Not the Paul Kelly Stand!
Super Over 26, 12 April 2024
Ball 1
The Sydney Cricket Ground might be about to get an upgrade!
As things stand, once Brisbane’s new 60,000-seat stadium is built, the SCG will have been left behind, as far as capacity is concerned, by the grounds of the other mainland capitals.
The potential plan (nothing is anywhere near yet confirmed, and likely won’t be for some time) is to renovate the three grandstands built in the 1980s: the Brewongle, Churchill and O’Reilly.
I think this is a good idea. Sure, the majority of money needs to be spent on hospitals and schools and so forth, but I believe that stadium upgrades are also worthwhile.
Assuming it all goes ahead, it got me thinking - will there be changes to the names of the stands?
If so, and especially if they kick in some money, it would not surprise me if the AFL would want a stand for themselves. That’s what happened at the Adelaide Oval - the stands there are now named for Don Bradman and the Chappells - and about four anonymous South Australian Aussie Rules players of the past. I remember reading an article by Harsha Bhogle in which he wondered who they were!
Now, I like Aussie Rules, I have nothing against the Sydney Swans and recognise how valuable they are as SCG tenants. And there are statues of Paul Roos and Paul Kelly outside the stadium - all good.
But I want any new stand names to be those of cricketers, at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The most likely stand to lose its name is the Brewongle. If so, there is only one name that it should be changed to: the Richie Benaud Stand. (Incidentally, I discussed this in my latest podcast episode in which I also explain how the Brewongle Stand got its name).
Richie Benaud was a fixture in Australian life for nearly seven decades - beloved by all. On 10 April it was ten years - can you believe it(!) - since his death. Some kids now eligible for driver licences would have been too young to have any meaningful memory of him. It is time to immortalise his name in a more permanent way.
While I’m at it, one other change I would make is to change the name of the Ladies Stand. It sounds anachronistic and I’d much rather an actual player be honoured. The Ellyse Perry Stand sounds perfect to me.
Ball 2
Australia has regularly put bilateral T20 internationals at the bottom of its priority list.
That might have to change.
It has just been confirmed that for both men’s and women’s cricket at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, only six teams will feature - one of which will be USA, as hosts.
This leads me to two conclusions:
1. Australia has a decent chance of winning two more gold medals
2. It would be a disaster if the men’s team happened to be outside the top 5 when the cut-off occurs. (This is assuming qualification will be based on world ranking - which is likely, but yet to be confirmed).
The women’s team will definitely qualify and - even though they did not win the most recent T20 World Cup - would start as heavy favourites if the Games were on now.
And, at the current moment, the men would be fine too, as far as qualification goes - as can be seen, they are in second place:
However, note South Africa on 247 points - not that far below Australia - and, in 6th place, they would not qualify. It would not take much for Australia to drop away - especially given how infrequent and haphazard the T20I schedule is.
For argument’s sake, if things stayed as they are, Australia would be odds on for a medal at the very least. With due respect to America - especially given their fine performance at the recent World Cup - Australia would be confident of beating them. And West Indies will not be able to compete as a unit - they will surely be required to separate into their individual nations.
So, all in all, this is rather satisfying for me - as a parochial Aussie Olympic fan. Of course, no doubt the IOC is hoping that it is actually India who win the medals - which would increase the future value of Olympic broadcasting rights into India substantially!
Ball 3
The above point leads to one of my favourite trivia questions. Back in the 1980s I remember how the great West Indian commentator, Tony Cozier, was at pains to stress that the concept of the ‘West Indies’ only existed in two spheres: their cricket team and the University of the West Indies.
I was too young to really grasp what he meant - but of course he was pointing out that the West Indies is not a country, it is a collective of nations and territories.
(The reason for allowing them all to join together is a good one - population: the entire West Indies population is only about 6 million).
Ok, so here is the question: the West Indies cricket team is made up of 10 nations and 5 dependencies. Can you name the 10 nations? If you can also name the 5 dependencies then I will be incredibly impressed! (Answers following Ball 6).
Ball 4
I was unsurprised, but saddened by the news that Will Pucovski has retired. It was obviously a painful decision for him to have to make, and it’s especially saddening to observe that what will now be his second-last first-class innings saw him scoring a century.
After so many setbacks, things started to look optimistic, but then he was struck again, and the concussion symptoms were debilitating and lingered for weeks and weeks.
Under such circumstances, he seemingly had little choice but to end his playing career.
It did seem likely that, had he not been so plagued by concussion, a successful Test career was in the offing. His final first-class average of 45 is impressive, and I suspect were it not for the interruptions and challenges caused by the concussions, would have been higher.
And of course, the 62 he scored in his sole Test match, against a very good India attack, seemed to confirm he would have made it at the top level.
He might yet achieve much more in cricket. Bill Belichick and Jim Maxwell, to pluck a couple of names at random, are among many who could attest that great success at top-level sport isn’t just the preserve of the players.
Ball 5
In the last few days, two separate players have been ‘retired out’ in the IPL.
In each instance, their franchise was in a desperate situation in a chase and the individual players had not been able to score at the necessary speed. Tilak Varma had made 25 from 23 when Mumbai Indians hoicked him off and Devon Conway had made 69 from 49 for Chennai Super Kings when they did the same.
It’s amazing to observe just where the IPL is at in terms of striking power: not that long, ago 69 from 49 would have been a player of the match performance!
In both instances, the team lost. One of the problems of such a tactic is that by the time you have sufficient evidence to pull the pin, it probably means the damage has been done.
Nevertheless, I think it is an interesting tactic and one that should be used more often.
Back in the day, when ‘retiring out’ wasn’t a thing, players occasionally took matters into their own hands.
My favourite is when a young Ian Botham - in only his second year of international cricket - was sent out with explicit instructions to run out captain Geoff Boycott.
England were seeking to score quick runs against New Zealand in a Test match in Christchurch in 1978 in order to press for victory, and Boycott - surprise, surprise - was not doing so.
Bob Willis told Botham to run Boycott out - which he duly did (for 26 - off 80 balls), to Boycott’s utter consternation. The full calamitous story is told here, if you are interested.
I can report that England did go on to win the Test match.
Ball 6
Footage of the distant past is misleading.
Life was obviously lived in colour, at normal speed and with sound. But I sometimes forget this - I suspect we all might.
And that is why, a little audio clip I heard on Twitter was so welcome.
It was from a BBC radio interview in 1980, conducted by Test Match Special legend Brian Johnston, with 94-year-old writer, Ben Travers.
It only goes for a two minutes and is well worth a listen. You can do so here.
In the clip, Travers fondly remembered the first Test match he attended - at the Oval in 1896. To emphasise how long ago that is, even as long ago as 1980, hearing the year caused Johnston to chuckle with amazement.
On a badly rain affected day, WG Grace opened for England and, when asked, Travers instantly remembered that Grace made 24 and was caught Trott, bowled Giffen.
I particularly love Travers’s description of how enthusiastically the crowd greeted England’s number three, the legendary Ranjitsinhji. (If you have ever heard of the Ranji Trophy - India’s equivalent of the Sheffield Shield - this is the man it was named after).
Travers says words to the effect of, ‘It shows the crowds were enthusiastic even in those days. I remember when Ranji came in to bat they started singing.’
This is not the sort of reaction I think we associate with people of the Victorian era - stern face and stiff upper lip and all that. And if we only had the newspapers to go on, we would not have known it - London’s Daily Telegraph merely wrote, ‘A very cordial reception was accorded of Ranjitsinhji when he left the pavilion.
’It was quite a remarkable Test actually - and very low scoring, which was typical of the era. By winning the match, England won the 3-match series 2-1.
England 1st innings 145
Australia 1st innings 119
England 2nd innings 84
Australia 2nd innings 44
England won by 66 runs
Even in 1896 Australia found low fourth innings chases tough! It would have been the first time Australia had ever won the Ashes in England - instead they had to wait till the next tour, in 1899, to do so.
Not that anyone was calling it ‘the Ashes’. The term had almost fallen out of existence and would not be revived for another decade - as the headline here shows - but that’s a story for another day.
Trivia answer
Countries
Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago
Guyana
Barbados
Saint Lucia
Grenada
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Antigua and Barbuda
Dominica
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Dependencies
US Virgin Islands (US Territory)
Sint Maarten (Constituent country of the Netherlands)
British Virgin Islands (UK Overseas Territory)
Anguilla (UK Overseas Territory)
Montserrat (UK Overseas Territory)