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ANZAC Test 2012 Preview – Australia v New Zealand

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The representative season is finally upon us and first up is the ANZAC Test 2012 which should be an absolute cracker. There has been plenty of controversy leading into this match, most of it stemming from the selections, and non-selections, made by Australian coach Tim Sheens.

Most notably, the big man Petero Civoniceva has been left out of the side to face the Kiwis, spelling the end to his Australian career. Considering he is still playing well for the Broncos, and is likely to play for Queensland this year, this is a bit of a strange one. Add to that the selection of Darius Boyd on the wing after what can only be described as an anonymous first 7 rounds for the Knights, and you’ve got yourself a couple of question marks already.

The big controversy, however, has been the selection of Kiwi born James Tamou on the Kangaroos bench. Tamou played for the NZ Maoris in 2010 and was part of the extended squad for last years Four Nations tournament until he was told he wasn’t needed. That obviously didn’t sit well with Tamou and he has now switched allegiances following discussions with Ricky Stuart regarding a possible Blues jumper in this years Origin series.

I’m not sure what to make of this. In one sense I’m against it as I think you should be loyal to where you were born and raised. On the other hand, he hasn’t done anything wrong and there have been instances in the past where players have crossed the Tasman in the opposite direction, Tonie Carroll one example, Brad Thorn also comes to mind.

As a NSW supporter, I’m all for it, don’t be surprised to hear the whinging from North of the Tweed if (when) Tamou is selected for the Blues. The only way to stop this from happening in the future is for the ARLC to come up with clear guidelines for every level of the game in regards to which state/country you should be playing for.

Anyway, enough of the controversy, we have a game to preview.

Australia v New Zealand ANZAC Test 2012

ANZAC Test 2012 – Preview

Australia go into this match as clear favourites despite the match being on NZ soil and Australia no longer possessing the legend that is Darren Lockyer. I find that a bit strange to be honest, I know the Aussies dusted them up 26-12 last time they played in the Four Nations, but this is a different ball game.

In saying that though, Australia do have probably the most lethal spine around with the Queensland combination of Slater, Thurston, Cronk and Smith which would heavily weigh any match in their favour. They are all in form with the Storm on fire in the NRL and Thurston back to his best with the Cowboys last week.

With Petero left out of the team, Paul Gallen moves into the front row which left a space in the second row to be filled. Surprisingly, Dave Taylor got the nod to start the match in the second row. Considering he is not an 80 minute player that seems like a strange choice, with Anthony Watmough on the bench though they pretty much have that position covered.It seems Sheens might be worried about the big Kiwi pack, and wants Taylor on the field to add a bit of size in the opening exchanges.

Australia have elected to keep many of the players that competed in the Four Nations late last year which explains the selections of Darius Boyd and David Shillington. You could even throw Akuila Uate into that as he hasn’t had the best of starts for the Knights this season. However the injury to Jharel Yow Yeh has played into his hands, the young Bronco out for the season with that nasty compound fracture earlier in the season.

The Kiwis head into this match having lost 28-6 in their last match of the Four Nations to England and will also be seething about the Tamou situation. Plenty of Kiwis have jumped on his case over the last couple days and I wouldn’t be surprised to see plenty of fireworks when he makes his first hit up for his adopted Country.

With Benji Marshall and Shaun Johnson running the show anything could be on the cards for the Kiwis. Both players are exceptional talents but I just get the impression that they are maybe too similar in the way they play to really be an effective combination.

While James Tamou has committed himself to Australia, Cowboys teammate Jason Taumalolo has ended speculation linking him with a similar switch to pledge his allegiance to New Zealand. This won’t impress the Queenslanders who were hoping to do something similar to NSW with Taumo here, by luring Taumalolo to pledge for Australia in order to play Origin football for the Maroons.

I think we’ll be in for a cracking match on Friday night, there will be no shortage of emotion in this one with the events of the past week sure to be on the players minds come kick off time.

The Aussies, for mine, will be too strong with the combination of Slater, Cronk and Smith just too good at the moment. Add to that the inspirational Sharks skipper Paul Gallen and this one could get ugly on the scoreboard as well.

ANZAC Test 2012 – Sports Banter’s Tip

  • Australia 13+

ANZAC Test 2012 – Banter’s Best Bets

  • Australia 13+ @ $2.40
  • First Try Scorer – Billy Slater @ $9.00
  • First Scoring Play – Australian Try @ $1.77

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Australian Cricket – Where to Now?

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So Australia have just lost the second test in an absolute thriller against New Zealand, losing by 7 runs after needing 42 off the last wicket. A disappointing result but this kind of cricket is the reason why, in my book, test matches still have a place in the cricket world despite the emergence of T20 and the short nature of One Day Internationals. 

Australia have gone with a mixture of youth and experience for the test series against New Zealand but part of me wonders whether it may just be better to cut the cord and start from a clean slate. The youth have shown that they are up to the task, this test series alone has uncovered Pattinson and Lyon, and shown us that David Warner is capable of adapting his short form talent to the longer form of the game.

Just today David Warner almost got Australia over the line single handedly in just his second test match, a fantastic century that came off just over 150 balls. Quite an effort for someone just starting their test career and who is constantly being written off as only a “T20 and One Day player”.

Courtesy of abc.net.au

It’s our experienced players though that should be leading by example, many of them are past their best so the only reason I can see to keep them on is if they are providing the younger players an example to follow, they don’t seem to be doing that at all to be honest. Michael Clarke isn’t doing too much wrong as captain, that knock against South Africa in the second and final test match when Australia were on the ropes suggests to me that he has what it takes to lead by example.

I’m mainly worried about Ponting, Hussey and Haddin. The middle order has let Australia down far too many times recently, most notably today when they collapsed in a heap, allowing New Zealand to fight back and win the test match. I couldn’t imagine Gilly giving away his wicket so cheaply knowing that one wicket could lead to the bowlers having to get Australia out of trouble by chasing runs that the batsmen should have put on the board.

We’re already in a rebuilding phase and have just drawn a series against a New Zealand side many thought would struggle against our Domestic sides. Perhaps it’s time to complete the transition and replace our middle order with some in form youngsters, they couldn’t do much worse and would only benefit from the experience. 

Australia needs to return to the glory days of world cricket domination and the only way I can see us doing that is to uncover some more young gems like Pattinson, Cummins and Warner. 

Our bowling attack with Starc, Cutting, Pattinson, Cummins and Lyon, not to mention Copeland and Hazlewood, looks promising. Injuries to Australian quicks before the summer brought about the change, why do we have to wait for a player to be injured before he is replaced in the test team? They always say it is harder to get out of the Australian Test Cricket side than it is to get into it, things don’t seem to have changed much.

Courtesy of Fox Sports

I think that will change with the new selectors and coach showing that they are not afraid to make the hard decisions. With Cricket Australia’s board also going through somewhat of a facelift, I think the test series against India is going to be a chance for us to see just how far they are willing to go to put Australia back at the top of World Cricket.

I don’t think chopping and changing the side is the answer, players should be given a chance to get themselves back into form, but we need to have some sort of backup plan for those players that are clearly going through an extended rough patch, for example Phillip Hughes. This guy has undoubted talent and could be one of the great openers of this generation, he has time on his side at just 23 but for some reason he just can’t seem to get amongst the runs at the moment.

I’m not sure whether it’s because there is no competition for his place at the moment, or whether it’s just one of those things that will correct itself the more playing time he has, but I think we need to have a squad of players ready to come in and replace an out of form player. That will force the player to go back to domestic cricket and iron out the flaws, rather than hoping a few extra net sessions will correct everything knowing that he’ll have another chance in the next match.

Thankfully, Michael Clarke as our new captain seems to be on the same wavelength. After today’s loss to the Kiwis, Clarke suggested that Hughes may need to go back to Domestic cricket to find that form again, we should have Shaun Marsh back and Watson will probably be fit for Boxing Day so we have options at the top of the order to replace the out of form Hughes without having to go back to the drawing board and blood another youngster. I wish I could say the same for our middle order…..

What are your thoughts now where Australian Cricket needs to go next? Do we need to continue to blood these youngsters slowly or should they come in at the expense of the ageing and out of form players such as Ponting, Hussey and Haddin? 

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Vodafone Test Series – Australia v New Zealand – 1st Test Preview

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The Australian summer will finally arrive on Thursday and what a way to kick it off with the first test between Australia and New Zealand coming to us from the Gabba.

The Australian test team has gone through somewhat of a clean out since that infamous innings defeat at the hands of England at the beginning of the year and I for one want to forget about that defeat and start fresh this summer.

Since that defeat, the whole administration team including the head coach and the selectors have been replaced, out go head coach and selector Tim Nielsen replaced by Mickey Arthur, the first foreigner to ever coach the Australian test side. This is most definitely a direct result of the Argus report which was commissioned after that disgraceful performance against the Poms less than 12 months ago. It has worked for the Socceroos and you see a lot of other cricketing nations employing overseas coaches successfully, a passport should not be a blocker to getting the best person for the job.

Selectors Merv Hughes, David Boon and Tim Cox were also replaced by Andy Bichel and Rod Marsh and from out of nowhere we also now have a new selection chairman in John Inverarity, he was appointed just a few weeks ago. The Captain also has a say in the selection of the team thanks to the Argus Review so all in all we now have 5 selectors.

Although the rebuilding process has been going on for almost a year now since the review, it’s only now that we are actually seeing the review bring about some results. The appointments of Mickey Arthur and John Inverarity in the last couple of months no doubt have a lot to do with that. This test series against New Zealand is where we are going to see some of the raw up and coming talent that Australia should have been blooding over recent years rather than living through past glory and not looking towards the future.

The bowling attack from the South African tour has been ripped apart by injuries with Johnson, Harris and Cummins all omitted for the first test against New Zealand. They are replaced by Starc, Pattinson and Cutting. Watson also misses out after he injured his hamstring in the second test and is replaced by David Warner.

Funnily enough, Usman Khawaja, who played in that test against England at the beginning of the year, has only just worked himself back into the side, he comes in at the expense of the injured Shaun Marsh.

Patrick Cummins, man of the match in the second test against South Africa, looks as though he is being rested for this first test match according to Geoff Lawson. Cummins believes he is fit for the first test against New Zealand and more will surely come out in regards to this over the course of the week. 

Wicket keeper Brad Haddin retains his place in the side after he helped steer the Aussies to that thrilling win over South Africa in the second and final test at the Wanderers. it will be interesting to see how long he has left should he have a bad time of it against New Zealand. Matthew Wade has been annointed his successor by Victorian Coach Greg Shipperd however Tim Paine has long been thought of as Haddins long term replacement and also a possible future captain, having a bit of competition in that position can’t be a bad thing though.

The Aussies line up against New Zealand in 2 days time with possibly the rawest pace attack I have ever seen Australia go into a test match with. These new players bring youth and excitement to a sport that many believe is on the decline, the only downside is that it may take them a little while to adjust to test match cricket, but if they aren’t given the chance to shine now, when will they get that chance? You only have to look back 15-20 years to see what age our past legends were blooded to see that we have gone off track, it’s time for one (or more) of these youngsters to announce themselves on the big stage.

Australia should have enough in them to see off this understrength New Zealand side that only just managed to knock over Zimbabwe recently. It will be interesting to see how Warner fares in Test Match Cricket as he may just be the nail in the coffin for Ricky Ponting, with Shane Watson already stating that his days opening may be numbered and it may be best to bat further down the order.

Australian Team: Michael Clarke (c), Brad Haddin (v/c), David Warner, Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Ben Cutting. (Tweltth man to be named)

New Zealand Team: Daniel Vettori (c), Ross Taylor (v/c), Brendan McCullum, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Jesse Ryder, Dean Brownlie, Reece Young, Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Chris Martin, Bradley Watling (two to be omitted)

sportsbanter.com.au Tip - Australia @ $1.83
Banter’s Best Bet – Opening Partnership (1st Innings) – Australia @ $1.85

 

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