Post by Bob DuberyPost by Bob DuberyPost by eusebiusPost by Bob DuberyPost by M***@unimail.com.au<snip>
Put it this way, JZ.. Bob's been perfectly happy in South Africa for some time.
Whatever that means. Well... it can mean whatever you want when you
need it to mean something, can't it?
Post by M***@unimail.com.auPeople with power doing the wrong thing? Never happens as far as he's concerned and he's not willing to listen to the contrary.
I'm quite happy to accept that people in power can abuse situations
and I've said so, certainly as regards SA. That doesn't mean that I
accept risible conspiracy theories.
Look, just because something is a conspiracy theory doesn't mean it is
inherently lunetic. The idea that selection policies are pro-NSW is
something that Qlders imbibe with their XXXX (although this isn't
drunk much anymore). If that view was confined to Qld, then perhaps it
could be disregarded. Other states have the same view. Even the
Victorians believe the same (which sort of mitigates against the whole
NSV thing, at least the V part).
There's too many counter examples, and what is required to make things
work is too complicated.
Counter examples: Hayden. How the hell was he allowed to score all
those runs when the mysterious behind the scenes forces are conspiring
against Queenslanders (or non NSV players)? What went wrong there?
Hayden? Are you cereal?
Indeed. And he got how many bites at the cherry? Was picked, was crap,
was dropped and then this native son of Queensland was not only
allowed back into the team but ended up scoring prodigiously.
Here, you don't know what you are talking about. He was the best
player in Australia for 2 seasons, then overlooked for Slater (on the
basis of ODOs). He got one chance, but played against SA with a broken
finger (this is probably a game you saw, on which you are basing your
observation). Then he was recalled against WI, and played nervously,
and scored a 'bad hundred'. He also top scored in an innings in Perth.
This was against the might of Ambrose and the somewhat less mighty
Walsh. He did fail in SA (who had an excellent attack) but someone who
happened to be known as Tubby was going through a horror run at the
same time. What you have said above is nonsense. Considering also, vis-
a-vis Hughes, that Hayden was consistently averaging +50 and sometimes
conisderably higher than 50. There is no question that he had the
rough end of the stick from the selectors. He should have played in
the 93 Ashes, which would have cemented his confidence. As it was
Slater got that opportunity (he wasn't all that successful in 93, when
you compare him with others, but this certainly boosted his career
massively). Do you remember Wayne N. Phillips? Hayden was 'too raw' in
91-2. Then they didn't want to 'risk him' against the might of WI in
92-3. Then Slater was promoted, after his 1st season mind, on the
basis of some worthl;ess ODOs. Mind you, I enjoyed Slater the batsman,
most of the time.
Another curious case is Damien Martyn, he played a rash shot v SA in
93-4, and was on the outer for years. Yet Hughes can fail and be
recycled within a year. If you can't see that this is a double
standard, perhaps you are too far out of the loop to really see it.
Post by Bob DuberyWhich players come from Qld which from N.S.W.? Which one had their test debut in England in 1993? And which one ended up with a test average approximately 20% higher than the other two?
Dunno. You can "prove" anything by carefully selecting your data. In
general there seems to me to be enough evidence of Queenslanders (100%
Queenslanders, not NSV stooges like Border) getting chances, indeed,
positions of prominence in the side and getting into positions of
power in the administration to lead me to not taking claims of plots
against players from that state seriously.
Other than David Ogilvie for a couple of games, a Queensland born
batsman did not play for Australia between the late 60s and 1982.
Plenty of NSW batsmen were selected in that time, despite their not
winning a shield in those years. Remember Stuart Law, btw? What is a
position of prominence, btw? Of the top of my head, the only
Queensland born captain was Bill Brown, who captained for 1 match.
Between 1984 and 2004, the team was captained by New South Welshmen,
and from 2010 on. Between 2004 and 2010, he was only Sydney domiciled.
Players like Mark Taylor and Mark Waugh had innumerable chances to
recover form from within the team, others like McDermott and Hayden
were in and out before having to impose themselves in order to secure
a place. Rackemann also had no chance to shine (yes there were rebel
tours and injuries which affected his career also, but he was a
dominant force at domestic level and a really fine bowler). Greg
Ritchie was given the door permanently in favour of such luminaries as
Matthews and Veletta (true he had weight issues, but what about Boon
and 'Tubby' Taylor?), Could you really imagine a scenario in which a
NSW batsman scored 50 not out on his test debut and was never given
another chance? If you did, you would really evince ignorance of the
way things work here.
As an aside, it is also noteworthy that cricket has been very poor in
utilizing talent from non-anglo backgrounds, and in that I include
those of aboriginal and islander background. In rugby league and
australian rules football the ethnic mix is much, much more diverse.
There has never been an Australian test cricketer fully of Greek,
aboriginal, islander, or Chinese origin, and only 1 Italian. This is
amazing compared with other sports. Cricket here I believe is a
bastion of privilege (although far less than rugby union)