Shield Discussion Thread 20/21.

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Richie

Richie

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CA has finally announced the schedule for the Shield. The defending champs the Blues witll take on perennial enemy the Vics on October 22 at an Adelaide venue yet to be determined. In fact all first four rounds will be played in the state. The ODD one day comp has been put back till early next year.
 
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Excellent I've been waiting for a shield forum.

First 4 rounds of games in South Australia, at least it is as fair as possible. Surprising that Qld wasn't used but I suppose with the AFL grand final at the Gabba they'll probably move it there later. But already we see something funny, NSW and Vic postponing their initial match to the 17 November, they seem to be blaming quarantine for the delay. Victoria and NSW could already be in Adelaide in isolation they had more than 14 days to do so. NSW probably want to play it at North Sydney oval so they can get their bonus points up.

At the moment Victoria don't have any grade cricket playing, nor does WA Tas or SA

NSW just started theirs not much to report, only 1 round

Qld is interesting in their 4th round with Jimmy Pierson up the top of their run scorers. Pffiefer, Heazlett and Bryce Street all in good form. Khawaja and Burns haven't had the best start. Renshaw also not performing greatly. The big surprise packet for me is Nathan McSweeney who has made his FC debut is one of the leading batsmen which is expected but he is also one of the leading bowlers so that is developing nicely for him. We may see more of him this year. Two young bowlers Connor Sully and Blake Edwards are performing really well currently so there may be some youth developing in Qld. Mark Steketee is a bit low on form currently and I think the end is near for Mitchell Swepson not good for him in grade cricket.
 
Some conjecture as to the starting date.. I am now reading it is on October 10.. not 22. which is great as a shorter time to wait for cricket purists like me. Yes my state started Premier last weekend. One dayers only with Blues rookie Oliver Davies cracking a big 100.

Big hopes for Bryce Street and Henry Hunt. Tipping both to be in Australia's top four within three years. They were the leading openers for their respective states for a good part of last season. Matt Renshaw aint finished. too much quality in his game. He does tho need to sort out the mental side.. similar to another youngster I wanna see don a baggy green..Will Pucovski. I like Heazlett too but is a touch inconsistent. I watched Sully and Edwards in I think it was an underage national match last year and both impressed me.. specially Edwards. Expecting big things also from Redback seamer David Grant.. that is if he can get the ball away from their accomplished attack. . Vics have picked up a couple of promising quicks in former Blues rookie Henry Thornton and one of the Prestwidge brothers.. is it Jack? The TCA has have prolonged Siddle's career and the veteran shud be a big help to the young Tigers quicks. I specially like the look of the seamer with three names and two dads.. Lawrence Neil-Smith. Am expecting also a break out season from Mac Wright.
 
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Henry Hunt is an interesting choice. SA have a squad stacked with quality bowlers, but when it comes to batsmen they don't have a lot. Travis Head and Alex Carey but how often do they play FC. SA have now got Will Bosisto from WA another questionable talent and 27. They.ve give a contract to the all-rounder Corey Kelly but I don't know what they did with Thomas Kelly one of the leading run scorers last year in U19. They picked up Liam Scott from ACT another bowler. Too many weak batsmen for my liking, so Henry Hunt may get a chance because there is no one else, but apart from Tasmania last year was a batting bunny. David Grant wouldn't be high on the pecking order

Will Pucovski could be/should be a future captain of Australia

Jack Prestwidge did move down here from Qld, but he didn't get a contract, he will have to do it the right way, through Grade cricket if that ever happens. Bet you he is regreting that decision currently, with Qld playing and we're in lockdown. Haven't heard anything about Henry Thornton He hasn't got a contract to my knowledge, and to Victorian cricket followers he's just a foul mouthed show pony after his send off of Eamonn Vines in the future's comp

Tasmania just can't help themselves, they'll take the veterans at the expense of developing talent. Yes Macalister Wright was one we let get away, so good luck to him.
 
Never heard that about Thornton. Reason the Blues turfed him? They never gave him much of a shot which is typical with our crap selctors. played one or two List A matches from memory. The kid showed promise back in 2015 with his bagging of 13 scalps against England U-19s. He has teamed up with St Kilda and reports of him training with the Vics. We lose so many of our best young cricketers simply because the talent pool is too large for places to fill. Others in the Thornton box are Henry Hunt, Nathan Ellis, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Charlie Wakim, Ian Calisle, Liam Scott. That is only in the past two years. There are others. Meanwhile our selectors hold onto blokes well past their primes. That to me is sending a poor message to young up and comers.
 
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69er said:
Yes Macalister Wright was one we let get away, so good luck to him.
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Then the ACT let him go and our dumb NSW selectors allowed the TCA to poach him for the Tassie Tigers after he had showed some promise as a leggie and powerful bat for Sydney Thunder. Think he also played Sydney Premier Cricket. Mac has already done some terrific things for the Tigers..specially in ODD. He had a decent Shield debut season. Now looking for him to build on that. God knows Tassie needs some batting quality.

I have seen nothing of a Futures League (2nd X1) schedule.
 
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I'll correct you on one thing, NSW and Victoria have a large player pool not necessarily talent. We have 22 clubs you have 20 so it only appears to have talent at club level, but in general at club level most teams only have 1 talented bowler and maybe 1 talented batsman. See off that one talented bowler and it will be a run feast. Get that one batsman there will be some easy wickets, to follow

The only difference between Victoria and NSW is Victorian players wish to remain in Melbourne, the world's 2nd most liveable city and play at club level but are realistic and concentrate on getting degrees from Uni. NSW players like David Warner just have no intelligence to go to Uni so cricket is the be all end all for a lot of them and there is no attraction to staying in Sydney, which has been referred to recently by the ABC as "a pretentious, stressful trap" so players are prepared to move interstate. The NSW players that you "let go" obviously don't have uni degrees to finish do they otherwise they have to stay to complete them. There is no way to compare the "talent" level of these borderline players, it is just who is willing to move and that will always be NSW players over Victorian players.
 
69er said:
world's 2nd most liveable city
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I can see you and I are gonna clash over state preferences and dare I say biases. So what makes your state the second most liveable city pray tell. My son lived there for five years and did not have a great deal of praise for it. He did say that house prices were cheaper and the road management made driving easier than Sydney.. May have something to do with less cars on the road due to a smaller population. He also praised the Melbourne nite life. That was about it. I guarantee if you were to ask overseas tourists if they'd prefer to sail, swim, paddle or simply view either Sydney Harbor or the Yarra River.. betting 9 of 10 vote Sydney. Wud they rather watch a Test match from the oversized, airless, impersonal colosseum- like MCG over the more historical actual cricket ground with a more intimate, air filled atmosphere of the SCG. Again betting most 'd say Sydney. As for real estate costs, those are now not far off parity between the two states. Dunno whether Sydney's road management is now better with the building of further road infrastructure over recent years. I expect it is. The Sydney nite life most certainly will be jumping again once all Covid restrictions are lifted and the early closing curfew introduced coupla years back, is dumped.
 
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What is your point about Vic players wishing to remain at home while those from my state move interstate. A cricketer moving interstate is done for one reason only.. he wants to play professional cricket and make a living from it. The reason Vic players dont move interstate is because they are not in demand.. not some rot about the fact they live in Melbourne. If you were to do a survey of all the cricketers over the past say 30 years that have been wanted by another state, it 'd show a clear majority were from New South.. Proof that the talent pool is deeper here than anywhere else.

Buck Rogers says Will Pucovski has the game to be a long term middle order rock for Australia. Well when the maestro Steve Smith retires we are certainly going to need another rock to stabilise a shaky top order. So good call Buck.
 
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There will be no clash, I've lived in every state except ACT and NT. When we retired we settled to be near parents and kids in Melbourne, but if I had my way I would have retired in Qld anywhere on the coast is great in QLD, best lifestyle possible because of the weather, probably not Brisbane itself though getting too big. But I will tell you that Sydney has changed a lot from the 80's 90's, so much so I turned down transfers every time Sydney came up. Worst place in Australia.

You make up the worst excuses. Sydney has the bigger population over Melbourne, that's why road management is poor in Sydney??? Yeah I'm sure those extra 100,000 make all the difference when dealing with 5 million.
How long does it take to get from the outskirts of Sydney to the Harbour? Think about all the beaches from Geelong to Mornington Peninsular. What is the most iconic test in Australia? Answer truthfully.

But I will be honest I think a lot of Victorians are thinking about moving to Qld if they haven't already done so already. That's what CV19 has done, made people start to think, but one place they'll never go is NSW.
 
You retired too. So where are you are you from originally. More population more cars on the road more traffic conjestion. Where did that 100,000 extra people come from. Many times that. Sydney population will reach 5.98 million this year while Melbourne's will reach 5.33. Maths were never my strong suit at school but that is almost 700K more people living in the harbor city. Lets say half (probably much more) of them own a vehicle that is 350,000 more cars conjesting Sydney streets. You have to keep building infrastructure to cope with the extra loads. That makes sense to me. Sydney's urban area covers 1,788 km. Probably reason it takes as long as it does to get from the city's outer edges to the harbor and coast.
If you have not lived in Sydney since the 90s then your claim that it is the worst place in Australia is whistling in the wind. Plenty of change in 30 years.. most for the better. Having said that, I'd have loved to retire somewhere on our south or central coast but was not to be.
 
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You Vics can thank a former Blue for a good deal of your success over the past two years. Nic Maddinson has plundered Shield attacks to the tune of 1343 runs from only 12 games @83.93 since moving states looking for a likely fresh start. He looks a far more mature and patient red ball batsman these days than the young scared rabbit in a baggy green back in 2016/17. Will Nic Maddinson play Test cricket again. I have him on the short list to play the Afghan Test.
Question: Why was the nickname Bushrangers dumped. I liked it.
 
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A coupla others with a baggy green on their radar are Cameron Green and Mitchell Swepson.
There is plenty of noise about Green, a towering man from Perth, given the all round package he offers.. With a first-class batting average of @43.84 and a not so shabby bowling return of @21.53, the talent is clear for all to see.. After a couple of years punctuated by stress injuries he showed his true credentials in his 8 Shield matches last season smacking 699 runs @63. He was still feeling his way with the ball after stress back trouble only snaring a moderate 3 poles at an expensive @38. Aussie coach Justin Langer likes the kid and not because he is a WA product. He likes him so much he does not want the selectors to rush him into a baggy green too soon. Makes sense as it takes longer to hone two disciplines.. batting and bowling. Yet again he has the armory alone to be a member of our strong bowling cartel. That way his run making is a bonus and the selectors can choose a specialist bat at #6.

Swepson has been impressing the pundits since playing in CAX1 matches a few years back. Given the lack of spinning tracks in Australian domestic cricket his 14 pegs @31 from 6 matches last season is more than acceptable. Swepson likely had the either the second or reserve spin bowling spot locked in before the Bangladesh tour was cancelled. He can further push his claims for national honors as conditions in the Adelaide outer grounds hub for the first four rounds of the Shield could be more conducive to spin early in the season than say the Gabba or other state grounds.
 
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Mitchell Swepson rarely takes a grade comp wicket let alone a FC wicket, but he did take 7/47 in grade cricket yesterday so I could be wrong. Will Sutherland is the one I expect to develop for Australia. another is Liam O'Connor

Cameron Green if he shows good form in the first games, and the Australian bowlers bowl like they did against India last time, could be selected. Tall metronomic action just like Hazlewood, but unlike Hazlewood, takes wickets at a great average and Strike Rate, and most importantly he can bat. But the question I have is can his back hold up bowling, But Jhye Richardson would be ahead of Green presently.

Nic Maddinson made the right choice leaving NSW where the coaches weren't giving him the right advice. Since training with Victoria his batting has come along well, and may push for Australian selection, and with Chris Rogers now at the helm he should only get better. That's what happened to many players eg Khawaja, Katich, Cowen, get them away from NSW and they become better players.

It will be interesting to see how Tremain goes back in NSW still young enough for test selection, great FC average, actually better than anything NSW has including the current test bowlers, and Tremain had to bowl half his games on what many claim to be a batting paradise.

Riley Meredith is another who seems to have a good following, but I doubt he can bowl long spells, probably more a T20 player

I hope Victoria treat Will Pucovski well this year and let him develop at his own pace, what may help him is an average year that will keep the press of his back

Interesting yesterday grade cricket, McSweeney in QLD scoring 172*, Bryce Street score 173*, Jason Floros scored 129, Sam Heazlett 127, Jimmy Pierson 107, Max Bryant 113, Xavier Bartlett outbowled Neser taking 4/50, so quite a few in form batsmen for the Qld side. I think it will be another year where the Bulls don't appear to have much on paper, but have a chance to win the comp.

In NSW I see wicket keeper Gilkes scored 200, when will the replace that hack Nevill in NSW?

The reason they changed the name Bushrangers, is that Australia is no longer able to mention that part of Australian history to the youth today, Kids are not taught about Ned Kelly Ben Hall etc, as it glorifies criminal activity.
 
Green will be fine now as his body is maturing. Far too much pressure on his back when he burst onto the scene at 17/18. Same as Cummin and scores before him in the modern era. Back stress fractures are a young man's injury.. usually.. tho I do recall Siddle and Hazlewood suffered them as mature bowlers as has Jason Behrendorff.

There ya go again Blues bashing. Now our coaches are not worth their salt. Odd that there are more players to have worn the baggy green from Blue territory than any other state since say 1960. So our coaches must have done something correct.
I reckon the catalyst for Maddinson opting to change states was a need for a fresh start.. specially a mental one. Being stripped of a baggy green after.. just a handful of matches was a real kick in the guts.. musta really played with the bloke's head. There was an evident drop in his confidence after that and it showed in his shield performances.

I am not predicting any wrist spinner as they seem to get the spikey end of the pineapple when it comes to national selection. Rarely one has been picked for any useful time since Warne. I recall a young leggie who gave the Pommie bats a hard time for several T20 games bout five years ago now. I expected a promising career.. but he was rarely spotted after that. Now what was his name. I have a feeling he was a Vic.

What a load of crap over the reason for the Vic name change. So call them baby pandas as that wont offend anyone. 😆
 
You are correct about the number of Blues players selected. In the last 30 years Victoria, NSW and Qld have all won the shield 8 times, Tas and WA 3 and SA 1 Qld have been in the final 17 times, Victoria 13 times, NSW 13 times, WA 7 times, Tas 6 times SA 4 times. So how do you account for all the NSW selections when they can't win at state level, with so many selections they should be dominating, and the argument of not being available doesn't hold water, they have to start somewhere. On the reverse how many Qld players have been selected for Australia in the last 30 years, they should be the ones that could claim under representation. WA are the other state that seem to get an edge in selection and plenty of opportunities, eg Marsh bros, but only if there is no one from NSW.

You would have left Maddinson playing for Australia? He was hopeless yet still got 3 tests to prove himself, try telling many others that only get 1 test to prove themselves, that Maddinson was kicked in the guts.
 
I agree about QLanders missing out on a deserved baggy green. I will have a crack at 5 blokes that were very unlucky. Martin Love, Stuart Law, James Hopes, Chris Hartley, Andy Bichel. Only one from WA I can find is Tom Moody, perhaps Jo Angel and Ken MacCleay. You think of any more. There were a couple of Tasmanians too. Michael De Venuto and Jamie Cox.

Three tests or one test (James Faulkner, Callum Ferguson).. a huge kick in the guts whichever way you look at it.. Players need to be given a settling in time of at least 8-10 tests. Has Marcus Harris had his quota yet. Keeps getting a start and then perishes in the early 30s. Travis Head has a notoriously poor conversion rate at both state and test levels. But he keeps getting picked and in the vital middle order.
 
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69er I am in process of setting up a National Premier Cricket thread. This and any other news and results can be posted there.
Interesting yesterday grade cricket, McSweeney in QLD scoring 172*, Bryce Street score 173*, Jason Floros scored 129, Sam Heazlett 127, Jimmy Pierson 107, Max Bryant 113, Xavier Bartlett outbowled Neser taking 4/50, so quite a few in form batsmen for the Qld side. I think it will be another year where the Bulls don't appear to have much on paper, but have a chance to win the comp.
 
Aussie skipper Tim Paine will stand in for regular skipper Matthew Wade in the first two rounds of the Shield. He will head a 16-man Tigers side which features fresh faces Peter Siddle, Tom Andrews and Tim Ward. Siddle needs no introduction. Andrew is a former Redback slow bowling all rounder while little is known about Tim Ward.. except he hails from Sydney. It seems those selector nongs at CNSW have let yet another promising cricketer slip their net. According to Ward's Premier stats he plundered 717 runs with 4 tons @55 for Parramatta last season. Also scored a ton in his only state 2ndX1 match.

Tasmania Shield squad: Tim Paine (c), Tom Andrews, Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Nathan Ellis, Sam Rainbird, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk, Matthew Wade*, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster, Mac Wright *Wade to join squad ahead of Round 3 match against Victoria.
 
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WA veteran Shaun Marsh is about to enter his 20th domestic season and is a certainty at first drop behind Cameron Bancroft and Sam Whiteman. But who will occupy the other three top 6 spots for the Warriors. Cameron Green, fresh off a breakout summer looks a lock for one spot.
Green will play as a batsman only in the initial stages as he fine-tunes a revised bowling action in the wake of two consecutive seasons of back stress fractures. Josh Inglis remains the keeper and Ashton Agar will play the main spin/all rounder role. Rookie quick Lance Morris is getting some big wraps..

WArriors Shield Squad: Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green, Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, Corey Rocchiccioli, D'Arcy Short, Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman

Possible Best XI: Cameron Bancroft, Sam Whiteman, Shaun Marsh, Cameron Green, Ashton Turner, Josh Inglis (wk), Ashton Agar, Aaron Hardie, Joel Paris, Matt Kelly, Cameron Gannon.
 
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