Geoff Lemon's Blog, page 33
December 25, 2022
Cameron Green rips through South Africa as Australia take control at MCG
Three million bucks, five wickets, zero problems. That was Cameron Green’s week, after the big all-rounder followed his Indian Premier League auction success by bagging 5-27 in the Boxing Day Test in front of more than 64,000 people. His contribution saw South Africa bowled out for 189 after again being sent in to bat by Australian captain Patrick Cummins, confident in applying the squeeze to a team that has now gone seven innings without reaching 200. In reply Australia had moved to 45-1 by stumps.
All out for 152 and 99 to start the series in Brisbane, South Africa made only one change, bringing all-rounder Theunis de Bruyn in to bat at No 3 in place of Rassie van der Dussen. Australia went unchanged, with Scott Boland given the chance to repeat his Boxing Day heroics from last year after Josh Hazlewood told medical staff he was not completely confident in his recovery from a side strain.
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Australia v South Africa: second Test, day one – as it happened
South Africa were bowled out for 189 afterbeing sent in to bat by Australia, who moved to 45-1 by stumps
Day one report: Cameron Green rips through South AfricaShane Warne given new honour on day of tributesThe soundtrack to the Warne video is of course Coldplday: never forget that Chris Martin was in the Dream BBQ mural that Warne had commissioned.
A good crowd in this morning, and the two teams are on the field while the big screen and the PA plays a Shane Warne tribute video. This will be a big part of the next few days – the first Boxing Day Test without him for so long. As a Victorian while playing, Warne was always a huge part of these occasions, and saved some of his best performances for this ground.
Continue reading...December 22, 2022
Channel Ten offers $1.5bn to Cricket Australia for broadcast rights in 2024/25
Seven or Nine would have to partner with Fox to compete with bid, but they are talking up their ability to promote the game
In the life cycle of a Cricket Australia administration, nothing matters more than the home broadcast deal. There is prize money, ICC distributions, overseas broadcasts, but the value of showing the major summer sport to an Australian audience dwarfs the lot. Everything that CA does depends on that cashflow, as well as keeping cricket in front of as many people as possible. The current contract has another season to run, but with channels Seven, Nine, Ten, and Fox Sports all keen for a slice next time, everyone wants a deal done now.
Last time, in 2018 in the dying months of James Sutherland’s time in charge, was a landmark missed opportunity. Channel Ten had spent the preceding years making a success of the Big Bash League, and with the backing of US giant CBS, offered $960m to put every Australian cricket match on free-to-air. That meant domestic men’s and women’s games, boosting the Sheffield Shield and the 50-over competitions along with internationals and the BBL. But CA wanted to top a billion dollars, and after a verbal agreement with Ten, reneged to split the rights between Seven and Fox for a relatively small increase to $1.18bn, with plenty of that value in contra advertising rather than in cash.
Continue reading...December 21, 2022
David Warner remains Australia’s best option ahead of his 100th Test | Geoff Lemon
The opening bat has not set the world alight with his recent form but he still deserves to reach the milestone on Boxing Day
Seeing a player’s 100th Test match is a rare thing. Not as rare as it once was, with most of the 72 on the list beginning their careers in the 1990s or 2000s, but it will grow rarer as countries pare back their Test programs. Thirteen Australians have passed the mark, the kind who don’t need first names in a forum like this: Hayden, Taylor, Langer, Boon, Lyon, Clarke, Healy, McGrath, Waugh, Waugh, Warne, Border, Ponting. That gives the context to the achievement David Warner will complete on Boxing Day, applying cricket’s magic number to a riotous career.
While the week leading up should be one of celebration, right now it comes shot through with strong strands of negativity. Warner’s returns with the bat have diminished, and while opinions vary as much as on any subject, there is increasing noise about whether his milestone should also be a stop sign.
Continue reading...Enduring David Warner remains Australia’s best option ahead of his 100th Test | Geoff Lemon
The opening bat has not set the world alight with his recent form but he still deserves to reach the milestone on Boxing Day at the MCG
Seeing a player’s 100th Test match is a rare thing. Not as rare as it once was, with most of the 72 on the list beginning their careers in the 1990s or 2000s, but it will grow rarer as countries pare back their Test programs. Thirteen Australians have passed the mark, the kind who don’t need first names in a forum like this: Hayden, Taylor, Langer, Boon, Lyon, Clarke, Healy, McGrath, Waugh, Waugh, Warne, Border, Ponting. That gives the context to the achievement David Warner will complete on Boxing Day, applying cricket’s magic number to a riotous career.
While the week leading up should be one of celebration, right now it comes shot through with strong strands of negativity. Warner’s returns with the bat have diminished, and while opinions vary as much as on any subject, there is increasing noise about whether his milestone should also be a stop sign.
Continue reading...December 20, 2022
The irresistible case to pick Scott Boland over Josh Hazlewood for MCG Test | Geoff Lemon
The everyman quick’s form stacks up but his selection for a home Test in Melbourne against South Africa is also about the vibe he brings
For the last five years, Australia’s bowling attack has been a given. Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, set and forget. There have been change-ups to cover injury or when a second spinner has been needed in Asia, but there has been no question about the best four options in the country when the time has come to revert. With this stability, the quartet has played 22 Test matches together, a record shared with the West Indies’ 1950s and 60s combination of Garfield Sobers, Lance Gibbs, Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall.
The fact that 22 is the record gives a sense of how hard it is to keep a full bowling attack fit and firing over time. Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath played 47 times with Jason Gillespie and 38 times with Brett Lee, but only 16 times with both. James Anderson and Stuart Broad played 47 times with Graeme Swann without a regular fourth partner. Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock played 30 matches or more with Allan Donald and later Makhaya Ntini, but these always involved a range of all-rounders and no regular fourth specialist. Sobers was an all-rounder in that West Indies team, but bowled as one of only four frontline options, offering pace and spin.
Continue reading...December 19, 2022
Two-day finish shows key factor in Test cricket is the contest not the duration | Geoff Lemon
If there’s imbalance in a pitch, it’s better for it to be in favour of moving a match towards a result, rather than stifling one
Every time a Test match finishes in three days, or god forbid two, the routine is the same. There are people who enjoyed the spectacle, but as ever the unhappy ones have louder voices. And man, do they get mad. If it’s a spinning wicket in Asia, people outside Asia get angry about it taking turn. If it’s a seaming wicket outside Asia, people in Asia get angry that it isn’t being criticised like a spinning one, even while it is. Most of all, across the board, the affront is apparently that this match did not meet the designation of how Test cricket should be.
Here is what seems a self-evident counter: Test matches, according to current regulations, can go for up to five days. This does not mean that they have to go for five days. Test matches that finish in the final hour of day five are great. This does not mean that the only good Test matches finish in the final hour of day five. Over 145 years there have been Test matches scheduled to max out at three days, four days, five days, six days, unlimited days and unlimited days but restricted to 10 because of the more rigid timetabling of the shipping industry and the imminent second world war.
Continue reading...December 18, 2022
Australia enter history books with Test win over South Africa inside two days
The last time Pat Cummins played South Africa, he toiled for 46.5 overs out of Australia’s 241.5, prising out nine wickets in the match while being set 612 runs to win and beaten by almost as many. It was Johannesburg in 2018, and punishment for the sandpaper debacle was first levied on the field. “We don’t always have to finish a Test in four days,” smiled South Africa’s future captain Dean Elgar.
In their next meeting in Brisbane this week, Cummins bowled a breezy 25 overs across two innings, picking up seven wickets on his way to starting this three-match series by captaining a win.
Continue reading...December 17, 2022
Travis Head puts Australia in charge against South Africa after Warner’s duck
Test match cricket got a burst of life for the southern summer, as 29,306 people turned up for the biggest non-Ashes crowd ever hosted at the Gabba. They were treated to a sizzling first day: Australia dismissed South Africa for 152 just before the tea break, slipped to 27 for three in reply, produced an astonishing counterattack from Travis Head and Steve Smith, then lost Smith and nightwatchman Scott Boland to reach stumps at 145 for five, still seven runs behind.
It was another Brisbane special from Head, who followed his Ashes century a year ago with a carefree 78 not out from 77 balls in the final session. Smith had already begun positively, hitting his first ball through cover for four and producing some immaculate straight drives.
Continue reading...Australia v South Africa: first Test, day one – as it happened
The national anthems round out the formalities. Both teams on the field, as per tradition, with large flags held parallel to the ground behind them. The reserve players and support staff ring the boundary, standing to attention with hands behind their backs as they have done for the duration.
The Welcome to Country is performed by Aunty Deb Sandy of the Yuggerah people, who asks everyone in the crowd to call out their names so that she can welcome them properly. A nice addition that I haven’t seen before. She also sends out condolences to the Wieambilla victims.
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