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Reflections
on a Long Season: 2015-16 From Between
the Wickets, Winter 2016 It would take a long cricketing memory
to recall the last summer when international cricket did not take centre
stage in in Australia, but one would be forgiven for feeling we have just
experienced it once again. We have watched as a pallid and one-sided
international season seemed to disappear under the wheels of the Twenty20
juggernaut. It was far from all negative. More
people are going to the cricket in Australia than ever before. In the past,
it has taken an exceptional international season to garner more than one
million spectators; now the Big Bash, for the first time, has passed that
figure on its own. The challenge remains to channel these
new chums into seats in the more traditional forms of the game, so that all
may thrive. Among other things, this will need a more competitive
international season than we have just witnessed. It is not just hindsight to
observe the West Indies team as a sad reflection of former glory; there were
plenty of advance warning signs, and some very low expectations were fully
met. We must hope that Cricket Australia’s error in giving prime time to a
team in crisis, and which could not call on a number of senior players, will
not be repeated. The saddest aspect of the season was seeing a team being
repeatedly outclassed – they were even thrashed by 10 wickets by a
cobbled-together opposition of non-first-class players in a lead-up match –
while their erstwhile team mates hoovered up runs and dollars for their BBL
franchises. It may be long time between Boxing Day
Tests for the West Indies, one can only say. There was a statistical highlight of
sorts when Sean Marsh and Adam Voges set a world
record for the fourth wicket of 449 runs at Bellerive Oval. For such a
significant record, the reaction was actually quite muted; as a statistician,
I felt only disappointment that such a record should be set in such a
one-sided series. The selectors were similarly unmoved, removing Sean Marsh
from the team for the next Test, since he had been only holding a place for
the injured Usman Khawaja. So Marsh picked up another record: his 182 the
highest score in Australia by a player who was subsequently dropped. (Jason
Gillespie was dropped after his 201* in Bangladesh in 2006.) The New Zealanders copped a
partnership record as well, an opening stand of 503 by Ryan Carters and Aaron
Finch in a lead-up match at Blacktown Oval, under bizarre circumstances. Much
of it was bowled by second-string bowlers on a crumbling, failing pitch, and
the match was called off when Carters was out. Even the worst wickets in the
international season seemed to benefit the batsmen. It is perhaps a pity that
such matches cannot be expunged from records. The blossoming of Usman Khawaja into a
batting powerhouse was one of the most impressive features of the season. He
averaged over 100 in the season’s Tests including the matches in New Zealand,
and his mastery of all forms was highlighted by exceptional results in the
Big Bash. The star turn for the international
season was undoubtedly at Adelaide Oval, with the
first day/night Test. An unqualified success? Very nearly so. In only three
days the match attracted the second-largest attendance ever (123,736) for any
Australia-New Zealand Test, exceeded only by a five-day match at the MCG in
1987/88. The major question remaining is the longevity of the pink ball.
Let’s call on the authorities to throw all possible resources into the
development of the best possible ball for this purpose; this is the 21st
Century, surely it can be done! The Adelaide Test also provided the
only competitive match of the Test season. The New Zealand tourists were
always going to need some luck to overcome Australia, but it was not
forthcoming. It is actually a good sign when a match hinges on umpiring
decisions – it must mean that the cricket is competitive – but this one
hinged on a baffling mistake, where the third umpire could not see the
obvious, that Nathan Lyon was out. I happened to be in New Zealand at the
time, and believe me, this was one hot issue over there. From a Spectator’s Perspective As an
aside, something has happened to the experience of going to the Test match.
The heavy hand of authority is omnipresent; every spectator is looked on as a
potential criminal. The cost of the security apparatus must be enormous, and
I note with some relief that the AFL, in a flash of common sense, has removed
the massive fences and metal detectors that girt the MCG in cricket season.
Inside the ground, patrons are browbeaten into passivity by frequent threats,
and most of the day, by past standards, is dull and quiet. The simple act of
inflating a beach ball will get you thrown out of the ground, and cops seem
to outnumber robbers in the once unruly Bay 13. And woe betide the schmuck who sets foot on
the ground; the fines are monstrous – many thousands of dollars. No one tried
it, the police would be pleased to tell you. Not
that it would be so easy to spot an intruder. Nowadays, at any one time there
may be fifty people on the ground who are not
actually playing the game. Fetchers and carriers, water boys, photographers,
and security staff abound in the ring between rope and fence. Security
and good behaviour are desirable, but has the pendulum swung back too far?
Even forty thousand people in the giant MCG cauldron seemed to generate
insufficient atmosphere to make it a memorable day for the live spectator.
Noise and colour is often provided by supporters of the visiting team, but,
with the West Indies in decline, they were fewer in number at the MCG.
Without wishing for a return to the bad old days, when 864,000 beer cans were
cleared from the ground in a single Test match (SCG 1974-75), the game seems
to have lost something. There
is ‘colour’ of one sort everywhere you look. In quieter moments, I tried to
estimate the number of advertisements visible from my seat. I stopped
counting at one thousand. I did
not go to the day/night Test, but I did attend one of the pilot games, a
Shield match at the MCG. One factor that is underrated (in my opinion) is
that in large stadiums, even in broad daylight, it can be hard for distant
spectators to see the red ball. The pink ball, like the white ball, really
does improve visibility, in good lighting as well as dull, and offers a
substantial improvement for spectators. Under lights the pink ball was good
but not great. Is it going too far to consider putting in extra lights? The
current light levels are designed for TV cameras; I couldn’t help noticing
that the pink ball was more visible, and the picture much brighter, on the
replay screens at the ground than in real life. Overall,
though, this was success. At the Shield game it even attracted a few
spectators, raising the attendance from ‘practically non-existent’ to merely
‘tiny’. Apart from Adelaide, the Tests were a
procession of giant scores by the Australian batsmen, who have marched beyond
500 in eight Tests in the past two home seasons, usually with plenty of
wickets to spare. Easy runs were available to anyone who could get a bat, and
sometimes this did not even include the lower middle-order. The relentless
torrent eased the burden on the bowlers, who only needed to hold the line to
ensure heavy victories. With first crack at the bowling, David
Warner led the run charge. His 818 runs for an Australian home season was higher than Bradman’s best of 810 in 1936-37 (although
Warner played six Tests but Bradman never played more than five). For proof
of the ease of scoring in Australia in this century, one only has to note
that, in addition to Warner, Ricky Ponting (twice), Matthew Hayden and
Michael Clarke have also exceeded Bradman’s peak. The only batsmen from the
20th Century to do so were Wally Hammond in 1928-29 and Neil
Harvey in 1952-53. Most
Test runs in an Australian Home Season
*Excludes
the so-called World XI “Test”, also off-season Tests. The statistical crown for the season,
though, went to Adam Voges, who smashed all
previous records by recording 614 runs in a row without a dismissal
(surpassing Tendulkar’s record of 497): 269* and 106* against West indies,
followed by 239 in New Zealand, mostly scored at Bradmanesque
speed or better. Speaking once again of The Don, Voges
is now second all-time to Bradman for best average after 15 Tests (95.5 to
Bradman’s 100.7). How Voges found such an imperious
purple patch at age 35 is a bit of a mystery. It must be said, though, that
this is not confined to easy-scoring Tests; his performances in the Shield in
the past two seasons have also been outstanding (1703 runs at 94.6),
remarkable figures that have set him apart in a competition that has still sees
good contests between bat and ball. The cookie-cutter flat pitches
certainly encouraged repeated heavy scoring; hard to imagine that this was
much the same batting team that was bowled out for 39 (plus 21 sundries) on a
moderate seamer at Trent Bridge just last August, with Voges
out fourth ball for one. Australia was able to field a
uniformly good rather than brilliant pace attack, and they put in some
lion-hearted efforts on some discouraging pitches. There was a familiar
‘rotation’ of the bowlers, but more through injury than selectors’ strategy.
The effort required to get results ultimately told on Mitchell Johnson, who
retired rather suddenly after New Zealand accumulated 624 on a Perth pitch
unrecognisable from its glory days. Johnson had a splendid career to reflect
on, 313 wickets strong. Among the pacemen, Josh Hazlewood was able to front for all the Tests of the
summer, including the New Zealand tour, but none of the others played more
than half the matches. The other bowling fixture was Nathan Lyon, who has by
now (195 wickets) established himself as an outstanding spinner for
Australia, a smart bowler with a knack for picking up wickets even when there
seem to be few on offer. In the 50-over series against India,
visiting bowlers were largely reduced to cannon fodder, reflecting the
pattern in the Tests. Australia averaged a score of 318 in the five matches,
with a lowest score of 296. The 200-run mark was reached for the loss of 2,
2, 4, 1, and 4 wickets respectively, with plenty of overs to spare as well;
any slight wobbles from the main men were hungrily mopped up by Glenn Maxwell
and Mitchell Marsh further down the order. In past times 318 would be
regarded as good scoring even in unlimited Tests, but Australia is scoring
500 in home Tests now. The Indians had spun rings around South Africa at home
not long before, but their spinners were brushed aside here, and powerful
scoring from Kohli was not enough to establish a
balance. Watching it, one felt for the bowlers.
One waited, and waited, in forlorn hope, for a ball that bounced awkwardly,
or turned, or did anything that the batsman did not expect. In the Big Bash (BBL), results were
generally much less predictable, and that certainly came as a relief from the
internationals. Six of the eight teams won either three, four, or five games,
with only Adelaide out in front on seven. Adelaide came unstuck in the
finals, however, thanks to that rich vein of form found by Sydney Thunder’s
Usman Khawaja. Khawaja’s four innings of 109*, 62, 104*, and a 70 in the
final, all at a strike rate of 164, propelled the Thunder to the trophy.
Thunder travelled to Perth and beat the defending champions in the
semi-final, probably the critical performance of the tournament. Chris Lynn
of Brisbane Heat won the Player of the Series award for his efforts in the
Round Robin, but his team did not make the finals. Sean Marsh popped up in
the partnership record books again, with the highest opening stand to win any
T20 game (171 unbroken with Michael Klinger for Scorchers v Renegades at
Etihad Stadium). Cricket Australia and the broadcasters
were more than happy with the outcome. So were most patrons, who enjoyed the
glitz and the atmosphere; for families, the rapid-fire action, early
finishes, and very reasonable ticket prices ($20 for adults, $50 for families
at the MCG) made the cricket a fine night out. On the field, one had to
wonder, though, if we were watching senior cricket or ‘seniors’ cricket. The
physically unchallenging format of Twenty20 cricket, along with the financial
rewards, has certainly encouraged many well-known retirees to stay on. This in turn gives the franchises more
big name cachet, but there are drawbacks. We see this when senior West
Indians turn their back on their Test team; will this spread to other teams?
Another effect is that there is almost no blooding of younger players in T20.
In its early years, debutants would regularly pop up in the T20 teams, but in
the entire 2015-16 BBL, even though there were eight teams, we saw just four
new players who had not previously played senior cricket. These four –
Cameron Stevenson, Greg West, Guy Walker, and Nathan McAndrew – made only
fleeting appearances as fill-in bowlers. Not one of them scored a run. In eight matches in the BBL, Ashton
Agar bowled nine overs and took three wickets, and he did not play in the
home Twenty20 international series against India, yet was then selected as
Australia’s spinner in the World T20. There must be something unprecedented
in this, especially as Nathan Lyon picked up 5 for 23 in one of his only BBL
appearances. Bookending the season, for the True
Believers, was the old Sheffield Shield. (Yes, there was also the Matador
50-over Cup in October, relegated entirely to
suburban grounds in Sydney. I can’t quite remember what happened.) The Shield
produced plenty of intense and competitive cricket,
with a surprisingly even balance between bat and ball. I say surprising,
because they were using the same balls as the internationals, and those
balls, and the frequent need to change them, were cited as a source of some
of the problems in the Tests. The opening innings of the 31 Shield
matches produced an average score of 310, a healthy number. Four of the six
teams finished the season equal on five wins; the competitiveness was
illustrated by the selection of players from all six states in the New
Zealand touring team (first time since 2009). Places in the Shield final came
down to bonus points. Thanks to these, South Australia hosted the final, in
spite of only two home wins, one of which was a perilous one-wicket win
against Western Australia. The final was a hard-fought affair,
with Victoria prevailing, handing the Redbacks
another home defeat. Coming more than a week after all other cricket in this
long season had finished, there had been calls for abolishing the Shield
final, especially after a dreadful match in 2014-15, but this one was a fine
match with Victoria eventually proving the better team. There was one remarkable statistic to emerge
during the season. Travis Dean of Victoria started his career with scores of
154*, 109* and 84, giving him, briefly, an average of 347.0. This is the
highest average at the end of an innings ever recorded in first-class
cricket, not just in Australia but worldwide, topping the 325.0 by W.S.
Jaffer and 320.0 by P.S. Clifford. Bear in mind that there have been nearly
50,000 players in first-class cricket history. Of course, Dean, like Jaffer
and Clifford and others before him, came back to earth – statisticians call
this ‘regression to the mean’ – but he enjoyed an excellent Shield Final, his
111 and 54 making a critical difference. A gulf between first-class and Test
cricket remains. Brydon Coverdale at Cricinfo pointed out that of the five highest wicket-takers
in Shield in the last ten years, only two, Ben Hilfenhaus
and Doug Bollinger, had played Test cricket. The
others deserve mention: James Hopes, Luke Butterworth, and Michael
Hogan. All three joined Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson in retirement at the end
of the season; Bollinger is now the senior citizen of Shield bowlers. And so
the guard changes. For Australia’s women cricketers, it
was a season of progress, even breakthrough. This was not driven, however, by
the international season, which was limited to evenly-fought series against
India; the Southern Stars won the ODIs 2-1, but lost the T20s by the same
margin. There was also a tour of New Zealand – Southern stars were unbeaten
there. It was in the domestic sphere that
major developments were in play, followed the alignment of the Women’s and
Men’s divisions in the BBL. Parts of the two series were played as double
headers on the major grounds, including the final won by Sydney Thunder
against the Sixers. (Remarkably, the women played 59 Big Bash games, to the
men’s 36.) When they coincided, the Women’s curtain-raisers were televised on
commercial free-to-air, and with some success in the TV ratings. For a while
there, women’s cricket vaulted over other major sports such as Men’s A-League
soccer and Rugby Union in national television attention. This was followed up by a similar
success in the World T20 in India. Even though the Southern Stars lost the
Final to the West Indies, cricket now had claim (possibly contested by the
netballers) to becoming the pre-eminent women’s team sport in Australia. This
was reinforced when the cricketers won significant pay increases at the end
of the season; it is now possible for senior players to make $100k per year,
including endorsements, and even state players should no longer be out of
pocket when representing their states. After the success of the aligned
operations, it is odd the read that the women are still considering ‘going it
alone’ in the future. It sounds risky. Australian cricket finished the season
with one other unusual ‘alignment’ when Alyssa Healy married Mitchell Starc. This was the first marriage of Australian
international cricketers. Charles Davis April 2016 |