No not mine. But Mr Panic’s. He put this up as a comment. And I thought it was way better than my pissweak effort, and also a real piece from a New Texan.
Which sucked because all I could see on TV was the limited overs matches, so didn’t get to watch him bat very often.
I cursed myself for missing his unbeaten double century against the touring English (which nine televised) the year he made his test debut. fucking school.
He was a measured batsman, but he could score runs quickly when needed.
I remember furiously updating that stupid cricket Australia website as he made something like 150 runs in a session against western Australia.
He was a more elegant stroke player than Mark Waugh.
In another era, he would have been Australia’s Rahul Dravid.
Watching him effortlessly dispatch cover drive after cover drive would make purists swoon.
He didn’t suffer from lack of talent, but a lack of opportunity, a lack of spotlight.
He wasn’t one to get in the papers like Cosgrove or Pomersbach, Martin Love was smoothness the whole way.
2002 was his zenith.
He scored over 2000 runs in first class cricket (while missing a month or two with a broken finger) at an average of over one hundred.
He made his debut at the Boxing Day test that year, filling in for a rotund Darren Lehmann. He scored 62, the hallmark of a nearly man, another Brad Hodge, Greg Blewett, Stuart Law, or Matthew Elliot.
But he was better than the lot of them (says the one-eyed Queenslander).
After being dropped for the returning Darren Lehmann, he sustained many frustrating injuries, which kept him on the outer.
Always a valuable contributor for Queensland, he never matched the form of 2002, but did enough to remind us of his brilliance.
However, since the advent of twenty20 cricket, he increasingly has looked a player from another era.
In a way, his retirement is no surprise. He has a successful career as a physiotherapist. Injuries have limited him to a few matches a season.
But I for one will miss having him in the Queensland line-up. A double century in his last Gabba match reminded us all of his class and talent.
Alas, in the end, he will be remembered as an almost anonymous cricketer, that only a privileged few cricket snobs (and Queenslanders) will be able to remember.
And whenever an argument arises in the decades to come, those snobs will say to a baffled audience, at pub or oval, “the new kid has talent, but he’s no martin love”.
He has made plenty of hundreds. He averages 48. He made runs at test level as well. He has a haircut you could balance the senate with.
But I have almost no memories of him. Can’t think of any great knocks I have seen, or any moments where I said wow, he just did his job well, and almost with an invisibility.
That he was the anchor man of New Texas during their great run is without doubt. But I can remember Law, Maher, Carseldine, Symonds, Clinton Perren and Brendan Nash all making scores that pissed me off.
Not Love.
To be fair he probably deserves a better send off than this, but I can’t write anything about someone I really can’t remember.
With Luke Ronchi dropped, and Tim Paine unable to live up to his potential the race for back up test keeper is wide open.
Should Haddin get injured, no one could accurately predict who the next keeper would be.
The front runner should be Manou, but really it isn’t. No one has ever talked him up, even though he has carried the Redbacks for 2 years now. Very tidy, if not brilliant with the gloves. His career average of 23 is ordinary, but in the last two years he has averaged around 36 with 4 hundreds. Has a bit of mongrel in him as well. Perfect back up keeper, would be grateful for the opportunity. Not a long term proposition at 29 though.
Chris Hartley might be the man to jump the queue. Is the best regular gloveman in the country, and with Crosthwaite, are the only two guys who are proper old school keepers. His career batting average is 27, but is in career best form with the bat, has one hundred this year, 3 50s and that is not including his 82* overnight in the current match. Of all the keepers in Australia only he and Manou seem to be safe in their jobs.
Victoria’s keeping is a mess, but for good reasons. Wade and Crosthwaite are probably the 3rd and 4th best options in Australia at the moment, and they are continuing to fight for one spot. Crosthwaite has made the side as a batsman this year, Wade has done it for the last two years. Wade’s glovework doesn’t impress me (although he has 51 catches in 8 games this year), but his batting is solid. The only thing he hadn’t done is kick on and make a hundred, well he did that yesterday, so in 19 first class games he has 1 hundred and 4 50s, and is 21. Having someone as good as Crossy behind him seems to be spurring him on. Maybe not ready to be number two, but will be mid 20s when Haddin is due for retirement.
Daniel Smith could be the roughie, not that I think he is good enough, but people seem to like him, and he is from NSWales, so that has to put him in the running. Has averaged 26 in 18 games, which seems to be about the same for all the back ups. Can play, but is probably a bit too hit and miss as a back up.
At one stage I wanted Tim Paine to replace Gilly. Watching him bat you can actually see the talent ooze out of him (not a semen joke). But where are the results, he hasn’t made big scores with the bat, and his keeping is adequate at best. With an average of 30 he pretty much tops this list, but he has made only one hundred in the last 3 years, and for his talent that is not good enough. Could still replace Haddin, but he must frustrate the selectors, and that could count against him.
Over in Western Australia Luke Ronchi has lost the support of Tom Moody. Last season he averaged 40 with the bat and made 64 off about 8 balls when understudying for Haddin. This year he has averaged 20, and is on the outs. Has an amazing amount of talent with the bat, but his keeping is only so so. Who knows where he is in the list now.
Right at the moment I’d go with Hartley, but it would surprise me if almost anyone on this list gets picked.
Day 1 was the story of Usman Khawaja. Prior to this outing, his highest first class score was 85, however on Day 1 he piled on a near chanceless 109* while all and sundry fell around him.
This morning while batting with number 11 Burt Cockley he was eventually caught down the legside chasing a wide one, the 4th NSWales batsman dismissed in this manner!
Usman’s 112 out of a team score of 269 provides a workable total on a Gabba wicket that’s been as tight as a nuns nasty all year.
The real issue for NSWales could well be lack of bowling penetration. We’ve gone into this match missing some real bowling stars, namely
Nathan Bracken – injured
Stuart Clark – injured
Brett Lee – injured
Doug Bollinger – 12th man in South Africa
Marc Cameron – injured
Aaron Bird – chucker
Turns out that Moises Henriques is opening the bowling with Burt Cockley at the other end, however Cockley has just broken the opening stand having Broad caught behind by Docklands Light Rail in the 4th over.
JRod’s mob look to be holding up their end of the deal by dominating the Tasmanians, here’s to a few more wickets and keeping the dream alive.
I’m pleased that the Blues are taking this must win outright match against the New Texas seriously. The Bulls are looking pretty motivated with this match being Marcus North’s last home appearance, Shane Watson returning, and their own finals aspirations riding on the match.
However after the first session you’d have to agree it’s all New South Wales, who have won the toss and been dominant with the bat. That is, if you can call 3/39 dominant. Fortunately Twenty20 final hero Brett Rohrer 27(59) and everyone’s favourite ranga Dominic Thornley 18(40) steadied the sinking blue ship, taking us through to lunch at 3/81.
Looking at the Gabba this year, we see the following innings totals:
Which tells me it has not been a high scoring ground. The average completed innings total is 246, however considering the Blues are looking to gain first innings points I’d like at least 300 in the bank.
Queensland also have what I feel is a flakey middle order, despite it containing three Internationals in Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson and James Hopes. Fortunately Symonds is pants at state level, Watson is in his first game back from injury, and Hopes has scored 1, 6, 4, 32, 12, and 35 this year.
For those wanting to follow the match from work, there’s occasional updates here, and a less frequently updated scorecard here.
As the top wicket taker in both T20 and F50 competitions, he’ll be missed by the Blues in their remaining two Shield matches and also for the final when we make it. His 90 day ban concludes on 26th May 2009, which would have been an interesting test for the IPL had any franchise bid for him.
Upon completing his 90 day exclusion from competition Aaron will have to undergo biometric testing, where he’ll bowl all his deliveries except his wonky one, I believe the word for it is Doosra.
Tomorrow has been declared as Phillip Hughes Day by the prestigious Star Hotel in Macksville. Publican Ben Partridge has claimed they’ll be “chock-a-block” with locals eager to drink to their local boy’s debut in South Africa.
This town of 2,000 punches well above it’s weight in the sporting arena, also boasting Melbourne Storm star Greg Inglis. I wonder if his selection in the NRL was also announced over the school’s PA system..
Good luck to Phil in his Aussie debut, I’ll certainly be wishing him all the best from my position in front of a telly somewhere. At the very least he’ll be better than Hayden..
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I’m pleased that the Blues are taking this must win outright match against the New Texas seriously. The Bulls are looking pretty motivated with this match being Marcus North’s last home appearance, Shane Watson returning, and their own finals aspirations riding on the match.
NSWales fast bowler and Aaron Bird has 
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