Super Over 25: Day/night in Jamaica!
4 April 2025
Ball 1
The Sheffield Shield final surprised me.
It was the best Shield game I have seen in a long time. A very decent pitch helped the spectacle and it looked glorious: a nice crowd, grassy banks, the odd small stand, sunny weather and a lot of passion.
As much as I love the Shield and have been thrilled to commentate on it, it is normally tinged with a kind of faded wistfulness - the very opposite of bigtime sport.
But this felt different. The fans were up for it, almost like a football crowd. Even the production values of the television coverage seemed a cut above the normal Shield standard.
It harkened back to a time when the Shield was relevant to the average sports fan - not just to hardcore cricket fans. Back in the 1990s, the Shield was still on ABC radio on the weekend - and television news bulletins covered it in detail.
It felt nice. And the scenes when South Australia won - for the first time since 1995/96 - were actually rather extraordinary. I was not expecting anywhere near the amount of excitement I saw.
It would be naive to expect this to continue next season, although it would be worth a try. In the lead up to the Ashes, there will no doubt be interest in the performance of prospective Aussie players - Cricket Australia should do what it can to exploit this.
Above all, the competition needs good, bouncy pitches. Any venues that do not produce such pitches should be ruthlessly weeded out of the schedule - with no exceptions.
Ball 2
It was a pleasant surprise to see Jason Sangha and Kurtis Patterson both have such fine seasons with the bat. In Sangha’s case, this - his first season with South Australia after moving from New South Wales - was the first in which his performance matched his undoubted talent.
Jason Sangha - season by season
For Patterson it was a welcome return to his best form:
Kurtis Patterson - season by season
The question is now being asked: could either figure in the Australian side soon?
In my opinion, while I am open to it if they keep scoring prolifically, I would need to see a fair bit more yet, especially from Sangha.
First class averages
Patterson: 38.7
Sangha: 33.6
Their overall records remain respectable - in Patterson’s case - and modest - in Sangha’s.
Sangha is only 25 so who knows, maybe this season represents a new normal. As for Patterson, at almost 32 he is definitely not too old to play for Australia again.
I won’t sit on the fence though - my guess is that neither is going to make it at Test level. It goes without saying that I would be delighted to be proven wrong.
Ball 3
Calling Channel Seven! The Caribbean beckons!
After the ratings success of Seven’s coverage of Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka, the rumour is they are in the market for more overseas cricket.
On the surface, the Aussie men’s tour of the West Indies in June and July might not appear attractive. The Tests usually start around midnight in the east of Australia, these days crowds for West Indies Tests are tiny and the pitches are often flat, leading to a dull spectacle.
However, the time zone issue at least might be about to be improved, with the third Test in Jamaica set to be a day/night match. If so, it should finish around 10 or 11am in the east - allowing fans to easily watch the last half of the day, especially on the weekend.
And even with the first two Tests, if they finish around 7:30am, many Aussies would be keen to tune in to a bit of the final session as they get ready for their day. Channel Seven could stick the cricket on their secondary station (Seven Mate) and even promote it a bit via their morning show on the main station. Rights would be cheap and I have an inkling the ratings would be better than they might expect.
Plus, the five-match T20 series that follows should see bigger crowds and hopefully be plenty of fun.
Come on Channel Seven - it will be a winner!
Ball 4
Pat Cummins is enduring a rare bad patch.
He is again the captain of last year’s runners up in the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad. After a triumphant first match - in which they scored 286 - there was speculation that 300 might be in their sights.
Instead, they have lost three on the trot, including last night, being beaten by 80 runs by Kolkata Knight Riders - the biggest loss in their history.
And Cummins himself is struggling with the ball.
Here is a table with with all bowlers so far in the IPL whose economy rate is 10 runs per over or more (minimum of 5 overs bowled). Cummins sits in fourth worst place with an economy rate of 12.3: he’s taken 3/160 off 13 overs in total.
Concerningly for Cummins, three other SRH players are on the list too, including fellow Aussie Adam Zampa, who was actually dropped for last night’s game.
Early days of course but it does not take long for the pressure to build in the IPL!
Ball 5
Trivia time!
Karen Rolton Oval was the 12th venue used for a Sheffield Shield final, since the first final was held in 1982/83 (prior to that it was just first past the post).
Can you name all 12 grounds? If you can, I will be impressed - please tell me how you go!
(Answer below Ball 6).
Ball 6
With the Sheffield Shield enjoying a rare moment of high profile, it got me thinking about one of the greatest ever finals - and I realised it was almost exactly 40 years ago.
The final of 1984/85 was won by New South Wales by one wicket - yet another instance of Queensland failing to get across the line, during their initial seven-decade drought.
By all accounts it was one of the most exciting games of cricket ever played, and it had a major impact on the career of one Steve Waugh. Waugh - right at the very start of his career - cracked an important 71 in the first innings to keep NSW in the game. He has since referred to the innings as giving him credibility with other players and belief in his own mind that he belonged at Shield level.
And what a group of players it was to impress. Kepler Wessels, Allan Border, Jeff Thomson and Carl Rackemann were among the Queensland players. (Trevor Hohns was too - who would have thought that nearly two decades later Hohns would be the one to axe Waugh from the ODI side!)
As for NSW, well, starring for them with the ball was Imran Khan - possibly the greatest all rounder ever. Imran was a rare overseas import in the Sheffield Shield that season - apparently having an enormous impact on players and fans alike.
NSW got the runs with their final pair at the crease and reduced poor old Carl Rackemann to tears - and made the front page of the next day’s paper!
Trivia answer:
1. WACA
2. SCG
3. MCG
4. The Gabba
5. Adelaide Oval
6. Allan Border Field, Brisbane
7. Bellerive Oval, Hobart
8. Junction Oval, Melbourne
9. Manuka Oval, Canberra
10. Glenelg Oval, Adelaide
11. Traeger Park, Alice Springs
12. Karen Rolton Oval, Adelaide
(There was almost a 13th: the 2019/20 final was scheduled for North Dalton Park, Wollongong but COVID intervened and it was cancelled.)