Audio, 3rd April 2013: 41 minutes

DAVID SIDDALL & NICKO HANCOCK share their thoughts on Australia’s secret 30 man Champions Trophy squad, preview the 6th edition of the IPL and speak to BLAISE MURPHET  in Nairobi about all things African cricket.

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In their recently completed 3-0 whitewash in the Border Gavaskar trophy, Australia’s top order performed woefully. Michael Clarke was the sole century maker in the entire series. The rest of the lineup lacked the aptitude and application to make a century. Australia’s batting lineup effectively featured four opening batsmen in Cowan, Warner, Hughes and Watson.

If ever there was a player who perfectly illustrated the sad state of batsmanship in Australia, it would have to be Shane Watson. Despite a mediocre batting average of 35 in Tests, prior to the series he was able to effectively opt out of bowling and still be a certain starter in the team. Perhaps that’s an option in the short term, but in the medium to long term, it’s losing a wicket taking bowler whose average is better than James Anderson’s, for instance (admittedly way fewer wickets).

Consider Shane Watson’s behaviour on tour.  As Vice Captain he fails to complete the required task from management after their humiliation in the opening Test. Banned from the 2nd Test he flies home for the birth of his son. Instead of taking a professional and reserved approach to the disciplinary action, he declares publicly that he’s considering his international future and shares disparaging comments about the management. As soon as Michael Clarke is declared unfit for the final test, Watson is allowed to bury the hatchett and waltz back into the team as Australia’s 44th test captain.

Headless batting and overaggressive captaincy saw Australia beaten inside three days and Watson finish the series with 99 runs at an average of 16.5, a figure that’s only marginally worse than his record over the last two years averaging 24.

A sad state of affairs indeed. But what is behind Shane Watson being able to command a place in the side and the lack of Australian Test batsmen being produced in the system?

Just how Watson is the perfect illustration of Australia’s batting woes, perhaps George Bailey – Tasmania’s Shield winning captain – is the fitting illustration to explain why there is nobody to replace the likes of Watson.

Gideon Haigh has written a brilliant piece in The Australian which shows the challenge Bailey faces to bat himself into contention. He encourages fans to put themselves in Bailey’s shoes. Today’s cricketers are expected to flick from one form of the game to the next as if they were identical disciplines.

Time was, if you recall, when summer was carefully scheduled in blocks on grounds that batting in five-day and one-day formats were essentially different crafts. For evidence that times have changed, consider the 2012-13 of Tasmania’s George Bailey.

It runs like this: from August 25 to September 3, four one-day internationals; from September 5 to October 5, nine T20 internationals; from October 14 to December 1, four Sheffield Shield four-dayers interspersed with five Ryobi Cup one-dayers; from December 9 to January 5, seven Big Bash League T20s; from January 11 to January 23, five ODIs; from January 26 to 28, two T20Is; from February 1 to 6, three ODIs; February 13, a T20I; February 19, a Ryobi Cup one-dayer; February 21 to today, four Sheffield Shield matches.

Fans who carp about the season’s many guises should try imagining it from the perspective of Bailey, compelled to make no fewer than 18 separate changes of format.

This has been mainly at the expense of his long-form cricket: in a summer when Bailey should have been challenging for an Ashes berth he has managed a single first-class half-century.

What a waste of a smart, resourceful cricketer.

How can Australia expect to produce batsmen of century-making Test match quality, until it fixes the gigantic elephant in the room?

In the meantime, anybody who makes runs in the Australia A tour or the opening rounds of the County Championship will be a big chance for The Ashes. Michael Clarke aside, every single batting spot is wide open.

But not in the case of Matt Prior. If his career was to end tomorrow, he would most likely go down with some phenomenal accolades. These would include:

• Greatest ever English wicket keeper batsman
• Finest wicket-keeper batsman in world cricket today
• One of the top twenty, (perhaps even top 10!) greatest ever English cricketers

I can hear the cries of bullshit reverberating around. To those cries, why don’t you dig a little deeper?

Of English cricketers who have played at least 60 Test matches, Matt Prior’s batting average of 45.56 is the 12th highest batting average.

Since January 1st 2011, Prior has averaged 52 with the bat, which is a staggering feat in itself in a time when ball has dominated over bat. He is a genuine batsman and a genuine wicketkeeper. But that stat doesn’t paint the full extent of Prior’s genius. On episode 93 of One Hand One Bounce, Jonathan Howcroft (@JPHowcroft – follow him on twitter!) uncovered a real beauty of a stat.

Of English cricketers who have played at least 60 Test matches, Matt Prior’s batting average of 45.56 is the 12th highest batting average. That puts him above the likes of Graham Thorpe, Graham Gooch, David Gower, Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart, and Mike Gatting.

The names he comes above are staggering. When you consider his glovework is impeccable, then you really see his genius. Take Alec Stewart for example. One of my favourite players growing up. He was primarily a batsman and throughout his career had the eccentric Jack Russell snapping at his heels for the keeping slot. With Prior, that question has never even been a thought.

The purists will know doubt say Alan Knott is the better keeper, but did he have as big an impact of the outcome of matches as much as Matthew Prior?

Statistics aside, the true greatness of Matt Prior is his approach to his cricket – the team always comes above Matt Prior. How many times has he batting selflessly in the hope of quick runs to dramatically improve the match situation for England? How much better could his average have been if this wasn’t the case?

Luckily for English fans, Matt Prior is still only 31. He has a good few years in him left. He is perhaps the figure most crucial to keeping the balance of the English side.

Where do you rate Matt Prior in terms of overall greatness?

Audio, 26th March 2013: 49 minutes

DAVID SIDDALL, JONATHAN HOWCROFT and THIHAN CHANDRIMOHAN review the enigma of Shane Watson as India whitewash Australia 4-0. MICHAEL WAGENER discusses New Zealand’s new-found fascination with Test cricket. Plus is Matt Prior the greatest wicket keeper-batsman England has ever produced?

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Further Reading

Michael Wagener on the Cricket Geek
Jonathan Howcroft reviews Australia’s newest low
Pavillion Opinions declares Matt Prior the best Wicketkeeper-Batsman-Diplomatic in the World

Your homework – answer these discussion points in the comments!

1. Where next for Australian cricket?
2. Is Matt Prior the greatest wicket keeper batsman ever produced by England?
3. What are the biggest selection choices to be made for each side prior to the Ashes?

Whilst Australia are making a better fist of it against India (currently 180-3) in the 3rd Test, Phillip Hughes continues to look like a village cricketer against India’s spinners.

Caught for two down the legside by MS Dhoni off the bowling of Pragyan Ojha, he now has figures for the series of against spinners of…

…88 deliveries

…8 runs

…5 dismissals

That’s an average of 1.6 and a strike rate of 9. He may have passed the management’s homework assignment, but I can’t help but think a blindfolded village cricketer could have done better.

England must be quaking in their boots come the Ashes in July.

Audio, 26th February 2013: 34 minutes

DAVID SIDDALL, JONATHAN HOWCROFT  and THIHAN CHANDRIMOHAN  discuss MS Dhoni’s heroics as Australia lose to India in Chennai, England defeating Brendan McCullum, and the secret to South Africa’s continued dominance in Test Cricket.

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Your homework – answer these discussion points in the comments!

1. What should Australia do to turn this series around?
2. Where does MS Dhoni’s double ton rate in a batting hall of fame?
3. Who can realistically challenge South Africa?

Audio, 6th January 2013: 28 minutes

NICK HANCOCK and DAVID SIDDALL discuss Kieron Pollard’s epic catches, Allan Border Medal, the IPL auction, and Shane Warne’s second installment of where Australian cricket is at.

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Worth Checking Out

• The winners and losers from the IPL auction
• Shane Warne: where is Australian cricket at? part 2
• Relive every episode of The Sledge on Youtube
• Watch Kieron Pollard’s heroic catch

Answer these discussion points in the comments!

1. Do you agree with Warney’s teams?
2. What were the biggest surprises in the IPL auction?
3. Where do you rate Kieron Pollard’s catch?

Audio, 30th January 2013: 33 minutes

Victoria Bushrangers and Melbourne Stars physio THIHAN CHANDRAMOHAN shares his thoughts on Shane Warne’s manifesto for Australian cricket, rotation policies and cricket scheduling. Sri Lanka’s white ball exploits get appraised. Plus, if you could kill one format of the game, what would it be?

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Worth Reading

• Follow @TCPhysio on twitter
• Shane Warne: where is Australian cricket at? part 1
• The Sledge Episode 12 featuring ‘informed player management’ debate and Kumar Sangakkara

Answer these discussion points in the comments!

1. What’s Warney got right and what has he got wrong?
2. Who would you like to see in your dream Australian cricket setup?
3. If you were to kill one form of cricket today, which would it be and why?

1. What did Ben Laughlin think he was doing…

..standing around directing fielders during the final over of the Sri Lankan innings. The Sri Lankan’s filled their boots with 20 extra runs that could have come in handy for the Australians in the end. There are three reasons why Laughlin should not have been directing fielders – one, in the words of Richie Benaud, “the captain, and only the captain, should be in charge out on the field” (Channel 9 cricket coaching video, circa 1990), the captain sets the field, living and dying by his decisions, that is why he is the captain; two, fast bowling requires the highest level of emotional output in cricket, hardly the optimum mind-set for making calculated and objective decisions; three, Laughlin is a fringe player in the form of the game that Australian cricket has the least respect for, in what galaxy does his opinion count, this was not Shane Warne bowling in the middle of an Ashes Test.

2. Does the cricket world actually expect people to keep coming and watching…

…while it allows the briefest shower of rain to hold up a match for 45 minutes. The cost of a ticket to watch what turned out to be a truncated match was between $50 and $60, hardly chicken feed. The MCG is the most manicured lawn in the southern hemisphere, yet what amounted to some dew on the grass caused the match to be held up for an extended period because of the complaints of highly paid players (listened to constantly by spineless administrators) that they may slip over. People refer constantly to T20 as being a revolution in the mould of Kerry Packer’s. This is untrue; Packer knew that his empire did not exist without a happy general public; the general public of Australia are staying away in droves based on this summer’s crowds.  The whole episode really puts a new spin on the phrase ‘as weak as water’.

3. Australian cricketers need to show more respect…

…to opponents at this time when performances are really very poor. All could see that the Sri Lankan team were pushing the gamesmanship boundaries with the time taken between balls, but who is Glenn Maxwell, or any of the team selected for this match, to take matters into their own hands by sledging the Sri Lankans. Despite his immediate impact in this match Maxwell has barely made an international run; his sparring partner on the night Mahela Jayawardene has an Olympic sized pool at home where he swim’s in them. I am not sure at this stage of his career what is so ‘big’ about Glenn ‘Big Show’ Maxwell – it is certainly not his batting aggregate.

Audio, 23rd January 2013: 36 minutes

BLAISE MURPHET appraises South Africa’s firm #1 standing and gives his take on Mike Hussey, ‘informed player management’, and everything Australia. Meanwhile MICHAEL WAGENER shares insights into New Zealand’s highs and lows, excessive run outs and their threat towards English tourists.

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Further Material

• Check out Michale Wagener’s thoughts on the Cricket Geek and tweet him @Mykuhl
• The Sledge Episode 12 featuring ‘informed player management’ debate and Kumar Sangakkara