Some Good Reading

Cricketragics should make sure they venture away from the main articles from time to time as connections are regularly made with the thoughts of some of cricket's best brains through this website. One place to look for smart ideas is "Worth Reading" in the side bar (down the left of the page).
Just recently, links to two articles which will prove interesting in the light of recent events have been added. An interview with Simon Katich just under twelve months ago makes it clear that despite claims to the contrary, he didn't really see his axing coming. The second, is an article by Gideon Haigh, one of the best thinkers on the game. His concern is less with the removal of Simon Katich as it is with where we will find the next Simon Katich. Despite the quality of the Review panel headed by Don Argus, Haigh has his doubts.

"Does anyone believe that if the Argonauts reported tomorrow and described Cricket Australia's embrace of the BBL as hasty, ill-considered, marketing-driven and ultimately destructive, it would make a blind bit of difference?

The panel may come up with some useful recommendations - it has ample cricket sense to draw on. But the probability is that they will fall as seeds to stony ground, because the system into which they must be integrated is geared not to restoring Australia's Test ranking but to creating a noisy performance art for ten-year-olds. Yes, it's contract time in Australian cricket, but with all due respect to an admirable cricketer, the issue is not so much what we have done with the last Simon Katich but where on earth we will find the next."

Worth reading!

The other section to pursue is "Cricket Interviews" where you'll find a lengthy interview with Greg Chappell by Daniel Brettig, conducted in May before the Katich furore broke. Chappell reflects on his first season back in the selectors chair. It makes for interesting reading in the light of what we have seen in the past few weeks.

"The players are always saying they'd like open and honest appraisals of where they're at. Trying to achieve that is a constant exercise, but receiving bad news is never easy, delivering bad news is never easy. The chairman of selectors is the one who has to deliver that news and it isn't always well received, obviously." Greg Chappell


The full Test itinerary is also now available on the side bar at Test Cricket Fixtures, with Australia's home summer program having been released this week.