Yes, I know, I know, here I go again banging on about Australia's catching against India in Australia, but bear with me (at least) one more time.
Every time Australia drops a catch we are reflexively informed about Australia's "high standards" of catching. After yesterday's bungle-fest "high standards" appeared three times in this one article alone. It has gotten to the stage that, like "we are 100% behind the coach," "high standards" means the opposite. Is it some sort of positive reinforcement process? Would it kill anyone to acknowledge that we appear to drop an awfully large number of catches against India? Could it be that we are too busy thinking up ways to sledge Indian batsmen, and not busy enough concentrating in catching them? Or is it, as I mentioned here, something to do with the Aussie mindset? Is there a trying-too-hard aspect? Do we not relax?
Haddin takes big diving catches (to his right), but often fails to dive when the ball is not in his preferred area. As well as being a selective diver, which throws first slip, he often dives over low chances that are close to him. This says he dives from the waist coming up, not below the waist down and across, as demonstrated by his drop off Pujara, which also lacked concentration.
Lyon's drop off Rahane was inexplicable. If it is handy to relax when catching, was Lyon too relaxed?
But please, when will someone report on Australia's poxy catching in these home series?
2003/04
First Test
Martyn / Sehwag / 16 (45)
MacGill / Ganguly / 103 (144)
Second Test
Ponting / Laxman / 65 (148)
Ponting / Laxman / 138 (148)
Gilchrist / Dravid / 9 (72)
Ponting / Dravid / 20 (72)
Third Test
Katich / Sehwag / 66 (195)
Langer / Sehwag / 73 (195)
Lee / Ganguly / 9 (37)
Gilchrist / Agarkar / 0 (0)
Gilchrist / Tendulkar / 12 (44)
Fourth Test
Katich / Chopra / 8 (45)
MacGill / Tendulkar / 149 (220)
MacGill / Laxman / 172 (178)
2007/08
First Test
Jaques / Dravid / 0 (5)
Jaques / Dravid / 5 (5)
Second Test
Gilchrist / Laxman / 49 (109)
Gilchrist / Dravid / 18 (53)
Gilchrist / Laxman / 77 (109)
Gilchrist / Harbhajan / 29 (63)
Symonds / Dravid / 18 (38)
Clarke / Ganguly / 43 (51)
Third Test
Clarke / Dravid / 7 (93)
Hussey / Sehwag / 43 (43)
Clarke / Laxman / 60 (79)
Fourth Test
Gilchrist / Laxman / 37 (51)
Hayden / Dhoni / 3 (16)
Jaques / Kumble / 7 (87)
Clarke / Sharma / 4 (14)
Ponting / Sharma / 10 (14)
Hussey / Sharma / 14 (14)
Clarke / Sehwag / 2 (151)
2011/12
First Test
Hussey / Sehwag / 11 (67)
Warner / Sehwag / 55 (67)
Haddin / Sehwag / 58 (67)
Second Test
Ponting / Sehwag / 23 (30)
Haddin / Gambhir / 66 (83)
Haddin / Tendulkar / 80 (80) Hussey caught it on the rebound.
Siddle / Khan 10 / (35)
Ponting / Khan 16 / (35)
Fourth Test
Cowan / Sehwag / 5 (18)
Ponting / Laxman / 25 (35)
2014/15
First Test
Haddin / Dhawan / 1 (25)
Mitch Marsh / Vijay / 11 (53)
Siddle / Shami / 9 (34)
Mitch Marsh / Vijay / 85 (99)
Second Test
Shaun Marsh / Vijay / 36 (144)
Haddin / Aaron / 2 (4)
Third Test
Haddin / Pujara/ 12 (25)
Lyon / Rahane / 70 (147)
Watson / Kohli / 88 (169)
Siddle / Rahul / 1 (3)
Rogers / Rahane / 22 (48)
Watson / Ashwin / 1 (8)
Fourth Test
Smith / Rahul / 46 (110)
Smith / Kohli / 49 (147)
Burns / Kumar / 0 (30)
Haddin / Vijay / 22 (80)
Shaun Marsh / Vijay / 42 (80)
Watson / Kohli / 88 (169)
I disagree with this.
It should be Haddin / Kohli / 88 (169)
Posted by: Bruce | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 01:22 PM
Yes. I agree with that too. But I had to stick to the stats.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 01:23 PM
Lyon's catch: I've dropped them/seen them dropped. Sometimes it is hard to pick up the loop of those little dollies. It is inexplicable when you watch it, but it is easy to get muddled with your feet and hands when it is sort of hanging there.
Haddin, we'e said this for years. His footwork is shit, he gets up too early, and dives when he doesn't have to, or in the case of Kohli at the end of play, when he was already moving wide, and therefore able to, but not when flat-footed earlier in the day. Watson should have had it anyway, wasn't a hard catch.
Posted by: Russ | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 01:42 PM
It's his footwork gets him in trouble for those chances that are low and not too far away either side. It means he's not set as he dives over the ball and subsequently has to reach down for the ball one handed. If he had good footwork, he would take the ball with both hands while crouching, not diving.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 01:49 PM
Just throwing this into the mix, could it be that the power bats used now have affected the dropped catch rate?
Commentators have been talking alot about the effect of the power bats on the game, with averages closer to 50 being the standard for a top flight batsman whereas a low 40s avge used to be the standard.
Chappelli even mentioned Rammer's point yesterday that the non-strikers end umpire is in a lot of danger these days and may well get sconned. On that point, just recently: Cricket umpire in Israel killed after ball strikes him in the face
So maybe the power bats are causing the ball to travel faster and harder resulting in more drops.
Posted by: New Year's Firecracker | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 02:47 PM
Lyon's miss fits in with my previously-expounded (ad nauseam) theory that many bowlers can train themselves to be good bowlers, but don't need to be good at sport in general. They do the same thing over and over, getting better at it. In areas like batting and fielding, they have to react to moving objects, so are not good at it, and more importantly, are virtually untrainable at it.
McGrath was an interesting example of a bowler who was trained to use 1 or 2 movements to improve his batting performance.
Batsmen tend to be good at a wide range of sports, and can usually pick up bowling pretty quickly, and tend to be slips or close-in fielders as they move instinctively. Usually they have a choice of sports in their sub-teen or teen years. Fatty Vautin, rugby league commentator and former player, was a case in point. There is footage of him taking good catches well after his league days were over. Viv Richards took up off-spin and was as good as many test spinners.
Haddin's flaws seem to be well-analysed here.
Posted by: Professor Rosseforp | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 04:50 PM
Prof, I'd agree in general, but not on Lyon. He is in the top-3 for Australia's fieldsmen, after Smith and Warner. This was the first bad mistake I can recall from him, actually, because in general he is brilliant.
Posted by: Russ | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 05:23 PM
Thanks, Russ -- probably a bit of psychological transference, here, as I have dropped easier catches.
In general, do you know if Lyon has excelled in other sports? When we were talking about him on a different topic, I had a think about how I perceive him.
My guess is that if Warnie went to the local park and joined in a game, he'd take 5 or 6 wickets for not too many, probably smash a 30 or 40. With Lyon, I suspect he could take 3/120 or 0/148, and grind out 15 runs -- what do you think?
Posted by: Professor Rosseforp | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 06:00 PM
Short answer: no idea. His u/17,u/19 career is interesting because he seems to be a number 6 bat, 4th change bowler. Scored quickly, but not consistently. Took plenty of catches. Tempting to think he just doesn't look like an athlete, and that meant he lacked for opportunities (being from the ACT didn't help there either). Warne, despite his girth, was obviously a good footballer.
Posted by: Russ | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 06:24 PM
I dropped a catch like Lyon's once when I was on a hat trick. Gutted, I was.
As for the change in bats, most catches are taken (or dropped) behind the wicket so that wouldn't apply.
Posted by: m0nty | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 08:07 PM
Yes, after a little thought, I don't think the bats matter since most dropped catches come via mishits.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Monday, December 29, 2014 at 08:14 PM
Gideon Haigh steps up.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Tuesday, December 30, 2014 at 10:05 AM
Maybe something worth bringing up: when Gilchrist started dropping catches a la Haddin, he retired pretty swiftly. Will Haddin follow suit?
Posted by: Carrot | Tuesday, December 30, 2014 at 10:44 AM
Speaking of which, check this pre-season training highlight. Richmond player drops a sitter....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNHr0hyLUA0
Posted by: Big Ramifications | Thursday, January 01, 2015 at 02:34 PM
Tony, on the subject of mishits, when the beat boom started, our local school had a band called the Mishits, but the school requested they change their name to the Misfits -- at a time when "misfit" was a term not to be encouraged.
At a later musical period, I guess they could have done a Mi-sex and clarified their name as Mi-Shits
Posted by: Professor Rosseforp | Thursday, January 01, 2015 at 02:55 PM
I suddenly feel like going to a Shiite restaurant and ordering a big plate of fried shitake mushrooms.
Posted by: Big Ramifications | Thursday, January 01, 2015 at 03:15 PM
That's not Richmond; it is Heidelberg in the Northern Footy League.
PS: Heidelberg got beat off by Greensborough in the grand final.
PPS: Shitcake mushrooms.
Posted by: Tony Tea | Thursday, January 01, 2015 at 03:22 PM
I changed it to Richmond for comedy / click bait reasons.
But thanks for the heads-up. I couldn't spot a VFL logo, was wondering what league it was.
ps: Didya notice dad had a choice of saving the Sherrin or saving his kid....
Posted by: Big Ramifications | Thursday, January 01, 2015 at 03:30 PM
Greensborough beat off 22 fit young men from Heidelberg?!
// I missed your pun the first time. Much shame.
// But I improved upon it. Markedly.
Posted by: Big Ramifications | Thursday, January 01, 2015 at 03:36 PM
Speaking of stupid things said about cricket, I read in the Hun today that Punter's reaction to Glenn Maxwell getting bowled for a duck in the BBL by leaving an inswinger on middle stump was that Maxwell's life was too focused on cricket and he needed more vices. They're just making up excuses not to pick Victorians at this stage.
Posted by: m0nty | Thursday, January 01, 2015 at 04:02 PM
Oh, wrong thread.
Posted by: m0nty | Thursday, January 01, 2015 at 04:04 PM