Don't You Ever Let A Chance Go By

Australia's most recent win over India in the CBA series confirmed one thing about the various styles of cricket that are now being played world wide. Good bowlers are good regardless of format.

If Goldilocks had been a cricket fan, she would likely have found Test cricket too cold, Twenty20 too hot but ODI cricket just right: but then, what would a precocious underage burglar with gold bangs, a destructive desire for furniture and a fetish for porridge know about cricket?

Ben Hilfenhaus was a Goldilocks favourite on a steamy Brisbane evening. He was just right. His outswinger bent the white ball just enough to find probing edges for two of Matthew Wade's five catches and the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli, left with nothing to show the crowd when he snicked to David Hussey at slip. Even when he dropped short, batsmen of the calibre of MS Dhoni hit straight to the man at mid wicket. Brett Lee, who leaves his walking frame at the boundary at the start of the innings, had his best dentures in for smiling last night and included in his bag the scalp of Gambhir who was coming off twin nineties.

Peter Forrest - making the most
of his opportunities

Earlier, all the batsmen got runs - well, almost all the batsmen. Ricky Ponting again looked out of sorts. Its as though, having done so much work to get his game back in order for the Tests this summer, the adjustment to ODI cricket is proving too difficult. These may be his last 50 over games. As Shaun Tait retreated to Twenty20, Ponting may seek his final scenes to be actsed on the grander stage of Tests. Other than that, there wasn't a bad individual innings in a total that might have been 350 in previous seasons when the wicket was less friendly to bowlers. Peter Forrest added a second fifty to his fledgling international career and isn't he just punching the sky at the decision to leave the NSW Second XI for a game in sunny Queensland. Meanwhile his old team mates have the Blues, occupying a distant fifth place in the both the Sheffield Shield and Ryobi Cup.

MS Dhoni seems destined to be the international skipper who has the most over-rated reputation. After the Brisbane game, he was again suspended as India failed by two overs to reach the over target. He lost 40% of his match fee and was handed an enforced rotation out of the side, whilst the players all copped 20%. Its hard to imagine when watching Dhoni that he is anything else but disinterested and that some announcement about his playing future isn't far away. At 30, he's too young to retire but perhaps he'll be reducing his workload and it seems unlikely he'll captain the Test side again. He's an example of what may become a chronic problem, especially for Indian cricketers. Playing so much cricket, the flames of their career candles are meeting in the middle and there's nothing left.

Over in Perth, Western Australia beat NSW by an innings and a billion in one of the most embarrassing losses in Blues history. It only took less than three days for the demolition to be completed, Michael Beer taking 7-46 to rout NSW a second time. On the first day, the two Nathans - Couter-Nile and Rimmington - bowled a side with seven Australia Test players out for just 91. Brad Haddin, fighting for form and for his team mates to keep him out of the negative side of the media ledger, did nothing to help himself with a pair which took only 12 deliveries. Shane Watson and Nathan Hauritz were the only Bluesmen to past thirty in the match. In between two days of dreadful batting, WA made 3-560. Liam Davis, the forgotten potential Baggy Green opener made 303x and Adam Vogues (you're kidding, he's too old) 178, the pair adding 379.

Quick poll (without leaving this page to check) ... which six batsmen have more that 700 first class runs this season?

Most runs

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
EJM Cowan	12*	20	2	952	145*	52.88	1815	52.45	3	4	0	122	0
(Australia, Australia A, Tasmania)
LM Davis	6	11	1	826	303*	82.60	1759	46.95	3	3	0	110	7
(Western Australia)
MJ Clarke	6	9	1	787	329*	98.37	1208	65.14	3	0	1	97	3
(Australia)
RT Ponting	7	11	1	763	221	76.30	1275	59.84	2	5	0	80	3
(Australia, Tasmania)
RJ Quiney	8	15	0	750	119	50.00	1180	63.55	3	3	1	90	7
(Victoria)
AC Voges	7	12	1	702	178	63.81	1376	51.01	2	3	2	91	0
(Western Australia) In the same vein which seven bowlers have more that 30 first class wickets this season? Most wickets Player Mat Inns Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 5 10 BW Hilfenhaus 10 19 406.3 102 1145 49 5/44 8/97 23.36 2.81 49.7 3 0 (Australia, Australia A, Tasmania) PM Siddle 8 16 283.0 85 818 45 6/43 9/77 18.17 2.89 37.7 2 0 (Australia, Victoria) JL Pattinson 7 14 248.0 62 796 38 5/27 8/105 20.94 3.20 39.1 2 0 (Australia, Australia A, Victoria) BCJ Cutting 8* 14 215.2 48 724 37 5/43 7/88 19.56 3.36 34.9 2 0 (Australia A, Queensland) MG Hogan 8 16 305.4 87 836 37 5/24 9/86 22.59 2.73 49.5 2 0 (Western Australia) JM Herrick 8 16 302.5 48 1124 37 5/79 7/103 30.37 3.71 49.1 1 0 (Victoria) JM Bird 5* 10 185.0 51 541 32 6/62 10/96 16.90 2.92 34.6 3 1 (Tasmania) At various time, this website has called for the selection of Rob Quiney and even the relatively inexperienced Liam Davis. Who would regret giving Dave Warner his place? Also unlucky have been Ben Cutting (currently getting runs batting at nine for Qld) who would have been in the Test side all summer but for an injury in training before the Hobart Test and the older but very effective Michael Hogan, who left his native Newcastle when offered a gold cap in the West. Not on these lists but still very much on thecricketragics radar is Tasmanian Luke Butterworth, the man to fill the mythical allrounder position selectors have been looking for since the seventies ended. Lucky I don't pick the Test side with this form!