Tag: Michael Clarke

2012 XI

There are still three days to go in the year proper, but 2012 ended in a cricketing sense last night as Sri Lanka collapsed to a heavy innings defeat at the MCG. It’s an interesting year on which to look back; South Africa will certainly be the happiest as they returned to the number one spot in the Test rankings, but England finished on a high and Australia made the most of their very weak opposition for most of the year.

For my XI of the year I am assuming the Test is being played in South Africa as they are the number one ranked side. I have one spinner, therefore, and although all things being equal I prefer having five bowlers it is far more common to play four bowlers/six batsmen so I am using that balance.

Alastair Cook
Cook led all openers in 2012 with 1249 runs scored and was second in average at 48.03 runs per dismissal. He also hit four centuries, the most of any opener and the last one set a new English record for career centuries.

Graeme Smith*
Smith had the best average amongst openers in 2012 with 48.52 and passed fifty more often than any other opener, eight times. He gets the captaincy in this XI after leading his team to the number one Test ranking.

Hashim Amla
Amla bats at three after 1064 runs at an average over seventy this year. His high point was the unbeaten 311 he scored as South Africa piled on the runs at the Oval, but he was brilliant throughout.

Michael Clarke
Comfortably the lead run scorer in 2012, Clarke finished the year by setting an Australian record with 1595 runs scored in a calendar year. He hit five centuries, three of them doubles and one a triple. Two of those double tons were also against South Africa, so it was not a case of weak opposition either.

AB de Villiers
De Villiers is a bit of a surprise; he bookended the year with centuries in Cape Town and Perth but had none in between. But he did still contribute consistently and averaged almost 57 in the middle order with 815 runs, fourth highest amongst middle order batsmen.

Ross Taylor
Taylor might remember this year for the captaincy debacle, but before that he scored 819 runs at an average over 54 and three centuries for good measure. The last of those came in a memorable win at Colombo.

Matt Prior†
Prior was still the best overall wicket-keeper in 2012; he scored the most runs of any wicket-keeper and had the most dismissals, though in both cases he was helped by playing in rather more matches than all of his competitors. But he was the only one to excel with both bat and gloves.

Vernon Philander
It was another excellent year for Philander; he took 43 wickets in nine Tests at an average just over 21. He was at his best early in the year, but he still took an important five wickets in the last innings of the Lord’s Test to ensure a series win for South Africa.

Kemar Roach
Roach was far from the most heralded bowler this year, but he took 39 wickets in only seven Tests at an average of 22. His zenith was the five wickets he took in each innings against Australia at Port of Spain in April.

James Anderson
Statistically this will not go down as Anderson’s best year, but that hardly tells the full story. Nine of the 14 Tests in which he played this year were in subcontinent conditions and he still proved a threat, taking thirty wickets at under 27 apiece. His spells in Galle, Calcutta and Nagpur in particular were incredible.

Saeed Ajmal
It was a very tough call for the spinner’s place between Ajmal and Ragnara Herath. Herath was actually the lead wicket taker in 2012, but Ajmal took 39 wicket in only six Tests and of course baffled England at the start of the year. Herath going wicketless in the last Test of the year finally tipped the selection to Ajmal.

Armchair selector: An Australian winter’s tale

Australia’s 75 run win in Dominica secured a 2-0 series victory, their second consecutive series win. They have now not lost a Test since their seven run defeat against New Zealand at Hobart. Unfortunately for them, they do not now play another Test until next winter. Obviously they do not entirely control the relevant parts of the Future Tours Programme, but I do think that Cricket Australia may have missed a trick by not trying to schedule something more than five ODIs for the summer. Despite their victories, we have seen some clear gaps in the side recently and there is really nothing to be done to repair them until what must be, for both Cricket Australia and the Australian public, alarmingly close to the 2013 Ashes. With that series in mind, this is how I see the current Australian side:continue reading part I and part II on the Armchair Selector…

Armchair Selector: Australia win by three wickets

This should not have been a close match. It was, in fact, almost a match that refused to be close. After three days and two hours, the West Indies seemed to be in an unassailable position. After three days and four hours, a draw seemed like the most likely bet. About thirty minutes after that, Australia seemed like strong favourites. But these transitions happened very quickly and at almost no point before the fifth day did it seem like the result was in the balance. It was not until the West Indies dug in on the fifth morning and rain delayed the restart after an already delayed lunch that the match seemed close. In the end, Australia won for two main reasons: Continue reading on The Armchair Selector…

Adelaide thoughts

The Adelaide Test is over, and I have not watched as much of it as I feel like I should. On the other hand, the bits that I have seen have been pretty much the same as the first three Tests, but there have been some interesting points:

– Most interesting was that Clarke did not enforce the follow-on despite having a huge first innings lead. The only reason for this I can think is that he wanted to rest his bowlers in the heat, but I think it was a bad idea. It didn’t make a difference to the result, but India did get 400 in the second innings at Sydney (their only score of note admittedly) and it seems unreasonable to jeopardise the match by scoring needless runs. It is the last Test of the home series and only Siddle played in the first five. They can (and maybe should) rest in the ODIs, but first they have a Test to win.

– After Clarke did declare, the declaration batting was fairly poor. Most notable was Haddin, who scored so slowly he provoked a seemingly outraged calling of the side in by Clarke. I understand that he is badly in need of runs, but after playing terrible shots for the better part of a year, the declaration was not the time to suddenly start scratching around. It was selfish play, and it in it’s own way was just as bad as his flashes in Cape Town and Hobart.

– It’s no surprise that Sehwag played like an idiot, but as captain some measure of restraint may have been warranted. In the second innings he was opening the batting in a nominal chase of 500, but in practise the goal would have been to bat out the draw and punish Clarke for not making them follow-on. It was a time for the captain to lead from the front and dig in. Instead he continued to throw his bat at everything, rode his luck past fifty (five aerial edges) and finally played a heave to the spinner that was an insult to the game. It was the very antithesis of a captain’s innings and whilst I’m not optimistic, there ought to be repercussions for his behaviour.

Morning at the MCG

As I write this it’s raining at the MCG. It started just before lunch, and we’ll lose almost half of the afternoon session. It’s already been a very good morning, however and there should be a lot about which to talk by the end of the day.

Michael Clarke won the toss at the start of the day and chose to bat on a green wicket. I didn’t, and still don’t, agree with the decision. India’s bowlers are shaky, and there’s every chance that Khan or Sharma will go down with injury at some point in this series. (Sharma looks more likely; Khan, to his credit, looks like he’s in much better shape than when he was in England last summer.) Even if those two do last out the series, a green wicket is probably the best conditions they’ll get in Oz. With Australia’s batting still looking either very inexperienced or very frail it is unwise to give India’s bowlers what would probably be their biggest advantage of the series. A year ago today on a similar (though I think even greener) pitch Australia were bowled out for 98. On the green pitches of England India did not manage to score over 300 in eight innings. If I were in Michael Clarke’s position I would have much rather seen James Pattinson bowling at an Indian batting order that looked unable to play the moving ball in England than an Indian attack probably at their peak bowling at an Australian order who have failed to play the moving ball for four consecutive Tests.

Australia actually had a go at proving me wrong. (And they still might, lots of time left.) Ed Cowan, on debut, and David Warner got off to massively contrasting starts. It wasn’t particularly surprising, Warner being the T20 specialist and Cowan being brought into the side almost specifically because of his patience. At one point Australia were 25-0 with Cowan not out on two. Warner raced to 37 off 49 balls, including a hook for six. He tried to hook a ball that wasn’t really there, however, and was caught behind as it popped up off his glove. Cowan, by contrast, has 29 off 77 as I type this. He kept his nerve when the going was very tough in the morning and kept the innings together after Warner and Marsh went in quick succession. In particular he showed excellent judgement outside his off stump, something badly lacking in the Australian batsmen of recent Tests. Despite this, there were complaints of him being ‘boring’. It’s the same charge that is often levelled at Alastair Cook, who averaged over 80 this year, and is just as ridiculous. In particular I could hardly believe that any Australian would make that complaint. Did they not watch Cook and Trott grind them into the dust last year? Did they not watch their batsmen flash at everything outside off and collapse to 98 all out a year ago, or 47 all out a few months ago. I agree that it is more fun to watch Ian Bell bat than Alastair Cook, but Cook is just as much of a match winner. Australia don’t have an Ian Bell type player, and if they want to start winning Tests again they must embrace Cowan’s style of play.

Australia are now 116-2. The pitch has flattened out and Ponting and Cowan are looking settled. His critics probably won’t mention it, but Ed Cowan’s assuredness may have saved his captain some blushes.