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And so we come to that time of year where Cricket dominates the sporting airwaves during the summer months. The "Ashes" is a Test Cricket rivalry that dates back to the beginning of the game at an organised level in 1877 between England and Australia. Strangely, this year the hype hasn't been quite the same, perhaps due to the Rugby League World Cup and Australia's very recent qualification for the Football World Cup in Russia 2018 or perhaps because England has some new batsmen who are yet to develop a reputation in the game. Tomorrow, the Australian team for the First test in Brisbane next week is set to be announced, however details have been leaked to the public early, with some surprises. Firstly, Peter Nevill will not be recalled as wicketkeeper, rather Tim Paine will return after 6 years out due mainly to injuries. Cameron Bancroft has been in great form and deserves his chance but unbelievably Shaun Marsh is set to be recalled at No.6. This last selection smacks of desperation because Marsh has been tried and tested before and he has shown in his career that he is too inconsistent for Test Cricket. The Australian Test team for the first two tests is listed below... Australia Ashes squad: (possible) Steven Smith (capt), David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird Let's see if Shaun Marsh lasts more than two tests. Source: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/the-ashes/ashes-2017-peter-nevill-snubbed-from-shock-australian-lineup-for-first-test-20171116-gzmzl1.html http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/21432475/tim-paine-make-unexpected-australia-return

I've been spending some rest and relaxation time this Summer Holidays trying to get my head around the (let's called it...sabermetric) International Cricket Council Player Rankings system which rates Cricketers' performance on an index of 1000. The reason this was first introduced in the 1980's was because Ted Dexter, the former England Captain thought that averages didn't always indicate a player's ability (and it's a fair point too). In layman's terms, a score of 700 would normally indicate a player would be in the Top Ten Batters or Bowlers internationally, a score over 800 would indicate outstanding recent form and over 900 would mean the player is in the upper echelon of performance in the game. Players who crack the 900 mark rarely stay there. However, Steve Smith's recent form in the last few years has bucked that trend. He has been consistently been above 918 points for the last 12 months and apart from three tests against South Africa last year, when his ranking points fluctuated between 886 and 897 points, he has been above 900 points every other instance for the last two years. So what the ranking system measure? Well below is a guideline directly from the ICC... ICC Player Rankings The ICC Player Rankings are a sophisticated moving average. Players are rated on a scale of 0 to 1000 points. If a player’s performance is improving on his past record, his points increase; if his performance is declining his points will go down. The value of each player’s performance within a match is calculated using an algorithm, a series of calculations (all pre-programmed) based on various circumstances in the match. All of the calculations are carried out using pre-programmed formulae, using the information published in a Test match scorecard. There is no human intervention in this calculation process, and no subjective assessment is made. Test Match Rankings For a batsman, the factors are: • Runs scored • Ratings of the opposing bowling attack; the higher the combined ratings of the attack, the more value is given to the batsman’s innings (in proportion) • The level of run-scoring in the match, and the team’s innings total; an innings of 100 runs in a match where all teams scored 500 is worth less than 100 runs in a match where all teams were bowled out for 200. And if a team scores 500 in the first innings and 200 in the second innings, a century in the second innings will get more credit than in the first innings (because the general level of run scoring was higher in the first innings) • Out or not out (a not out innings receives a bonus) • The result. Batsmen who score highly in victories receive a bonus. That bonus will be higher for highly rated opposition teams (i.e. win bonus against the current Australia team is higher than the bonus against Bangladesh.) For a bowler, the factors are: • Wickets taken and runs conceded • Ratings of the batsmen dismissed (at present, the wicket of Steven Smith is worth more than that of Matthew Wade – but if Wade’s batting rating improves, the value of his wicket will increase accordingly) • The level of run-scoring in the match; bowling figures of 3-50 in a high-scoring match will boost a bowler’s rating more than the same figures in a low-scoring match • Heavy workload; bowlers who bowl a large number of overs in the match get some credit, even if they take no wickets; • The result. Bowlers who take a lot of wickets in a victory receive a bonus. That bonus will be higher for highly rated opposition teams Bowlers who do not bowl in a high-scoring innings are penalized. The players’ ratings are calculated by combining their weighted performance in the latest match with their previous rating. This new ‘weighted average’ is then converted into points. Recent performances have more impact on a player’s rating than those earlier in his career, but all his performances are taken into account. A great player who has had a lean run of form will still have a respectable rating. Players who miss a Test match for their country, for whatever reason, lose one per cent of their points. New players start at zero points, and need to establish themselves before they get full ratings. There is a scale for calculating qualifications. For example, a batsman who has played 10 Test innings gets 70 per cent of his rating (i.e. his rating will be between 0 and 700 points). He doesn’t get 100 per cent until he has played 40 Test innings. A bowler who has taken 30 wickets also gets 70 per cent of his full rating. He doesn’t get 100 per cent until he has taken 100 Test wickets. This means that successful new players can enter the top 30 after just a few Tests, but are unlikely to reach the world top five until they have many Test matches under their belts. Source: https://www.icc-cricket.com/about/cricket/icc-rankings/player-rankings If we have a quick look at the changes in the Rankings table from the 4th test in the current Ashes series at the MCG, Alastair Cook's 244 not out increased his ranking 98 points from 661 to 759, David Warner's 103 and 86 increased his ranking points from 801 to 831 and Steve Smith's 76 and 102 not out increased his points from 945 to 947. Why did Smith's ranking only increase 2 points? It is because the system is weighted against new performances being compared to a player's recent previous performances. Because Steve Smith has already score a Century and Double Century in this Ashes Series, it means his excellent results will not increase his rating as much as Alastair Cook's performance which added 244 runs to his series to his 83 previous runs from six innings. If a player cracks the 900 barrier, as a batsman it would generally mean they would have to consistently bat at an average of 70 to 75 runs per innings, which history suggests is unsustainable for a long period of time as few players have a career average above 60 runs per innings. Steve Smith's current ranking of 947 points is the second best of all time behind Don Bradman's peak of 961. Below is a list of Test Batters and Bowlers who have scaled 900 points or above... BATTING ID Rat. Name Nat. Career Best Rating 1 961 D.G. Bradman AUS 961 v India, 10/02/1948 2 947 S.P.D. Smith AUS 947 v England, 30/12/2017 3 945 L. Hutton ENG 945 v West Indies, 03/04/1954 4 942 J.B. Hobbs ENG 942 v Australia, 23/08/1912 4 942 R.T. Ponting AUS 942 v England, 05/12/2006 6 941 P.B.H. May ENG 941 v Australia, 27/08/1956 7 938 C.L. Walcott WI 938 v Australia, 15/06/1955 7 938 I.V.A. Richards WI 938 v England, 31/03/1981 7 938 K.C. Sangakkara SL 938 v England, 05/12/2007 7 938 G.S. Sobers WI 938 v India, 17/01/1967 11 935 A.B. de Villiers SA 935 v Australia, 24/02/2014 11 935 M.L. Hayden AUS 935 v England, 11/11/2002 11 935 J.H. Kallis SA 935 v New Zealand, 22/11/2007 14 933 Mohammad Yousuf PAK 933 v West Indies, 01/12/2006 15 927 E.D. Weekes WI 927 v New Zealand, 07/03/1956 15 927 R.G. Pollock SA 927 v Australia, 23/02/1970 17 922 A.D. Nourse SA 922 v England, 11/06/1951 17 922 K.D. Walters AUS 922 v South Africa, 23/02/1970 19 921 R.N. Harvey AUS 921 v South Africa, 10/02/1953 19 921 M.E.K. Hussey AUS 921 v West Indies, 27/05/2008 21 917 D.C.S. Compton ENG 917 v Australia, 12/07/1948 21 917 J.E. Root ENG 917 v Australia, 10/08/2015 23 916 S.M. Gavaskar IND 916 v England, 03/09/1979 24 915 G.A. Headley WI 915 v England, 25/01/1948 25 914 K.F. Barrington ENG 914 v New Zealand, 12/07/1965 26 911 B.C. Lara WI 911 v South Africa, 06/01/2004 27 909 K.P. Pietersen ENG 909 v West Indies, 01/06/2007 28 907 H.M. Amla SA 907 v Pakistan, 17/10/2013 29 901 S. Chanderpaul WI 901 v New Zealand, 23/12/2008 30 900 M.J. Clarke AUS 900 v Sri Lanka, 30/12/2012 BOWLING ID Rat. Name Nat. Career Best Rating 1 932 S.F. Barnes ENG 932 v South Africa, 18/02/1914 2 931 G.A. Lohmann ENG 931 v South Africa, 06/03/1896 3 922 Imran Khan PAK 922 v India, 03/02/1983 4 920 M. Muralidaran SL 920 v Bangladesh, 15/07/2007 5 914 G.D. McGrath AUS 914 v England, 27/08/2001 6 912 G.A.R. Lock ENG 912 v New Zealand, 28/07/1958 6 912 C.E.L. Ambrose WI 912 v England, 29/03/1994 6 912 V.D. Philander SA 912 v India, 22/12/2013 9 911 I.T. Botham ENG 911 v India, 19/02/1980 10 910 M.D. Marshall WI 910 v England, 04/07/1988 11 909 S.M. Pollock SA 909 v England, 29/11/1999 11 909 Waqar Younis PAK 909 v Zimbabwe, 13/12/1993 11 909 R.J. Hadlee NZ 909 v Australia, 04/12/1985 11 909 D.W. Steyn SA 909 v West Indies, 21/12/2014 15 908 A.K. Davidson AUS 908 v West Indies, 17/01/1961 16 907 D.L. Underwood ENG 907 v New Zealand, 09/03/1971 17 905 S.K. Warne AUS 905 v England, 28/12/1994 18 904 R. Ashwin IND 904 v England, 12/12/2016 19 903 A.V. Bedser ENG 903 v Australia, 13/07/1953 20 901 W.J. O'Reilly AUS 901 v New Zealand, 02/04/1946 20 901 C.V. Grimmett AUS 901 v South Africa, 03/03/1936 22 900 W.A. Johnston AUS 900 v West Indies, 04/01/1952

Greetings Cricket Fans! By now if you've been following India's demolition of all opposition in the last few years at home , you'd be aware that the current Australian Cricket tour of India had pundits and experts alike predicting an Indian 4-0 drubbing! And who could blame them? After all, Australia record against spin and on the sub-Continent in the last few years has been deplorable...they've lost 9 recent test matches, mainly due to a lack of application in batting. India's record, on the other hand, has seen them go 19 consecutive tests at home without losing mainly due to their captain Virat Kohli scoring 'big' multiple times and their twin spinning threat, Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jajeda have cleaned teams up, but...that has been on the back of defending big Indian totals. The last time India lost a Test Match was in 2015 in Sri Lanka. The last time India has lost a Test Series was in 2012. This is all under serious threat now due to the 'Miracle at Pune' a week-and-a-bit ago. What is the Miracle at Pune? Well, in layman's terms it's like what Cassius Clay did to Sonny Liston in 1964 in their World Heavyweight Championship fight. It's what Joe Namath said the NY Jets would do to the Colts in SuperBowl III. It's what Eli Manning did to the Patriots in SuperBowl LXII. It's what the Mets did in 1969 (and perhaps 1986). It's Australia winning the America's Cup in 1983. And if you'd like a non-sporting analogy, well, let's try Alexander the Great spending over 6 months building a causeway off the Syrian Coast to Tyre and wiping out their non-ceding inhabitants, as well a gutting it to the ground in 332 BC. Yes, Australia beat India in the 1st test by 333 runs. A spinner no-one rated name Steve O'Keeffe took 6-35 in both innings and Kohli and Indian Coach, Anil Kumble refused to acknowledge that performance. Now Nathan Lyon has taken best-ever figures of 8-50 to begin the 2nd test. Who said, "pride comes before a fall"? How true. But how has Australia turned around their performance to dominate this series so far? Read on for my opinion... 1) Australia has prepared well By spending a week in Dubai to acclimatise to sub-Continent conditions the Australian Cricket team show serious intent in being competitive this series. 2) India has played too many matches since October 2016 On the other hand, the Indians prepared for this 4-match series against Australia by play a test against Bangladesh. This is the exact opposite intent to the Australians practice in Dubai. Add the 5-test series against England and 3-test series against New Zealand and I think what we have is Indian players suffering burnout. Their administrators thought that the team will just need to show up to beat the Australians. They probably thought that after losing so badly in Pune by 333 runs that the Indian team will turn it around. They still may do so. However, the Indians need to now acknowledge that they aren't playing badly, they're been outdone by a quality well-prepared Australian team willing to admit their past faults on the sub-Continent. 3) Australia is showing adaptability and application They've talked about the importance of patience and defence in batting. They've talked about adapting in their bowling. In fact, whatever the Australian team has talked about doing, they've been specific about. In contrast, the Indians have been talking in non-stop generalisations, hence why they've been making the same mistakes. If you can identify what needs to be done on the field, you're more likely to do it. Sounds simple doesn't it? 4) India can still come back but it will take incredible application to do so Sure, it's happened before. Think 2001 and V.V.S Laxman's 281 (and Rahul Dravid's 180) in the 2nd test, coupled with Harbajhan Singh taking 32 wickets in a 3-test series. Think about it, because this is what India will need to be competitive with the Australians right now. Virat Kohli mentioned after the 1st test at Pune that India beat Sri Lanka 2-1 in 2015 in Sri Lanka after losing the 1st test there. Sure, that happened but look closer...India won the 2nd and 3rd test scoring totals above 300 nearly every innings. Not even Ashwin and Jadeja can help you if your batting can't get past 200. Can Australia win this series? All they need is to win one more test and they will retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Then we may need to talk about comparisons to Buster Douglas and Mike Tyson 1989. But to quote a famous sporting cliché, "let's not count our chickens before they hatch!"