**Official** Tour Matches

[Richard]

Siddle deserves to be the second bowler selected behind Johnson. Been supurb over his 7 Test matches.

Nah, he's been superb over his last 5. Certainly was anything but in the first couple.

 

[four_or_six]

... so reasonable he's had to shift between three counties despite being no older than me.

Don't see the problem in a young bloke moving counties to get more first-team opportunities, which was what moving to Sussex was about. And an average over 30 in 6 FC matches isn't bad.

 

[four_or_six]

Katich ripping through the tail here...

 

[sanga1337]

Looking good, Katich outperforming Hauritz with the ball here. Any reason why North hasn't had a chance to bowl yet?

 

[Richard]

Don't see the problem in a young bloke moving counties to get more first-team opportunities, which was what moving to Sussex was about. And an average over 30 in 6 FC matches isn't bad.

If he was very good he wouldn't have had to do that, because he'd have been into his first county's first-team at 19 or 20.

I'm 100% against young players shifting all over everywhere vainly trying to get into a first-team the minute they're out of their teens. Most are nowhere near good enough to do that, and this moving around constantly is only a very recent fad (the likes of Mark Butcher, Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe etc. spent years on the sidelines at Surrey before nailing down their places) and in no small part due to the vastly increased presence of agents.

A good county player cannot expect to become established until the age of 22-23; only someone who is an international prospect is likely to become established at a younger age.

 

[Richard]

Looking good, Katich outperforming Hauritz with the ball here. Any reason why North hasn't had a chance to bowl yet?

'Coz Katich > North, especially when bowling at tailenders. Katich is absolutely exactly what you want in a part-time wristspinner - does offer fair threat, regularly, even while he bowls a ridiculous number of nonsense deliveries. North is, like Hauritz, nothing more than a block-up bowler.

 

[Uppercut]

If he was very good he wouldn't have had to do that, because he'd have been into his first county's first-team at 19 or 20.

I'm 100% against young players shifting all over everywhere vainly trying to get into a first-team the minute they're out of their teens. Most are nowhere near good enough to do that, and this moving around constantly is only a very recent fad (the likes of Mark Butcher, Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe etc. spent years on the sidelines at Surrey before nailing down their places) and in no small part due to the vastly increased presence of agents.

A good county player cannot expect to become established until the age of 22-23; only someone who is an international prospect is likely to become established at a younger age.

Disagree strongly with this. Why shouldn't he move in order to play more cricket? He likes playing cricket and you can't do it forever.

 

[sanga1337]

'Coz Katich > North, especially when bowling at tailenders. Katich is absolutely exactly what you want in a part-time wristspinner - does offer fair threat, regularly, even while he bowls a ridiculous number of nonsense deliveries. North is, like Hauritz, nothing more than a block-up bowler.

Fair enough but since this is a practice match it would've been ideal for North to get a couple of overs earlier on, just for practice as I imagine Australia will be using him in the Ashes if he plays.

 

[Prince EWS]

I swear, this commentator has no idea at all that North can bowl.

 

[Richard]

Newsflash: local commentator at not-particularly-specialist outlet doesn't really have great idea of some truths of those he's watching.

 

[Prince EWS]

Newsflash: local commentator at not-particularly-specialist outlet doesn't really have great idea of some truths of those he's watching.

Yeah, I didn't expect him to have awesome (see: any) knowledge of Australian domestic cricket, but didn't North have a good season or two with the ball over in England? I think I remember a season with Lancs where his bowling was better than his batting. I expected the bloke to know that, TBH.

Plus, he bowled a fair bit in SA.

 

[Richard]

Disagree strongly with this. Why shouldn't he move in order to play more cricket? He likes playing cricket and you can't do it forever.

Because it's unneccessary. He's going to play cricket anyway (there is such thing as the second-team championship), it's just a question of vainly pursuing the top level of cricket without any real hope of finding it.

You're just as unlikely to play regularly for County X as County H when you're a 20-year-old - ie, not very likely, because at that age there's very likely to be better players around. You're best-served, IMO, sticking with the county that brought you through and not constantly shifting yourself around in aiming for something that's effectively beyond you.

It's a case of: you're probably going to have to wait until you're 23-24 before you play regularly, unless you're international material. So you've the choice of waiting patiently in one county's second XI or plying your trade for several's then eventually getting the break in the one you happen to be at when the time comes.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, I didn't expect him to have awesome (see: any) knowledge of Australian domestic cricket, but didn't North have a good season or two with the ball over in England? I think I remember a season with Lancs where his bowling was better than his batting. I expected the bloke to know that, TBH.

Plus, he bowled a fair bit in SA.

North fluked an average of 14 or something in a short-term stopgap stint somewhere over 4 or 5 games or summat, where at the same time he failed to produce much with the bat (as can happen in short stints).

It's not like he took 63 wickets at 23 over a season's work.

Either way, IMO commentators should be forced to actually know a bit about cricket around the globe before they commentate. Some of the lack of knowledge of domestic stuff by full-time pro commentators is diabolical.

 

[James_W]

Is the tour match televised?

 

[four_or_six]

Because it's unneccessary. He's going to play cricket anyway (there is such thing as the second-team championship), it's just a question of vainly pursuing the top level of cricket without any real hope of finding it.

You're just as unlikely to play regularly for County X as County H when you're a 20-year-old - ie, not very likely, because at that age there's very likely to be better players around. You're best-served, IMO, sticking with the county that brought you through and not constantly shifting yourself around in aiming for something that's effectively beyond you.

It's a case of: you're probably going to have to wait until you're 23-24 before you play regularly, unless you're international material. So you've the choice of waiting patiently in one county's second XI or plying your trade for several's then eventually getting the break in the one you happen to be at when the time comes.

Maybe he thinks he is international material, and wants to give himself the chance to find out? It's not as if Sussex is a rubbish team he's going to have a place for as long as he likes, it's just being somewhere that's prepared to give him a chance. It's what most of us do in any career - move about until we find somewhere that'll give us a chance to further ourselves as much as possible.

 

[Richard]

Is the tour match televised?

Not anywhere I know of. 'Tis only because it's the opener for the most momentous tour that there's much attention on it.

 

[scorpiogal]

I swear, this commentator has no idea at all that North can bowl.

At least you got to listen to the commentary. I was at fricken work where they ban everything. "Access denied" my foot. I had to depend on Cricinfo's sloooow scorecard.

 

[zaremba]

Hughes, Katich and Clarke all played terrible shots whilst the Sussex spinner (Rayner) looked like he had a pretty good action

I played at Hove quite a few times and it used to be great - pace in the wicket to encourage both the pace bowlers (including a nice slope to run down) and shot-makers plus a really quick outfield

Hope it's still the same because we're talking ancient history

Who were you playing for, Social? Was this FC cricket?

 

[Richard]

Maybe he thinks he is international material, and wants to give himself the chance to find out? It's not as if Sussex is a rubbish team he's going to have a place for as long as he likes, it's just being somewhere that's prepared to give him a chance. It's what most of us do in any career - move about until we find somewhere that'll give us a chance to further ourselves as much as possible.

Yeah, and being a "always be happy with your lot unless you're very unhappy" type I just can't really understand that. The way I see it, Hamilton-Brown is not going to get any better chance, nor be any more successful, at Sussex as anywhere. The only way he's going to be successful is to put in all the effort he can into improving himself; the only way he's going to move up a level is to perform superbly at whatever level he's being allowed.

Moving about will not make you better, and only by getting better will you make the step up.

 

[Richard]

Who were you playing for, Social? Was this FC cricket?

Apparently he was with Imran Khan at Sussex in some way, but he's never let on whether he actually played First-Class cricket or not IIRR.