The Ghost of Greatbatch

It was November 1989 when Mark Greatbatch batted for almost two days in Perth, making 146 not out from 485 balls and enabling New Zealand to save the one off Test. While that is rather sobering when compared to another left-hander, Jacques Rodulph’s 102 not out from just 283 balls, we should remember that 283 balls is almost a whole One Day innings, and that Rudolph was up against a high quality attack. While Greatbatch had to contend with Alderman, Rackemann, Lawson and Hughes, Rudolph was up against the best spinner of all time, one of the best seamers ever and the fastest bowler on the planet.

Perhaps one thing in Rudolph’s favour was a lack of flair and imagination from the opposing captain. A few points about Ponting:

1. His churlish outbursts and on field remonstrations with the umpires are tiresome. Ponting behaves like that not because he is right but because he is bitterly disappointed. Why carry on like a pratt when the batsmen are offered the light and go off. If the lights are on and it’s almost dark, why would you put Brett Lee on to bowl. Der. And his lengthy argument at the death in the final One Day match against NZ about the no ball for 3 men in the circle – what was that about? Let’s assume for a moment that Ponting wasn’t wrong – and he was wrong – isn’t the umpire always right?

2. Warnie needs the occasional rest.

3. Ponting eventually moved Warne to the other end but much too late. For one hour after lunch, Rudolph didn’t face a single ball from Warne (and of course, Warne bowled for the whole hour). The South African batsmen dictated terms by choosing their ends. Ponting should have spelled Warne for an over and brought him on at the other end to try and catch Rudolph out.

4. The selectors must be pulling their hair out. Ponting has made it known that he is a big Symonds fan. The selectors want the all rounder project to work. And Ponting bowled Symonds for 3 overs in the entire match. It beggars belief. What a show of no confidence. Symonds position in the team surely must be under review. It needs to go to MacGill or a specialist batsman. For what it is worth, he did field magnificently.

5. Ricky must have been asleep during his formative years under the shrewd captaincy of Mark Taylor because he is obviously unaware of the concept of a partnership breaker. I recall that Ponting himself was occasionally a partnership breaker for Tubby. In the Greatbatch match, Border bowled his ordinary all rounder, Tom Moody for 17 second innings overs. Border had five and Dean Jones three. I’ve heard Hussey can bowl quite well. I’ve never seen him but feel that I should have been given the opportunity today.

6. We’ll never know if Australia would have won with more time. Well, we know that they would have won but we don’t know how much time they needed. It’s rather obvious that Ponting could have declared an hour earlier than he did, in allowing Hodge to make his double ton. The nice thing is that it was very recently that Ponting rather self righteously announced that Australian teams do not delay declarations so that personal milestones could be achieved! Very funny.

Perhaps Ian Chappell is right. Make Warnie captain. Just kidding but there is no question he would do a better job on the field.

Congratulations to Phil Jacques on his call up. He is a player that will go far. Lang and Haydos should be worried.

And with Jacques Kallis expected to make a come back for Melbourne we have “Jacques” coming out of our ears.

Well done the Boks. Today was a fantastic effort. And what’s more, for the first time in many years, the Sydney Test match won’t be a dead rubber.

Ten batsmen and a keeper

After the past few days of mayhem, I’m led to recall the words of the late, great Bill O’Reilly. “All you need for one day cricket is ten batsmen and a wicket keeper.” Of course, the Tiger intended these words as criticism. O’Reilly was possibly the first and almost certainly the most ardent hater of one day cricket. I believe that “the pyjama game” was coined by O’Reilly. While this week’s games and teams have taken the shape of O’Reilly’s jibes, with Daniel Vettori (two Test centuries) batting at ten, I think it’s great. In my opinion, the last two games of the Chappell Hadlee Trophy were one day cricket as it should be played.

Sometimes, when One Day cricket is criticised, the detractors lose sight of what the game is. Perspective beings balance and the truth is that one day cricket to a large extent saved cricket. One day cricket is about revenue – cricket for the masses means money for the coffers. The money brought in by one day cricket allows Test cricket to be played without the burden and pressure of financial demands. While it is true that Test cricket on the whole is in a healthy state in its own right, this not always and will not always be the case. I look at it a little like an artist who produces and sells pieces that are not really his true love or style but they pay the bills. Which means he can concentrate on what he really enjoys, even if that doesn’t pay the bills. The idealists may describe that as selling your soul. The pragmatists may look at it is as being sensible.

The last two matches had the main thing required in a one day match – a close finish. It also had runs galore – over 1,300 in fact. And it seems to me that there is something more exciting about a high scoring close finish than a low scoring finish. True, there have been some thrilling low scoring finishes over the years (mostly involving Michael Bevan), but I for one, like to see the ball going over the fence. And that happened 21 times on Saturday alone. It seems to be the same in golf – fans like lots of birdies and low scores – but if you see a tournament where the winner is 22 under, there is an outcry, especially from ex-players, that the game is being made too easy. At least in cricket we have a recourse – maybe so – but that’s why we have Test cricket.

It’s all history now but I have a few observations about the matches.

Symonds hit 50 from 16 balls in going from 100 to 150. There can’t have been too many quicker 50′s. Shahid Afridi holds the record for 0 to 50, which is 17 balls – amazing for a standing start.

After taking 3-5 from six overs and having the Kiwis quaking in the boots, Brett Lee slumped to 1-80 from ten, including an over that must have set a new record for stupidity. The 49th over had a beamer that was fended for four (and was called a no-ball), a bouncer that was called a wide and a no-ball for three in the circle (not really Lee’s fault). But still it didn’t quite cost his team the match.

New chum Lewis, went from the ice man to the vanilla slice man, going for 20 runs from the 49th over on Saturday. I find it hard to believe that Lewis and Johnson are considered better than all of Gillespie, Kasprowicz and Bichel. I’m sure the selectors are looking to the future but how far do you go before falling back to the faithful. I saw a promising young quick down at the Oval on Saturday. Perhaps he is a chance.

Hussey’s average in ODIs is now 151. Of course it is silly but he has made 604 runs, with five fifties and the runs are coming at a rate of 100.66 per 100 balls . His 88 on Saturday from just 56 balls was sensational. He went from 37 from 40 balls to 88 from 56 balls – 51 runs from 16 balls. While we are having some fun, let’s not forget that he is averaging 120 in Tests.

And of course, congratulations to the Kiwis for setting a new record run-chase with their successful 332.

World round up: England and Pakistan managed to rack up almost 600 the other night as England triumphed. They are doing battle at the moment in the 2nd ODI. And Sri Lanka and India are playing the second Test. Tendulkar became the first man to score 35 Test centuries – shall we say a, er, new record. And Kumble who keeps on going, took another “six for” as India hold a handy 246 run lead with six second innings wicket in hand. Murali of course, took a common place “7 for” and Irthan Pathan is proving to be a very useful cricketer. His bowling has come along in leaps and bounds and having made a first innings duck batting at eight, opened the second innings and made 93!