The Australian cricket non-official thread!

What a tremendous season of the WBBL it has been, punctuated by brilliant individual performances. The finals had more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel and the ending to both semi finals will be remembered for many years to come.

The wholehearted efforts of overseas players like Marizzane Kapp and Sophie Devine should be commended, as should the franchises who invested in and promoted youth.

Womenā€™s cricket in this country has well and truly taken off and I do think it is incumbent on the cricket supporter to credit Channel Ten (previously) and Seven (currently) for their efforts in allowing the viewer to put ā€œfaces and personalitiesā€ to the ā€œnamesā€.
 
Anyone that has not been to WBBL game yet should do themselves a favour and get out to one next season.
The quality of cricket is outstanding. Their fielding is as good as anything I have seen. The two semi finals last week were two of the best games I have seen. It was awsome to be there. The final was good too.
They are a stand alone competition next year and will lead into the BBL and it would be great to see everyone get on board and see it be a success.
 
The extraordinary recent BBL form line of Marcus Stoinis now reads:

2/26 (3) and 78*(49) vs Renegades
2/29 (4) and 34 (22) vs Thunder
3/19 (4) and 70*(65) vs Renegades
3/20 (4) and 53 (45) vs Strikers
4/21 (4) and 43 (29) vs Heat

14 wickets @ 8.21 average and an economy rate of 6.05 runs per over.

278 runs @ 92.66 average and a strike rate of 132.38.

He has metaphorically lifted his team on his broad shoulders and carried them up the BBL table. I like what this kid brings to the table.
 
He ain't a test player though.

He's almost 30 with FC batting ave of 33.61 and FC bowling ave of 42.36.

I'll grant you he's a great t20 player but I can't see who you drop from the 1st test.

It's been a very ploddy BBL season too. Terrible batting, fielding and catching as well as match awareness. Factor in the lack of real quality imports and Stoinis is imho the best of an ordinary bunch.
 
Whilst the WBBL has been great with a fantastic finals series I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the men's BBL.

There has been a lot of commentary from the players in the last few weeks and with scores just hovering around the 130 - 150 mark on a consistent basis I'm wondering where the competition is headed. I must admit with the season so drawn out and so many games on I am losing interest as the days go by. Far too long and not enough star power with only 2 and now less known international players.

A crowd of 8083 in Sydney last night suggests there are major problems. Is it a game that was created and marketed around the kids who then lose interest as they get older and move on to different things?

Your thoughts?
 
Have lost a good chunk of interest in the BBL. Probably about two weeks ago my interest level really started to go down (heat performances havent helped) I will gain a bit back again once finals roll round

Id prefer scores of 170+ for this format

Quite a few customers of mine have mentioned the level of cricket being down a bit this season too.
 
I think they have saturated the market not only with the increase in games but having the WBBL as a stand alone comp. We used to watch every BBL game now we only watch games with teams we follow. With a house split between sixers and thunder supporters that is 26 WBBL games and 26 BBL games spread over 2 months.
This will be the first year in about 5 we wont have attended a match. When you are looking at 1000km round trip to watch 3 hours of cricket it isn't attractive. We used to pick matches to attend based on if they were a WBBL BBL double header, it made the trips a bit easier to justify.

Quite a few people in the little town I live in would make the 1000km return trip to Sydney or Melbourne to attend matches but the lack of double headers and the TV saturation has stopped them. I dont know anyone that has attended a BBL game this year. A few will be making the 5hr return trip to Canberra for the BBL match and others for the test but I dont know anyone that has made a trip to Sydney or Melbourne this year.
 
@Sports Nut this season feels like it began in the Ice Age mate - basically a week before Christmas. The duration of this seasonā€™s tournament is two months, which I think is a bit of a stretch concentration-wise. Admittedly I do watch most of the games on TV, but more as background noise than actively following both innings of a game.

The argument of course is that a longer season allows for a more ā€œevenā€ competition with the fixturing in regards to home and away games. To that end, I do support the length of the season on principle.

I wonder if breaking up the season into two blocks could be the answer? It might then allow the franchises to hire overseas players on short-term contracts rather than have them need to commit for a two month block. You could run one half of the season prior to Christmas and then perhaps re-start at the end of January? That would allow Shield games to be played at the same time as the Test matches.....now THERE is a novel idea!!
 
Extraordinary scenes in the Caribbean as the West Indies storm to an unlikely series win over England! I am delighted for Jason Holder, who has NEVER batted higher than No. 7 in Test cricket yet still averages 33.64 (with three centuries). His 93 wickets have cost 27.69 apiece. He is a cricketer and leader to be reckoned with.

Hidden away tomorrow night on Channel Seven is a new documentary on the ā€œunderarm incidentā€, which as of last Friday occurred a staggering 38 years ago!! Here is a news article from New Zealand promoting the documentary:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12199538
 
Back
Top Bottom