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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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'He will captain again'...
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/he-will-captain-again-ponting-backs-smith-to-take-his-old-job-back-20190918-p52sdk.html
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"Steve Smith – I think he will captain again," Ponting said. "I don't know what the Australian public might think about that."
Ponting pointed to Cricket Australia's decision in 2018 to exclude Smith for consideration from leadership roles for a minimum of 12 months, adding that any return to the captaincy role "would be conditional on acceptance by fans and the public, form and authority among the playing group".
"So to me that seems like Cricket Australia has left the gate open ... so if Cricket Australia thinks it's OK then I'm happy with [it,]" Ponting said.
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[Comment: "He will captain again" and "I think he will captain again" are not the same thing. And "I want him to captain again" (which, to me, "backs" implies) is even more different.
This decision really shouldn't be dependent on the public. The public has behaved totally irrationally in this saga. And I don't even know if Smith was any good as captain tactically. He did throw Maxwell under the bus, which is a clear mark against his captaincy.] |
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Lazza
Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
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K wrote: | Smith will always be remembered as a cheat: Harmison
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/smith-will-always-be-remembered-as-a-cheat-harmison-20190909-p52pjb.html
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Harmison, who played 63 Tests – including all five games during the epic 2005 Ashes series – suggested it will be impossible to change anybody's opinion.
"I don't think you can forgive him," Harmison told talkSPORT.
"When you're known as a cheat – and he is, I'm not going to sugar-coat it, the three guys cheated – that's on your CV.
"You're marked and you take it to your grave.
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"I can't see anybody's opinion changing on Smith, Bancroft, or Warner. Because of what they've done, they've tarnished the game."
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[Comment: Harmison is in no position to pass judgement. He was part of the 2005 England team that systematically cheated their way to the Ashes (helped also by Buchanan's incompetence as Oz coach), as described in Trescothick's book.] |
In the same breath, does he say that Atherton was also a cheat in the sand in the pocket episode? Otherwise he is being a total hypocrite _________________ Don't confuse your current path with your final destination. Just because it's dark and stormy now doesn't meant that you aren't headed for glorious sunshine! |
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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Quote: | ...
Smith said he had been so tired after his record-breaking Ashes tour this year that he had not picked up a bat for a fortnight before resuming with the Blues this week. He spends so much time honing his unique technique that there will be a major debate by selectors and the CA board as to whether it would be best for him to just concentrate on his batting for the rest of his career but continue to have an unofficial leadership role.
Coach-selector Justin Langer said on Saturday there was much to consider.
"We will have to work out what's best. I mean, he saw how exhausted he was from the effort he puts into his batting. Whether he wants the burden of captaincy as well, that'll have to be something we work out over time and timing's an amazing thing as well,' he said on ABC Grandstand.
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https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/shield-wrap-paine-fires-amid-questions-over-test-captaincy-20191011-p52zze.html |
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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If you think Smith can't lead Australia again, we've got news for you
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/if-you-think-smith-can-t-lead-australia-again-we-ve-got-news-for-you-20191017-p531r6.html
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Steve Smith will captain Australia again. Maybe as soon as March. And so he should. People need to get over it.
... But you don't get life for murder, so there's no way Smith should be banned for life from captaining Australia.
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And in Australian cricket you need look no further than Greg Chappell for an example. After the infamous underarm incident in 1981, Chappell had a further 38 years in the game at the highest levels.
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There is only one thing that may get in Smith's way: Pat Cummins. Don't underestimate how much Cricket Australia loves him.
He's the clean skin; the fresh-faced boy next door everybody loves, with an infectious smile and a will to win, who bowls all day. What more could you want?
Cummins has one thing going against him though: he's a fast bowler.
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[Comment: who cares that Cummin's a bowler? He can captain by 11-man vote for all I care. Apart from the ball tampering, the odd thing about the Smith push is there's no evidence I'm aware of that Smith is a good captain. e.g. Back when everyone was praising him, he still threw Maxwell under the bus.] |
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Pies4shaw
pies4shaw
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
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Best batsman in world cricket since Sir IVAR. Of course he'll captain Australia again. |
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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There's no link between batting skill and captaincy. And Smith's not even in the best three Oz batsmen (let alone the entire world's) from Viv's time on. He's good on flat tracks only, where his single-mindedness lets him bat on and on, a bit like another limited batsman, S. Waugh. (That's a different topic, though, so I'll leave it for other threads.)
On captaincy, the question is: do you think Heater would have made a good Collingwood captain? Because Smith is less capable as Test captain than Heater hypothetically would be as Collingwood captain. I talk about Heater here because his brain is unusually wired in a very similar way to Smith's (though he displays more humour than Smith ever has). |
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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Has M.L.B.’s Ball Lost Its Juice? Some Players Think So
The baseball seemed to fly faster than ever this regular season, but some have noticed a slowdown in October.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/sports/baseball/mlb-baseball-juiced.html
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... During Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, Chirinos watched the Yankees slugger Aaron Judge smash a pitch nearly 103 miles per hour at an angle of 32 degrees. According to M.L.B.’s analysis tool Statcast, balls hit like that during the regular season resulted in a home run 84 percent of the time.
Instead, this one became a 382-foot fly ball caught at the edge of the warning track in center field at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.
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The 2019 regular season featured a record-setting 6,776 balls flying out of the park — a jump of nearly 600 from the previous high set in 2017. A study commissioned by M.L.B. last year found that the main factor in the rising home run rates was that the balls inexplicably had less drag and thus traveled farther. Many pitchers found the ball used this regular season had changed even more, with some complaining that their trademark pitches weren’t behaving quite the same.
It has been jarring for several players and other observers to see balls unexpectedly die quickly in the air this postseason.
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Before Game 2 of the World Series in Houston on Wednesday, M.L.B. Commissioner Rob Manfred bristled at the notion that anything about the ball was different. ...
... “I can tell you one thing for absolutely certain: Just like every other year, the balls that were used in this postseason were selected from lots that were used during the regular season. There was no difference.”
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For Sean Doolittle, the Nationals closer, M.L.B.’s lack of quality control over its own ball is troubling. A follow-up report by Arthur on Friday found significant variation in the flight of the ball this postseason. But even if the balls used now are within the acceptable range, how could those small differences suddenly cause such a large difference in results on the field?
“It shouldn’t be varied at all,” Doolittle said. “The equipment in the game should be uniform. It should be standard, especially because we as players didn’t agree to any equipment changes or rule changes. It changes the fundamental nature of the game.”
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“We’re starting to get into sports betting, so that’s something that should raise a lot of questions if the ball is going to be this different even within a single season, from the regular season to the postseason,” Doolittle said. “How does that affect that relationship? So we, as players, want more transparency. We want more of a uniform baseball. Regardless of how it flies, we just want to be in on that process.”
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When the Astros star pitcher Justin Verlander called the ball a “joke” at the All-Star Game in July, claiming M.L.B. was intentionally juicing it for more offense, he said he had accepted an invitation from league officials to visit the plant in Costa Rica, but no plans for a trip have been made so far. He reiterated his interest just before the World Series began.
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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Ban or not, David Warner a T20 leader for Australia
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27945482/ban-not-david-warner-t20-leader-australia
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Whatever the letter of David Warner's lifetime ban from leadership positions in Australian cricket, he was never going to be left out of the team's tactical thinking.
Apart from the fact it is nigh on impossible to picture Warner sitting quietly in the corner minding his own business while the national team's campaign for next year's T20 World Cup is constructed, he is one of the squad's most agile minds in the shortest format. After all, only one current Australian cricketer can boast of captaining a winning IPL team, and that is Warner with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016. His thoughts on Australia's build up are many.
To that end Warner has taken a central role in discussing the many and varied permutations for the team led by captain Aaron Finch and coach Justin Langer. As one of several members of the team to play all three formats consistently, he has ample opportunities to do so.
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Warner, it is clear, is not permitted to captain Australia again. But that edict does not preclude him from the ability to lead.
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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Smith needs a word to the wise when it comes to captaincy
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/sport-thought-smith-needs-a-word-to-the-wise-when-it-comes-to-captaincy-20191109-p53901.html
T. Lane wrote: | ...
Caught up in the middle of this conundrum is Tim Paine, the man who had the Test captaincy thrust upon him in the midst of just his 12th match in the highest form of the game. His leadership is being subjected to a degree of questioning and pressure unknown since the days of Kim Hughes.
In the early 1980s, as is now the case, there were opposing and strongly held points of view about an Australian captain. And Hughes – whose position was even less enviable than is Paine’s today –eventually collapsed under the strain.
Which says something for Paine’s resilience.
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This is, however, to miss the crucial point that Smith’s loss of the captaincy had nothing to do with batting skill and runs scored. It had everything to do with lack of awareness of the responsibilities of leadership. Everything to do with failure to grasp the nettle when an uncomfortable action was required.
To ever again become Australia’s captain, Smith must be able to show that his lessons have been learnt. His comments in recent days that he believes he performs better with the captaincy than without it, could easily give the impression that he still doesn’t quite understand this fundamental issue. Not that he was necessarily conveying anything other than what he feels. But why say it? For its effect would inevitably be to drive a new round of headlines.
... On the most favourable view, though, Smith was displaying a naivete which modern captains must have the maturity to avoid. Perhaps it was born of the same personality trait that, during the heated hours in Cape Town, prompted Smith to confidently presume his captaincy would remain unaffected by the train-wreck which had just transpired on the ground.
Of course, cricketers can’t be expected to perform like highly programmed politicians, and we wouldn’t want them to be. Nevertheless, in these days of leaders’ words being subjected to forensic analysis, an aspiring captain must possess the judgement to avoid unwise public contribution.
... the best path to absolution for Smith involves total, obvious, and unswerving loyalty to the man who is currently occupying the position that used to be his. ...
While it’s likely that in his own mind Smith feels sure he’s providing this, he must think harder about the impact of his words.
On this matter, Cricket Australia should be offering counsel. ...
Australian cricket has lately learnt the truth of the saying that while reputations can take a lifetime to build, they can be destroyed in a second. The boardroom custodians and on-field stars of Australian cricket still have work to do. There can be no half-measures.
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[Comment: Yes, Smith does not sound like he's learnt anything. (This is not the first time. e.g. Remember that grossly inappropriate Vodafone ad: http://magpies.net/nick/bb//viewtopic.php?p=1886488#1886488 .) Like many cricketers, he is a stunted man-child.] |
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K
Joined: 09 Sep 2011
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Nicholas Pooran banned for four T20Is for ball-tampering
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/28070011/nicholas-pooran-banned-four-t20is-ball-tampering
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Pooran admitted the charge, which deals with a breach of level 3 of the ICC's Code of Conduct, and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Chris Broad. He had violated Article 2.14 of the code, which relates to "changing the condition of the ball" after video footage showed him scratching the surface of the ball with his thumbnail.
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The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Bismillah Shinwari and Ahmed Durrani and third umpire Ahmed Pakteen as well as fourth umpire Izatullah Safi.
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Pies4shaw
pies4shaw
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
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The way the cricket world carried on about Smith and Warner, you’d have to be a little surprised this was a mere 4-match ban. Mind you, he might have preferred the ban to keep him out of a few more T20 internationals. His ESAQIPC score is only about 142. |
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