The Sunday Roast: The Aussies, the Big Bash & Broad

sunday roast

Rather than giving you a Sunday sermon, we thought we’d briefly summarise what’s going on in the cricket world this weekend. There’s plenty to digest and rather a lot of fat to chew.

The first talking point is Australia’s World Cup squad. In case you missed it, the Aussie selectors announced the following fifteen names this morning:

Michael Clarke (c), George Bailey (vc), Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson.

What are your thoughts on this collection of experienced campaigners and exciting youngsters? I’m fairly envious to be honest.

Warner and Finch is an intimidating opening partnership, and with the likes of Clarke (if fit), Smith and Watson to follow – all of whom have hurt us badly in the past – it looks a formidable batting line-up.

I’ll be keeping an eye on James Faulkner too. I’m not a particular fan of Faulkner’s bowling, but his batting can be very explosive. He’s a wonderful finisher on his day and I expect him to have a big World Cup.

The bowling is also jam-packed full of wicket takers: Johnson, Cummins and Starc are all rapid (the latter looks much improved to me). The only weakness in my humble opinion is Xavier Doherty, who still looks rather like a club bowler. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Aussies play without a specialist spinner and simply rely on Glenn Maxwell.

The next thing I’d like to talk about is the Big Bash. Have you been watching? I must confess I’ve rather enjoyed it thus far.

I’ve always ignored the IPL and Big Bash in previous years, but I’ve been sucked in this time – probably because there are so many English players involved.

Did you know that the tournament’s top five run scorers includes Michael Lumb, Michael Carberry and some bloke called Kevin Pietersen? It’s not a bad achievement. Ben Stokes has also made an impact. Even good old Freddy made a few runs today.

I’m not saying I would have included all these players in England’s world cup squad myself, but it’s certainly a little embarrassing for our selectors. The Aussies must think we’re absolutely nuts to leave out these guys. It’s not like our squad is oozing with talent.

There are plenty of other stories to talk about – New Zealand have also named a strong World Cup squad and beat Sri Lanka yet again last night – so if you’d like to discuss any other topics in the comments section then please go for it.

It hasn’t escaped our attention that the Windies squad is also rather interesting, with Sunil Narine included (despite the problems with his action) and Keiron Pollard omitted.

However, before I sign off I’d briefly like to talk about Stuart Broad’s interview with the BBC overnight. You’ll find the highlights here.

To briefly summarise, Broady said the sacking of KP could have been handled differently (you don’t say, Stuart!) and it would have been better to drop Pietersen rather than sack him. I have a lot of sympathy for this view: the manner of Pietersen’s departure is what caused the media storm and irritated so many fans.

Broad also blamed all the players for the Ashes debacle, and says everyone should have gone back to their counties and performed well at the start of the summer in order to justify their test spots. Again, you can’t argue with that. A meritocracy is exactly what so many of us crave.

My only quibble with Broad’s interview is his suggestion that Pietersen should have been dropped on form. According to @dafrankland on twitter, Pietersen averaged 40 in his last eighteen months as a test player. Cook has averaged just thirty in his last year and a half. I don’t see him getting dropped, do you?

Rather than dropping Pietersen purely on form (which was by no means disastrous) I would have argued that his injuries were mounting, than his continued fitness was a question mark considering his age, and that the selectors simply wanted to try some younger players for a while – bearing in mind that home series against Sri Lanka and India was a good time to do this before the sterner tests of 2015.

Overall, however, I quite like Broad’s willingness to talk about tough subjects. Although he does so sensitively, he’s obviously critical of the ECB’s approach and gives no credence to the view that Pietersen was disengaged, disruptive, and ate babies / drowned kittens in his spare time.

James Morgan

53 comments

  • It’s all going on!
    Australia have a cracking One day squad and will go very close to winning it (I’m still on South Africa), A very strong squad with as you only the spin bowling department that’s weak, I’d have gone for Agar over Doherty.
    The Big Bash has been good entertainment but I really question the standard, today’s game featured one of the poorest bowling attacks I’ve seen (Brisbane) they would be towards the bottom if playing in our competition.
    It’s good to see our lads playing well, but ask yourself this. Who would you drop to get Lumb, Carberry, Wright, Stokes or Bressie in?

    As for KP. I really don’t like the way he is conducting himself. But I’ve not come here for another slanging match! We can do that on Twitter (njhcricket)

    • Nothing wrong whatsoever in how KP is conducting himself, particularly given how he has been treated since 2009. Even more so given these types of performances on the pitch where it counts:

      42.1 McGrath to Pietersen, FOUR, Cracking shot! McGrath is full and Pietersen bludgeons that back past the bowler for four. That is some hand-eye co-ordination!

      42.2 McGrath to Pietersen, SIX, Maximum! Glenn McGrath being treated by a club bolwer on this occasion! Pietersen gets to th epitch of the ball and creams it into the stands over long-off. That is an incredible shot!

      42.3 McGrath to Pietersen, FOUR, And now a spanking cover drive to bring up his half-century! Pietersen really turning it on with power and panache. Great knock from him in his first Test innings

      No one had done THAT to the Aussies since 1981. KP should have been treated with the utmost respect by the ECB.

      • Reminds me of KP’s comments about McGrath, to Gough in a BBC Radio interview i think it was.

        …about how he didn’t see what the fuss was about and that he never caused him any problems, he did acknowledge that McGrath was past his prime.

  • Aussie’s should have Lyon in for Doherty and Harris in for almost anybody.

    It’s obviously dawned on Broad on landing in Oz that England have no chance in WC without KP, but being the plank he is forgot that at the time he would have had to have bee “dropped”, KP was in better batting form that his team mates. The wally then doubts Root would have had the season he did with KP in the team: why the hell not!!!!????!!!!??? Pratt.

    BB aside, KP and Lumb should be in the WC squad ahead of Bell and Balance or Hales. Stokes is a swap for Bopara, though from what Jordan offers, I’d have Stokes there in place of “CJ”.

    • On ability, I would agree with the idea of Ryan Harris being the best pace bowler in Australia. But I can also understand the selectors wanting to rest him considering his injury problems. Johnson, Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood is still a pretty good group of bowlers, and Johnson is less wayward than he used to be.

  • Pity did not say all this before. Considering he was one of the main trouble makers in the dressing room re the KP Twitter etc he has a bit of a cheek in my humble. Losing count of the number of players now coming out with what they should have said last year but were too afraid to. Presumably now AC has gone they feel they can say what they like knowing they are on stronger ground. I have no respect for any of them.

  • Enjoyable ODI between NZ and SL (who are both in England’s Pool) last night.

    NZ bowled steadily and fielded brilliantly to hold SL to a modest score. Mahela hit a fine century (and later held a superb slip catch) but no-one else could make over 25.

    NZ’s chase was set up by Brendon McCullum hitting fifty off 19 balls (equal fastest for NZ):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahl3-4XqLrw

    Corey Anderson then anchored them home after a mini-collapse to Senanayake and Kulasekera. Anderson is built like an All Black No.8 and can hit it tremendously hard when he wants but he also showed he can rein himself in and pace an innings.

    The ground in Christchurch is pretty as a picture and the match was well attended. England play one game there (against one of the Associates). The pitch for the Test was good for batting but this one helped both seamers and spinners so it is difficult to draw many conclusions for the WC.

  • Watched Big Bash this morning and now watching SA /WI t20. Gayle just gone for 90 off 42. Samuels 60 off 39. Over 400 runs already in this game. Great entertainment for a Sunday afternoon.

  • James,

    Nothing to argue with as far as it goes, but what did you make of this quote from Broad?

    “The three Test matches we won in the summer against India were probably the strongest performances I’ve played in in the 74 Tests I’ve played, and they were without Kevin Pietersen.”

    I find this sort of comment doubly disrespectful: first of all he is clearly toeing the “better off without him” line with regard to Pietersen, but more importantly he’s minimising the achievements of many other fine players in the process (not least, er, himself!). Is he really expecting us to swallow the notion that those last three Tests against a completely shambolic Indian side were stronger, more complete team performances than the following:

    – Lord’s and The Oval 2009 v Australia
    – Durban 2009 v South Africa
    – Trent Bridge 2010 v Pakistan
    – Adelaide 2010 v Australia
    – Every Test in the 2011 series v India (but especially Lord’s and Trent Bridge, before the Indians were totally demoralised)
    – Colombo 2012 v Sri Lanka
    – Mumbai and Kolkata 2012 v India
    – Lord’s 2013 v Australia

    Absolute revisionist nonsense deployed in the service of making England’s 2014 Test summer out to be a lot more convincing than it actually was.

  • 1) Big kudos to Broad for coming out and saying what he thinks (and I agree with about 70%-80% of it).

    2) I still think Broad was totally out of line re KP Genius. Even if he wasn’t posting, he knew about it and should have shut that sh*t down immediately, for the good of the England team as a whole.

    3) I think NZ have a very good chance of winning the WC.

    • So, do you think England’s 3 wins v India in the 2014 series were the most complete since Broad came into the team?

      Do you think Pietersen deservedc to be sacked for “poor form”, despite being top scorer in the 2013/14 Ashes, and having a superior records than the skipper in the preceding 18 months?

      Do you think Pietersen could have handled his sacking better in the 8 months afterwards when he stayed silent as per the CA, unlike Downton who broke it the first chance he got?

      Your points might have a lot more weight if you weren’t posting anonymously

  • First off, have to admit that I’d give my eye-teeth for an England ODI squad as talented as the Aussie one. However, I think it’s not just the spinner for the Aussies, the whole bowling attack is streaky in limited overs. One day they’ll take a pile of wickets and get you a big win – on another they’ll leak a total that takes every ounce of the amazing batting talent to get.

    Still, on home turf, hard to bet against them overall. Esp. given the format of the competition.

  • James, what happened to your KP free zone that I once so dearly cherished? Difficult not to get involved even at this late stage! I’m also guilty.

    The Aussie team is looking pretty fit, bar Michael Clarke of course! I doubt that spinners will feature much in WC. It’s more about containment. That might have influenced the selection of Doherty over Lyon.

    I also got drawn into the Big Bash for the first time because of the English involvement. Great fun and some very exciting games. Good to see some of ours doing well somewhere.

    I will be supporting the England team in the World Cup no matter who is selected or who is left out. They are players, not management. In particular I hope the young ones do well and may good fortune be with them all.

    • Got a feeling Michael Clarke’s going to retire this year. If his body makes it through the World Cup he’ll bow out after the Ashes. If he blows a gasket during the WC, that’ll be it for him. He knows how well Steve Smith’s shaped up. The team will be in decent hands. No need for him to go and cripple himself.

      I love the way our team try to talk up their chances. We have no chance. This is going to be a very long year of looking for positives but not knowing where the good areas ever really are. There’s always the next World Cup to build towards. And then the next…

      Best way for KP to get back into the England dressing room is to buy the ECB lock stock and barrel and then sack all the company men off. Now that would be a development.

    • Hear hear Jenny. If I can still support Aston Villa under Paul Lambert and Randy Lerner, then I can absolutely still support England under Peter Moores and Paul Downton!

  • If the recent Aus v Ind test series is anything to go by, the pitches here in Australia will offer nothing to the bowlers so the lack of a specialist spinner is probably not much of an issue.

    • Well, do you have evidence to the contrary to counter the claims he’s made? Because the ECB do not seem to have any….

          • Sorry, it seems a long time ago mow. Time slips by while you are on holiday. I will look out your comment again and see if I can remember what I was trying to say. Apologies for being so remiss.

              • Sorry about the delay. I got caught up with other issues as well as being on holiday. I really can’t remember what I wrote in reply now but it simply revolved around KP’s lack of credibility in calling Broad’s IQ quota into question. He might not be an intellectual but he is certainly not stupid. Strauss called on him for ideas when the going got tough. Known to think outside the box. Btw I can’t read much of what I am writing because my phone is presenting the comment box as a long strip. If some of this is gobbledygook that’s why.

              • You wrote, in an original post, not a reply:

                “So that’s gospel is it? Anything KP says has got to be right?”

                I responded:

                “Well, do you have evidence to the contrary to counter the claims he’s made? Because the ECB do not seem to have any….”

                That is the answer I’m waiting for, that you said you would respond to. I don’t question Stuart Broad’s cricket brain on the pitch. I question his thinking, or apparent lack of, off the pitch. I query his claim that KP could have been dropped on form (the stats just do not support this)

                I refer you to the excellent Tregaskis post on dmitris blog here:

                https://cricketbydmitri.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/a-game-thread-for-the-night-owls-and-those-who-dont-live-in-my-time-zone/#comments

              • Just going to dinner again. Will read Tregaskis post with interest later. Don’t always agree with what he says, but he says it so beautifully it’s always a delight. Thanks for the link.

              • Been reading Dimitri’s blog and all the comments, yours included. Brilliant piece from Tregakis. For once I agreed with everthing he wrote. Do try to excuse Broad. He is limited by what he can or can’t say, and could be somewhat thwarted by what he has been asked to say. He’s a spirited fella, he gave it a go and it didn’t quite come off. He is a cricketer, not a public speaker, so why not try to cut him some slack.

    • What, the bit about Broad not being the sharpest tool in the box? I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that anyone who’s heard him in interviews, seen him on the field, and read his columns (and other interviews) would be able to draw their own conclusions.

      In my case, I agree with KP. And I *like* Broad.

      • Broad is a communicative fella when he is allowed to be. He likes to talk but is always constrained by how much it is propitious to say without putting his job on the line. Might make for some odd reading/listening but I would certainly not rate him as stupid. Not by a long way. Strauss relied upon him for ideas.

        • I think Stuart Broad has blood type Cricket Positive and a good cricket brain. He might also be more conscious of wider cricket politics outside the England bubble than some players, because of his family.

          Intellectual? erm, no.

          • Incidentally – and please don’t misinterpret this, as I’m not for a moment suggesting that going to university is the only measure of intelligence – I find it quite interesting that Strauss, Hussain, Atherton etc all have university degrees. Does anyone in the present England men’s team have a degree? Or was Monty Panesar the last one? Does it matter?

            Or was it, for the earlier generation, just all about the ability to make a living after you stop playing, which is why many of the women players still get academic qualifications? I guess Broad, Anderson et al. won’t need to worry too much about finding another job, by the time they finish.

  • Cricinfo open a debate on the future of English domestic T20:
    http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/story/819889.html

    One might not agree with everything in the opening article, but they are absolutely right that ‘something need to be done’.
    The complacent status quo is going to do irrevocable damage to the future of cricket in this country.

    In some ways, I would welcome someone with deep pockets attempting to set up a breakaway T20 Big Bash over here, and poach who they can for their league.
    With the right players, the overseas TV rights would possibly provide enough finance to make free to air work in the UK.

    Would certainly shake things up, and give the existing powers that be a well deserved boot up the ****.

  • I think you have to look at where England are going to play their matches. A team of fast-medium bowlers and less-than explosive batters failed dismally in Sri Lanka might do quite well on new Zealand pitches, maybe better than Sri lanka who were so dominat in their own conditions. I think Stokes could be useful in NZ. Bell is probably a better call than Hales because of his technical sureness – on NZ pitches. In Australia, Hales might well be a better bet. On form, however, surely you would want Lumb and KP instead of Bell and Morgan.

    • NZ pitches can be quite difficult to read. I certainly wouldn’t assume that they are like English pitches (heck, even English pitches aren’t like English pitches anymore!) and they aren’t like the slow, low pitches from the last time the WC was held in NZ.

      Wellington is the crucial ground as England play both NZ and SL there. Otherwise, England play Australia at the MCG and one match each at Adelaide, Sydney and Christchurch. If England make it to the QFs it will be at either the MCG or the SCG (unless either Australia or NZ fail to qualify). Australian pitches have of course looked very good for batting in the recent Test series. I’ve also heard mention of high scores in domestic NZ one-dayers this year.

      During the recent NZ v SL match there was some discussion about the use of two white balls per innings. Both sides sounded somewhat nervous about it. SL have picked Karunaratne as a Test-style (almost Cook-esque!) opener in their squad – although they also have the option to open with Mahela. NZ are apparently undecided whether to open with McCullum or the more restrained Tom Latham. Two new balls could help bowlers or could help faster scoring as they fly off the bat – who knows?

      Essentially, it looks crucial to have options and to respond to individual conditions rather than going in with overly preconceived notions. This latter point unfortunately hasn’t been our strong point recently!

  • Some aspects of the BB should be noted when thinking about the English 20/20 game. i think on the whole the franchise issue is a bit over exaggerated. In the BB most of the teams still corrospond to a state side. The Perth schorchers for instance are just WA, the Adelaide Strikers are SA and so on. Victoria and NSW have two sides each but otherwise its pretty much just the same. I know with franchises players can play in different states/cities, but its not the biggest deal. Many of the players still play for the team in their respective states because that’s where they live.

    The timing though is very important. The BB pretty much starts now when school breaks up and goes back when the kids go back to school. its worth thinking about doing the same in England. Its only around a month and a half and the Aussies don’t seem to worry that none of the test players are available (this year the BB coincides with 3 test series).

    The TV coverage is the real draw I think. For a month and a half there is game on ever night of the week starting at 7 pm (ie prime time TV). Its the regularity of its that’s so attractive. If i get home from work and have dinner, and cant be bothered watching anything else on TV (its all crap anyway) then there is always the BB. Who knows who is playing just turn it on. The time of the day is different for you guys in England, but I suspect the regularity of it is also sucking you in to watch it (not just the participation of the English players). If your home when its on, why not just watch it.

    Finally its FTA of course but please understand we live in the post-cable/satelitte era of TV. Its stupid for the ECB to commit to Sky in this day and age for such a long period, given how much TV has changed in recent years. There are now heaps of FTA digital stations and whereas once a FTA network would be reluctant to clog up prime time with something like the BB now many channels are desperate for content. And something like the BB attracts sponsors and ads. Watch it on FTA in Sydney and the ad breaks we get are never ending. I figure you don’t experience this on Sky in England, but check out the players uniforms and see if you can count the number of sponsors on them.

    Oh and one last thing. CA sold the rights to the BB to a different TV network that it sold the test/ODI rights. Its spreading things around a bit.

    I think English 20/20 needs FTA, heaps of ads and sponsors (ie heaps of money) and a match on in prime time every night of the week. get that sorted out first and worry about city-based franchises later.

    • Agree with mostly with this comment “I think English 20/20 needs FTA, heaps of ads and sponsors (ie heaps of money) and a match on in prime time every night of the week. get that sorted out first and worry about city-based franchises later.”

      Not sure about every night, but otherwise it nails the issue

  • Rather than saying “The three Test matches we won in the summer against India were probably the strongest performances I’ve played in in the 74 Tests I’ve played, and they were without Kevin Pietersen.” he should have said “despite having sadly lost Kevin Pietersen from the team”. Apart from that Broad did ok in the interview. I like Broad – despite being part of the establishment he will speak his mind on occasion.

    I am loving the Big Bash – great fun, some great knocks, English players doing well and some great commentators too – far better than listening to Bumble and Nick Knight waffling on….

    I know its just me being stupidly optimistic, but looking at our World cup squad I can’t help but feel that we might have a small chance of doing well

  • This made me laugh…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/30794807
    During commentary on Tuesday former Australia captain Ponting said: “You were quoted in your book as saying if there was an Olympic race in your team for egos, you wouldn’t be on the podium. Who would be?”
    Pietersen responded by asking: “Who would you reckon would be on the podium?”
    Ponting – who said egos were “a trait of champions” – did not name players but strongly hinted at Graeme Swann, Matt Prior, James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
    He said: “I would probably say a right-arm off spinner, the guy that fielded behind the wicket and wore a bit of protection and maybe a couple of your fast bowlers would be the ones.
    “You wouldn’t probably don’t even rank in the top four…

    • It’s shocking to say but the majority of ‘fans’ don’t really care. they just go along with whatever teh ECB say or do. Sad by true.. It’s why nothing will change

  • 41 members of the ECB and James and Maxie insist that the MCC rule the roost. The counties rule the membership and the executive, sadly. A successful T20 competition needs to revert to the All England model of the 1850s. Play games where there are supporters.

  • There may be 41 members but who headed up the allegedly small caucus who ensured that Clarke was given so much power at international level? How was it that this small group managed to control the rest of the members? I should like to know who headed up these up. Going around the country lobbying County bosses in order to keep Clarke in his powerful position? Something is really quite toxic in all this manoeuvring. What is it that one writer said? The best outcome given the situation? That by giving into Clarke the new man has a free reign?

    Any idea anyone who lead that small team that allowed the damn awful Clarke to continue wheeling and dealing?

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