cricket with balls

My final wrap up of the Australian state teams, lucky there is only 6 teams.

Victoria –

My boys. I’ve been a fan of Victorian cricket since Dean Jones was humble, but lets put that aside. It will be a bit more in depth however, cause I see them more often and I actually knew one of the squad members when he was a little fella (but I’m not gonna mention him till he becomes famous and then I can cash in on him).

Victorians look good. They seem to breed an amazing amount of fast bowlers who trouble batsmen, mind you they need to be as they used 9 last year and Alan Wise never played a game. They have the best captain in Australia. Because they are Victoria they have 2 quality all rounders, which gives any side a huge boost and flexibility in selection.

Their batting is a host of no names. Mind you outside of Western Australia it’s the strongest. David Hussey is a superstar, would be batting first drop for India, South Africa or England right now. Problem is Ponting bats there, and the line for batting spots in the Australian middle order is long. Blizzard, Mash and Quiney all look like they can play. Opening will be interesting, Nick Jewell (son of a Aussie rules legend) and Klinger (flying the flag for Jewish cricketers are still the biggest weakness in my mind. If they become strong, then Victoria becomes very dangerous. Brad Hodge could be a huge bonus for them, cause they way he is batting in India he may be wearing the navy blue cap soon.

Cameron White seems to have forgotten about bowling, and this can only help his batting, which is already damn good. If Andrew McDonald can get himself fit he could leap frog Butterworth, Hopes and any other all rounder out there. His bowling looks so pedestrian, but how many wickets does this red nob get. The keeper is interesting, not two years ago Adam Crosthwaite was going to take over from Adam Gilchrist. Now he has been dropped from the Victorian side for a Tasmanian who left Hobart because he realises that Tim Paine is a freak. Wade his name is, lets see how he flies.

Bowling is strength of Victoria. Has been for a long time. Hughes, Reiffel, Warne, Fleming, and Harvey had careers that over lapped. These days it’s the no name players, Harwood, Denton, Lewis, Wise, Nannes, Pattinson and McKay that rule the roost. That’s a deep line up, add McDonald and White and you have 6 bowlers who can take wickets lining up in every game. The spinner is interesting, McGain has been picked for the first game, and he’s 35. What a shame Victoria can’t offer Warne a few suitcases full of cash to play like Hampshire can.

The rub is simple, if they can keep fit fast bowlers on the park, if the openers can set up Hussey and the middle order, they can shake Tassie. If the openers fail, the middle order is exposed and the fast bowlers all spend time in the Bruce Reid clinic it’ll be another almost year. Likely finish 1-3.

Western Australia –

Don’t let the test match standard batting line up fool you. They were massive under performers lat year. Edmondson and Magoffin have to take about 12 wickets a game for this side leapfrog Victoria or Queensland into the final.

The batting is sexier than watching Angelina and Beyonce together. Langer, North, Rogers, Voges, Marsh, and Ronchi. Wow. Not mentioning the 2 on national duty, Gilchrist and Michael Hussey. Do I even need to break down their batting? Their only problem is if Rogers replaces Langer, but they probably have 3 guys who can replace him anyway.

Bowling is their concern. Hogg has never taken wickets domestically. Edmondson and Maggoffin are two very handy new ball bowlers. They won’t take 20 wickets a game though will they. It worries me that Innes is still contracted for WA, it seems to be a stagnant ground for fast bowlers these days. Dennis Lillee must be rolling in grave (shoe ads).

The rub is that unless they can take 20 wickets a game, they wont win enough games outright, and they wont get enough points make the final. Likely 4-6.

So my final results is

Tasmania (winner)
Victoria
Queensland
Western Australia
South Australia
New South Wales

Wonder what Marilyn would think of all this.