Tag Archives: cameron-white

The Professor’s Friday musing – White beats Maxwell for Australian ODI squad spot

January 12, 2018 @packers4 Leave a comment

The Australian selectors aren’t paying due regard to the long term future of the Australian One Day International team with its choice of Cameron White to replace Chris Lynn in the squad for the coming matches against England. White is 34 and whilst he has had a reasonable start to the Sheffield Shield and Big Bash seasons, one wonders what caused a change of heart by Australian Chairman of Selectors, Trevor Hohns. You may recollect Hohns’ comments twelve months ago after White had criticised the selection of Sam Heazlett in the Australian ODI squad. He said “Cameron has had plenty of opportunities … he has had plenty of opportunities in the past and it’s probably fair to say performed okay without being earth shattering”. Not the most flattering of opinions and a fair put down for a pro sportman.

Whether Hohns believes White’s form has improved to the extent to be now included in the squad or White has served his penance for the criticism of the selectors, those selectors feel White is better than anything Glenn Maxwell can produce at this stage of his career. For whatever reason there appears to be a rift between Maxwell, the selectors and Australian captain Steve Smith. One only needs to look at Smith’s recent comments about Maxwell to gain a hint on where the problem might lie. Smith suggested Maxwell should change his training practices. If the skipper makes those observations it a safe bet it will be a while before Maxwell is considered for further ODI duty.

Maxwell has the flair and more importantly, the ability to play the one day game at the highest level and at 29 represents more of the future for Australian cricket than White does at 34. Whatever the reason for the disconnect between Maxwell and the Australian cricket hierarchy, it is up to the selectors and the skipper to resolve it so that the best possible team can be put together for the 2019 World Cup and in my opinion, Maxwell is in that side!

Sports

Weekend musing – AFL, Sheffield Shield, Peter Moody, Jason Day

April 2, 2016 sportzfan Leave a comment

Well Easter must be one of the most diverse periods for sport in Australia, we had the start of the AFL season, the Stawell Gift, the Bells Beach Surfing Classic, the Sheffield Shield Final and some big horse races from Sydney. We also had soccer World Cup qualifiers either side of Easter.

It was great to have the football back despite Essendon not having much to look forward to. The debut of Patrick Dangerfield for Geelong was clearly the difference that got them over Hawthorn and if he had of kicked straight they would have won by more. Collingwood and Fremantle were very disappointing, but I think both sides will perform a lot better this week. The Bombers first half was probably as expected, but their second half was a bit better. Given the number of new players due to the supplement scandal outcome it might take a while for the team to gel, but the wooden spoon still is theirs for the taking!

Also great to see Victoria win the Sheffield Shield away from home. A couple of weeks ago I was going to comment about the demise of Cameron White as a cricketer and while he has not put himself back in the frame for Australian selection, he has redeemed himself. When he lead Victoria to the Shield win just after David Hookes died I thought he was a future Australian Test Captain and while he did play a couple of test matches, he was mainly a ODI and 20/20 player, but his star had dimmed in recent times to the point where he missed selection for Victoria.

I was sad to see Peter Moody retire from racing and he has now sold off all his gear to resist the temptation to return to the sport, but I think, once his suspension is over, he will come back and establish a smaller boutique stable just to keep his hand in. It is very hard for real horsemen to simply walk away from the sport it is too ingrained in their DNA.

Also good to see Jason Day back to the world number 1 position in golf and I just hope he maintains his form going into the Masters.

Have a great weekend!

News, Sports

Friday musing – Melbourne Heart, the Ashes, Jarrod Lyle…….

November 15, 2013 sportzfan Leave a comment

I was watching the Melbourne Heart on SBS2 last Friday night and looking at the crowd, there was more noise coming from the West Sydney Wanderers crowd than the Heart supporters. It occurred to me that the Wanderers have established a profile because they are linked to an area of Sydney, whereas the Melbourne Heart supporters are probably made up of soccer fans who do not follow the Melbourne Victory. The Heart really needs a profile that people can relate to, otherwise I can see them disappearing before too much longer. This is compounded by their inability to win games. They really deserved a draw against the Wanderers, but didn’t have the class to capitalise on their opportunities. It doesn’t help that Harry Kewell can’t get on the park. Whoever owns the rights to the Heart should consider relocating to Geelong or establishing a base in an area of Melbourne which has a strong soccer culture.

I was also interested to see that George Bailey and Mitchell Johnson have been named for the 1st Test starting next week in Brisbane. I think naming George Bailey has some risk based on his performances in India where batting records were established with big run chases, so clearly the pitches were batting friendly strips. His 1st class average is below 40, but then again so is that of Alex Doolan who was the other batsman in contention. My guess is that the selectors opted for Bailey because he can assume the captaincy should Michael Clarke’s back let him down again. I think if Cameron White can turn a few of his 50s into 100s then he could come back into contention as well.

Turning to Mitchell Johnson, we all know that at his best he is a redoubtable cricketer and a fine
fast-bowler, but at his worst he is a liability. He has probably got another chance because of the injuries to the young incumbents and while I remain sceptical, I certainly hope he strikes form and punches a few holes in the England batting order.

Great to see Jarrod Lyle make a good comeback yesterday and let us hope he makes the cut for the Australian Masters.

Have a good weekend all!

Podcast

Sportzfan Radio #167.2

August 15, 2010 @packers4 Leave a comment

15 August 2010 167.2 – The Sydney Colt talks about the best value when betting and says punters would be very foolish not to go with the Corporate Bookies. He also talks about the last table at the World Series of Poker and has framed a book on the next NSW RL State of Origin Coach ($2.80 Laurie Daly $3.40 Ricky Stuart, $5.00 Phil Gould, Steve Folkes, $12.00 Brad Fittler..). We get Dr Leslie’s CSA in earlier this week just prior to Paul Dalligan. Paul hasn’t been eating baked beans but says he had a foot long hot dog at the Mets. Whilst he didn’t do any stool gazing, he did do some beer gazing. He returns from his overseas jaunt to talk NRL but spends most of his time talking baseball. He has brought the Professor an umbrella from his trip to the Citibank Stadium super box. Paul would like to see Phil Gould as the next State of Origin Coach. The Professor reveals there will be no Sportzfan Radio next Sunday as Southern FM are off the air for maintenance work. In that case, Daniel decides to talk about next week’s results this week. The Panel talks to Nick Tedeschi about the NSW State of Origin Coach and Nick thinks Laurie Daly is over the line from the mail he has received. Nick would prefer Chris Anderson to coach the team. He also discusses the players leaving the Melbourne Storm and whether the Storm will be able to do a Canterbury Bankstown and win a flag within two years. The Panel spends the rest of the time talking about rumors and topics tweeted in. The Parkdale Pounce believes Matthew Knights will not coach Essendon next year but Matthew Lloyd will comeback and be coached by Mark Williams. There is also a discussion on changes by the AFL to the interchange rules and it is decided that we should start the “Benny Hill” segment for stupid ideas. Daniel believes Adrian Anderson would be part of the segment each week. The Gelding believes there should be a committee set up to watch over committees. In another nomination for the Benny Hill award, it seems Cameron White is playing for Bangalore against Victoria in the IPL competition – go figure! Will Richmond keep Ben Cousins? Time will tell although the Panel hope he comes back in 2011. Finally the Panel talk about the Socceroos new coach Holger Osieck – the no name coach, who is maybe twenty years out of his prime.