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England's time will come, coach Marsh warns Australia

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
From The Sun-Herald

All is not lost for England. Rod Marsh, coach of the Australian cricket
academy for 10 years and now heading the English equivalent, says England
may have a greater depth of fast bowlers than Australia.

He also believes Steve Harmison and Simon Jones are better bowlers than
Glenn McGrath at the same age.


"There's some bloody good kids coming through," he said. "Providing the
system of them having to play so much doesn't destroy them, there's going to
be some serious heat around in years to come for Australia's batsmen."

Marsh once famously dismissed all English bowlers as "pie-chuckers".

Evidently, a change of jobs has prompted a change in his tune.

Marsh named Lancashire pair Kyle Hogg, 19, and James Anderson, 20, and
Hampshire's Chris Tremlett, 21, as bowlers to watch.

Hogg is a grandson of former West Indian great Sonny Ramadhin, Anderson
bowls fast outswingers, and Tremlett, son of long-serving county player Tim,
pounds the ball down from nearly 195cm.

Marsh also said he has in his charge two wicketkeepers, Glamorgan's Mark
Wallace and Nottinghamshire's Chris Read, who are better than himself and
Ian Healy were at the same age.


Marsh thinks it is crucial for all bowlers and keepers to continue to
improve otherwise they risk becoming lost in the English system.

"What happens to them in the next five or six years? They've got to keep
improving. If they do, they'll be fantastic," he said.

England's goal is to lead the world in Test and one-day cricket by 2007, and
Marsh thinks it is realistic. "A lot can happen in five years," he said.
"It's up to these guys. They've got to be the nucleus of that 2007 team."

Marsh said England now had the infrastructure right at last. Their biggest
handicap is that cricket is a long and poor second to soccer as the major
sport in the country.

Although cricket is not the most popular sport in any one Australian State,
it is the national sport. "In Australia, you are more likely to get a fairer
percentage of the most talented athletes playing cricket than you are in a
country that's dominated by football," Marsh said.

"But it's a poor excuse to say that England aren't getting enough of the
best athletes. It's a much more realistic approach to say that they haven't
been good enough for the last 10 years."

Marsh said although fitness is obviously a cornerstone to the academy
program, he doesn't see it as crucial to bridging the gulf between Australia
and England.

"I don't think the Australian team is necessarily any fitter than the
English team," he said. "They're just playing better cricket."

Marsh thinks it is encouraging that England are moving towards a youth
policy. "It must be done with care. You must not pick them just because
they're young," he said. "But you're better off to err on the side of youth.
They rarely let you down, youngsters."

Marsh has been working with his English squad at the Australian academy in
Adelaide, but from next year will be based at the new academy at
Loughborough University in the English Midlands.

But he has not renounced Australia and still keeps a watchful eye on
Australia's cricketing youth. He thinks the bowling stocks remain healthy
but worries the batting is thinning out.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
I must admit, I take some of it with a pinch of salt, but if what he's saying is true, maybe the future's bright but it isn't Orange?
 

Bazza

International 12th Man
Doctors/physios invent injuries to justify their employment. Maybe Marsh is exaggerating the strength in Englands academy in the same way. Overall, I think we have reason to be positive and optimistic, but I'm not sure Marsh isn't just saying what people want to hear!
 

Top_Cat

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He also believes Steve Harmison and Simon Jones are better bowlers than
Glenn McGrath at the same age.
That's actually pretty accurate. The difference is, Glenn McGrath got a heck of a lot better VERY VERY quickly. It remains to be seen whether those two could emulate or exceed that.

Marsh also said he has in his charge two wicketkeepers, Glamorgan's Mark
Wallace and Nottinghamshire's Chris Read, who are better than himself and
Ian Healy were at the same age.
Again, Healy and Marsh were slow starters with the gloves. But they sure improved their skills very quickly.
 

Top_Cat

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So if all goes well we may have some truly great players around the corner?!
England has always had several potentially great players 'around the corner'. No-one is disputing that the talent is there. It's about keeping them fit too. Plus the politics in selection of the English team is incredible. It's there in Aussie selection too but if there's one thing that everyone can agree on is that the priority is for the Australian team to be getting the best players for the job. I don't think that same agreement is there in the English selection. County interests seem to come into play a bit too much for the benefit of the Test team.

Players like Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Alec Stewart, John Crawley, Darren Gough, (now) Rob Key etc. should NOT being playing as much county level cricket as they do. I mean, I can understand the argument that playing against these guys improves the overall standard of the competition and young players won't learn anything unless they play against them etc. but there is the issue of protecting the best players who are in the Test team. It's a tough balance to maintain because you want to preseve your best players so that they don't get injured but at the same time, you don't want them trying deperately to find form against a ramped up Aussie bowling attack.

Either way, it's certain that the English season is far too long and that you have too many players coasting who are effectively lowering the standard of the whole competition.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
Originally posted by Top_Cat
Players like Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Alec Stewart, John Crawley, Darren Gough, (now) Rob Key etc. should NOT being playing as much county level cricket as they do.
Errrm...they only play about 2-3 County Championship games a season on Average if they are on Central Contracts. I reccon that's far too little, not too many. You've got to realise also that if a county's England stars never turn out for them, then their members won't be happy and Cricket is here to make money remember.
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
I saw Chris Read back in 1999 when he played against NZ in the tests.
I thought he looked a good glovesman, but his batting technique was at times found wanting...especially that slower ball that Cairns bowled to him..he ducked it & it went straight through him & hit the stumps.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
Yeah well Thorpe did the same against a Walsh Slower Ball so it can sucker even players of Thorpe's class.
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
yeah Cairns also bowled the slower ball twice to Thorpe and bowled him during that series in 1999.
 

Top_Cat

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Errrm...they only play about 2-3 County Championship games a season on Average if they are on Central Contracts.
And here's the centrally contracted list:

*Nasser Hussain
Mark Butcher
Andy Caddick
Andy Flintoff
James Foster
Ashley Giles
Darren Gough
Matthew Hoggard
Graham Thorpe
Marcus Trescothick
Michael Vaughan

Those guys still play a reasonable amount of cricket and if you're NOT centrally contracted, you'll play at least 12 CC games and about the same in each of the one-day competitions. That's a LOT of cricket. It's well documented that the non-centrally contracted players will play just over double the amount of cricket of the average Aussie FC cricketer. And the centrally contracted crickters will still play quite a bit more than the top Test players in Australia.

Anyway, bugger the members of the counties. The object should be to win TESTS, not county championships. If the Test players play for their state here, it's considered to be a rare treat, not 'expected'. Why? Because winning for Australia is the priority. I guess it's just a difference in priorities.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
And the centrally contracted crickters will still play quite a bit more than the top Test players in Australia.
Not really, they play a couple of CC games and a few OD slogs, but the rest is all International Cricket.
 

Bazza

International 12th Man
I don't think that slower ball was a flaw in Read's batting technique. He got deceived, pure and simple. OK it looked alot uglier than for example Thorpe v Walsh, but that's because he thought he was gonna get one Alex Tudor-style.

Read is the best keeper we have right now and if anyone should replace Stewart it's him, not that muppet Foster.
 

chris.hinton

International Captain
I think that some Organizations are get silly by saying England will Win the Ashes in 5 years. No way will this happen, Peter Robuck said Players will come from the Birmingham area in 6 years. I know some of the players in the area and only 2 are good enough for First Class Cricket, So i dont know where he is getting that from
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
Originally posted by chris.hinton
I think that some Organizations are get silly by saying England will Win the Ashes in 5 years. No way will this happen, Peter Robuck said Players will come from the Birmingham area in 6 years. I know some of the players in the area and only 2 are good enough for First Class Cricket, So i dont know where he is getting that from
Hehehe Birmingham ain't too far away from me :D:lol:
 

Anil

Hall of Fame Member
Sure, England's time will come. At the present rate of progress, their time will come sometime in 3002, maybe!:lol::lol::lol:

I think Marsh is just trying to keep his job. Even if there are some exceptional youngsters, it is wrong to assume that Australia won't come up with equally good or better(more likely) players to counter them.
 

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