Michael Jeh
Why Australia should pick Steve Magoffin
If the selectors are willing to think out of the box, they could do worse than include the uncapped fast bowler, who has impressive county figures with Sussex
Michael Jeh
04-Aug-2015
Australia tend to play good cricket at Lord's, surrounded by the bacon-and-egg brigade, the MCC members, among whose number I am proud to be counted. After the loss at Edgbaston, a significant setback but hardly terminal in terms of retaining the Ashes, more bacon and egg is perhaps what they need to lift their stocks.
I refer to one of the best players in recent times not to play for Australia. Steve Magoffin, currently plying his trade for Sussex, was affectionately nicknamed bacon and egg - as in McMuffin (Magoffin).
As a young fast bowler in Brisbane grade cricket, he was all arms and legs, generating uncomfortable bounce and regularly "tickling" ribs. For a short while early in his club cricket days for Wests in Brisbane, Matthew Hayden (who played for my club, Valleys) was baited as Magoffin's bunny because he got out cheaply to him a few times. I remember the day when Hayden then muscled his way to a one-day club cricket premiership against Magoffin and another fast bowler who might well have played for Australia - Greg Rowell. On returning to the dressing room, unbeaten in the run chase, Haydos was heard to mutter something like, "Bunny? Bunny? I'll give 'em bunny!" That night Hayden flew to India for his breakthrough series and the rest is history.
Full postThe Australian way may yet prevail
England played Australia at their own game in Cardiff, but don't rule the visitors out
Michael Jeh
14-Jul-2015
Cricket: the Australian way, edited by Jack Pollard, provided my earliest memories of my love affair with the game, early in the 1970s, when I was barely five. My father bought me this book to encourage me to read. Successful strategy. The Australian way was the only way I knew in my formative years.
Ashes 2015. Despite, in spite of, and perhaps even because of, the Australian way, Australia stumbled in Cardiff but it will not stop them from playing that way - aggressively and with intent. They may come unstuck occasionally playing in this vein, but it has ever been thus - I can't see this current Australian team deviating too far from the way.
England have just found the way. The only way to beat Australia, outside the subcontinent, is to play them at their own game. The Australian way. With a hint of local nous. Come at them hard, keep swinging when the chips are down (cue Joe Root's counterpunching first-day century) and don't allow this Australian team to get a roll on. If England stick to the Australian way, the series promises to be a rollicking affair. More importantly, England may just win playing this way.
Full postThis Australia can win on any pitch
It's hard to see them conceding the Ashes because they have now built a potent bowling attack capable of succeeding in all conditions
Michael Jeh
21-Jun-2015
Looking at the tours of the West Indies in isolation, it is hard to see how Australia can possibly lose the Ashes. England limped home with a drawn series, while Australia rarely needed to engage top gear to crush West Indies in emphatic style.
What stands out most of all is the absence of any significant weaknesses in the Australian squad, when compared to the uncertainty of England's player pool. The Aussies seem to have most bases covered, whatever conditions they are likely to face in England. The quicks are genuinely quick (unlike England's); Nathan Lyon and Fawad Ahmed are at least as potent, if not more so, than any spinners England have up their sleeve; and the important No. 3 batting spot is nailed down now by the hugely impressive Steven Smith. England continue to look for balance with an alternative to Garry Ballance.
If Jos Buttler is allowed to bat with freedom, perhaps he can cancel out the freewheeling Brad Haddin, who has a history of savaging the England attack when it tires. Joe Root is likely to score as many runs as anyone else but there are question marks over the form of Ian Bell, compared to Adam Voges and Michael Clarke. For all of these reasons, I find it hard to look past Australia, despite what the coach will say about it being a tough contest, respecting the opposition, blah blah blah.
Full postHow can we stop 400 becoming the new 300?
It's time the ICC took steps to empower bowlers in ODIs for the sake of the balance of power in the game
Michael Jeh
15-May-2015
The almost routine predictability of ODI cricket was more apparent in the recent World Cup than in any previous tournament I can recall.
Much of this could be attributed to the way the rules are configured to favour batsmen. Two new balls, shorter boundaries, bigger bats, Powerplays, regular scrutiny of the no-ball when a wicket falls, the benefit of the doubt frequently going to the batsman when low catches are claimed.
When you add some atrocious death bowling, usually from the part-time bowlers, it's no surprise that so many batting innings finished with a huge flourish. Over 100 runs in the last ten overs was almost par for the course. Two opening batsmen scored double-hundreds and it seemed like there were so many more big centuries from the top order than before.
Full postThe unsung heroes of the Australian summer
Cricket Australia's efficient and empathetic handling of a hectic season that witnessed tragedy and triumph was wonderful
Michael Jeh
11-Apr-2015
It was regularly said of Richie Benaud that his timing was impeccable. Understatement was his brand, dry humour was his gift to bestow at rare moments and his silence, after a particularly poignant moment was almost deafening. His gentle departure from the crease at age 84 is typical of the man; he has exited stage left at the end of a summer that will be remembered for so many of the things that Benaud witnessed during his illustrious career, all crammed into one tumultuous season. Perfect timing.
But whilst the bouquets pile up at the SCG in memory of this dignified statesman, this is not meant to be an obituary to Benaud. Rather, this is to lay my bouquet at the feet of Cricket Australia's administrators, who have emerged gracefully (and gratefully one suspects) from a season that no one could have predicted. There was no instruction manual, no blueprint, no form guide that could have prepared them for the events that confronted the logistics team this summer.
It is indeed rare and out of character to single out faceless administrators for praise at a time when the Australian cricket team won just about everything that was put before them. Yet, without these tireless people behind the scenes, the skill, courage and raw emotion that we saw throughout the season from the world's best cricketers would never have been. It is time for these men and women to do their lap of honour.
Full postWhy are injury breakdowns so frequent?
Over-hydration during games and excessive warm-up routines could be the reasons for the number of niggles, despite the medical help at hand
Michael Jeh
01-Mar-2015
Is the modern cricketer a high-performance low-endurance beast? Has medical science created a new paradigm, whereby international cricketers are fitter than they've ever been in terms of agility, speed, physical skills but in so doing, they are as unfit as they've ever been in terms of endurance, stamina and "breakability"?
This World Cup, not played in the sapping humidity of the subcontinent, has been remarkable for the number of players who continue to injure hamstrings, endure back spasms and experience serious cramps. This, in an era where every team, even the minnows, have medical and conditioning staff to prepare them adequately to ensure that this very outcome does not happen. It is almost as if the reality is proving to be the polar opposite of the intent.
So perhaps there is a valid question to be posed, a line of research worth investigating; in the quest for high performance, is there a price that necessarily needs to be paid? Is that price an increase in soft-tissue injuries and cramps?
Full postThe mystery of the non-existent run-outs
Why do fielders insist on throwing at the stumps when they know there's no chance of dismissing the batsman?
Michael Jeh
16-Feb-2015
No team will want to intentionally play poor cricket, but there's something to be said for peaking at the right time. Australia and New Zealand are in irresistible form at the worst possible time - unless, of course, they can sustain their purple patches for six weeks. It's almost inevitable that you'll have a poor game sometime. England and Pakistan must be hoping for the mirror opposite; their hopes hinge on Lady Luck smiling on them when it matters most - in a crucial cutthroat match, when perhaps an in-form team picks a bad moment to slip on a banana skin. West Indies seem to have found a bunch of bananas already - to borrow from the Harry Belafonte classic: daylight come and they wanna go home!
Pakistan loom as a danger to any team, regardless of winning streaks. They proved that when they won the 1992 World Cup, when it was last hosted in the Antipodes. This time around, though, I can't see any of those outsiders (and I rank England, Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka in that category) being able to win three knockout games in a row to take the Cup, but one of them will trip up a favourite. India's bowling almost qualifies them to be dismissed outright as genuine contenders, but their batting, with Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma in it, will unnerve opponents. As pitches get fatigued, perhaps they'll get lucky on a dry deck. There's just too much batting pedigree to write India off too soon.
We've already seen a host of no-ball replays, each frame scrutinised to the millimetre to see if the bowler has a hint of rubber behind the line, while in the background the non-striker can be seen blatantly stealing a few feet. The video replays will agonise similarly over run-outs that are almost impossible to split, oblivious to the fact that the non-striker may have already stolen an unfair advantage. And the poor bowler, like Lasith Malinga against New Zealand, will be pinged for an infraction that is all but invisible outside of a freeze-frame shot. How can the ICC continue to allow this to keep happening?
Full postWho is the BBL aimed at?
There's nothing wrong with the quality of the cricket on offer, but the bells and whistles surrounding it are intrusive and overwhelming
Michael Jeh
26-Jan-2015
Low-rent, tinny, FM radio-style cricket lacking substance. Poor-quality product that needs to be dressed up with frills and bows to distract the consumer from its core failings. Upside? Allows young players a window to show their wares in the hope of being "discovered".
That was my impression of the Big Bash League before it kicked off four years ago. I didn't rate it. That was then.
This season I watched a few games on TV, enjoyed the quality of cricket, took the young family to the Gabba to experience the atmosphere. Before the game, I spoke to a senior BBL executive to get a sense of the overall marketing strategy, so I could assess my experience as a consumer against that benchmark. Long story short, the BBL is apparently aimed at a young / female / novice audience, at winning over (perhaps even migrating) fresh consumers, and at showcasing the fun element of cricket, the better to introduce youngsters (and newcomers) to the culture of cricket. It was not aimed at a traditionalist like myself, so I went along as a pop social researcher, cognisant that it was not designed for me but looking for evidence to tick the other boxes.
Full postWhat's with Australia's pitches?
All four tracks for the India series were uncharacteristic of their venues, to varying degrees
Michael Jeh
14-Jan-2015
For the most unexpected reasons, doctored pitches have been the focus of attention in Australia these past few days. Gideon Haigh, arguably the most erudite and sensible cricket writer in the world, dared to say, in his column in the Australian this week what the rest of us were thinking throughout the recent India Test series. A few other writers followed suit, fuelled perhaps by some of the Australian fast bowlers' chagrin with the benign pitches dished up. Given the pre-season talk of retribution for the allegedly poor pitches that the Australians felt they copped in India in 2013, it all came to nothing. For reasons unknown, sinister or totally accidental, India were gifted with four Test strips that, in hindsight, with a bit of luck at the toss and with the umpiring decisions (bad luck India, you got what you deserve!), and barring some awful captaincy and selections, they ought to have capitalised on. They might look back and regret not drawing the series at the very least.
Adelaide and Sydney were two tosses that India would dearly have loved to have won, especially if they had also picked R Ashwin in Adelaide. Despite Australia's superiority in all four Tests, I am not convinced that batting fourth on those two decks would have been all that comfortable. Melbourne was just a poor cricket pitch, in the sense that it was not an even contest between bat and ball, while Brisbane looked and behaved nothing like a traditional Gabba surface. You could almost argue that if Australia's tail had batted like bowlers instead of batsmen, the result could have been reversed, irrespective of India's dire fast bowling and reactive captaincy.
So why were the pitches so un-Australian this season? Perhaps there was a slight subconscious bias towards not producing greentops in the wake of the Phillip Hughes incident, but that can hardly explain the extent to which the curators went in the opposite direction. My theory is that there must have been some sort of tacit understanding that most of the matches needed to go at least four days in order for the Indian television market to reap maximum dividends. No one will ever admit it, and it is unlikely to have been an "instruction" per se, but I am convinced that enough key people read between the lines. How else can you explain four consecutive pitches that were almost more Indian than they were Australian?
Full postStep in now, before it's too late
Why cricket should not be allowed to descend into ugliness for the sake of cheap entertainment
Michael Jeh
30-Dec-2014
As a dramatic year in cricket draws to a close, I am reminded of the great philosopher Sophocles, who wrote in Oedipus Rex: "I have no desire to suffer twice, in reality and then in retrospect." He speaks cryptically of hindsight, that priceless tool of wisdom. But to use hindsight as a convenient excuse for not being prescient is sometimes the domain of fools and knaves.
A year ago, the television coverage of the Boxing Day Test was blighted by a skit that had nothing going for it, even with the wisdom of hindsight. At the time, a long time before the tragedy of Phillip Hughes could ever have been forecast, I wrote in scathing tones about the gross stupidity of one of the world's fastest bowlers hurling bouncers at an unarmed, unskilled participant with half the Channel Nine commentary crew standing around giggling. We didn't need an accidental death to tell us that Brett Lee bowling deliberate no-balls at talk-show host Piers Morgan, following him with short balls aimed at his head as he backed away to square leg, to the cackling of Shane Warne, Michael Slater and Michael Vaughan, with Mitchell Johnson and Craig McDermott watching on is just plain negligence on the part of all parties involved. These were the same people who visited Hughes in hospital, cried at his funeral and shook their heads in disbelief at the sheer bad luck of it.
Did it not occur to them that bowling no-balls at the body of an unskilled batsman might just have ended in tragedy? Did it take the death of a skilled batsman, a professional cricketer, early on a hook shot, for all those involved with The Cricket Show to reflect on the utter inappropriateness of this stunt? This from a programme that unashamedly targets young viewers (and does it extremely well in that genre).
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