Super Over 23: Footy season or cricket season?

16 March 2025

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Ball 1
This will sound crazy if you’re not from Australia:

• South Australia topped the Sheffield Shield table and will host the final

• The Adelaide Oval has been their home ground for 148 years

• They have been refused permission to play there

• Why? Because the grass will be 5 millimetres too short for a game of Australian Rules football.

This has caused a lot of anger from fans and pundits - and even the South Australian premier, who had lobbied for the game to be at the Adelaide Oval.

Personally, while I certainly don’t like it - and especially don’t like the feeling that cricket has been humiliated by Australian Rules (a bit of anthropomorphising there!) - I take a more philosophical view.

After all, the AFL do own the ground from 15 March. They were entitled to say no.

And sure, maybe their safety concerns about short grass were just a pretext for them to throw their weight around, as cricket writer Dan Brettig has hinted:

Excellent cricket writer (and South Australian) Dan Brettig isn’t buying the AFL’s safety concerns

What bothers me more, though, is the view I have seen on social media of, ‘Why is cricket still being played in March? It’s football season!’

What gibberish. March has been cricket season forever in Australia!

The football codes’ seasons have gradually crept earlier, treading all over the end of the cricket season. Not only that, but both codes - especially the AFL - are making concerted efforts to provide talking points to keep them in the public eye 365 days per year.

Rather than being aggrieved that cricket is being played in a month that is definitely cricket season, fans should be angry that the NRL and AFL are muscling in, not just on March, but throughout the calendar.

But most people, far from being angry, welcome it.

Aussie Rules, rugby league and cricket have long been the biggest three sports in Australia. My concern is that in the past decade, the two football codes have surged ahead, while cricket has, at best, marked time.

Against this backdrop, the venue for a Sheffield Shield game is neither here nor there.

As much as I have affection for it, the Shield will never be relevant to the average sports fan. If the AFL had allowed it, the Adelaide Oval Shield final would no doubt have been a decent event: crowds of a few thousand and a degree of media buzz.

But it would just have been a brief distraction from cricket’s main problem: during the 280 days between the end of the Sri Lanka tour on 14 February and the start of the Ashes on 21 November, cricket in Australia has been and will remain largely anonymous.

It is this that incoming cricket boss (and former NRL boss) Todd Greenberg needs to focus on.

Ball 2
Speaking of the Shield, I am absolutely fine with Usman Khawaja choosing to miss Queensland’s last game.

As I understand it, it had been agreed he would play one of the final two matches - and he duly played in the second last one, starring with 127 and 33*, as Queensland won.

His missing of the final match is now sparking discussion because the game looms as crucial - if Queensland win they might qualify for the final.

This does not mean he should play in it though. He has had a long, exhausting summer and, at age 38, needs to focus on his physical and mental fitness.

Time with family should not be underestimated too. Players are well paid etc but undoubtedly do have to spend far longer away from their families than most people. It is no doubt very hard on the kids, especially.

So I do not begrudge him time away at all and he can choose to spend it however he likes, obviously.

I would say the same if he was still playing for NSW. All I want from Khawaja is for him to be at his best for the World Test Championship final in June. And he is the best judge of how to do that.

Ball 3
So the 150th anniversary Test at the MCG in 2027 will be a day/night game.

What do you think of this?

Many are not pleased.

Mike Atherton, my favourite cricket commentator, wrote a column in the Times, headed, ‘Playing anniversary Test with pink ball puts money before tradition.’

He concluded with, ‘The celebration of the 150th anniversary of Test cricket in Melbourne in 2027 should be, uniquely, about recognising its debt to the past, as well as its modern strengths. That should happen with a red ball in daylight hours, in a way that is relatable to the vast bulk of the history of Test cricket.’

I do hear him.

Why not keep the match in tune with how the game was played 150 and 50 years ago? Why not hold the festivities for former players - who will be in attendance - after play each day? (In 1977, one of the many great things was that every former male Ashes cricketer who was willing and able was flown in to attend.) And why not give the match the best chance of reaching a fifth day, given that pink-ball matches tend to finish faster?

However, I can see the other arguments too.

I want the match to have the highest possible prominence and I think this will occur with the pink ball at night.

As discussed in Ball 1, these days March is a tough sell for cricket in Australia. It is different to Boxing Day - in the middle of the holiday period and with cricket at the forefront of the nation’s sporting mind.

A red ball 150th anniversary Test would still be a big success. But I think making it a pink ball Test might take it to an even greater level.

People in Australia’s main population centres will be able to watch after work and the novelty factor of Melbourne’s first ever men’s day/night Test will drag even more in at the gate.

No doubt the decision was driven by the fact that television companies - not just in Australia, but in England and India as well - will pay more for a day/night game, given the more favourable broadcast hours in all three countries. But there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s not just about the money—it’s about more people watching, which will enhance the match’s global prominence.

All in all - I’m torn. I don’t know how I feel. What do you think?

Incidentally, if you’re wondering why the AFL will allow such a game on the MCG in March, AFL don’t take ‘ownership’ of the MCG until 1 April, not 15 March as is the case with the Adelaide Oval, although cricket usually allows them on earlier. I wonder if cricket will be tempted to enforce the 1 April rule going forward as payback for the Shield final venue debacle. I doubt it!

Ball 4
It has been an embarrassingly long time since South Australia won the Sheffield Shield - stretching back to 1995/96!

Even Tasmania, with its small population (albeit augmented with lots of players from elsewhere) has won it three times since South Australia last did.

Who will South Australia play? Well, the Shield is the closest it has been in ages. Any one of four sides might make the final, with only Tasmania unable to do so. Here is the table, prior to the final round of matches, which are taking place as I write.

Don’t get me started on the bonus points. I love numbers but I can’t support a bonus points system that goes to two decimal places!

Every time I have commentated on a Shield game, in preparation I have learnt how the bonus points work - and then promptly forgotten as soon as the game ends. Here are the details, in case you’re wondering!

Not actually that complicated but my memory is a sieve these days!

The only good thing is that if the final is a draw it will be decided on bonus points from within the match. Although this is far from perfect, it beats the old system in which a draw meant the home team won - encouraging them to prepare a road and bat forever.

Ball 5
Speaking of that 1995/96 season, I had forgotten that Allan Border played in it.

Following his international retirement at the end of 1993/94, he had stayed on for the 1994/95 season to try to finally win the Sheffield Shield for Queensland.

As you might know, having been admitted to the competition in 1926/27 this proud sporting state had failed to win it once in the ensuing seven decades or so. It had become a bit of a joke that, despite poaching interstate players to try to win it - Greg Chappell (South Australia), Jeff Thomson (NSW) and Border himself (NSW) - they had failed to do so. Even bringing in Ian Botham and Viv Richards had not done the trick.

Back to AB and 1994/95 - what a bloody champion he was. In his 40th year, and free from the demands of international cricket for the first time since 1978, he scored 911 runs at 65.1 for Queensland in the Shield, as Queensland toppped the table.

Large crowds at the Gabba saw their state have an emphatic win over South Australia, needing only to bat once thanks to big hundreds from Trevor Barsby and Martin Love.

And Border? He was third top scorer with 98. The most embarrassing streak in Australian sporting history was over, at 68 years.

I had forgotten that Border had stayed on for one more season after that. Queensland didn’t win the Shield, although Border still averaged 42 - but they did win the One Day Cup - sending AB out a champion.

That’s how long SA’s drought has been: the last time they won the Shield, Border was still playing!

Ball 6
The IPL begins on 23 March. I know many Aussies have little interest in it, but it is unquestionably a fun event and the talent on show is second to none.

Ahead of this season’s auction, teams could only retain a maximum of six players from 2024, so loads of personnel changes have taken place.

For your reference, here are the Aussies involved and who they are playing for.

Delhi Capitals
Mitchell Starc, Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Kolkata Knight Riders
Spencer Johnson

Lucknow Super Giants
Mitchell Marsh. Justin Langer (coach).

Punjab Kings
Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Xavier Bartlett. Ricky Ponting (coach).

Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Josh Hazlewood, Tim David.

Sunrisers Hyderabad
Pat Cummins (C), Travis Head, Adam Zampa.

Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians
None

A couple of points of note:

• Pat Cummins is the only non-Indian captain

• After many years with Mumbai, Tim David is now with RCB

• Despite starring when it mattered in KKR’s win last season, Mitchell Starc was not retained - but was picked up by Delhi

• Delhi got rid of Ricky Ponting as coach - and he was picked up by Punjab Kings, who got rid of fellow Aussie Trevor Bayliss

Most games start at 1am Sydney/Melbourne time, until we move off daylight saving when they will move to 12am. If that is too tough, there are regular double-header days (usually Sunday) where the first game starts at 9pm - and 8pm once daylight saving ends!