Bracks left scratching his head

As Steve Magoffin joins Brett Geeves over in South Africa in case Peter Siddle or Ben Hilfenhaus need a replacement, the world’s premier one day bowler must be shaking his blond locks in disillusionment after he went from Australia’s best swing bowler to typecast limited overs gun.

That reasoning has the twang of the ridiculous about as you consider that Bracken, for a long time one of the most talented bowlers in the country, has destroyed teams in the Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup for years.

In 2004/2005, when NSW once again proved that Queensland could not beat them in a final (They still haven’t), Bracken devastated their strong batting line up with 6/27. Earlier that season he had bowled out South Australia for 27 in 15 overs, taking a barely believable 7/4. That evokes stories about the time Keith Miller did something similar to South Australia when claiming 7/12.

Doubters will point to his limited success in five tests, 12 wickets at 42.08. That fails to explain a one day record of 159 wickets at 22.90, with a strike rate of 31.1. In the last four years he has been a major driving force in Australia’s successes in the one day arena.

In the 2007 World Cup, his presence meant that Glenn McGrath was dropped to first change in his last hurrah, with Bracken, McGrath, and Shaun Tait proving a formidable one day attack.

In South Africa, the conditions always favour quicker bowlers with ample seam movement, good swing, and bouncy pitches. Bracken is Australia’s best swing bowler. What has he done to deserve such shabby treatment?

The mecurial Mitchell Johnson

If the Australia’s test win in Johannesburg proved anything, apart from that Australia is not dead and buried yet; it proved that Mitchell Johnson is improving as a cricketer with every test.

His first season as a test cricketer was quite underwhelming, considering the amount of hype surrounding him and the fact he had to fill the quite sizable shoes of the finest bowler of modern times; Glenn McGrath.

I must admit I thought him overrated. He did not swing the ball much, a much needed weapon in a left-armer’s armoury, and could at times be wayward. Fast forward another season and he is the leader of the Australian bowling attack.

For Johnson to go from promising change bowler to Australia’s most dangerous bowler within a year shows how vital Johnson has become, and how much he has improved in such a short time.

Johnson has always been consistently quick, and one of his greatest strengths is being able to bowl at a good pace for an entire day. He can get swing, sometimes quite late, and his variations in pace are clever and well disguised.

His batting has improved dramatically. There is no doubt that when his career is over he will have scored at least one test century. He only narrowly missed out in the previous test when he ran out of partners. His stroke play is crisp and his timing quite exquisite. He may not quite reach that level of ability, but there can be some comparisons made to Johnson and other left-arm all-rounders Alan Davidson and Wasim Akram.

The only problem Australia has with Johnson at the moment is the high workload being forced upon him. When Stuart Clark returns that will be partially remedied, but in the meanwhile he is Australia’s best fast bowler and will be a key part of an Australian team rebuilding following its most successful period.

March 3: Cricket's Day of Tragedy

March 3rd was a tragic day for everyone close to cricket. The most fanatical of Pakistan fans are now weeping what is surely the demise of international cricket being played in their country for some time, while worldwide cricket fanatics, myself included, mourn the fact that not even a sporting team can escape from religious fanaticism.

Sadly there were lives lost. Five members of the security team, the driver of the umpire’s car, and two bystanders were killed. Fortunately none of the Sri Lankan players, the primary target of these terrorists, were killed, although both Thilan Samaweera and Tharanga Paranavitana
were hit by stray bullets.

The repercussions from this will affect cricket on a global scale as they now realise what these cretins, misguided in their religious devotion, will do to get their messages heard.

No international team will go to Pakistan anymore. The writing looked on the wall when teams such as Australia and England were refusing to tour there, blaming the political upheaval. It looked even further doubtful following the Mumbai terror attacks, when India refused to tour the country.

Any hope of the average Pakistan citizen, most of whom worship cricket, seeing international teams compete against their nation on their home turf is now long gone.

That’s part of the tragedy. Pakistan will now be totally isolated from the rest of the cricket world, with its fans forced to watch their team play in neutral venues if they are to keep playing top level cricket. No longer can their fans see the likes of a Jayawadene, Ponting, Pietersen, Tendulkar, or Graeme Smith touring.

I am so glad the Sri Lankan players are safe. If there is any good news we can take out of this tragedy, it is that we have players of the calibre of Samaweera, Sangakarra and Mendis still able to entertain the masses.

We have witnessed one of the most, if not the most, devastating events in cricket history. If the game of cricket can recover from this, it will go on forever.