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    Katich’s (and Australia’s) future

    By Will 3 years ago, mid-August Leave a comment on this post

    I noted today that Simon Katich again failed to make a substantial contribution, against Northamptonshire. I’m one of many Englishmen who hasn’t really seen the best of Katich, and I’m keen to know more from those that have. Quite why Mike Hussey isn’t in the current Test side, in replace of Katich, is beyond me. Hussey seems to be at least his equal with the bat, and an outstanding outfielder.

    Aside from Hussey, who else do Australia have in the pipeline? Batsmen can often “go on” longer than bowlers, but it would obviously be in Australia’s great interest to introduce some younger batsmen sooner rather than later. What, and who, is Australia’s batting future?

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    10 Responses to “Katich’s (and Australia’s) future”

  • worma wrote:
    August 21st, 2005 at 12.14 am

    Katich is now in a position where Martyn used to be amongts Hayden, Ponting, Gilchrist, 2*Waugh etc. His chance came only when these failed, which meant the toughest of times. Katich has so far in his short career done well enough in those tough times.

    It took Martyn also quite a long time, and many such tough situations to come out of the shadows. The difference now, in this series is that Katich is having to face many of those tough situtions in a row, which earlier used to come once in a while. And maybe he is a little off colour, but still I wouldn’t think its enough to judge him.

    And remember, anyone else in his position would still have an equally tough time now. And when the going is easy, he won’t get enough chances out in the middle.

  • Darryl wrote:
    August 21st, 2005 at 3.47 am

    It’s a little hard to tell who is going to succeed, but there are a few players with plenty of potential. Dominic Thornely is a terrific middle order batsmen, and medium pace bowler, who seems to be close to national selection. You mention Mike Hussey - brilliant player, and probably should be in the Test team. His younger brother David Hussey has been hitting plenty of runs for Notts, but had a rather poor season for Victoria in ‘04/’05. Opener Phil Jacques is also batting well for Yorkshire (he had a great season for NSW last summer). And of course there’s Brad Hodge, who is in Australia’s Ashes touring party … if he’s ever given a go, he could do pretty well.

    So there is some depth in Australia’s batting future … it will be interesting to see if any young blokes step up and score well in this coming Australian summer.

  • Rick Eyre wrote:
    August 21st, 2005 at 8.51 am

    I’m a Katich fan, but Hodge and Hussey,M would both justify their spot in the eleven if chosen. The disturbing thing, however, is all three of these batsmen are now in their thirties! Katich turns 30 today, Hodge was 30 last September and Hussey 30 in May. They’re hardly youngsters if you’re looking for long-term investments a la Michael Clarke.

    David Hussey, Dominic Thornely, Phil Jaques (no “c” in Jaques), Marcus North and Chris Rogers are all fringe prospects. All are over the age of 26. Cameron White, as a batting all-rounder, is another possibility (and he’s only just turned 22!)

  • Innocent Abroad wrote:
    August 21st, 2005 at 11.25 am

    Well, with modern physio and other techniques, players can stay young longer - the most obvious example to me is McGrath, who is clearly a far better bowler than, say, Ray Lindwall was at his age. What is “young” depends on how long players can stay at the top, given the intensity of the modern game. If we take a 5-7 year period (for sake of argument) then we get something like

    Batsmen - age 27/8 to 33/4
    Fast bowlers - age 25 to 30/32
    Spinners and keepers - God only knows :lol:

    With academies and “A” tours there’s no excuse for throwing players into the Test arena too young - interesting to hear Kevin Pietersen’s comments on how he found Test Cricket yesterday, for example.

  • Stu wrote:
    August 21st, 2005 at 11.55 am

    What’s old also depends on your own perspective. 35 used to sound old to me too :-(

  • Will wrote:
    August 21st, 2005 at 2.08 pm

    Apart from White, Rick, who else is in the pipeline (under 25)? Now you mention it, I can’t think of any for England either (off the top of my head). Ed Joyce, who I’ve praised without borders on this blog, is 26 I think. 26 does appear to be “the age” for young batsmen, these days, coming into Test sides.

  • Darryl wrote:
    August 21st, 2005 at 10.42 pm

    Rick, I don’t think it matters if players are over the age of 26. At that age they could still have a good 7 years in them, and that’s not bad. My apologies to Mr Jaques-Without-A-C.

    Will, one youngster to keep an eye on here in Australia is 18yo Moises Henriques of NSW. He hasn’t yet played first class cricket, but he’s an opening bowler who can also bat … potentially Australia’s Freddie Flintoff?? Anyway, those who have seen him are saying he’s really, really good.

  • Will wrote:
    August 21st, 2005 at 10.47 pm

    What a name! Loving that, Darryl - shall keep my eyes and ears out for him. Sounds almost French, that name. Just “Cricinfo’d” him - info here

  • Rick Eyre wrote:
    August 22nd, 2005 at 2.36 am

    Of course, if we keep blooding 28 or 29 year-olds into the Australian team, then poor Moises has got another decade to wait for his baggygreen cap!

    I haven’t seen Moises (and that’s a Portuguese name - there’s a surprisingly large Portuguese community in Sydney) play yet. He’s got a rookie contract with the NSW squad this season, but I might have to go and catch a St George game or two.

  • Vijayendra wrote:
    August 22nd, 2005 at 6.43 am

    I’ve had seen a lot ofKatich on the Aussie tour of India , the last frontier , which they succeeded to conquer and He played a major part is establishing the innings whenquick wickets were lost at the top. May be somethings wrong with him. Plays too many shorts even before he gets his eye in .

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