From the SMH online today ...
"Australia's win created history for Ricky Ponting, who has now captained the most Test victories (42) of anyone, and played in more wins (93) than any other player.
Ponting moved clear of former teammates Steve Waugh as the most successful captain, and Shane Warne as the player to have been involved in the most wins."
... and the only Aussie Captain of the 20th century to loose the Ashes twice ... the leader during Australia's ugliest period of on field behaviour ... a deserter of his men ... the man who put the "i" back into the word team ... the captain of Australia during a period of undisputed opposition weakness, making victories meaningless ...
Success isn't always measured in numbers and yet we consistently make the mistake of churning out these facts and figures. Success as an Australian skipper isn't measured in victories or winning percentages. Steve Waugh wasn't our best captain but he will always have daylight as a buffer back to Ponting. Steve Waugh thought for himself, for a start. He also changed the ethos of what touring as a cricketer is all about. Without his insights into the culture of India and insistance that players immerse themselves in it and the food and the people, the citadel of India would never have been conquered. Steve Waugh delivered the Baggy Green as an icon, a symbol of what it means to be an Australian cricketer.
I could go on.
Mr Ponting can go ahead and play until he's fifty and beat all the records he can and given the hollowness of his personality, he may just do that. He's a fine batsman - one of Australia's all time top six - and one of her sharpest fieldsman in front of the wicket but the men he's surpassing will always be better than him.
Ricky is undisputed as Australia's greatest gather of records but without the bat in his hand, he is isn't even a shadow of our best men on their worst days. The Platters had it right.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Josh Hazelwood - from Tragic Ian
Had the pleasure to watch all ten overs of Josh V Vics yesterday. He is a great bowler in waiting. Took him about 10 balls to work the wicket out, then took the vics apart with aggressive and controlled bounce, cut and swing. His two victims Hodge and Hussey, not bad scalps. The wicket had some juice, on which many young turks would be tempted to get an adrenalin rush seeing the ball bounce around the head, but to his credit he bowled an incredible array of deliveries..........outswing, inswing, leg cutters and offcutters. he maintains a great wrist position with the seam very upright. 2-22 off ten with two dropped catches and an LBW that was very close, then any number of plays and miss could have been anything! Stay fit and listen to the right advice ( that means Lillee and Mcgrath not Ponting and Nielsen) and Australia has an emerging great.
Cheers and Merry Xmas
Ian
Cheers and Merry Xmas
Ian
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Lango's On Holiday
Unfortunately, trips to Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Sydney and a journey along the Murray River throughout January will keep me pretty much off the air. I'll trying to sneak the odd comment onto these pages in between events.
Just returned from Newcastle, where the kind folk who run Poets At The Pub have asked me to be their featured poet for February. Have a similiar gig in Armidale during the same month. It was a fine evening of poetry we attended, even if the precursor was being molested by a Jamacian Julius Sumner Miller, who non-stopped pure mathematics at us in an accent too strong for us to decode. Poor man was having a disquieting day. Sue saw him later walking down the middle of the road playing handball, using the oncoming traffic as his ball. I have no idea why it was so.
Would like to comment further but its been a hard few days.
Be patient with me.
Just returned from Newcastle, where the kind folk who run Poets At The Pub have asked me to be their featured poet for February. Have a similiar gig in Armidale during the same month. It was a fine evening of poetry we attended, even if the precursor was being molested by a Jamacian Julius Sumner Miller, who non-stopped pure mathematics at us in an accent too strong for us to decode. Poor man was having a disquieting day. Sue saw him later walking down the middle of the road playing handball, using the oncoming traffic as his ball. I have no idea why it was so.
Would like to comment further but its been a hard few days.
Be patient with me.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
If you are wondering why I've been so quiet for four days of a thrilling Test match ... there is a good reason. For those one or two on the planet who haven't heard, my first book of poetry has been released this week - went on sale last week online and in bookshops last Saturday. I've been dealing with press people and organising the event and also trying to soak up the achievement "in the moment". A few balls in the air there! Anyway, my first public appearance is on Thursday in Armidale and then the launch of the book by that old (out)swinger Tony Bennett, on Saturday.
You can buy a copy from http://sixninespoetry.blogspot.com/ via the security of PayPal.
But I have been keeping tabs on the game.
Like others after the 1st Test, I had tabs on Benn and Roach and this has proven a fortunate call. Benn bowled with lovely control here in Adelaide and continues a long line of domination over Australian batsmen by left hand, Greek Orthodox bowlers, which stretches back to Underwood and Bedi and had Dan Vettori as it's most recent tormenting head. Its been ten years since a Windies spinner took five wickets in a Test innings and it was fitting that it came from a man with Michael Holding's build. His partner in crime, Roach, will be a name to be reckoned with over the next ten years. This is the fast bowling future and between them, they form a pair who should be the cornerstone on which West Indian Jacks can build their cricket house.
Full marks to Bravo. I didn't rate him but his first innings was a fine one and to hear him talk after play, you can put down those rumours that West Indians don't give a fiddler's flick about Test cricket.
While on the subject: three things I've known about today have left me shaking my head about the game.
First - Chris Gayle played a Test cricketer's innings today in Adelaide. It was an innings of such care and belief and affection for his team mates and the region he represents that it's hard to reconcile this Chris Gayle with the bloke I've watched in the long game before. Still, this bloke was the same one who controlled events yesterday so brilliantly, setting fields to support his bowlers and talking them up. It seems, in the end, even the one day wonders think Test cricket is so special that when they say it's on its last legs and about to be waved farewell, they really don't want it to happen. How else could you explain the four hundred plus minutes of Don Quixote in Dreadlocks we have witnessed since late yesterday? This should bring the crowds back ... if only they knew to appreciate it.
Second - in the completely opposite vein, Test cricket scheduling has revealed that in the now home of cricket, India, in which the No.1 Test playing side in the world reigns supreme and where all things devious and destructive lie and plot against the greatest form of the game ... there will be no Test cricket played during the next two years! Scheduling of "other" tournaments and games will not allow Tests to be played. Whether the plot against Test cricket is some dormant desire for revenge against former imperialists or not, how can the ICC sit on their polished, fat backsides and allow this to take place. Money is power and power corrupts and absolute power ... destroys Test cricket.
Third - even at the grass roots level, cricket allows itself to be a victim by accepting behaviour well below standards won over many a generation. If cricket really is a metaphor for western civilisation then we are all deep in the dirtiest pans of the sanitary truck. Tonight, as the figurehead of a local club, I have have fielded threats and abuse from a small, volatile group determined to replace the truth with myths whose rewritten history makes them pure. Their brave anti-accolades have been delivered like mice, well anony-mice at least, as though a hidden enemy would confront me more. Sad, isn't it.
You can buy a copy from http://sixninespoetry.blogspot.com/ via the security of PayPal.
But I have been keeping tabs on the game.
Like others after the 1st Test, I had tabs on Benn and Roach and this has proven a fortunate call. Benn bowled with lovely control here in Adelaide and continues a long line of domination over Australian batsmen by left hand, Greek Orthodox bowlers, which stretches back to Underwood and Bedi and had Dan Vettori as it's most recent tormenting head. Its been ten years since a Windies spinner took five wickets in a Test innings and it was fitting that it came from a man with Michael Holding's build. His partner in crime, Roach, will be a name to be reckoned with over the next ten years. This is the fast bowling future and between them, they form a pair who should be the cornerstone on which West Indian Jacks can build their cricket house.
Full marks to Bravo. I didn't rate him but his first innings was a fine one and to hear him talk after play, you can put down those rumours that West Indians don't give a fiddler's flick about Test cricket.
While on the subject: three things I've known about today have left me shaking my head about the game.
First - Chris Gayle played a Test cricketer's innings today in Adelaide. It was an innings of such care and belief and affection for his team mates and the region he represents that it's hard to reconcile this Chris Gayle with the bloke I've watched in the long game before. Still, this bloke was the same one who controlled events yesterday so brilliantly, setting fields to support his bowlers and talking them up. It seems, in the end, even the one day wonders think Test cricket is so special that when they say it's on its last legs and about to be waved farewell, they really don't want it to happen. How else could you explain the four hundred plus minutes of Don Quixote in Dreadlocks we have witnessed since late yesterday? This should bring the crowds back ... if only they knew to appreciate it.
Second - in the completely opposite vein, Test cricket scheduling has revealed that in the now home of cricket, India, in which the No.1 Test playing side in the world reigns supreme and where all things devious and destructive lie and plot against the greatest form of the game ... there will be no Test cricket played during the next two years! Scheduling of "other" tournaments and games will not allow Tests to be played. Whether the plot against Test cricket is some dormant desire for revenge against former imperialists or not, how can the ICC sit on their polished, fat backsides and allow this to take place. Money is power and power corrupts and absolute power ... destroys Test cricket.
Third - even at the grass roots level, cricket allows itself to be a victim by accepting behaviour well below standards won over many a generation. If cricket really is a metaphor for western civilisation then we are all deep in the dirtiest pans of the sanitary truck. Tonight, as the figurehead of a local club, I have have fielded threats and abuse from a small, volatile group determined to replace the truth with myths whose rewritten history makes them pure. Their brave anti-accolades have been delivered like mice, well anony-mice at least, as though a hidden enemy would confront me more. Sad, isn't it.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Bing Thing
In the latest Tragics Poll, 60% of respondents felt that Brett Lee's Test career was over. New poll listed to the right about Brad Hodge.
Andrew, Andrew, Andrew ...
Look, I know you are sick of hearing about my dislike, distrust, dismay and just plain dissing of the Australian selectors but really, where else is there for me to go in response to the latest rabbit-from-a-hat surprise, Clint McKay?
Yes he debuted three years ago in first class cricket and yes his record is reasonable, even good but his only international experience is two one-day games in India.
Against that, we have Stuart Clark, with nearly one hundred Test wickets and the man mostly responsible for Australia's only win in the recent fiasco in England.
Of course, we are playing the West Indies and this is a selection for the future. Good, then make it in two years time!
It comes as no surprise, that the current President of the Jamie Siddons Club, Brad Hodge, has announced his retirement today from first class cricket. Quite apart from remarking his outstanding record in all cricket caps, including the Baggy Green one, it should also be noted that he had to retire so the Presidency could be cast on Stuart Clark.
Further postscript to the Hodge career: if you had your time over Brad, perhaps you would have taken that swing at the bouncer in an all night Sydney bar or as a Victorian, dropped your Wangaratta out for that lass in another bar in India. You might have been made Captain?
I'll be there in Newcastle in a couple of weeks mate to cheer you on and off the field and believe me, I don't do that for many non-Bluesmen and never for a Mexican.
Like others before you, your career hit a Hilditch.
Yes he debuted three years ago in first class cricket and yes his record is reasonable, even good but his only international experience is two one-day games in India.
Against that, we have Stuart Clark, with nearly one hundred Test wickets and the man mostly responsible for Australia's only win in the recent fiasco in England.
Of course, we are playing the West Indies and this is a selection for the future. Good, then make it in two years time!
It comes as no surprise, that the current President of the Jamie Siddons Club, Brad Hodge, has announced his retirement today from first class cricket. Quite apart from remarking his outstanding record in all cricket caps, including the Baggy Green one, it should also be noted that he had to retire so the Presidency could be cast on Stuart Clark.
Further postscript to the Hodge career: if you had your time over Brad, perhaps you would have taken that swing at the bouncer in an all night Sydney bar or as a Victorian, dropped your Wangaratta out for that lass in another bar in India. You might have been made Captain?
I'll be there in Newcastle in a couple of weeks mate to cheer you on and off the field and believe me, I don't do that for many non-Bluesmen and never for a Mexican.
Like others before you, your career hit a Hilditch.
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