AGB Cricket

INTERNATIONAL PLAYER MANAGEMENT

Instead of knee-jerking gibberish about informed player management - and aren't all the jokes hilarious; attention fatheads, making the same dumb-cracks over and over will not eventually make them funny - the anti-rotationists ought to wonder whether there is a country that does not rest or rotate its players?

In India, the Englands have rested the Sledge Crazed Paceman, Swann and Joosty:

England's Ashes hopes on the rise

Just as Australia did against Sri Lanka, England has rested some of its best players from the one-day series in India, with Jimmy Anderson, Graeme Swann and Jonathan Trott absent from the series loss. But its Test team is comparatively settled.

And in South Africa the home team is on the verge of getting All-Whitewashed by New Zealand, but still lack their best XI:

New Zealand seek rare whitewash

(probable) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Colin Ingram, 4 Faf du Plessis (capt), 5 Farhaan Behardien, 6 David Miller, 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Aaron Phangiso, 9 Rory Kleinveldt/Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

FLIRTING WITH "DISASTER"

Initially it appeared an SEN News reader had overfilled his hyperbowl:

SEN News: "Australia... have averted a one day disaster." Disasters are not what they used to be. #AUSvSL

— Tony Tea (@AfterGrogBlog) January 23, 2013

But it turns out the shlub responsible for this lack of perspective and extravagant exaggeration was an AAP hack:

Australia overcame the loss of captain Michael Clarke and averted disaster by squaring the one-day series against Sri Lanka at 2-2 with a tough 32-run victory at Bellerive Oval.

BAT-TRICK

Three questions.

Yesterday, Michael Clarke took a hat-trick when his unsuccessful LBW review dismissed first himself, then David Warner, then Moises Henriques. What is the greatest number of wickets a batsman has taken with a failed referral?

Also yesterday, is it reeeally possible for light rain to be more troublesome than heavy rain, because heavy rain would've soaked into the turf and been drained away?

Last Sunday, Clint McKay was given not out caught behind, Sri Lanka reviewed the decision, and despite no electronic evidence to the contrary, You Dick! Kettleborough overturned the decision and red-lighted McKay. What is the wash-up of that stuff-up, and is the umpires' match report available?

WE ARE NOT BEMUSED

Most everyone is familiar with the JP Morgan story that he quit the stock market when the shoeshine boy gave him stock tips, the guts being that too many people had begun to think they were experts. (Does Morgan's story share trace elements of apocrypha with Steve Waugh's "you dropped the World Cup, Hersh"?)

This notion of too many dabblers spoiling the broth stumbled to mind while listening to SEN's summer fill-in, professional g-dropper Kevin' Hillier, discussing rotations with former Shield fast bowler Len Balcam.

You got the impression the only reason Kevin' had invited Balcam on was that they were old mates back from the days Kevin' used to roll his arm over in the minor grades out Footscray way, although it was not revealed whether the two played in the same team. Balcam was an honest toiler who played a few Shield games for Queensland and Victoria, but he is not exactly your go-to guy for cricket coaching tips. He is most famous (to me, anyway) for being given out obstructing the field in a district game when he shouted "OOPS!" at a fieldsman about to catch him.

Balcam said he used to bowl for two and a half hours, three nights a week, two nights for Footscray and one for Victoria, which both of them agreed was plenty good enough.

Former Australian selector Trevor Hohns is, to all intensive porpoises, better qualified to assess player management. After all, he is regularly brandished as an expert in matters selection. Hohns "presided over a glorious decade of success between 1996 and 2006." But perhaps that should read "Hohns presided over a glorious decade of success between 1996 and 2006 when he was lucky enough to have three of the greatest cricketers in Test cricket history, then quit as those three cricketers cashed in their superannuation in T20, a format which Hohns did not have to wrestle with when he made a mess of his own rotations 10 years ago, or when he turned the tri-series into practice matches after the 1996 World Cup." Maybe that was Hohns' true genius: he quit while he was ahead, having seen the writing on the wall.

Hohns should admit that had he continued after 2006 he would have found it just as tough as Hilditch and Inverarity have found it to manage a team with far less talent (both in the Test team and in Australian first class cricket), no match winners, an extra format of cricket and a shed load of injuries, among a raft of current difficulties.

Leave the gratuitous advice and cheap pot shots for the shoeshine boys and the Channel Nine commentators, concede informed rotation management is a tough job, and back your successors.

New policy has Hohns bemused

FORMER national chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns says he is bemused by Australia's contentious rotation policy and has questioned the overall philosophy of those in charge.

''I must admit I am a little bit bemused by it.''

GLOATATION

You could almost feel the smug oozing out of the television last night as Slatts, Chappelli and Sumptuous fingered rotation as a possible cause for Australia's 74. But not every pundit has his head up his mouth:

B. Coverdale:

Blaming rotation is missing the point

As each wicket fell at the Gabba, as Australia edged closer to what nearly became their lowest-ever ODI total, the critics of the team's rotation policy found full voice. Commentators wondered if the side had been destabilised by all the changes, a question Channel 9's Mark Nicholas asked Michael Clarke after the loss. Twitter lit up with suggestions that after Lance Armstrong's display of faux contrition, John Inverarity would be the next to grace Oprah's couch and admit fault.

It was a pithy line but one that missed the point. And the point was that Australia's batsmen were undone by the most wonderful display of swing bowling from Nuwan Kulasekara and, later, Lasith Malinga.

A. Goose:

Can someone explain to me how Sri Lanka swinging it round corners is caused by Australia's rotations: heraldsun.com.au/sport/cricket/… #Borries

— Tony Tea (@AfterGrogBlog) January 18, 2013

Dean Jones was previously "critical of the Australian team's practice" but has belatedly come around to their way of thinking, albeit on the back of an appointment to a team management role. At least he has seen the light. One would question why he even needed to flick the switch in the first place. I mean, you don't need to be "part of the team" to see the point of rotation, but welcome to 2013, Deano:

Much-maligned selectors need more support

PEOPLE hate change. They loathe it. Let us be honest, we even hate changing our hairdresser. But with the Australian cricket team, and the constant changes within the team, everyone has had an opinion on how they are travelling. Most of it not complimentary. Now, I think it is time for someone to stand up for the Australian selectors and coaching staff.

Less kudos - pronounced kyou-doze to really get up your nozes - for the saying "most of the players today have made a lot of sacrifices to reach the top." Come one, Deano, you're a better man than that.

FOOTY IS LIES

John Inverarity:

"I don't think it's in the interests of the player to reveal every little niggle. Players don't want to be seen as vulnerable or physically suspect and we respect that. We won't always say that he's got a bit of a bad knee because more can be made of it and it's awkward for the player."

"AFL footballers have a four or five month period in which they have a carefully programmed conditioning period. Now the cricketers at the moment, it's very difficult to find a timeslot, an extended timeslot, when they can undergo appropriate conditioning."

Andrew Faulkner:

However, AFL clubs also readily produce, and update almost daily, a full list of injuries.

Indeed they do. And no one believes the AFL clubs. "Four-to-six weeks" has been reduced to the status of a punch line. "General soreness" is now followed by a "boom tish".

How many times have you heard a footballer veer off-message into the wilds of unpalatable truth? One? two? Three-hundred? Then comes the stacks-on shellacking punctuated by the odd "Well, to be perfectly honest it is rather refreshing to have a footballer speak his mind" before they get back to the core business of shellacking the player.

No doubt the very first Power Point slide in public relations reads: "Tell the truth to the media and all you do is prove to yourself that you should not tell the truth to the media." (If it's not, I only charge by the word, including discounts for pronouns.)

John Inverarity strikes me as a person whose first port of call is The Truth. Not for him the bland platitudes of his predecessor coupled with his legalistic caution. How long will John Inverarity be John Inverarity? The nexus between in-private decision making and in-public communication is wide and fraught with hair-triggered gotchas.

The recent conflicting communications and terminology over injuries and rotation to Siddle and Starc are testament to the media's ability to point out / highlight / dramatise (take your pick) a muddled message. "You said rotation, then said injury, what is it? Your methods are obviously madness."

When Invers has to resort to sport speak, "informed player management" for instance, he appears unconvinced by the jargon. He sounds like a 50 year old bloke trying to, like, get down with the youngsters.

If he wants to go with "rotation" stick with "rotation". He should not let the media push him into finagling his message.

There are too many fatheads who don't understand, refuse to understand, or have been back-grounded by a vested interest or an old player (who could be both) to tailor individual messages. You're not going to please everyone; especially if they are click-baiting the oaf demographic:

Baggy greens are earned, not available on rotation

ROTATION and resting have become the dirty words in Australian cricket where the country's top fast bowlers literally don't know whether they are coming or going.

Former spearhead Brett Lee is a strident critic of the rest and rotations.

I wish Lee had been rested from the Melbourne Test against South Africa in 2008 when he played carrying an injury and his foot fell apart.

INFORMED BLOG MANAGEMENT

Nicked the following quotes from Jesse Hogan's Tweet stream. He was at today's CA presser convened to explain the F50 selections.

• Inverarity, asked a question about squad rotation, interjects: "I presume you mean informed player management?"


• Inverarity, asked about how Usman Khawaja would feel after being dropped after one game: "I'm sure he'd feel one game is better than none."


• Invers said Usman Khawaja & Steve Smith should, despite axing, be encouraged by ODI call-up: "I think they would prefer 1 game to no games."


• "I indicated to them that selecting them in squad was very clear signal from us they are in contention ... and want them to be encouraged."


• Missed this earlier but Mickey Arthur to spend week in Perth with Steve Rixon taking coaching reins. Will return for Sunday's 4th ODI in Syd.

Invers will be accused by the usual muppets of glib responses. The same fluffy fatheads will also demonstrate a clinical inability to grasp the logic behind the rotation policies, or they will willfully misrepresent them. Not to forget the nostalgia crowd who will stomp their feet and bellow "Can you imagine asking Dennis Lillee to take a rest?" as if that is the end of the debate. Personally, though, I'm loving the old boy's work.

SUMMER'S BIGGEST DRESS-UP POST

This post captures the notion that the Commonwealth Bank Series is like one big summer house party, only it’s at the AGB.

Well, what are you waiting for? Dance, you fools.

STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN

Cricket Australia's El Jefe, Stakeholders Sutherland, joins the fray:

Channel 9 furious over selection of Australia's second string one-day side

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland played down the lack of big names in the squad.

“It’s only the first two games of the series. In the fullness of time we’ll see who plays in the one-day series. It’s only been picked for two games so I don’t see what the big issue is about that. The selectors made it pretty clear that the three guys who are rested (Clarke, Warner and Wade) will be back fresh in the not too distance future.”

Sutherland denied the Australian one-day side had been devalued.

Stakeholders can deny it all he likes, but it is plain as the nose on your bottom line that, for at least 15 years, Australia has been using the tri-series as trial matches for future projects.

Australian fans, the target beneficiaries of CA's innovative pricing strategies, might be dumb, but they are not stupid. Crowds have tailed off since the 1990s - why should punters take the tri-series seriously if CA does not take the tri-series seriously?

THE NINING

The only thing more horrific than Michael Hussey being compared to Jack Nicholson, is the prospect of Channel Nine picking the Australian side "from an entertainment point of view."

It would be staggering if Nine had any influence over team selection, but we've all seen the futuristic tru-life sports documentary Rollerball - if you have to ask "which one?" you are reading the wrong blog - and are aware of the weight the big end of town can wield when it comes to what happens on the pitch, gridiron, field or body and bike strewn roller rink.

Nine fears an ODI ratings blow

CHANNEL Nine has reacted with bemusement to the omission of Michael Hussey and David Warner from Australia's one-day squad, concerned it dilutes the appeal of the series against Sri Lanka.

''From an entertainment point of view, and as a fan, I struggle to understand how those two are not in the side,'' said Steve Crawley, the network's director of sport. ''There is no doubt we've got to bring in new players - I think that's a good thing - but I don't get leaving out Warner and Hussey. When my kids play in the yard, they're David Warner and Michael Hussey. And as far as Michael Hussey goes, he's Jack Nicholson if you're making a movie. I'm into the romance of it all but I think we should be celebrating his final summer all the way.''