Portrait of an Aussie as a fighting cricketer(-worma)
Ok ok...weirdo title...end of the day for me..so..
But before signing off, wanted to share this wonderful feature of an Aus cricketer who made his debut today. Brad Hodge is the name. The sheer doggedness, the stomach for fight, to hang on...makes interesting read. Consider these facts: This is when he made his debut
This was where his career seemed to be heading
And this is when he finally makes the cut
Puts a lot of things in right perspective, this story. Doesn't it?
But before signing off, wanted to share this wonderful feature of an Aus cricketer who made his debut today. Brad Hodge is the name. The sheer doggedness, the stomach for fight, to hang on...makes interesting read. Consider these facts: This is when he made his debut
IT FEELS like such a long time ago that I made my debut for Victoria in an unbelievable side that included Dean Jones, Paul Reiffel, Shane Warne, Merv Hughes, Damien Fleming and Warren Ayres
This was where his career seemed to be heading
When I made 903 runs in my first season, it was put upon me to be Australia's next young Test cricketer. Ricky Ponting was playing for Tasmania at about the same age, and I guess we were bracketed together. Now he is close to playing his 100th Test and I'm playing my first.
And this is when he finally makes the cut
There's 12,679 first-class runs to suggest I can play the game, and that gives me a lot of confidence. It would be nice to add a few more at Test level.
Puts a lot of things in right perspective, this story. Doesn't it?
posted by worma at
5:58 PM
9 Comments:
nice post, worma. Really enjoyed this one. Also, has a lot of parallels in INdian cricket. Now, Hodge will be destroyed if he fails in the test. Wishing him all the best...
Another thing to note, Hodge is 30. The Aussies still dont have anybody young enough to act as the link b/w the past and future? Other than Clarke, i.e.
By
Toney, at 18:31
toney, apparently there's a youngster(at 26, he's young by Aus standards), Phil Jaques in contention for a spot.
And yeah...one can find parallels to this story everywhere...whenever we see a good talent waiting on the sidelines...be it McGill...or even Laxman....or Karthik...or even Hussey, Lehman
By
worma, at 18:39
Stuart Law is another one. I used to think, at one point, he was the best player ona bouncy wicket (along with Ponting). He's in English County cricket, right?:)
And then, there are the gys who dont even get a look in into intl cricket. I wonder if such guys think of themselves as failures. Hopefully not
By
Toney, at 18:42
Yeah...Law was one...dunno where he's vanished..I mean in terms of national chances...never read about him. Then there was another Martin Love...remember him...played a few ODIs..I was very impressed with his attitude...looked like what Hussey is today (esp in ODIs)..he's also vanished from the scene...and I'm sure there are many such stories of lost chances due to this strong Aus team.
Even now, had Martyn, Katich held form for one more year...probably Hodge etc would not have got a look in...they would have looked to blood a youngster
By
worma, at 18:46
He was slated for debut during the time India toured Aus...
Guess he even made a double century in the tour match...
But then some ppl have to really fight their way into the squad...
a la K.P Bhaskar...but then that gent..unfortunately never got to be in the squad...
By
Ginkgo, at 20:34
ged: what do you mean Joyce is now qualified? Is he not an Englishman? Aussie??...sorry for sounding ignorant :-)
ze rambler: yeah I also noticed that beer part in that article...ofcourse other countries' players also drink their fill (e.g Eng) but seems like Aus cricketers' careers are often inter-linked with the drink....Ponting too, no? And Symonds also. Must be others too.
By
worma, at 06:22
ohh..ok...thx..and yes now I do vaguely remember reading about the Irish connection.
Have been hearing about Joyce's chances for some time now, wonder why Cook is preferred over him? Did that double ton against Aus push him ahead in the queue? I mean..on that pitch...even Hayden scored a century ;-)
By
worma, at 06:53
yeah...unless you want KP to open :-)...
Btw...I thought Cook was called for Vaughan? So ideally they should have asked for a middle order batsman. Maybe tried to cover for Strauss also (although that shounds illogical, since Strauss' early return was already known when they came, isn't that so?)
By
worma, at 07:43
LOL..good one :-))...yeah I had Sehwag in mind when I half joked about KP to open. Sehwag, for all his attacking instincts, has a pretty compact game (while it may not look thus) with good enough defensive technique and mindset.
And..this may ramble on...but wasn't Vaughan himself not a natural opener in the first place? Anyways...I got the picture.
By
worma, at 09:13
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