Australian International Summer 2024/25

[amber_fluid]

Poor buggers travelling the world doing what they love.

I’ll swap jobs!

[The Dark Knight]

I really hope McSweeney makes it but lets not kid ourselves he was all at sea and could barely get the ball of the square.

**** you're rough sometimes.

2nd innings wasn't great - but one shot through bit lower, a fraction unlucky I think. Bloke faced 13 balls and 4 balls and you're saying he could barely hit off the square - what the **** are you expecting facing the new rock against a premier fast bowling attack on debut?

Along with that he's had about as good a prep as you can get yet still struggled.
That tells you how well India bowled to their plans not how poor a bat the bloke is.
As much as it may sting they bowled better than we did on that pitch.
Oh and had some good fortune.

As for the tail wagging the dog with players given options (which I think stinks) some of them think they have a lot of cricket in 2025 (ashes etc) so need the rest.
Again soft as butter and entitled attitudes.

For me, if you are available and fit, you play grade and Sheffield shield as a mandatory lead up to our summer.
If you are a bowler and you break down in December or January so he it.

Pretty sure they have a 10 month rest from international duties from Feb to November next year, I could be wrong though.

At the moment there's the Champions Trophy scheduled in February/March and then a tour of the West Indies scheduled in June and July, two Tests and six white ball matches.
(Obviously there's the Test Championship final on June 11th too if Aus make it.)

Also Whufc channelling his inner Ed Cowan in regards to his opinion on McSweeney and the opening conundrum.

[whufc]

What did Ed say haha

Haven't followed cricket channels on to many of the socials.

[The Dark Knight]

What did Ed say haha

Haven't followed cricket channels on to many of the socials.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/its-a-guess-former-aussie-test-opener-fumes-over-mcsweeney-selection/news-story/506091e771f41c1a38951cd0a48466e6

[whufc]

There you go McSweeney has 3 score over 50 which we 50,57,63 in the 17 times that he has had to go to bat inside the first ten overs.

That means an average of 24 at shield level when batting inside the first ten overs

And we are expecting this bloke to get the job done against the best attack in the world

Good luck to McSweeney I just bloody hope the selectors don’t put a line through him if he fails. He deserves a chance to bat where he can best.

[Lightning McQueen]

There you go McSweeney has 3 score over 50 which we 50,57,63 in the 17 times that he has had to go to bat inside the first ten overs.

That means an average of 24 at shield level when batting inside the first ten overs

And we are expecting this bloke to get the job done against the best attack in the world

Good luck to McSweeney I just bloody hope the selectors don’t put a line through him if he fails. He deserves a chance to bat where he can best.

I don't think anyone expected him to get the job done, it was more of a case of our best option moving forward and a fair bit of hope included.

If you're lucky enough to represent your country you bat where they see you fit, he's probably very lucky to get the opportunity and he has become a forum favourite, it just takes that one good innings to give yourself the confidence that makes you believe that you belong.

[Brodlach]

Beau Webster added to the squad and inline for a debut as Mitch Marsh is very sore.

Perhaps if our players got to work in long forms of the game early enough this wouldn’t be an issue.

Marsh had three weeks off just as the season began due to parental leave.

[locky801]

Beau Webster added to the squad and inline for a debut as Mitch Marsh is very sore.

Perhaps if our players got to work in long forms of the game early enough this wouldn’t be an issue.

Marsh had three weeks off just as the season began due to parental leave.

very sore and still 2 weeks till the next test FFS

[Brodlach]

Crazy isn’t it, 9 days before the next game, get him in the nets tomorrow iIMO

[dedja]

[amber_fluid]

Beau Webster added to the squad and inline for a debut as Mitch Marsh is very sore.

Perhaps if our players got to work in long forms of the game early enough this wouldn’t be an issue.

Marsh had three weeks off just as the season began due to parental leave.

very sore and still 2 weeks till the next test FFS

Can’t be sore from batting

[helicopterking]

Move Marsh into opening, like they did when Shane Watson couldn’t bowl, McSweeney to 3, Webster into 6. Marnus out.

[whufc]

Beau Webster in the squad and was having a look his 30 years of age. Got me thinking how different a look the Aussie side is to the India side.

Below is the ages of the young blokes in the test side that played at the WACA. Admittedly 3-4 of them may make way for some of the older blokes to come back into the side.

BUT how are the Indians getting so many players that are test level ready at such a young age compared to us. Is it that our domestic cricket is tougher so its harder to make when your younger. I mean that Indian test side was younger than the Redbacks shield side the week just gone (Hunt 27, McInerney 30, Drew 28, Lehmann 32, Nielson 29, Manenti 27, Johnson 28, Conway 32, Doggatt 30)

Is this where we are missing the boat a tad, we aren't getting enough talented young lads in the state set ups.

Is it even a problem if blokes arent starting their test careers until into the 30's?

Just interesting how the two biggest countries have completely different looks.

Jaiswal 22
Padikkal 24
Pant 27
Jurel 23
Sundar 25
Reddy 21
Rana 22

[mighty_tiger_79]

The Indians don't let T20 interrupt their 4day comp like we do. That's probably a starting point.

[Brodlach]

Beau Webster in the squad and was having a look his 30 years of age. Got me thinking how different a look the Aussie side is to the India side.

Below is the ages of the young blokes in the test side that played at the WACA. Admittedly 3-4 of them may make way for some of the older blokes to come back into the side.

BUT how are the Indians getting so many players that are test level ready at such a young age compared to us. Is it that our domestic cricket is tougher so its harder to make when your younger. I mean that Indian test side was younger than the Redbacks shield side the week just gone (Hunt 27, McInerney 30, Drew 28, Lehmann 32, Nielson 29, Manenti 27, Johnson 28, Conway 32, Doggatt 30)

Is this where we are missing the boat a tad, we aren't getting enough talented young lads in the state set ups.

Is it even a problem if blokes arent starting their test careers until into the 30's?

Just interesting how the two biggest countries have completely different looks.

Jaiswal 22
Padikkal 24
Pant 27
Jurel 23
Sundar 25
Reddy 21
Rana 22

Population of 1,450,935,791 people helps

[The Dark Knight]

Beau Webster in the squad and was having a look his 30 years of age. Got me thinking how different a look the Aussie side is to the India side.

Below is the ages of the young blokes in the test side that played at the WACA. Admittedly 3-4 of them may make way for some of the older blokes to come back into the side.

BUT how are the Indians getting so many players that are test level ready at such a young age compared to us. Is it that our domestic cricket is tougher so its harder to make when your younger. I mean that Indian test side was younger than the Redbacks shield side the week just gone (Hunt 27, McInerney 30, Drew 28, Lehmann 32, Nielson 29, Manenti 27, Johnson 28, Conway 32, Doggatt 30)

Is this where we are missing the boat a tad, we aren't getting enough talented young lads in the state set ups.

Is it even a problem if blokes arent starting their test careers until into the 30's?

Just interesting how the two biggest countries have completely different looks.

Jaiswal 22
Padikkal 24
Pant 27
Jurel 23
Sundar 25
Reddy 21
Rana 22

Keep in mind the Ranji Trophy, the Indian First Class cricket competition has 38 teams, in Australia we have 6. India has a population of around 1.4/1.5 billion and Australia has a population 26 million. Cricket is their number 1 sport, in Australia it's not. Of course they're going to have more talented kids/young people playing cricket and coming into and their domestic system due to the sheer mass of population they have.

[batmanbegins]

There is going to be a time very soon where india just are unbeatable. The development of there country and the funds now in cricket are crazy compared to 20 years ago and with there population size to go with there love of cricket it's going to be hard to stop when they have the infrastructure to back it up. Australia are just going to go through a phase similar to 2010ish very soon when they got old and lost some players without good depth behind it but you will bounce back as you always do. Green is a big loss this series and hopefully Konstas develops into a star soon. You will always produce good bowlers just maybe not have a 4 this good again.

[dedja]

Most populous nation in Earth, overtaking China now.

71st on the 2024 Olympics medal tally with 0 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze, so cricket is much more important to them than the Olympics it seems.

They could improve significantly if they wanted to, but perhaps they probably want to improve the lives of the 10% or so of the population who live in extreme poverty first.

The divide between rich and poor is massive, with some of the poorest whilst at the same time some of the richest people on Earth.

The IPL is seemingly dominated by owners who are the daughters of the mega wealthy, looking for a plaything to spend some loose cash on.

India have probably only scratched the surface of the potential pool of unearthing world class cricketers. Their massive population and rapidly increasing wealth as a nation is why they effectively run world cricket, so Australia, like every other country, is really up against it.

Considering all that, it’s surprising they’re not dominating every facet of world cricket, so they will only get better.

That said, New Zealand have shown their ability to bat way above their worth in many, many sports with a tiny population of just over 5M, so that faaarks up all my previous arguments.

[The Bedge]

Here's my crazy conspiracy theory.. I think India through their wealth use the IPL to dilute / distract strong cricket nations from international cricket.

They throw ridiculous money at players in these auctions, which makes it more appealing than focusing on longer format cricket.. which then in turn filters down through our grades where T20 is the craze because it can make you an instant millionaire.

The IPL have rules around teams fielding underage / developing players as well - so doubles as a great training ground for upcoming players facing or bowling to international standard players from other countries.. fast tracks their development but also takes away any fear factor should they cross paths down the track in international cricket.

India don't allow any of their players (women excepted) to play in any T20 competition around the world, and with the exception of IPL and T20i they don't play other formats.

So take the 1st test.. they come out here to win, whilst all the talk early day 2 is who went for what in the IPL auction. The focus is on IPL / T20 and the quick buck, whilst India continuing to focus and develop squads across all 3 formats.

[whufc]

So if we put down their ability to have talented youngsters purely down to population thats fine.

But that also means they have a system that allows young players with talent to get a chance and not have 28–32-year-olds clogging up all the teams.

Maybe this is an advantage of having 38 teams, noting the BCCI were concerned about the quality of depth having that many teams so have completely restructured the Ranji Trophy to include an Elite Competition to counter this.

Should CA consider a slight restructure to the shield comp or is it a case of it's been successful for a very long-time business as usual. What changes could be made......just ideas not all perfect

-Shield Cricket to be played whilst the entirety of the home test season is being played.
-Should contracted CA players be 'forced' to play the opening two shield games unless injured
-Should there be a 'state academy team' maybe a provision to allow them to have 2 overage players. What would that look like?
-On the other hand, should a rule be enforced each state team must play with (3) blokes under the age of 23.
-Should we do nothing at all, it's just swings and roundabouts and weve been on top the most.
-Do we need more teams, maybe one from Canberra and one from the NT, may dilute the quality but would give more players an opportunity.
-Does the format of the Shield need to change, more overs, play over 5 days, different point system.