Friday, September 29, 2006

At last the Colonel gets a Salute

It’s very heartening to see that at last the “Colonel” gets his due respect. Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar, one of the most stylish and elegant batsmen to have played test cricket from the subcontinent has been appointed as the new chairman of the Indian Cricket’s National Selection Committee. His immediate challenge starts with the NKP Salve Challenger Cup. Though the squads for both Challenger Cup and subsequent Champions Trophy are already decided, Vengsarkar will have enough work cut out for him while choosing the teams for the Indian tour of South Africa and getting the right mix for the ICC World Cup 2007.

One of my all-time favorite cricketers, Dilip Vengsarkar, without any doubt is the most eligible candidate for the post. Especially working with youngsters for so long via his Elf Cricket Academy and as Chairman of BCCI’s Talent Resource Development Wing (TRDW), he brings in tremendous experience to the Selection Committee’s table. With his natural eye for talent , which spotted and groomed young guns like Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan, Avishkar Salvi, Yuvraj Singh, Ramesh Powar,Suresh Raina, Rudra Pratap Singh and V.R.V. Singh, we can expect a more stable and strong Indian side for years to come.

Also referred to as the Lord of Lord’s for his unparalleled feat of three hundreds by a non-England cricketer, an achievement even the great Don was unable to register, at the Mecca of cricket, Vengsarkar’s name is permanently etched in the record books. As long as the Lord’s cricket ground enjoys its unique place as the cricket headquarters Vengsarkar will keep his place intact , especially early next year MCC will be sending an artist to Bombay for painting a special portrait of this enigmatic cricketer which will be displayed in the Lord’s Pavilion. Certainly a deserving reward and recognition for this hall of fame cricketer.

At a very young age of 19 years Vengsarkar burst into the national scene and in his just 2nd first class match he destroyed the spin attack of Bishen Bedi & Errapalli Prasanna, then at the peak of their careers by sending them all around the Vidharba Cricket Association Stadium at Nagpur. Playing for Ranji Champions Bombay against Rest of India, Vengsarkar produced an amazing innings of 110 which included seven massive sixes and earned him the nickname ‘Colonel’ as he reminded everyone of the great CK Nayudu. He was not at all afraid to hit the world renowned and the reputed spinners out of the ground in the 1975/76 Irani Cup final. In the only first class innings he played prior to that he was dismissed for a duck by a bowler with similar sounding last name "Parsana" (Dheeraj was also considered as a candidate for the selection committee membership from West Zone to replace outgoing Kiran More, in case Vengsarkar did not want to take up the job) as that of Prasanna. The same last name may have come as disadvantage for Errapalli Prasanna as he was sent on leather hunt for 110 runs of 33 overs in that match. Exactly the same score registered by Vengsarkar.

Two more centuries in the same season one against the touring Sri Lankans for Indian Universities and another in a West Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Baroda made him an automatic choice for the Indian team for their 1975/76 twin tours of New Zealand & West Indies. With just an experience of eight first class games, Vengsarkar made his test debut against New Zealand at Auckland in the first test of the 1975/76 series under Sunil Gavaskar’s captaincy.

But like many of the hundreds he scored in test cricket, his test career too had a shaky start and it was almost three years and 17 tests before he could hit a test century (157*) during which he was involved in a record breaking unbeaten 344 run partnership with his mentor Sunil Gavaskar against West Indies at Eden Gardens, Calcutta. After that for more than a decade he established himself as the main pillar of Indian batting though his major batting exploits were always overshadowed by other members of the star-studded Indian batting line-ups which consisted of Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath & Mohinder Amarnath during the initial phases of his career and by Kapil Dev, Mohd Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar during the final phases. In between many a time several of his match saving knocks were put on backseat by the flamboyant cricketers like Krish Srikkanth and Sandeep Patil.

Vengsarkar could not finish his test career on a high note either and was a mere shadow of his tremendous run of 1985-87 during which he gathered 1668 runs in 16 tests at a Bradmanesque average of 104.25 including his third hundred at Lord’s and two of the important innings in the history of Indian test cricket 61 & 102* which fetched a 2-0 test series win for India. Those twin knocks at Headingley bears a testimony to his mastery of any bowling attack of the world on any type of wicket as the next highest score in that test match was a mere 36*, ironically by the outgoing national selection committee chairman Kiran More.

During that amazing run of scores by Vengsarkar, I was under the impression that he along with Allan Border and Javed Miandad would have a fair shot of beating Gavaskar’s records and wrote a statistical analysis in Deccan Chronicle. I also had a privilege of sitting beside him and exchanging some pleasantries in the commentary booth when I was officiating as statistician for All India Radio during the 3rd test of the 1988/89 Test series at Hyderabad, India when he was captaining the side. India won that test and registered a series victory by 2-1 margin. Like everything else Captaincy too came very late too him, in his 96th test. He in fact holds the record for playing in most number of tests before captaining in a test match. He captained India in 10 tests (2 Wins, 5 losses, 3 draws), seven of them against the mighty West Indian team under Vivian Richards and was removed from the position very unfairly after India lost 3 tests in a row during the 1988/89 series in West Indies.

As he could never extend any of his centuries to double hundreds, Vengsarkar failed to extend the dream run too for the last 17 tests of his career. His test career makes an interesting study as does many of his innings. First 16 tests yielded just 754 runs @ 29.00 with no hundreds and just 4 fifties and his last 17 tests 537 runs @ 20.65 again with no hundreds and just 4 fifties. But in between he had a remarkable career of 83 tests in which he amassed 5577 runs @ 50.24 with 17 hundreds and 27 fifties.

Overall Vengsarkar played in 116 tests and aggregated 6868 runs @ 42.13 with 17 hundreds and 35 fifties , his highest test score being 166 on an under prepared pitch against Sri Lanka at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. He was second only to Gavaskar in all time run scorers list at the time of his retirement from test cricket. Also an excellent slip fielder he accounted for 78 victims in test cricket.

Vengsarkar has an impressive record in limited overs cricket too. He played in 129 ODIs for India and aggregated an impressive tally of 3508 runs @ 34.73 which included a hundred and 23 fifties. Though he did not play in the final against West Indies because of injury he sustained in a group match, he was one of the key members of the 1983 World Cup winning squad. I still can not forget his appearance on the balcony of Lord’s pavilion waving his hand after India shocked the West Indies and the whole cricketing world by defeating the defending champions in low scoring thriller. Vengsarkar was a major contributor of the 1985 Benson Hedges Cup triumph. In first class cricket he is one of the very few Indian batsmen to have recorded 50+ hundreds. He registered his highest first class score of 284 against Madhya Pradesh in the quarter-final match of 1991/92 season. The following semi-final against Delhi, which Bombay lost on first innings lead became the last ever first class game that Vengsarkar played as he announced his retirement from first class cricket immedaitely after that.

More than any of his cricketing records, his highly disciplined and principled character, his passion for the game and loyalty to Bombay Cricket, which made him cry publicly when his team failed short by 3 runs to win 1990-91 Ranji final against Haryana and he was left stranded on 139 as his partner Abey Kuruvilla was run out and finally his yeoman service to the game ever since he retired from cricket that brings enormous credibility to his position as National Selection Committee Chairman.

A man of principles, Vengsarkar always maintained a low profile both on and off the field and let his deeds speak for themselves. In a materialistic world where it’s almost impossible to resist the temptation of going after power and money, Vengsarkar set an example which is very difficult to follow. Consider these facts: In 2002 he declined the membership of Selection Committee from West Zone to replace Anshuman Gaekwad’s position as he thought his views differed from that of BCCI. He also asked the MCA who staged his benefit match against the West Indies in 1994 to keep any amount of money that is accrued over the guaranteed Rs. 40 lakh and use it for the developmental activities of Mumbai Cricket Association. And living up to his character and principles of ethics and morals he resigned from the position of Mumbai Selection Committee’s chairman when he failed to win the election for MCA’s vice president’s post.

In an interview after he took over the position as chairman of national selection committee, Vengsarkar mentioned that his main aim would be to try and achieve that there is no zonal bias whenever the new five-member committee meets to select a team. He also said that the door is not shut for anyone playing domestic cricket and seeking a comeback to the Indian squad which might have made Ganguly’s day.

Contrary to his batting style Vengsarkar seems to have started his duty on a strong note. But Vengsarkar’s most difficult test as the National Selection Committee Chairman will be undoubtedly when his committee brainstorms to choose the Indian team for the World Cup and the next Indian Coach as Greg Chappell’s contract is very unlikely to be extended once it expires after the World Cup. I wish he would come out on top on both occasions like he did against Bedi and Prasanna 31 years back.

It is very fortunate and augurs well for the game of Cricket in India that such an individual with high integrity, ethical and moral values like Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar, at last takes over one of the most coveted positions in India where the game is treated as religion and cricket crazy population considers the Chairman of National Selection Committee as powerful as the President of India. A man of plenty of those characteristics himself President APJ Abdul Kalam may not raise objections for such a comparison.

Walter Hadlee - The Innings of a Lifetime

Walter Arnold Hadlee, arguably one of the New Zealand’s greatest cricketers died today, 29th September, 2006 after fighting hard for his life for more than three weeks. The 91-year-old legendary figure of not only Canterbury’s but New Zealand’s most famous cricketing dynasty has been seriously ill and was nursing in The Princess Margaret Hospital, Christchurch as he suffered a stroke immediately after his second (the prior one was a failure) full hip replacement surgery.

As the entire cricketing world is very well aware of, Walter Hadlee is one of the only two test cricketers in the history of cricket to have had two of his sons, Sir Richard & Dayle follow his footsteps to represent his country in test cricket. Lala Amarnath of India is the other cricketer to have produced two sons Mohinder and Surinder who went on to play test cricket. With a remarkable coincidence like Lala’s other son Rajinder Amarnath, Walter Hadlee’s other son Barry Hadlee too played in first class cricket but could not get a chance to play in test cricket though he did make two appearances for New Zealand in One day Internationals.

Walter Hadlee with one of the most recognizable last names in cricketing world served New Zealand cricket in various capacities first as a player, then as captain and after retiring from representative cricket as a selector, as a manager and as an international cricket administrator. For seventy five years he provided both the body and soul for New Zealand cricket.His death leaves a void in New Zealand Cricket which is very difficult to fill.

Walter Hadlee made his appearance in first class cricket in 1933 for Canterbury when he was just 18 years old. Three and half year later he made his test debut at Lord’s when he toured England with ML Page’s New Zealand team. He made 34 & 3 in that drawn encounter. In the 2nd test match played at Old Trafford which New Zealand lost by 130 runs, Walter Hadlee was dismissed seven runs short of a century in the first innings when he slipped and fell on wicket while trying to hoist England's Arthur Wellard over square leg. He could make just three runs in the 2nd innings. In the drawn 3rd test too he did not make significant contribution making just 18 & 3.

It is very unfortunate that Walter’s most productive phase was interrupted by World War II. New Zealand did not play test cricket after their 1937 tour of England when Walter was 22 yr old. By the time New Zealand resumed test cricket in 1946 with their first ever test against Australia Walter Hadlee was leading the Kiwis. It did not prove out to be a good outing for him as a captain as New Zealand was dismissed for 42 & 54 and lost by an innings and 103 runs. He remained New Zealand’s captain till he retired from test cricket in 1951 leading a mediocre Kiwi test side in six drawn tests and only one other defeat in his last test match.

After hitting the only test century of his career against England in 1946/47 at Christchurch, Walter Hadlee went through the entire 1949 tour of England by not getting dismissed for less than a score of 22 in tests.

An attacking bat, a quality which his son, Richard Hadlee, acquired and executed in innumerable innings, Walter Hadlee was immensely popular both on and off the field and could have easily achieved a lot more than he actually did on field had the War not intervened with his career and restricted it to just 11 test matches and 117 first class games.

In both of the New Zealand’s tours of England in 1937 & 1949 Walter Hadlee scored in excess of 1000 runs. He scored 1225 runs at 29.87 in 1937 including a quick-fire 93 in his second Test at Old Trafford. Walter Hadlee was more consistent in his next tour in 1949 when he made 1439 runs at 35.97. He also lead Kiwis on that very successful tour wherein they just lost only one of their 32 first class matches. Though New Zealand team did not have the kind of experience that England had they could not force a win in any of the test matches.

Following are Walter Hadlee’s test and first class career figures:

Though he did not achieve much as a player he definitely took pride in the successes of his sons especially that of Sir Richard Hadlee. Walter Hadlee dedicated a major part of his life to the betterment of New Zealand’s Cricket and was so passionate about cricket and its tradition, In 2002, he even objected to the use of word “batter” to describe batsman in the annual report of Canterbury Cricket Association.

With the death of Walter Hadlee, “THE INNINGS OF A LIFETIME” - as he aptly titled his autobiography - comes to an end and it is very unlikely to be emulated again.

Friday, September 22, 2006

What next for Team India?

During the Australian innings of the just concluded 6th DLF Cup match between Australia and India, which was a virtual semifinal to seal a spot for the Sunday’s final against West Indies, while watching the game live on TV I noticed a group of Indian fans in Kinrara Academy Oval, Kuala Lumpur, who were waving a placard which said “FIGHTBACK OR FLIGHTBACK”.

Unfortunately the Indian team members who were fielding at that time may not have noticed it or did not give enough importance to it. On the contrary , I reckon, the Aussies may have took it as a motivating factor and applied the same to themselves and fought back amicably from a precarious 117 for 6 and recovered to make a defendable 213. Later on they went on to defeat India by 18 runs.

At 185 for 6 it seemed as if India was inching towards the victory target with just 29 more runs needed for taking on the West Indies in the final. But as happened in every match of this tournament a batting collapse of 4 wickets for 10 runs saw Australia clinch a victory from the jaws of defeat. If it was Mitchell Johnson with 4 for 11 who decimated India in their previous group match against Asutralia, this time Brett Lee with figures of 5 for 38 helped Australia defend a low total of 213.

If this tournament was considered as a podium for getting into the top gear and preparing the team for the forthcoming Champions Trophy and subsequent World Cup in Caribbean islands during next summer, both West Indies and Australia have reasons to celebrate. Good that the teams for the championship trophy were decided long back or else India would have been competing in preliminaries to qualify for the Group Stage. Two of the teams that will be competing in the preliminaries Sri Lanka and West Indies may even end up in the finals if they continue to perform as they did during the major part of this year. Sri Lanka thrashed England by 5-0 and West Indies won by 4-1 against India in their respective ODI series this summer. I would seriously doubt the chances of the PAPER TIGERS to get to the semi final stage in either of next two big ODI tournaments.

Though Dinesh Mongia played a fighting knock of 63* in addition to his excellent bowling spell while restricting the Australian total to 213, like his senior players he did not have a clue and was not mindful of the seriousness of the situation. He may have totally forgotten the fact that when you are batting with the tail-enders you should be shielding them from the likes of Glen McGrath and Brett Lee by taking a single of the last ball. Seventeen months of absence from International cricket did not help him remember the principles of rotating the strike. When you are all set at the crease and with victory just five or six boundaries away your first priority is to hit a boundary or two and then take single of the last ball to take as much batting strike as possible. When you cannot finish the task all of your hard work is wasted.

What about the top order batting? 35 for 5 in their rain ruined 2nd match, 78 for 6 in the 3rd and 50 for 4 today. Even minnows of cricket like Kenya, Bangladesh & Zimbabwe would consider such scores as disgrace. It’s a pathetic display of batting by India’s so called batting geniuses like Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag and talented batsmen like Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif & Dhoni. There can be no two arguments about it.

India was expected to win the matches on their batting strength and as it turned out the only match that India won was because of their bowling that too in a match the outcome of which did not make any difference to the opponents, in this case West Indies, who were more interested in giving batting practice to the whole team rather than winning.

Sewhag’s scores in the tournament were 9, 8, 1 & 10, Dravid 26, 6, 0 & 7. Dhoni 2, 18 &23, Yuvraj two ducks in two innings he played. Tendulkar 12 & 4 against Australia in the matches that mattered most, though he hit a century and a fifty against West Indies and was chief architect of Indian victory, he could not have done it without Harbhajan’s invaluable 37 and great bowling which helped India bowl out West Indies 146.

The so called Indian think tank along with BCCI needs to get back to the drawing board again and do some soul search or else soon tournaments of this nature or for that matter any ODI tournament that involves India through which BCCI is swelling their kitty through TV rights and other promotions will cease to earn the big bucks for them and there is every chance even the Indian Cricket God would not be able to help them as witnessed by the fact that his amazing comeback innings of 141* failed to satiate the increasing hunger of Indian fans to see their TEAM INDIA win a major tournament, if not at least defeat the Australians. I am sure many Indian cricket fans would have traded watching Sachin’s 141* against West Indies to that of seeing India in DLF Cup finals..

Only positive we take from DLF Cup tournament is not to expect a great deal of achievements by Team India in forthcoming ODI matches or tournaments. If at all a century and a win here and there, celebrate it, but do not expect things changing overnight unless there is a big overhaul of the team and its approach to ODI games.

I can only wish my predictions go wrong.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Ashes Countdown 70

England Announces 16-member Ashes Squad. Flintoff to Lead.

As expected England named Andrew Flintoff as the captain of the 16-member squad that will be touring Australia this Winter to defend the Ashes. No major surprises too in the touring party. A 14 member squad which will be based in Perth under the supervision of National Academy Director, Peter Moores is also named. In case of any emergency replacements that England may need during this difficult tour the members of this squad would be available immediately to don the national colors.

Flintoff will be leading the team for Champions Trophy that precedes the Ashes during which three key players, Ashley Giles, Steven Harmison and James Anderson were expected to prove their fitness. Two members of the last year’s Ashes triumph Michael Vaughan and Simon Jones are excluded from the squad as they are still nursing their injuries and are not expected to recover till the start of 2007 season.

Ashes Squad: Andrew Flintoff (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Geraint Jones, Sajid Mahmood, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Chris Read, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick.

Champions Trophy squad: Andrew Flintoff (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Rikki Clarke, Paul Collingwood, James Dalrymple, Steve Harmison, Ed Joyce, Sajid Mahmood, Jon Lewis, Kevin Pietersen, Chris Read, Andrew Strauss, and Michael Yardy.

Academy Squad: Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Rikki Clarke, James Dalrymple, Steven Davies, Ed Joyce, Robert Key, Jon Lewis, Graham Onions, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Tom Smith, Chris Tremlett, Michael Yardy.

Only four members from England's Previous Ashes tour of Australia, Marcus Trescothick, Ashley Giles, Steven Harmison, Matthew Hoggard will be making a return trip whereas just four players Martin Love, Darren Lehmann, Andy Bichel and Steve Waugh who played during those series for Australia may not find a place in this winter’s Ashes campaign. Robert Key who played in 4 tests in 2002/03 will be available as part of the National Academy. None of these five players have put up any noteworthy performances during that tour as shown in the table below:

Eng- Player Ashes 2002/03

Age on 23/11/06

MRunsHSAve100s50s0sRunsWktsBest5WI10WMAveCtsSts

Steve Harmison

2844720*7.83--145593-70--50.551-

Robert Key

2741415217.60-11------1-

Matthew Hoggard

2931262.40--237564-92--62.501-

Marcus Trescothick

3052617226.10-11------5-

Ashley Giles

33117138.50---19164-101--31.832-


On paper, this looks as the weakest English team ever that is being given the enormous responsibility of defending the Ashes which England regained last year after 16 years. If we compare the test career records of England’s 16 member squad and four members of the Academy squad who played test cricket before to that of Australia’s current contracted players and the 18 members of the DLF cup squad, who are expected to be available for the Ashes, it is clearly evident that Australia has almost double the experience in all departments of the game. England’s 481 combined test match experience yielded 21217 runs as against Australia’s 44169 runs in 993 tests. Australians have amassed 118 centuries and 171 fifties against England's 46 hundreds and 93 fifties. England’s 839 wickets with 25 5WI & 2 10WM pales in comparison to Australia’s 2094 wickets 98 5WI & 15 10WM hauls. Even in fielding Australia’s 943 catches & 35 stumpingss are way too ahead of England’s 472 catches and 10 stumpings.

No doubt Australia will be fielding their best eleven to avenge their defeats of 2005 Ashes and will be trying their best to inflict a whitewash on England. Only thing that may come to England’s rescue during their trip down under is their youthful enthusiasm as 17 of the 26 Australian Test prospects for this winter’s Ashes will be above 30 ( 8 of them above 35) when the test series kicks off at Brisbane on Nov 23rd, 2006. For England only four members of the touring party (Giles 33, Trescothick, Collingwood & Geraint Jones all 30) will be in their 30s. Jon Lewis is the only member of the National Academy who will be at an age of over 30.

See the tables below:(ODI indicates played in ODIs only. FC denotes played in first class cricket and not in ODIs or Tests for the Country)
Test Career Records of the Members of England Squad for the Ashes 2006-07:

Eng- Player Ashes SquadAge on 23/11/06MRunsHSAve100s50s0sRunsWktsBest5WI10WMAveCtsSts
James Anderson

24

13

89

21*

14.83


-


-


-


1353


41


5-73


2


-


33.00


4


-

Ian Bell


24


18


1287


162*


47.66


5


7


3


64


1


1-33


-


-


64.00


18


-

Paul Collingwood


30


15


1027


186


41.10


2


3


-


245


1


1-33


-


-


245.00


20


-

Alastair Cook

21


9


761


127


54.40


3


3


-


-


-


-


-


-


-


7


-

Andrew Flintoff


28


62


3127


167


32.92


5


22


14


5827


186


5-58


2


-


31.33


44


-


Ashley Giles


33


52


1347


59


20.72


-


4


8


5544


140


5-57


5


-


39.60

32


-

Steve Harmison


28


45


505


42


11.50


-


-


15


5127


179


7-12


8


1


28.81


6


-

Matthew Hoggard


29


58


414


38


7.81


-


-


15


6607


222


7-61


6


1


29.76


23


-

Geraint Jones


30


31


1109


100


25.79


1


6


-


-


-


-


-


-


-


119


5

Sajid Mahmood


24


5


63


34


15.80


-


-


-


498


15


4-22


-


-


33.20


-


-

Monty Panesar


24


10


51


26


10.20


-


-


3


1037


32


5-72


2


-


32.40


2


-

Kevin Pietersen


26


18


1597


158


48.40


5


5


2


76


1


1-11


-


-


76.00


11


-

Liam Plunkett


21


6


69


28


8.63


-


-


4


601


16


3-17


-


-


37.56


2


-


Chris Read


28


13


55


55


20.30


-


1


5


-


-


-


-


-


-


37


5

Andrew Strauss


29


31


2597


147


46.40


10


7


4


-


-


-


-


-

-

39


-

Marcus Trescothick

30


76


5825


219


43.80


14


29


12


155


1


1-34


-


-


155.00


95


-


Test Career Records of Academy Squad Members who are expected to be called in as replacements in case of any emergencies for England during the Ashes :
Eng-Player Academy SquadAge on 23/11/06MRunsHSAve100s50s0sRunsWktsBest5WI10WMAveCtsSts

Robert Key

27

15

775

221

31.00

1

3

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

11

-

Jon Lewis

31

1

27

20

13.50

-

-

-

122

3

3-68

-

-

-

-

-

Owais Shah

28

1

126

88

63.00

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Rikki Clarke

25

2

96

55

32.00

-

1

-

60

4

2-7

15.00

-

-

1

-

Chris Tremlett

25

ODI

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Jamie Dalrymple

25

ODI

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Ed Joyce

28

ODI

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Stuart Broad

20

ODI

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Michael Yardy

25

ODI

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Matt Prior

24

FC

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Ravinder Bopara

21

FC

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Steven Davies

20

FC

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Graham Onions

24

FC

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Tom Smith

20

FC

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-



Test Career Records of Australian Players who are expected to be available for the Ashes :



Aus-Contracted-Prospect PlayerAge on 23/11/06MatRunsHSAve100s50s0sRunsWktsBest5WI 10WMAveCtSt

Nathan Bracken

29

5

70

37

17.50


-


-


-


505


12


4-48


-


-


42.08


2


-

Stuart Clark

31

4

31

13*

10.33

-

-

1

394

21

5-55

1

-

18.76

2

-

Michael Clarke

25

22

1123

151

36.23

2

4

-

75

8

6-9

1

-

9.38

18

-

Dan Cullen

22

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

54

1

1-25

-

-

54.00

-

-

Adam Gilchrist

35

85


5124


204*


48.80


16


22


12


-


-


-


-


-


-


320


35

Jason Gillespie


31


71


1218


201*


18.74


1


2


13


6770


259


7-37


8


-


26.14


27


-

Matthew Hayden


35


84


7326


380


53.09


26


26


11


40


-


0-7


-


-


-


111


-

Brad Hodge


32


5


409


203*


58.43


1


1


-


8


-


0-8


-


-


-


9


-

Brad Hogg


35


4

38


17*


9.50


-


-


-


452


9


2-40


-


-


50.22


-


-

Michael Hussey


31


11


1139


182


75.93


4


4


-


18


-


0-2


-


-


-


3


-

Phil Jaques


27


2


96


66


32.00


-


1


-


-


-


-


-


-


-


1


-

Michael Kasprowicz


34


38


445


25


10.60


-


-


7


3716


113


7-36


4


-


32.88


16


-

Simon Katich


31


23


1260


125


36.00


2


8


2


406


12


6-65


1


-


33.83


15


-

Justin Langer


36


100


7393


250


45.36


22


29


10


3


-


0-3


-


-


-


68


-

Brett Lee


30


54


1033


64


21.08


-


3


9


6636


211


5-30


7


-


31.45


15


-

Stuart MacGill


35


40


347


43


10.21


-


-


11


5387


198


8-108


12


2


27.21


16


-

Damien Martyn


35


65


4361


165


47.40


13


23


7


168


2


1-0


-


-


84.00


33


-

Glenn McGrath


36


119


631


61


7.51


-


1


34


11684


542


8-24


28


3


21.56


37


-

Ricky Ponting


32


105


8792


257


58.23


31


34


8


231


5


1-0


-


-


46.20


120


-

Andrew Symonds


31


10


286


72


19.07


-


2


2


409


9


3-50


-


-


45.44


10


-

Shaun Tait


23


2


8


4


8.00


-


-


-


210


5


3-97


-


-


42.00


-


-

Shane Warne


37


140


2958


99


16.62


-


11


34


17297


685


8-71


36


10


25.25


120


-

Shane Watson


25


3


81


31


20.25


-


-


-


123


2


1-25


-


-


61.50


-


-

Brad Haddin


29


ODI















Mitchell Johnson


25


ODI















Mark Cosgrove


22


ODI















We will be doing more analysis on the members of the squad and their performances in prior Ashes Series during our countdown to the Ashes.