cricket with balls

For the next few days there will be no posts on cricket with balls.

Without wanting to get into details, Mrs cricket with balls has some issues that I need to help with.

Sure she could get through it on her own, instead I have decided to take some time off work to help her.

This makes me a great husband, even if it means that I will not be doing my job for the next few days.

Some of you might think I’m putting my personal life above my job, but this is not an easy decision.

During this time I would appreciate it if you don’t speculate what the personal reason is, and just give us our privacy.

Thank you.

Greg Shipperd has recently stated that Cameron White should be the captain of the Australian 2020 team.

And it makes sense.  It won’t happen, but it makes sense.

Imagine if Australia actually picked the right captain for the job rather than the best batsman around, their world would implode.

I can already see Cricket Australia officials premeditating their spontaneous combustion at the very suggestion.

Clarke is the next captain.  That was decided at the meeting at the Melbourne Club that was hosted by the Freemasons and catered by the Jewish Mafia.

Any other suggestions of Marcus North for the test job, and Cameron White for the white balls jobs should be disregarded before you get yourself into an “accident”.

It doesn’t matter that Michael Clarke doesn’t seem to be any good at 2020, he is the man for the job, case closed.

It is written, and etc.

Shipperd’s selection would make sense in some sort of bizarre world where Australia took 2020 seriously or one where the white ball captaincy wasn’t an apprenticeship for the main job.

If Clarke wasn’t the captain of the white ball games where would be learn to captain?

He doesn’t play for NSWales anymore; he is either “ill”, resting himself or off beating it to video footage of Katich choking him.

Ponting will never get suspended for poor over rates; the ICC has given up on that rule.

And Clarke doesn’t even play IPL; apparently he has enough money already.

So what is left? The 2020 job, and sweet fuck all.

Ofcourse a professional outlet who wanted to win at all three formats would have the choice of having three different captains, and even 3 different coaches.

Greg Shipperd’s record as a 2020 coach is better than anyone else’s on the planet.  Although my record as 2020 coach is probably as good as Nielsen’s.

In the world where White and Shipperd were the captain and coach of the 2020 side I would be routinely raped anally by my biggest fan Natalie Portman and her 12-inch Strap-on named Virender.

I like Ship, but the dude must stop taking acid.

On the face of it, there’s nothing significant about Ricky Ponting giving up playing international T20 cricket. After all, he couldn’t be arsed showing up for the first 4 ODIs in England (by which time his side will probably have an unassailable lead anyway), so why wear himself out on hit-and-giggle cricket?

But think about it. This is the first sign that the old order is changing, and it might be to Australia’s advantage. Since the Chappell/Yallop/Hughes era of Packer-inspired confusion, Australia have liked to have their captaincy succession clearly set out well in advance. The only one in line to take over from Border was Taylor and the only one in line to replace Taylor was Waugh.

Ironically, the last time things were anything less than clear cut was when both Warne and Gilchrist blotted their copybooks and let Punter himself in.

But look at the list of names above. None of them are as in love with the limelight as Michael Clarke is. And how the hell can anyone gain respect as a captain when the whole world knows them as ‘Pup’?

On the other hand, of the list above, only three players have improved their overall international record as captain. Chappell and Border are two of them, but the other one is Clarke.

Which makes you wonder if the time for the Ponting style of captain, the scowling, emotionless (unless faced with Gary Pratt) leader, is at an end. There’s been no sign of Clarke being a tactical genius, but the way he behaves in the field, both admonishing and laughing at himself, might be the way forward for this new generation of Aussie cricketers. After all, Ponting hardly got the best out of them or himself this summer. Might it be time for him to hand over the reins altogether?

Yesterday’s face saving innings (from an Australian, if not a personal perspective) has had a few people wondering if Clarke is one of the best batsmen in the world today.

Hmmmmm.

Yesterday’s ton was his 12th in 81 innings, a strike rate of one every 6.75 innings.

In the current series, that puts him behind Ponting (exactly 1:6), but ahead of both Katich and Mr Cricket. But it also puts him behind Strauss (1:6.61) and Pietersen (1:6.06). Which, for my money, makes him no better than 5th in the world and probably not even in the top ten.Unfortunately for Australia, he’s currently their only batsman in any kind of consistent form and yet he’s still rubbish against the moving ball. If one thing emphasises Australia’s struggles in this series, it is that.

(Katich and Hussey, incidentally, have very similar records. One lost his place and fought and fought til he won it back; the other seems undroppable no matter how bad his form. Makes you wonder who deserves that Mr Cricket title more, doesn’t it?)

Saw this over at Amy s land.