A new format, a new location, a new direction for Australian One Day cricket.
For those that missed the memo, the domestic one day competition will be held exclusively in NSW this season – and all matches played in a one month time frame. The main goal of CA is not to deprive Australia’s other states of cricket, but letting players get settled into one format of the game, rather than swapping from four-day cricket, to one day to Twenty20 within a week. With the 2015 Cricket World Cup getting ever closer, it’s not a bad idea. As for only playing in Sydney’s outer suburbs, that’s another story.
More important than everything else though, the 2013 Ryobi Cup will give us a really good look at different players’ form, key indicators for this summer’s fantasy Big Bash. It’s a fantastic opportunity to see which young players stand up and which ones fail to take their chances.
For those that missed the memo, the domestic one day competition will be held exclusively in NSW this season – and all matches played in a one month time frame. The main goal of CA is not to deprive Australia’s other states of cricket, but letting players get settled into one format of the game, rather than swapping from four-day cricket, to one day to Twenty20 within a week. With the 2015 Cricket World Cup getting ever closer, it’s not a bad idea. As for only playing in Sydney’s outer suburbs, that’s another story.
More important than everything else though, the 2013 Ryobi Cup will give us a really good look at different players’ form, key indicators for this summer’s fantasy Big Bash. It’s a fantastic opportunity to see which young players stand up and which ones fail to take their chances.
Unfortunately, the Ryobi Cup will overlap with Australia’s much anticipated* one day international tour of India! What fun – our best limited overs talent will miss most of the Cup. The squad at this stage for India is:
Michael Clarke
Nathan Coulter-Nile
James Faulkner
Brad Haddin
Phil Hughes
Clint McKay
Adam Voges
George Bailey
Xavier Doherty
Aaron Finch
Moises Henriques
Mitchell Johnson
Glenn Maxwell
Shane Watson
*almost forgotten about
It provides a good chance for otherwise fringe players to make their mark given so many walk up starts are out – including three state captains. Here’s who you should look out for this Ryobi Cup (a majority of matches are broadcast live on the free-to-air channel GEM):
Batsmen: Joe Burns, Hilton Cartwright, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Cal Ferguson, Aiden Blizzard, Nic Maddinson
There are some real beauties to watch out for here. Burns and Maddinson are on the fringe of national selection, whereas Ferguson has been there but injury shot him down. Nobody hits a bigger ball than Blizzard, so make sure you’re tuned in if he’s batting in the Powerplay. And Cartwright, Handscomb and Head are three terrifically talented batsmen; Justin Langer is a huge fan of Cartwright and Head has had success at Australian under age levels.
All-Rounders: Luke Butterworth, Dan Christian, Andrew McDonald
I’ve picked all experienced guys here, all for different reasons too. Butterworth is a superstar and has been delivering with bat and ball for Tasmania for nearly a decade. He’s got to a be close to Aussie colours, which would mean he finally gets the recognition he deserves. Christian has played ODIs for Australia, and made the move to Victoria in the off-season. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to his new state. And the ‘A-Mac’ is one of my favourites – if he wasn’t injured last summer it’s very likely he would have returned to the test side. He’s playing for the Redbacks this summer and fingers crossed he can stay fit.
Keepers: Tom Triffit, Tim Ludeman, Chris Hartley, Tim Paine
Brad Haddin is Australia’s number one keeper, not just in Test cricket, but now One Day Cricket as well, as Matty Wade has fallen out of form and out of favour. So a really interesting question has been posed: who becomes the second in line? Paine leads by a nose, but all these guys have a case. Heaps of runs and dismissals will only help.
Bowlers: Chadd Sayers, Ben Cutting, Jason Behrendorff, Gurinder Sandhu, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer, Jon Holland, Adam Zampa,
As we know very well, fast bowling is of no shortage in Australia. But because there’s so many, there’s a lot we never get a chance to see. Sayers was the leading wicket-taker in the Shield last year, Sandhu and Behrendorff are two young whippets and Cutting has had heaps of success with Queensland. I’m also looking forward to seeing Siddle back on the limited overs scene, he hasn’t played the shorter form since Feb 7, 2012.
These three spinners (Beer, Holland & Zampa) will all be breathing down Nathan Lyon’s neck for the test side, but also Doherty’s for the ODI side. ‘X’ has been recently dropped so the selectors are open to a new selection.
The Ryobi Cup kicks off this Sunday! Cricket season will officially begin – it’s a very exciting time with an Ashes series later this summer. NSW & Tasmania kick off the comp, and here’s my expected line-ups for the opener:
NSW: 1.David Warner 2.Nic Maddinson 3.Ben Rohrer 4.Brad Haddin (c) 5.Steve Smith 6.Mosies Henriques 7.Sean Abbott 8.Gurinder Sandhu 9. Nathan Lyon 10. Josh Hazlewood 11. Doug Bollinger 12. Kurtis Patterson
TAS: 1.Mark Cosgrove 2. Jordan Silk 3. Ed Cowan 4. Alex Doolan 5. George Bailey (c) 6. Tim Paine 7. Evan Gulbis 8. Luke Butterworth 9. Ben Laughlin 10. Xavier Doherty 11. Ben Hilfenhaus 12. Sam Rainbird
Hope you enjoy the Ryobi Cup – make sure you use it as valuable scouting material!
Michael Clarke
Nathan Coulter-Nile
James Faulkner
Brad Haddin
Phil Hughes
Clint McKay
Adam Voges
George Bailey
Xavier Doherty
Aaron Finch
Moises Henriques
Mitchell Johnson
Glenn Maxwell
Shane Watson
*almost forgotten about
It provides a good chance for otherwise fringe players to make their mark given so many walk up starts are out – including three state captains. Here’s who you should look out for this Ryobi Cup (a majority of matches are broadcast live on the free-to-air channel GEM):
Batsmen: Joe Burns, Hilton Cartwright, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Cal Ferguson, Aiden Blizzard, Nic Maddinson
There are some real beauties to watch out for here. Burns and Maddinson are on the fringe of national selection, whereas Ferguson has been there but injury shot him down. Nobody hits a bigger ball than Blizzard, so make sure you’re tuned in if he’s batting in the Powerplay. And Cartwright, Handscomb and Head are three terrifically talented batsmen; Justin Langer is a huge fan of Cartwright and Head has had success at Australian under age levels.
All-Rounders: Luke Butterworth, Dan Christian, Andrew McDonald
I’ve picked all experienced guys here, all for different reasons too. Butterworth is a superstar and has been delivering with bat and ball for Tasmania for nearly a decade. He’s got to a be close to Aussie colours, which would mean he finally gets the recognition he deserves. Christian has played ODIs for Australia, and made the move to Victoria in the off-season. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to his new state. And the ‘A-Mac’ is one of my favourites – if he wasn’t injured last summer it’s very likely he would have returned to the test side. He’s playing for the Redbacks this summer and fingers crossed he can stay fit.
Keepers: Tom Triffit, Tim Ludeman, Chris Hartley, Tim Paine
Brad Haddin is Australia’s number one keeper, not just in Test cricket, but now One Day Cricket as well, as Matty Wade has fallen out of form and out of favour. So a really interesting question has been posed: who becomes the second in line? Paine leads by a nose, but all these guys have a case. Heaps of runs and dismissals will only help.
Bowlers: Chadd Sayers, Ben Cutting, Jason Behrendorff, Gurinder Sandhu, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer, Jon Holland, Adam Zampa,
As we know very well, fast bowling is of no shortage in Australia. But because there’s so many, there’s a lot we never get a chance to see. Sayers was the leading wicket-taker in the Shield last year, Sandhu and Behrendorff are two young whippets and Cutting has had heaps of success with Queensland. I’m also looking forward to seeing Siddle back on the limited overs scene, he hasn’t played the shorter form since Feb 7, 2012.
These three spinners (Beer, Holland & Zampa) will all be breathing down Nathan Lyon’s neck for the test side, but also Doherty’s for the ODI side. ‘X’ has been recently dropped so the selectors are open to a new selection.
The Ryobi Cup kicks off this Sunday! Cricket season will officially begin – it’s a very exciting time with an Ashes series later this summer. NSW & Tasmania kick off the comp, and here’s my expected line-ups for the opener:
NSW: 1.David Warner 2.Nic Maddinson 3.Ben Rohrer 4.Brad Haddin (c) 5.Steve Smith 6.Mosies Henriques 7.Sean Abbott 8.Gurinder Sandhu 9. Nathan Lyon 10. Josh Hazlewood 11. Doug Bollinger 12. Kurtis Patterson
TAS: 1.Mark Cosgrove 2. Jordan Silk 3. Ed Cowan 4. Alex Doolan 5. George Bailey (c) 6. Tim Paine 7. Evan Gulbis 8. Luke Butterworth 9. Ben Laughlin 10. Xavier Doherty 11. Ben Hilfenhaus 12. Sam Rainbird
Hope you enjoy the Ryobi Cup – make sure you use it as valuable scouting material!