da blaze casino： It’s central contracts time in Australia, and Cricinfo runs the rule on the 39 players who’ve played in various forms of the game for the national team, and attempts to identify the 25 who will make the cut
da betsson： S Rajesh04-May-2009First of all, a look at the highest run-scorers and wicket-takers for Australia from May 1, 2008, the period from which the 2008-09 contracts started. There are five who’ve scored more than 1000, and apart from Simon Katich, they’re all names who’ve played in more than one form of the game. The others in the top nine haven’t quite played as many games, but Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, David Hussey and Andrew Symonds are all shoo-ins as well. (It’s also remarkable that Johnson is seventh in the run-scoring chart, which isn’t even his primary area of expertise.)
BatsmanMatchesRunsAverageStrike rate100s/ 50sMichael Clarke41194542.2854.225/ 11Michael Hussey42180639.2655.441/ 16Ricky Ponting37174235.5566.893/ 11Brad Haddin42171735.7765.432/ 8Simon Katich15138953.4248.655/ 7Shane Watson1872638.2166.422/ 2Mitchell Johnson3867822.6064.321/ 2Andrew Symonds1567439.6468.350/ 7David Hussey2866426.5693.520/ 5(Click here for the full list.)Johnson also heads the list for most number of wickets during this period, and the numbers illustrate just how far ahead of the pack he was – next in the wicket-takers tally is Brett Lee, with less than half the number than Johnson nabbed. Overall, though, it’s difficult to argue against the inclusion of any of the top eight wicket-takers.
BowlerMatchesWicketsAverageEcon rate5WIMitchell Johnson3810725.763.393Brett Lee174636.103.512Nathan Bracken303332.694.730James Hopes343231.534.870Peter Siddle93226.212.631Stuart Clark133023.702.491Ben Hilfenhaus172537.724.110Nathan Hauritz142530.283.240(Click here for the full list.)Next, the bunch of certainties for the contract can be divided in terms of those who have proved their worth in all three forms of the game, and those who’ve excelled in either the Tests or in the limited-overs format.The all-round achievers: Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Shane Watson, Stuart Clark.The Test specialists: Simon Katich, Phil Hughes, Peter Siddle, Marcus NorthAs the table below indicates, they’ve all done enough to justify their places in the next contracts list.
PlayerTestsRunsAverageWicketsAverageSimon Katich15138953.42621.16Phil Hughes341569.16–Peter Siddle710611.772927.65Marcus North216040.00249.00The limited-overs specialists: David Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Bracken, James Hopes, Nathan Hauritz.The stats of all these players are listed below. Most of them have been pretty consistent, and it’s difficult to reject the case for any of them.
PlayerMatchesRunsAverage/ strike rateWicketsAverage/ econ rateDavid Hussey2866426.56/ 93.52842.00/ 5.71Shaun Marsh1863537.35/ 77.15–Callum Ferguson1638638.60/ 85.20–Nathan Bracken30366.00/ 70.003332.69/ 4.73James Hopes3449924.95/ 88.943231.53/ 4.87Nathan Hauritz118320.75/ 87.361625.50/ 4.42That makes it 19 out of 25 names in the bag. The last few is always the tricky bit, and here are the list of performances of the 17 other players (excluding Matthew Hayden and Stuart MacGill, who’ve announced their retirement) who did Australian duty over the last one year.Among the names listed below, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger and Shaun Tait should make the cut, the first two on the basis of performance, and the third on the basis of the promise he holds for the future. There are still question marks over Cameron White’s bowling, but he has been in the thoughts of the selectors often enough to suggest he will find a place.Those four names bring the tally up to 23, which leaves the last two places to fill up. Will the selectors take a punt on David Warner in a season which has the World T20 coming up in a month? In five Twenty20 internationals last season, Warner averaged 35.40 at an excellent strike rate of 155.40. Phil Jaques is a good bet if his back is in shape again, but if the selectors look outside this list and into domestic performances, Chris Rogers could have a chance too: he scored 1195 runs in 11 first-class games at an averaged of 74.68 last season.
PlayerMatchesRunsAverageWicketsAverageCameron White2241627.731241.66Ben Hilfenhaus17396.502537.72David Warner1128325.72–Luke Ronchi712330.75–Shaun Tait61414.00737.14Ben Laughlin61-550.20AB McDonald410721.40933.33Doug Bollinger40-733.14Phil Jaques324540.83–Brett Geeves310-522.60Shane Harwood300.00431.50Jason Krejza27123.661343.23Brad Hodge19447.00–Adam Voges12626.00–Beau Casson11010.00343.00Ryan Harris177.00154.00Bryce McGain121.00–Moises Henriques111.00–Possible list of contracted players for 2009-10 season
Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Shane Watson, Stuart Clark, Simon Katich, Phil Hughes, Peter Siddle, Marcus North, David Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Bracken, James Hopes, Nathan Hauritz, Cameron White, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Shaun Tait, Phil Jaques, David Warner/ Chris Rogers.