Bowlers more impressive as 12 wickets fall: SA v WA day 1

At the Adelaide Oval today in ideal conditions - high 20s, mostly sunny with occasional clouds- South Australia won the toss, batted and made 260 all out. This was at least an improvement upon some of their other batting efforts this season, but it didn't look a competitive, let alone matchwinning, total until Western Australia lost 2/23 in 11 overs at the end of the day. In fact it still doesn't look particularly good as WA has some good batters to come and one of their two wickets thus far is that of the nightwatcher/ nightwatchman.

The outcome of the match may well be determined in the first session or so tomorrow when Jason Gillespie and Ryan Harris will resume the attack against Chris Rogers (whose batting hasn't yet enhanced the reputation which has preceded him here) and Shaun Marsh. Today was ideal cricketing weather, with a temperature in the high 20s, though for the next two days the forecast is for mid to high 30s. Neither side will want to spend too long in the field.

The photo above is of Gillespie, who with both bat and ball looked determined to prove that he's still a very good player. He made a characteristically gritty 15/ 52b. When he was out well caught at square leg by substitute Heron, he paused almost in disbelief before trudging off. With the ball he was, except for one short ball to Justin Langer, a model of probing economy. Ryan Harris, who bowled with zest and nip off the pitch, took both wickets to fall and, without diminishing his achievement, benefited from having Gillespie apply such a tight grip at the other end.

I know that I've praised Gillespie in a post earlier this week, but I don't apologise for continuing in that vein here, though I should disclose that other things precluded me from attending the ground until after tea. Tomorrow I hope to watch much of the day's play to see if my prediction comes true or, if not, how matters unfold.


Scorecard

Large attendances at motor sport

I'm not a motor sport follower but I must admit that the attendance figures for the Clipsal 500 Touring Car races are most impressive. According to Adelaide Now 276,900 spectators attended over the four days: 42,800 on Thursday, 66,700 on Friday (when the temperature reached almost 40 degrees), 80,800 on Saturday and 86,600 today. This puts even last December's widely acclaimed Adelaide Test Match, where just under 140,000 attended over five days, into perspective as well as reiterating how important spectator sport remains to so many Australians.

Gillespie's future

The ABC and the AdelaideNow (ie News Ltd papers) report that Jason Gillespie has not (yet) been offered another contract to continue playing for South Australia. In my opinion this is unwise. To date this season Gillespie has taken 25 wickets at just under 27 apiece, and he is still only 31 (though has been injury prone throughout his career).

Adelaide Now quotes Terry Jenner as saying "Can the Redbacks afford not to have Jason? Absolutely not, no way." The pace bowling has been the best performing department in SA's very poor season and, with Shaun Tait likely to be a least a fringe international player next season, it is commonsense to keep players who have performed well for a little longer in the hope that the batting will improve sufficiently for the Redbacks to stop being the domestic cricket chopping block.

Predictable result as game (just) goes into fourth day

Today Tasmania (337 and 2/72) completed an 8 wicket victory over South Australia (139 and 269).

As the Cricinfo Bulletin headline puts it"Tasmania jump to top with easy win". I predicted the result after day 1, and events in other games have put Tasmania at the top of the Pura Cup table, and given it a chance of hosting the final provided things go well for them in their final match against NSW later this week.

What can one say about SA? The batting improved in the second innings though it was distressing that seven of the first eight got a start (19 or more) yet the top score was only 59.

I won't comment further as I didn't see any of the play. I'll try to motivate myself to go and watch some of the final home game of the season, against WA, which starts on Thursday, but won't expect any more than another drubbing.

Caribbean chaos?

I was intending to post about a number of concerns re the World Cup which I'd picked up from several sources, but Peter Wilson in The Weekend Australian has beaten me to it with an excellent article "Caribbean chaos" (without the question mark).

Wilson draws attention to several elements or possible hazards which may cause the tournament to be a massive failure. These include:

• Bad organisation
• Inadequate or incomplete infrastructure
  
• Poor transport both between countries and on the ground (the online and print versions of the Australian report are accompanied by two different photos of several players emerging from an aircraft which looks to my untutored eye like a Fokker Friendship or Dash 8).
  
• Crime
• Disease (inc HIV/AIDS)
• Bureaucratic bumbling over issuing visas, especially to Australian, India, Pakistan and NZ citizens who are required to pay $130 for a visa allowing entry to all the venue nations for the duration of the tournament.

The Australian Government (or more precisely DFAT) also hasn't issued a lot of advice to cricket followers visiting the Caribbean. There is a general travel bulletin , and specific travel advisories for Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, each of which recommends that travellers exercise a "high degree of caution" and warns of the prevalence of violent and petty crime. There is also only one Australian diplomatic mission in the region, in Trinidad and Tobago where Australia is not likely to play (as far as I can tell) more than one match. This paucity of representation coupled with unsophisticated travel links may cause problems for anyone who needs assistance (such as requiring a replacement passport). The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a more detailed general website with links to specific travel and other useful advice (eg validity of UK driving licences).


Update: later on 4 March.

TheABC reports that a light aircraft crashed near the Australian team as they were practising in St Vincent. Apparently there were no serious injuries to the occupants.

First day of autumn but heat still on South Australia

After a long break first class cricket resumed in SA today. 1 March is, by some calculations (mostly I suspect by people who've never lived here) the first day of autumn, even though the temperature, as it has done every day for the last month or so, again rose over 30.

I intended to go to see if South Australia could lift its game against Tasmania, but when I heard the news of the yet another batting collapse quite frankly I couldn't be bothered. Tasmania (2/149) have already taken first innings points and look like, unless SA does a Lazarus, coasting (I'd have said surging had not President Bush appropriated this term for his own purposes), to an outright win. I will try to get to the game for a while tomorrow.

Scorecard

Old wine in new bottle for Yorkshire?

So Darren Gough is to captain Yorkshire. Is this, as Cricinfo suggests, worth a gamble? Given that Gough's best days are probably behind him and that his most recent accomplishments have been playing beach cricket and as a dancing queen you'd have to wonder about his capacity to inspire a Yorkshire team who, from the other side of the globe, look to have been underperforming for years.

That said, in his test playing days Gough was always a tough competitor and able quick bowler who, on his visits with England teams here, was clearly one who was not overawed by the opposition. He always held his head high, ran in to bowl as if he expected to take a wicket with every (or almost every) ball and occasionally added useful runs in the lower order.

I'll be interested to see what he can do.