Preview – 2009 Allan Border Awards

mitchell-johnson-and-jessica-bratichIt’s time to throw caution to the credit crunch, flop out the visa card and sign up for this years Allan Border medals on Tuesday 3rd February. They’ll be selling like hotcakes at these bargain basement prices of just $530 a seat. Why not get a bunch of mates together and grab a table of 10 for the heavily discounted bulk deal of $5,300.

Perhaps the corporate function is more to your budget, where you’ll get endless bottles of Crown Lager – officialy Australia’s worst beer in Australia’s prettiest bottle, not to mention Wolfblass Wines as endorsed by Stuart MacGill himself, unless Roy drinks them dry. Throw in accommodation at the Langham Hotel and the $1,175 per person is the cheapest night out this side of Sizzler.

Don’t delay in sending your cash as you could be up close and personal with the team who not only lost to India in India, but also lost at home to South Africa in both a test and ODI series. This is your very own opportunity to be amongst the exclusive and limited 1,500 guests and tens of thousands of TV viewers who get to see the former world number 1′s on big screen TV’s.

What’s more, you can join the rampant speculation of who’ll win this most prestegious of awards, judged over the 12 Test matches played since the 2008 AB gong was taken out by Brett Lee. There were tours to the West Indies and India, plus we hosted New Zealand and South Africa this year. Here’s the candidates for the AB Medal with Moses’ odds attached

The Good

  • 2:1 | Mitchell Johnson with 54 wickets at 27.07 plus 327 very handy runs at 21.8 (comparable to Hayden). Mitchell is also unbackable favourite to bring the hottest date for the night.

  • 2:1 | Simon Katich who made the most of his return to Test Cricket with 1129 runs at 56.45, and even managed a wicket from the 19 overs Ricky gave him
  • 3:1 | Michael Clarke with 1019 runs at 56.61 and 6 wickets at 69.33
  • 50:1 | Phil Jaques who scored 243 at 40.83 from 3 Tests before being dropped for Hayden, then picked up a back injury.
  • 75:1 | Brad Haddin with 736 runs at 38.73, 42 catches and netting the record for most byes by an Australian ‘keeper
  • 225:1 | Peter Siddle debuted quietly enough but has grown into a fair backup for Johnson. His 4 tests netted 17 runs at 31.29, while his batting picked up 75 runs at 15. He’s injured now too.

The Bad

  • 40:1 | Michael Hussey with 721 runs at 34.33 and breakthrough wicket of Paul Harris
  • 70:1 | Brett Lee battled divorce, poor form and injury yet still took 39 wickets at 36.69
  • 80:1 | Shane Watson who’s body held up for 5 Tests was able to score 176 at 19.55 and take 12 wickets at 31.25. Then he broke his back.
  • 1000:1 | Beau Casson went to the Windies as MacGilla’s understudy, then Stuey pulled the cork on his career and Casson got a Test. His figures of 1/129 were enough to have him not only dropped from the team but also have his CA contract not renewed.

The Ugly

  • 40:1 | Ricky Ponting’s captaincy record of 5 wins (2 NZ, 2 WI, 1 SA), 4 losses and a 3 draws as captain. His batting has also slipped with 974 runs at 44.27
  • 100:1 | Cameron White. Picked as our specialist spinner on turning tracks in India, he sort of tied up one end for a little while and scraped 5 wickets at 68.4, which surprised him so much he cried. Our very own Ashley Giles, he also hit 146 runs at 29.2. Dropped for the dead rubber for Krezja, who took 12 wickets.
  • 500:1 | Stuart MacGill took 5 wickets at 65, and probably wishes Warney retired 5 years ago.
  • 500:1 | Matthew Hayden dominating all comers with 383 runs at 23.93
  • 300:1 | Andrew Symonds the “all rounder” who bowled under 6 overs per innings and picked up 2 wickets at 65. Oh, he’s a batsman now. Fair enough then. Well, he scored 431 runs at 39.18 and with a high score of 79 from his 13 innings with 10 starts he was unable to convert any to a century. Also made the front pages for all the wrong reasons. Faced a suspension for going fishing instead of playing Cricket, called Prince Brendan a lump of shit, enjoyed glancing at Hayden’s wife and was generally a prize clown

Beau’s less beige than Warney

There’s talk around the traps that Beau’s first test was Beige and ed no where near a test match spinner.

I thought I’d see how he compares to other champion Australian spinners, after one test. Of course it’s a pretty crappy comparison as it takes no account of the wicket, days they bowled, or quality of opposition.. nevertheless here are the great leggies on an arbitrary colour scale.

White Hot
Clarrie Grimmett 1925
31.3 overs, 5 maidens, 11/82
Average: 7.45
Economy: 2.6 rpo
Strike Rate: 22.8

Red
Jack Iverson 1950
13 overs, 3 maidens, 4/43
Average: 10.75
Economy: 3.3
Strike Rate: 26

Orange
Doug Ring 1948
41 overs, 9 maidens, 6/120
Average: 20
Economy: 2.9 rpo
Strike Rate: 54.6

Cream
Richie Benaud 1952
4.3 overs, 0 maidens, 1/14
Average: 14
Economy: 3.2 rpo
Strike Rate: 14

Bone
Stuart Macgill 1998
36 overs, 8 maidens, 5/134
Average: 26.8
Economy: 3.72 rpo
Strike Rate: 43.2

Off-White
Bill O’Reilly 1932
81.4 overs, 23 maidens, 4/155
Average: 38.75
Economy: 1.9 rpo
Strike Rate: 122.5

White
Beau Casson 2008
32 overs, 4 maidens, 3/129
Average: 43
Economy: 4.03 rpo
Strike Rate: 64

Ivory
Terry Jenner 1970
28.6 overs, 7 maidens, 2/95
Average: 47.5
Economy: 3.3
Strike Rate: 115

Beige
Shane Warne 1992
45 overs, 7 maidens, 1/150
Average: 150
Economy: 3.33 rpo
Strike Rate: 27

Transparent
Kerry O’Keefe 1970
50 overs, 14 maidens, 0/116
Average: -
Economy: 2.32
Strike Rate: -

CA selection fallout continues

The fallout from the recent round of CA central contracts continues, perhaps justified, perhaps not. I’m going to throw some fuel on the fire anyway.

I don’t think they’ve done such a bad job. Sure I might just be saying that cause they picked 40% of their players from the mighty Bluetongues… however, looking at the strength of the Bluetongues, this being a team that despite missing the likes of Lee, Bracken, Haddin, Jaques, Clark and Clarke still make the final of the Moomoo Cup, they should be all rights dominate the central contracts.

There are still a few issues I have with the selected squad – most notably having no backup for Brad Haddin. Clearly we’ll need a second gloveman to go on tour, unless they expect King Hussey to do that as well.

Regarding the selection of spinners – lets argue that they went into the selection meeting determined to pick two spinners – one for now and one for the future..

For the incumbent position the options would be Stuart MacGill and Bryce ‘the Viking’ McGain. Hmmm tough choice, perhaps a look at the numbers might help.

Bryce Stuart
1st Class Matches 17 181
1st Class Balls 3585 40751
1st Class Wickets 54 762
1st Class Average 34.75 30.37
1st Class Best 6/112 8/108
1st Class Economy 3.14 3.17
1st Class Strike Rate 66.3 53.1
Test Matches 0 42
Test Balls 0 10781
Test Wickets 0 203
Test Average 0 28.14
Test Best 0 8/108
Test Economy 0 3.17
Test StrikeRate 0 3.1

I suppose we should factor into these numbers that Macgilla’s home track does traditionally take spin while the MAFLG prefer to drop in pitches lest they hurt the aerial ping pongers.

So, a proven and rehabilitated test hero, or a 36 year old with ordinary numbers who lands it on the right spot.

As for a second spinner – if we’re looking for someone young then the options really are Beau Repair, Dan Cullen and Cullen Bailey. The two Cullen’s both had central contracts last year and deteriorated beyond recognition, this should prove a real kick up the bum to get them back into form.

If anything, Shane Watson should have been dumped for Dominic Cork.