2004/05 Australian domestic season thread

[Craig]

Who will win the Pura Cup? Victoria or Queensland

Who will win the ING Cup? Probably NSW or Queensland

Leading run scorer? Probably Matthew Elliott, Martin Love, or Brad Hodge

Leading wicket taker? Some bowler.

Players to look out for? Doug Bollinger (NSW), Adam Crosswaite (Victoria - predicated to played for Australia well before he made his FC or List A debut for Victoria and there is a spot for him since Darren Berry has quit).

[Mr Casson]

Good thread I've been waiting for this one.

My predictions:
Pura Cup: Queensland
ING Cup: Western Australia or Queensland
Leading Runscorer: I'll go with a slightly out-there guess and say Marcus North will top last season's efforts.
Leading Wicket-taker: No idea... It's so random every season.
Watch out for: Beau Casson!

[Craig]

I am also interested to see how Marcus North goes this season. He has never backed it up season after season in 4d cricket. Certainly a good one day batsman.

[Linda]

Pura Cup: Queensland
ING Cup: Western Australia
Leading run scorer: I'll go with Matt Elliot, or Michael Bevan
Leading wicket taker: Mark Cleary
Watch out for: Michael Clark, Ben Cameron, and that other little pudgey bloke from SA (??)

[Linda]

I am also interested to see how Marcus North goes this season. He has never backed it up season after season in 4d cricket. Certainly a good one day batsman.

Marcus North, VERY exciting. I love watching him bat, he's like a left handed Marto, and can catch anything too.

[iamdavid]

Watch out for: Michael Clark, Ben Cameron, and that other little pudgey bloke from SA (??)

Mark Cosgrove

[marc71178]

Leading wicket taker? Some bowler.

I'm going to be controversial here and go for some wicket-keeper instead.

[iamdavid]

I think Queensland will just be too strong in the Pura Cup , Maher, Bichel and Love are likely to be around all season and along with Perren and Seccombe they form the nucleus of the side which has been very hard to beat these past 5 years.
The addition of Watson will make them even tougher to beat and they have a few good young players coming along like Chris Hartley (who was impressive for the PM'sXI last year) , Nick Kruger and Mitchell Johnson (if he ever plays again).

I think the Redbacks will be the suprise packet for this year, they are building a team of very enthusiastic , talented youngsters.
They have a good 3-pronged pace attack even when Gillespie is away with Cleary , Tait and Rofe.
Plus several talented young batsman in Mark Cosgrove , Callum Ferguson and Ben Cameron.
I rate Graham Manou and I think he has the potential to be a much better player than the stats suggest , if he has a good season he could overtake Haddin as Gilchrist's heir apparent.
I predict that the Redbacks will make the finals of both competitions......and loose both finals.

I reckon the Warriors will struggle to defend their ING Cup title , their batting and fielding is still great with Hussey , Ervine , North , Marsh , Campbell and Rogers likely to be around all season.
But the bowling is paper thin , they've lost the reliable pair of Wilson and Angel , and I have doubts over whether Edmundson and Thistle are up to FC standard.

New South Wales will be rebuilding and players like Thornely will have to take the next step and go from being potential stars to actually making runs.

I think Bichel will be the leading Pura Cup wicket-taker and Martin Love the leading run-scorer.

While in the ING cup Shaun Tait and Brad Hodge will take the honours.

[Mr Casson]

I reckon the Warriors will struggle to defend their ING Cup title , their batting and fielding is still great with Hussey , Ervine , North , Marsh , Campbell and Rogers likely to be around all season.
But the bowling is paper thin , they've lost the reliable pair of Wilson and Angel , and I have doubts over whether Edmundson and Thistle are up to FC standard.

You're definitely right about the bowling. Edmondson is waaay too expensive, but Thistle had a decent start, didn't he? Or was that the ING Cup?

Anyway, the addition of Magoffin will hopefully be a boost, and there are other players like Kade Harvey who are better than many think.

I hope Darren Wates can pick up his bowling a bit, because I think he could be an excellent allrounder. The problem is that WA's batting is already good, but they often persist with putting a lot of depth in the batting at the expense of specialist bowlers. They did it last season, however at least this season Michael Clark will be back to pick up some of the slack caused by Wilson and Angel's departures.

And finally, I really hope Beau Casson can get some control happening, because if he does he may well become a VERY important player.

[Andre]

I'm willing to be proven wrong, but I think Bichel's best cricket is well behind him, and even in domestic level he won't tear teams apart like he did. Bichel was an edge bowler - once he lost that edge, or zip, it was only going to be downhill from there.

Anyway, I think Victoria should win the Pura Cup, while Tasmania will compete well in both competitions, possibly snaring the ING Cup if Griffith and Wright perform as they can.

Usual suspects for most runs - Bevan, Maher, Love, Elliott, Hodge, Hussey x 2 - although Phil Jaques is certainly blossoming into a very good batsman and he should score highly.

Bowling wise, Mick Lewis is always solid, as is Stuart Clark, and Damien MacKenzie can certainly make an impact if selected. I think Matthew Nicholson might just pip them all, though, provided he doesn't find himself in a Baggy Green cap. Hopefull Brett Lee will play some domestic cricket too - he needs the relaxed environment to learn about his bowling again. He seems to have lost the ability to know what works for him and what he can bank on - and that's what made him so good early on.

As for the youngsters, Bollinger has looked in good knick in the grade competition and 2nd XI so far. I really hope Shaun Marsh gets some good game time for the Warriors, with Cosgrove, Cleary, Tait and Matthew Weeks all look good prospects for SA. If you don't know who Weeks is, ask Corey - there is a fair chance you might know him by seasons end. David Dawson is spoken of highly, and Michael Thistle should hopefully penetrate at FC level this year - although that said, Western Australia are due to produce a gem bowler, and Brad Williams looks likely to play a fair amount of matches.

It looks an exciting summer IMO as the next generation seep through; let the competition begin.

[iamdavid]

. David Dawson is spoken of highly

And rightly so

I've heard rumors that he will be starting the season in Tasmania's first XI and batting in the top five, he'll probably play as a specialist batsman with Clingeleffer keeping.

[Neil Pickup]

If Bichel's the leading wicket taker after an English summer where he averaged 47, then you have real problems.

Pura: NSW
ING: NSW (going off the fact that I've not predicted the Champions in anything properly in years)
Runs: Hodge
Wickets: Nicholson
Random player: Edmondson

[AUST_HiTMaN]

For me SA are going to be real surprise packets. Last season they had a few close losses, and the team didnt look to 'click' however I believe that their pace attack combined with some youngsters in the middle order batting-wse.

My early tips:

Pura Cup: South Australia (its a real outsider but its worth a punt)
ING Cup: Western Warriors
Most Runs: Mike Hussey (Can tell im West Austrlian )
Most Wickets: Cant put my finger on 1 bowler in paticular, but the usual suspects are always a big chance.
Players to look out for: David Dawson - Heard big things about him.
Michael Clark - Hoping for a big season with the ball from him after recently having spinal surgury (wonder if it was a Spinal Tap )
Sean Ervine - Will be a surprise packet all rounder, i hope he can continue the good 1D form he was having in the VB Series.

I know most wont agree, but meh. damn mexicans.

[iamdavid]

I wonder if Sean Ervine is possibly thinking about an Australian cap somewhere down the track.....

[chris.hinton]

Have there been any moves over the Aussie Winter