Arise Sir Brian

Well it’s not really a push for Brian Lara to be knighted. But as Ashes fever builds to a crescendo, Lara has managed to further enhance his reputation as a batting genius. He has peeled off a century against Pakistan in just 77 balls. Just when you thought Lara’s fire was quietly dying, he has reignited with back-to-back hundreds. In the 1st Test he fought a doomed but resolute rearguard (122 from 215 balls). Today’s effort is the 9th fastest Test century (measured in balls faced).

Lara already holds a place in the top 20 with an 82 ball hundred against the Aussies in 1999. His innings today also featured the third highest amount of runs in a single Test over. He hit 26 from Danesh Kaneria (4-0-6-6-6-4). Lara already holds the record with 28 in 2003 against South Africa.

What more can the man do except be the first man past 12,000 Test runs? He needs just 186 more runs to do that.

One more sleep.

You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes

The Australian cricket team for the first Test was named today and there were no real surprises. It is listed at the end of this article. Perhaps a few eyebrows were raised at the complete omission of Michael Clarke, considering that the “team” is actually a 13 man squad. There was predictable outcry at the predictable omission of Phil Jaques – he has done enough but he will have to wait until Langer fails.

Before I get to my main point, I will say that I was surprised at the inclusion of three of the bowlers fighting for one position. I expected 13 to be announced but expected Clarke and Watson (bracketed) and Tait and either Johnson or Clark. I was certain of Tait’s inclusion as he impressed in the PM’s eleven and he plays England before the first Test. I expected the selectors to hedge their bets on all fronts. Instead, we are still left very much wondering about the third quick and they seem to have shown their hand with Watson.

I wrote my thoughts on Watson in October last year. My thoughts have not changed: http://www.dongles.org/cgi-bin/article_display.pl?article=20051031.txt Watson ended up missing the entire summer. The selectors persisted with their obsession to replicate Freddie Flintoff and had a miserable failure with Symonds.

Here are some random thoughts and observations:

In any sporting competition, the aim is to gain an advantage over the opposition. In all codes of football, it would be a fantasy to be allowed an extra player. Due to the nature of cricket, it is possible to effectively have an extra player. The Holy Grail for selectors is to field 12 “players” – 6 batsmen, 5 bowlers and 1 keeper. That was Bradman’s first requirement when he chose his “Team of the century” (published posthumously) – he choose Sobers as that player who was two-in-one. For many years, Australia have fielded 12 but it has been 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. They have needed only four bowlers – Warne and McGrath have been so good, it’s like having an extra bowler. And they have generally had a top class third bowler in Gillespie.

That’s nice if you can have it, but real all rounders are born, not manufactured. England waited 20 years between Botham and Flintoff. Real all rounders are those rare and precious few who would be selected in the Test team on batting or bowling. These are the types of players I mean: Keith Miller, Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Mike Procter, Chris Cairns, Kapil Dev and Wasim Akram (when he could be bothered). Pause for effect while I wipe the tears from my eyes. What a bunch of guys.

The other type of all rounder is someone who is selected as a genuine bowler or batsman and is just below Test standard in the other area. I don’t mean just useful – I mean able to make regular, significant contributions. I mean the likes of: Benaud, Lindwall, Davidson, Greg Chappell, the Waughs, Chris Gayle, Hadlee, Kallis and Tong Grieg (boo). These guys add a dimension to the team without costing anything.

I don’t think you need to be Sherlock Holmes to realise that an all rounder that is neither Test standard in batting and bowling actually weakens the team. An endless string of ordinaries which includes Mark Ealham, Phil Defreitas, Chris Lewis and Craig White graced English teams between Botham and Flintoff. Australia has had Sodders, Tony Dodemaide, Tom Moody and Symonds. I don’t think you need to be Sherlock Holmes to find that there is little evidence to suggest that Watson will exceed these lesser lights. I believe that one of the reasons that South Africa struggled to crack Australia in the nineties was that they played about 4 all rounders that fitted this bill. Cronje, Kluesner and McMillan were very useful cricketers in One Day cricket and even against any but the best at Test level.

I hope I’m wrong but I can’t see Watson prevailing.

Perhaps the selectors have one trick up their sleeve. Perhaps they will play Gillie at six and go with four seamers and Warne. I would prefer that to Watson at six but I can’t see it happening. It would allow Australia to field a formidable attack.

I am puzzled about the observation that Clark is too similar to McGrath. I understand the need for balance and variety but give me a break – McGrath is one of the best pace bowlers to have lived. How can it be a negative to be too much like McGrath – very economical and takes wickets.

The Martyn situation is interesting. I thought he was a little unlucky to be dropped last year. He was lion hearted in 2004. I was more surprised when he was reselected for One Day and Test cricket. Since that time he has performed well in both forms of the game and on merit, deserves his place. I was surprised at his recall because I thought the selectors were strategically moving on. When Steve Waugh was dropped from the one day side, he bravely said he would just have to play his way back into the team. I think that even he knew that wasn’t going to happen even if he scored 100 every time he batted. The truth is that he did play well enough to be reselected but that wasn’t the long term plan. Look at the likes of Lehmann and Bevan – it doesn’t matter how many millions of runs they score or how many triple centuries – they aren’t coming back (and they know it). I would rather the selectors have persevered with a younger prospect (my preference is Clarke) but there are plenty of others.

Seven more sleeps.

Australia squad: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting (capt), Damien Martyn, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn McGrath, Shaun Tait.