Sheffield Shield 2015-2016

Market for the SS winner 2015-2016
This market currently framed by William Hill

WA 3-50
VI 3-50
NS 4-50
QL 7-00
TA 8-00
SA 11-00

PREVIEW
If all International players were available all the time , you would have to have NS a clear favorite
NS have remarkable depth , and still a big chance
WA might have too many batsmen playing Test cricket this summer, so the $3-50 favoritism looks iffy
QL + TA cant be underestimated , as they produce there share of 'result pitches'
VI prob should be favs , might lose a few when the ODI series starts
SA the Babybacks, are wooden spoon favorites , should do all right as will have a settled team , just need to manufacture some home wins, at Adelaide Oval, often the flattest wicket in the land

WHICH PLAYER WILL EMERGE
Im going for Ryan Carters from New South Wales
Warner and Smith are the test batting shoe ins , the other 4 spots up for grabs
Carters looks a Test cricketer the way he bats
By the end of this summer he may even play Test cricket

MY FINISHING ORDER
VI
NS
QL
WA
SA
TA

Round 1 games
VI V QL
TA V WA
SA V NS

Luck of the draw against SA , having to play a potentially full strength NS team, with the Test players available

PINK BALL
Round 1 will be played as day night games with the pink ball
There have been some criticism about the Pink
Some will call it progress
Perhaps the traditionalists might dislike a change of this sort
I wonder if a white ball might be better ?,
If so different uniforms for the players from the traditional whites
The other thing against the white ball in the day nights, is the white ball gets too dirty ?

ADAM ZAMPA
Ive thought from the first times I saw him bowl , that he could be an International player
His short form bowling has been good , but his First class bowling needs improving
His current first class average per wicket is 52
But he is much much better than that
Im expecting him to be the leading wicket taker this season
His batting has improved , now averaging 25, with a powerful strike rate of 78.18
The way he plays he  could be the next Terry Jenner

PS
Good to have South Aussie with Cossie this season

well well well, the Australian looking NSW team today lost their second wicket at 172 & right now they have collapsed to be 8/261

ok NSW have declared their first innings closed at 9/262

not sure how many overs the Redbacks' will have to face tonight

Smith out in the first over to guess who ? yep Starc

SA 1/0 after 5 balls

well after some good bowling by the Redbacks' it is now the Blues' turn SA now 3/1 after 13 balls.......where is the backbone ffs ? perhaps we should call them the ''jellybacks''

it looks like the Redbacks' have recovered at stumps to be 3/3 still 259 runs behind, with Mennie & Head putting on an unbroken 2 run partnership !!!!!

i was going to go on Friday night & Saturday but now i doubt the match will be still going by then, NSW $1.12 right now on bet365 if you like them short it looks like a gift to me

NS were 1/172 after 46.1 overs
Smith and Warner had NS looking at a BIG first innings score
NS 9/262 Smith declares with 6 overs left
That was a very very gutsy declaration as STARc was 21 not out
Had SA gone through to stumps with losing a wicket , Smiths decision might have been scrutinised
But it paid off BIG time

Bowling honors to Travis Head
3/42 [16]

SA 259 runs behind with 7 wickets left
Need one good innings , to be back in the hunt
SA will bat in daylight on resumption, and the pitch should be good to bat on
If they get close to 200 and make NS bat in the last session facing the Pinky rounds, who knows what can happen from here
SA 3/3

120 South Australia
202 Michael Klinger

WA 442
TA 2/51

Klinger made more than his former team ,and was also not out !
WA made 442 after being 6/198
Klinger and Agar put on 214 partnership

ASHTON AGAR
Agar made his first first class hundred making 102
Did make that sensational 98 on debut against England batting at 11
An exceptional talent
Only 22 years old ,if his bowling improves it looks likely he could play Test cricket again

QL 444
VI 2/41

NS 9/262 DEC
SA 120
NS 1/92

SA were 6/27 so the tail wagged well
STARc 5/28, if only he played for SA this match if may have been so so different , this guy is leethal
ZAMPA 33*

NS lead by 234 with 9 wickets in the shed
It would be safe to say NS will win from here

RYAN CARTERS
In my opening thread post I had mentioned Ryan Carters as a possible test player
I was almost embarassed when he didnt make the NS team for the game against SA

However he is representing a Cricket X1 team against NZ
Ryan Carters made 209

FIRST CLASS BATTING
1803 runs
35.35 average

Not a great average, but he looks better than that

NS 9/262 DEC
SA 120
NS 1/291 DEC
SA 218

That ends up being a comprehensive thrashing
I wonder how this game would have been if STARc and Smith played for SA ?

The Steve 67+152 not out
Mitchell STARc 5/28 +3/62

Just possibly the best 2 players in world cricket at the minute

Callum Ferguson 96 in the 2nd innings was a terrific knock against the world class attack

PINK BALL /NIGHT CRICKET
I didnt mind it as a spectator
But I wonder how the players feel about it

There are 2 good things about pinky cricket
Less likelyhood of skin cancers !
Less bad light appeals

it was a pleasure to go down to the ground after work & watch the majority of Australia's first test team play for free, in 3 weeks time it'll cost at least $100.00

was good to catch up with Scrappy & a few others

QL 444
VI 319
QL 103
VI 1/230

A quite remarkable win
To win by 9 wickets after chasing a first innings of 444 is a great effort

TRAVIS DEAN
On debut
Might have been some raised eyebrows , as Aaron Finch and Cam White were not selected
Finch made 288 against NZ
However Travis Dean may have done something on debut that may not have happened before
154 not out
109 not out
He opened the batting and made 2 hundreds on debut
The oddity would be he was in this game non stop with his batting and fielding
His previous game was in an under 23 match and he made 217 not out and 63
He has made tons in 4 consecutive games in under 23 and SS games
Has obvious talent

" STARcs 5/28 in South Australias first innings was the most fearsome spell of bowling  had witnessed , rivalling that of 2007 World Cup spearhead Shaun Tait."

By
Ed Cowan



Travis Dean
Is the only player in Australian domestic cricket to debut with tons in both innings

" At night the pink ball is harder to pick up
Once your batting for a while and can bat through into the night I dont think its too bad but go out there and start batting at night is quite tough
I only faced 3 balls and didnt see them in the first innings, so at night it is more difficult."

By
Mark Cosgrove
Comments made about the pink ball at night

Scrappy wrote:" At night the pink ball is harder to pick up
Once your batting for a while and can bat through into the night I dont think its too bad but go out there and start batting at night is quite tough
I only faced 3 balls and didnt see them in the first innings, so at night it is more difficult."

By
Mark Cosgrove
Comments made about the pink ball at night

With Mitch Starc bowling at 145 kmph. A red ball in the middle of the day would be hard to pick up....

nothing changes....the jellybacks' had a great day yesterday bowling Western Australia out for 211 & we were 0/18 overnight, right now we have crumbled to be 6/131............the only positive i can come up with is that there should be an outright in this match, sadly it's odds on who'll get the points though

now 7/142...........i'm going to pop in for the last session

Batting collapses are more normal than not for SA.

WA 211
SA 191
WA 2/217

At that stage WA led by 237
With wickets in hand , Marsh and Bancroft with 172 partnership , it looked well in WA favor
A lead of 340-360 with 8-10 overs left looked on the cards b4 stumps
SA then fought back into this game taking the last 8 wickets for78

WA 295
The lead of 315
SA 0/17 at stumps
298 needed of 90 + day 4


This match could easily have been this at stumps
WA 6/340 DEC
SA 2/25

Simon Macklin was hit in the helmet and did not field
WA might be one bowler short , which should help SA

Ashton Agar hit a shot that I will try and describe of one of the quicks today
Off the back foot, ball appeared to be short of a length outside off peg, Agar threw the bat at it , and he connected, the ball went for 6 over wide mid off/extra cover area

A win tomorrow propels the season , after being mauled by Australia in round 1
There is no one of the calibre or STARc or Starmith in the WA line up

QUESTION
Could this game have been scheduled to finish on a Sunday and not a Monday ?

9/317

We won by 1 wicket

Carn the REDBACKS

Good win, but another major collapse in sight of victory. All batsmen got a start and only 2 made it to 30.

Long way to go.

bet365 had Western Australia $1.16 & South Australia $5.00 last night at stumps........i was very tempted to back the redbacks' but thought the better of it, i thought both openers looked solid last night apart from one Cosgrove on side drive that went over the slips for a boundary, well done to the redbacks' but one win doesn't make a summer but maybe just maybe playing Australia last week held them in good stead

Wonderful win by the Babybacks

NS 1/88
Bad weather led to the game being abandoned due the condition of the SCG oval surface
VI were awarded 6 points

Luck of the flamin' draw
SA was beaten by New South Australia Wales last week
VI were more or less gifted 6 points in this match