ago, Paxter said:

Thanks for the update @williamjm. It’s going to be odd watching test cricket in England and Australia with no crowds.

But even stranger will be the T20 World Cup being played behind closed doors. I would definitely look to postpone that one if I were an administrator.

At this point, having watched highlights of pretty much every England Test series in the last 15 years, and in the case of the 2005 Edgbaston Test, the actual ball by ball coverage, I’m so desperate I’ll watch almost any proper cricket. Still won’t watch 20/20 though. I have standards. 

[Paxter]

One interesting question: how will swing bowling work in England without the ol' spit and polish?

Broady might need to reach for the sandpaper...

[Paxter]

8 hours ago, williamjm said:

There was some mention of some of the smaller boards being reliant on the income they should get from the T20 World Cup so I think there will be some pressure to keep it scheduled if possible. I agree T20 would be particularly weird without crowd noise.

From what I understand the tournament is nearly dead because the IPL wants to steal the October window. 

[Paxter]

Triple post! :-P

But just popping in to note that it's virtually certain the T20 WC won't go ahead in October. They are now looking at alternative scenarios, but the situation is muddied by the fact that there was already another T20 WC scheduled for 2021 (lol) in India. And, of course, you can't just postpone the 2021 WC to 2022, because then it would be too close to the 2023 ODI WC (also hosted by India). 

A small aside: the WA Cricket Association is livid at being denied a test in this summer's India tour. Instead they are stuck with a one-off against Afghanistan, perhaps to be played at a resurrected WACA instead of the new stadium. Poor Perth...for some reason Brisbane keeps getting preferred even though no Queenslanders bother showing up to test matches anymore. Perhaps because Australia win in Brisbane much more often than Perth?

[Hereward]

Think of the waste involved in merchandising. I suggest they move T20 20 to 2120 as a money saving venture and then continue as normal.

[Paxter]

21 hours ago, Hereward said:

Think of the waste involved in merchandising. I suggest they move T20 20 to 2120 as a money saving venture and then continue as normal.

Haha. And to think I had you pegged as an ardent T20 fan @Hereward, the kind of guy who’d wake up in the middle of the night to watch the Jamaica Tallawahs play the St Lucia Zouks.

I am dying for some cricket at this point. Hoping the WI series starts as planned on July 8.

[williamjm]

3 hours ago, Paxter said:

I am dying for some cricket at this point. Hoping the WI series starts as planned on July 8.

It is in England so I just can imagine the Test match surviving the global pandemic but it then raining as soon as the cricket starts.

Normally playing West Indies and Pakistan in England probably wouldn't be the most enticing prospects since they've struggled on tours here in recent years but I'd be happy to watch anything at this point.

[Jeor]

On 5/29/2020 at 2:01 AM, Paxter said:

A small aside: the WA Cricket Association is livid at being denied a test in this summer's India tour. Instead they are stuck with a one-off against Afghanistan, perhaps to be played at a resurrected WACA instead of the new stadium. Poor Perth...for some reason Brisbane keeps getting preferred even though no Queenslanders bother showing up to test matches anymore. Perhaps because Australia win in Brisbane much more often than Perth?

Perth has good reason to be annoyed, they have a brand new stadium and all and yet they've lost a Test. To be fair to CA, there are a lot of different capital cities so it's hard to satisfy them all, and with a blockbuster series like India the stakes are higher.

[Paxter]

Looks like Roberts is about to get sacked as CEO by Cricket Australia. This was always on the cards as he was a rotten appointment in the first place, slotted in as the clean-up man after Sutherland's departure. He had previously mishandled the player/board pay dispute. 

It will be interesting to see whether they bring an outsider in now to clean up what is clearly a flawed organisation. 

[Jeor]

On 6/15/2020 at 11:56 PM, Paxter said:

Looks like Roberts is about to get sacked as CEO by Cricket Australia. This was always on the cards as he was a rotten appointment in the first place, slotted in as the clean-up man after Sutherland's departure. He had previously mishandled the player/board pay dispute. 

It will be interesting to see whether they bring an outsider in now to clean up what is clearly a flawed organisation. 

Yes, he's got the sack.

Interestingly there have been different takes on how badly Cricket Australia's finances are looking - from "not that good" to "disastrous". Still, the home series against India looks like it's going ahead so that will be a big plus for the TV revenue etc even if the grounds aren't full.

[Paxter]

46 minutes ago, Jeor said:

Yes, he's got the sack.

Interestingly there have been different takes on how badly Cricket Australia's finances are looking - from "not that good" to "disastrous". Still, the home series against India looks like it's going ahead so that will be a big plus for the TV revenue etc even if the grounds aren't full.

In the short term, they will be fine. There will be money in cricket this summer, regardless of whether the T20 WC gets cancelled. The bigger problems could surface in the medium term, as large job losses in Jolimont and across the state associations translate in to poorer results across community cricket and high performance (both women's and men's). 

On the flip side, I'm sure all cricket governing bodies across the world are at a low ebb ATM. 

[Hereward]

Excellent, an Englishman in charge of Australian cricket. The plan is really coming together. Now, if the infiltration of a rabid hamster into the Smith household bears fruit, we’re in the game.

[Paxter]

23 minutes ago, Hereward said:

Excellent, an Englishman in charge of Australian cricket. The plan is really coming together. Now, if the infiltration of a rabid hamster into the Smith household bears fruit, we’re in the game.

Haha. Not sure if Hockley will get the permanent position, though he has a good CV.

The last non-Aussie to get a senior position in Australian cricket didn't work out so well ("Homeworkgate").

[Paxter]

Pakistan players testing positive for CV-19 left, right and centre. Tour in doubt?

"No" says the PCB but I wouldn't be surprised if they at least delay their departure. 

[williamjm]

England have announced their squad for the first Test. The batting seemed fairly predictable based on their line-up from the winter and Joe Root skipping the first Test so we get Burns/Sibley/Crawley/Denly/Stokes/Pope/Buttler. It's not the most experienced of lineups so it'll be interesting to see how they perform with their most experience batsman missing.

The bowling was less predictable. They've made one choice by picking Bess ahead of Leach and Moeen as the spinner but we'll still have to wait to see which three they pick out of Anderson, Broad, Archer, Wood and Woakes. It's nice a problem to have to be able to pick from that list. I suspect Anderson and Archer are very likely, the third might be more debatable. It could be a choice between the immense experience of Broad or the pace of Wood.

[Jeor]

12 hours ago, williamjm said:

England have announced their squad for the first Test.

It will be nice to see some cricket again! I'm a bit lost at the moment - I'm a school teacher who now has some winter (in Australia) holidays, so it's normally the time for me to get a blanket, some food and plonk myself in front of the TV all night watching all manner of European events deep into the Australian evening - Tour de France, Wimbledon, the English cricket season. The first two aren't happening so English cricket is my best bet!

It's the West Indies, so I suspect it will be a gentle introduction for England (sorry to the Windies fans, although they do have some good players coming up, it's probably a little too early to expect them to take it to England on home soil). For England, the batting may be a little thin without Root, but it's a good chance for the lesser lights to shine.