Australian Domestic Season 09/10

It's nearly that time of year when I have to try and mix my green and gold Aussie gear with the black and gold of the "Retravision" Warriors (disclaimer: I hate that stupid name. Why can't they just be the Western Warriors?).

The T20 Champion's League starts on October 8th (NSW play their first match on the 9th); the Ford Ranger Cup starts on the 11th (first match is the Warriors at home to QLD); the Sheffield Shield starts on the 13th and; the KFC T20 starts later on December 28th.

Here are the full fixtures for the season:


2009/2010 fixtures


P.S. I am dead proud that 3 West Aussies are state captains for this season

P.P.S. Marcus North is a god

Yes, Owais, you're devilishly good

In today's Metro, there is an articled titled:

"We are team to beat now, insists Shah".

All out for 146 against those giants of cricket, New Zealand.

Yep, definitely the team to beat.

Just when I think it's safe to be mean to Mussey, he starts to bat again

Weren't we going along so well yesterday? I am so disappointed about the non-result. I really hoped we would just win and get through and not have to worry about the match against Pakistan, but it was not to be.

So now where are we? Well, if we beat Pakistan it's all very simple. Australia goes through in the number 1 slot with Pakistan in second. Obviously, that's the scenario I want.

If, however, Australia do not beat Pakistan things may get a tad more complicated. Especially if India beat the West Indies.

It's all a bit much for a girl getting ready for work who hasn't yet had her 4 morning coffees, so I'll leave to Cricinfo to explain:
What India need to do to go through

Something's rotten in the state of South Africa

I've been away for a couple of days and haven't been able to watch any cricket, but I have been trying to keep up as much as I can.

Sadly, Blackpool has the worst mobile reception away from my home town in Australia, Killyourself W.A. This means I wasn't able to do my usual obsessive checking of wap.cricinfo on my phone or text/ring anyone who might be able to update me.

We did have Sky Sports news in our room, though, so I was able to get a bit of info in between hearing about Liverpool winning 6-1, Chelsea losing to Wigan (that's a wee bit funny) and Bolton actually winning a match for a change.

And all I have to say is this: What the hell is going on over there? South Africa are out; Sri Lanka are on the verge of going out; Australia made hard work of beating West Indies B; India lost to Pakistan and now have to beat us to stay in the tournament and - this is the hardest to swallow - England are through to the semis!!

And, btw, does anyone else think Strauss is a complete arse for not allowing Smith a runner last night? I caught the end of that match and you could see Smith was in pain, plus the Saffers had a mountain to climb in order to win, so why not just let him have a runner?

Anyone who has ever even so much as hiccupped near this blog will know that I am not a fan of Strauss, but it has now disintegrated into downright dislike. The man ought to be boo-ed from rooftops the cricketing world over.

Must go - pigs are flying across the sky and Ponting has just won the toss! By god I hope we can beat India today!!

20 Things I've learnt from CATV this summer

Inspired by Purna at Cricket Minded, I thought I'd share some of the major revelations I have discovered by watching Cricket Australia TV over the past few months:

1. Mitchell Johnson can't use a microwave
2. Simon Katich now considers himself a New South Welshman
3. Nathan Bracken is as interesting as a tree trunk
4. Ricky Ponting still thinks he is the best fielder in the world
5. Nathan Hauritz is one of those men who should never wear shorts
6. Ben Hilfenhaus may or may not have ADHD
7. James Hopes may or may not have a stammer
8. Brett Lee is not even remotely musical and should stick to bowling
9. Adam Gilchrist had no idea how to turn on a playstation
10. The driver of the team bus in the UK watched Sky Sports news while driving (!!)
11. Adidas are secret Kiwi supporters and are on a mission to make our lads wear NZ colours.
12. Ponting makes a lot of money beating his team mates at golf.
13. Callum Ferguson was never taught to shave properly.
14. Brad Hodge farts a lot.
15. Michael Clarke uses beauty products and steals towels from his team mates
16. Hilfy has one of those strong Aussie accents that make most of us cringe
17. Mike Hussey talks through his nose. It's very annoying.
18. Haddin is a neat freak in the dressing room
19. Ponting is the exact opposite.
20. Peter Siddle picks his toenails.

And finally, it's not in the list because it is not a revelation but a confirmation - that Ricky Ponting is not good at losing.

ICC Champion's Trophy

Well, it's underway and aren't Sri Lanka looking fantastic? I have to rethink my confidence in South Africa's ability to win this one.

And I am bloody happy that Sri Lanka is not in Australia's group.

Here's a wee reminder of Australia's Squad and Fixtures:

Ricky Ponting (captain)
Michael Clarke (vice-captain)
Nathan Bracken
Callum Ferguson
Brad Haddin
Nathan Hauritz
Ben Hilfenhaus
James Hopes
Michael Hussey
Mitchell Johnson
Brett Lee
Peter Siddle
Adam Voges
Shane Watson
Cameron White

Really pleased that Jimmy Hopes and Adam Voges will be there. Not so sure about Mussey at the moment, but I'm all up for being surprised by him.

Australia's fixtures for the competition look like this:

Saturday 26 September: Australia v West Indies (The Wanderers) - I will be at a wedding in Blackpool. Here's hoping the hotel has a bar with sky on the TV.

Monday 28 September: Australia v India (Centurion)
Wednesday 30 September: Australia v Pakistan (Centurion)

A couple of days ago I was feeling really confident that we would get through to the semis, now I'm not so sure. That's a pretty damn tough group we have to get through first.

Ponting says 7 ODIs was too many ...

... 6 would, obviously, have been better.

:-)

Cricinfo story: One-day series was too long

And the game ends on a no-ball ...

... at least England weren't able to win in any style.

But still - bugger.

Bugger, bugger, bugger.

Well, that was pretty dire.

7th ODI part 1:

I know we have already won the series, but doesn't 7-0 sound nice?

I'm most annoyed that we couldn't at least bat out the 50 overs. Hitting 200 might have been nice as well.

Isn't it typical of England to wait until it is all over to find some form?

Let's hope they haven't found it with the bat as well - I reckon Hilfy and Haurie will be gagging to get out there with a pitch like that.

Oh well, ke sera sera as that splendind Englishman, Kit Marlowe, said.

ICC Champions Trophy 2009

One more practice match against England for the Aussies and then it's off to South Africa - I've got a good feeling about it.

The warm-up matches started yesterday and the competition starts properly on the 22nd, with the hosts South Africa facing the Sri Lanka.

The groups are as follows:

Group A: Australia, India, Pakistan, West Indies
Group B: South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, England

The fixtures can be found here:

BBC page

and here (Cricinfo page):

Cricinfo page

Flintoff the greedy beggar ...

... has raised the question of whether cricketers - or any international sports person - ought to play for love of country and many of us cricket lovers have been speculating on how long it will be before other players follow the call of the almighty dollar.

According to Peter Siddle, nothing will top the call of the baggy green and it is a nice thought, but we'll see:

Baggy Green over greenbacks

Bumble: we can't call the ICC and say "we need to change our team because we're rubbish"

WE WON THE TOSS!!! Hallelujah!

We batted and we decided to give England a bit of (much needed) practice at catching 300.

They failed miserably.

Tim Paine was our little star, making his maiden century; Hussey decided to actually show up for the first time all summer and how was James Hopes with 3 for 32? He still looks very odd.

There was a wee cock up with Brett Lee somehow missing an easy run out opportunity for the last wicket - Ponting's face was a picture. I think he gets a tad frustrated with Lee at times.

But, all in all, a really good night.

More fantastic shots of Little Andy looking annoyed. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

I nearly managed some tickets.

It didn't happen in the end.

Gutted.

I'm off to blow up my giant flag hand and eat some vegemite on toast.

300?? That's easy!

I am a bit late on the 5th ODI report, but I guess you all know how it happened by now. Quick run down:

I didn't get to watch it all, but I did arrive home just in time to catch Mitchy chucking a handful of pies (again) and England reaching 299.

Well, I panicked as ever. Why was Brett Lee not there to sort out these wannabes? Has Merve finally shaved his tash off? Who is this Eoin Morgan guy, anyway?

Then I sat down to watch Ponting and Clarke masterfully chase down that 300 and I was much, much happier. I admit there were a few moments when I was silently screaming "MOVE IT!!" as they trotted along for yet another slow single ...

... but in general, it was all good. Ponting sent a few balls skywards - one even disappeared into the cloud cover - and got 126 from 109 deliveries. Spectacular!

Having to chase 300 was a good exercise for the team. We are going to have to play some real teams in South Africa after all.

The Shortlist

I'm not going to go through every nominee or even every category, I'll leave that to bloggers who have more time than I do:

Link

Suffice it to say, I think Gambhir will clean up, and deservedly so; I hope Little Andy is not named Test Player of the Year, as he is not *that* good and is a complete twat; I hope Hilfy is Emerging Player of the Year.

Those bowling machines are vicious, aren't they?

England are forced to call upon a player whose name no one can pronounce as yet another of their players is injured in training:

Link

Luke Wright injured his toe with a bowling machine yesterday and may not be fit to play today.

It's a shame for England, because Wright has been impressive.

They were going to lose anyway, of course.

I told you White was a popular choice!

Greg Shipperd disagrees with Punter and backs his Victoria captain, White, for the T20 captaincy:

Victoria Coach backs White for Australia

And Cricket Australia are so good at taking into account what others think, aren't they?

Does White have a chance of becoming Australia's T20 Captain? Yeah, and Merve is gonna shave his tash off ...

Welcome back Punter

4th ODI:

Guess who won the toss?

They opted to bat first. Lacking his sidekick, Colly, Strauss attempted his one man innings show and started extremely strong.

Again.

Then he got out. It was Nathan Hauritz.

Again.

10 overs, 2 for 23.

Anyone who has ever doubted shall be held down and forced to swallow mouldy back issues of the Daily Mail.

With their only half decent batsman gone, England crumbled.

Brett Lee cleaned up with a 5 wicket haul. Damn we missed him in the Ashes, didn't we?

All out in 46 overs for 220. At some point, the ECB might remember the names "Trott" and "Mustard".

Watto and Paine give good openage. Broad, who needs a haircut, looked even girlier than ever is his shiny Vodafone pjs. Paine even managed a half century, which is impressive for someone who hasn't even hit puberty yet.

Nice to hear huge cheers (for a change) as Ponting enters the arena.

Paine goes and now our two Captains are in the middle. They're playing risky shots, but at 152-2 they can afford to - why didn't Clarke and White play like this on Wednesday night?

Just as the match starts to look more like a casual training session than an ODI, Ponting goes for 48. But fear not, for Lord Callum of Adelaide is here.

And then it was done. Fergie and Clarke brought it home and we won the series.

It's not the Ashes though, is it?

Oh, well - we've got 3 practice matches to come. We're in top form. South Africa, here we come!

Well, I'm surprised ... are you?

In a nice follow up to the farce of announcing a shortlist for the T20 captaincy, Ponting has now endorsed Clarke to become his successor in that form of the game:

Ponting backs Clarke

I like Clarke and I think he will do a great job, but the general feeling I'm getting from people I talk/email to is that Cameron White is the man the fans want.

Courting controversy ...

Maybe we should lose Pup, instead?

White not definite for Saturday

ODI#3 blah blah bliddy blah

So England made it to the football world cup finals; mijn Oraanje, who had already qualified, buried Scotland's hopes of joining them; my sister in law got married in vegas - we watched via webcam and; oh yeah ... Australia won the cricket.

We flicked over just in time to see Cammie get his century. Still only 2 wickets down. Clarke still being overtaken by snails with limps.

We watched the Wire, then caught some highlights on Sky Sports News. It looks like it might have picked up toward the end a'la ODI#1.

I'll take their word for that.

God help me ... I'm off to watch football

ODI#3 part 2:

We are moving a wee bit slowly and already a wicket down, but there's a long way so I am not giving up yet.

I shouldn't watch - it's bad for my health. And my fingernails.

Cammie takes one in the nurries from Sidebottom. The crowd went wild. Bumble Lloyd starts to reminisce about his days of facing Jeff Thompson.

Moments later, Sidebottom makes an idiot of himself (go figure!) by celebrating wildly a wicket that wasn't ... it wasn't anything, Ryan, what are you on about? Go get a haircut already.

And so we continue to plod along at snail's pace, nary a boundary to be found and even I was getting bored ... until we got to see a diving Swann, gracefully sliding along the ground while Tim Paine's ball goes easily to the rope.

And then Paine was gone for 29 and we are still moving slow as you please ... but here comes Clarke in his last stint as Cap'n for this series, here's hoping he can do us some good.

Nope ... after facing 20 balls, he is still on 4 runs ... I'm switching over to the football.

I'll check back later.

yawn.

I really hate Ryan Sidebottom

ODI #3 part 1:

England won the toss (do I really need to tell you that?) and started pretty good, but then two wickets went in two overs and suddenly the Aussies were on top. And then Mitchell Johnson made it three - but wasn't Shah an unlucky man?

I am never happy until Strauss is a goner, to be honest, and it may have been 61-3 but little Andy still didn't look like he was going anywhere. Collingwood was now in the middle with him. Collers hasn't been at his best, but he does have a tendency to weigh anchor and I was worried these two had the ability to form a masterful partnership for England.

And they gave it a damn good shot, Strauss didn't go until it was 98-3 but when he did it was Nathan Hauritz again - he is quickly becoming little Andy's arch nemesis!

There were some lovely shots of Andy on the England balcony shaking his head in despair. To quote one Aussie friend and fellow cricket fan: "Despair: my favourite English emotion".

And was it my imagination, or were the crowd booing the Aussie bowlers for a while there?

Interesting.

Wicket 5 was Collers, who seemed to around for ages yet went for only 28 ...? Who cares, we love you Nathan Bracken!

It was around now I started to relax and really enjoy ... the Aussies were on top and by the time England were at 189-9 (around 43 overs) I was pretty certain the total was going to be miserly.

Bloody Sidebottom ruined my day again and his fellow tail-ender, Bresnan, wasn't much better. OK, 228 isn't a great total but the Aussie batsmen are not to be trusted ... memories of Lords and Oval start rolling around my head ...

Well, we'll see ...

Seriously?

Well, I suppose they have to at least pretend to be considering people other than Clarke ...

The Contenders

R.I.P. Amy

I'm sure all cricket bloggers already know about this, but I still feel it needs posting:
Amy S. Talks Cricket

Hands up who gives a toss that Nathan Bracken has really girlie hair?

2nd ODI part 2:

England's innings started oddly like Australia's - fast start, then slowing down after the first couple of wickets fell.

Watson was looking fine fine fine (and for the first time all summer I heard a commentator say "brilliant bowling from Nathan hauritz" - it was quite an achievement for him).

After a while, I got very worried ... they were looking so good.

I was dreading the ribbing I would get at work tomorrow morning.

Thoughts of moving back to Australia crossed my mind at one point.

And then there was Bracken ... striding around with flowing hair like Adonis.

We fought back. We won.

I inflated my giant Aussie flag hand.

Thoughts of running naked through the park crossed my mind at one point.

I'm already to go to work and being bloody obnoxious ... it's long overdue, I can tell you.

We're 2-0 up and I'm a happy little vegemite.

The only thing that marrs my joy is that those b**tards have our little urn.

Hands up who wants to marry Mitchell Johnson?

2nd ODI - part 1:

It started well, although we lost yet another toss (we're getting used to that); the sun was shining and so was Shane Watson.

England had found a tramp sleeping next to a dumpster behind Lords, put some kit on him and told him to bowl ... no, wait ... it's Ryan Sidebottom ...

We were moving quite fast, Watto was getting lucky with LBW calls and England's fielding was a tad iffy at best.

Then came the first wicket and the day started to turn against us.

Once Watto was gone, Paine panicked "what do I do? what do I do?" and off he went as well. I shouldn't be too hard on him, he is only 12.

Big Cap'n Clarkey appeared, loud and proud. He didn't look so cocky when he walked off again 11 balls later with a massive 4 runs to his name.

We had slowed down somewhat, but I was confident - for now we had Cammie and Fergie in the middle and that's always good news, right?

Wrong. They did ok, but just as the partnership was starting to find its feet Ravi proved to the world that he actually can bowl occasionally, and Mussey came running in like a toddler with ADHD.

He didn't last long.

James Hopes appeared ... the man may look like random parts of 8 different corpses haphazardly sewn together and reanimated by a Swede, but he can be impressive with a bat. Just not today. He looked anxious, unsettled and went way too soon.

Fergie looked as impressive as ever, but an impressive ball from Anderson put an end to a very good innings.

Things weren't looking good and I was biting what was left of my fingernails after Friday night.

But then God, in the form of Mitchell Johnson, walked out and started punishing the bowlers. He was strong and confident right from the first ball. Australians everywhere breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Two milestones later and Johnson has put England on the back foot. 249 isn't quite as high as I would have liked, but it's a damn sight higher than I expected earlier in the day.

Now let's hope our bowlers can kick some arse!

I had forgotten what victory smelled like!

So we finally managed to win something this summer - it ain't the little urn, but I'll take what I can get at this point.

I was disappointed to have to be at work on Friday and was, therefore, unable to watch the action on TV. Having since read many reports, however, it sounds like I did well.

I got the pub for the final 4 overs and it was great.

I was biting my nails and cursing Ryan Sidebottom.

I was also the only Aussie in the pub, so stealth was in order.

Jrod and Cricinfo assure me it was only those final 4 overs that were any good.

Jrod did see a bogan chick spill her drink all over a posh chick. It was the highlight of his day.

I had to go to work again yesterday with a major hangover. I'll celebrate even the smallest victories, me.

Let's hope today's match is better, or I may have to start watching football instead.

And hey, we won some Rugby as well. Nice.

The ICC nominations are in ...

... and there are one or two Aussies on the list, most notably Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle.

I am also pleased to note the nomination of ten Doeschate from the Netherlands in the Associate & Affiliate category. I thought he was impressive against England in *that* T20 match (which I enjoyed not a little bit, partly because I am half Dutch and partly because it was England they beat).

ICC nominations

"Spending time with my family" - isn't that a standard euphemism in sport ...?

... for "I've been told to leave" or even "I've been fired"?

Nielsen goes back to Australia

What the hell is going on at Old Trafford?

Is it any wonder Old Trafford is struggling to hold onto its status as an international ground? This really isn't good enough and as a Lancashire supporter, I am more than a little bit disappointed as this reflects very badly on the club.

Match abandoned without a ball bowled

At £50 a ticket, one hopes there will be some sort of refund for spectators.