SA Footy

I am an extemely passionate SA cricket barracker but also
a very frustrated supporter in view of our poor start to the season.
Having been to most games at various stages in the last 30 years, I
must say I am bewildered at Boofs captaincy this season.
In the last few years I have openly said that Boof was one of
the best captains I have seen, well until this year.

A series of blunders have cost SA in my opinion.

NSW 4 DAY GAME SYDNEY

7/399 declared with Phil Jaques in the opposing line up.
Fortunately Tait + Adcock bowled us to victory.That declaration was iffy.

NSW O/D GAME

Boof batted too low.
Fortunately Borgas hit 31 of 7 balls.

NSW 4 DAY GAME IN ADELAIDE

Chasing 133 NSW were 4/1 5/12 and 6/4O
This was a game dominated by the faster bowlers
Clark killed us, Macgill was clobbered.
Gillespie and Tait had ripped NSW apart
Rofe should have brought on 1st change, but Bailey was
Bailey had 5.3 overs 0/47 before a eventual 6 overs 2/52
Lehmanns field settings to Bailey were poor
3 around the bat, 5-6 men on the fence+ no deep mid wicket.
Singles galore , no pressure.
Rofe bowls we win.
WE LOSE

NSW O/D GAME ADELAIDE

We made 260 odd a good score
at about 2/80 and NSW struggling with the run rate Lehmann brings on Cosgrove.
Cosgrove 3 overs about 0/34
Blewett next on to relieve Cosgrove, 2 overs for about 0/25
Then Lehmann brings on Lehmann, 5 overs and 60 runs too late.
Boof takes 2/35 odd.
Throughout the NSW innings too many EASY singles, the commentators on fox sport
made comment many times about this tactical blunder.
The following game we saw White's Victorians defend 200 v TAS. by cutting off easy singles.
WE LOSE

SA V ENG 3 DAY FARCE.

Nice Lehmann declares at 7/247...in a 3 day game fair enough,try and make a contest.
England return the compliment by batting 123 overs for 415 into the 3rd and last day.
We have England on the ropes at 3/34 so Lehamnn bowls Dan Harris before
Cullen or Bailey or himself[well its a bullshit game so who cares]
We bat to 1/164 with promising junior Dan Harris getting to 71 not out AND THEY
CALL THE BLOODY GAME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AT 4-30
What would 100 have done to his kids career .
Sorry Boof I didnt give a rats a..e what happened in this less than 3 day contest, but
you may have impeded Harris's career.
And we robbed the public of an hours cricket in a 3 day game!

MORE ADVICE BOOF

Bat higher, the team needs to win games in the present, bat 4 please.
Stop trying to delegate responsibility to the kids batting above you.
And you dont have to retire next year if your still making runs!

Batsmen fail, bowlers strugle at times, fielders drop catches + captains will make
errors of judgement thats cricket.
Hopefully the poor captaincy is temporary, Boof in the past has been a great skipper.

Fair call on some moves mal,but I think Boof is in a no win situation.

If he plays a bigger role,ie-bat at 4,bowl more.Then we do shite,all of a sudden an old man is hogging the limelight and in the same motion killing off our season.
If he plays a lesser role-as he is now,"experts" call for him to do more?

I think Boof and Flipper are in the process of preparing the Redbacks for the future,a future bereft of Lehmann,Blewett,Elliott and co.,and so they should IMHO,get the kids in,play them,maker them accountable.Sure,it will end in some heart ache,and it has done now for several seasons,but,time to move on.No more Flemings,no more Elliotts,no more Flowers.Go with the kids.

This argument leads into another,the state of our Grade competition in Adelaide.This is where the Redbacks problems lie,and until the Grade cricket once again becomes an elite competition the Redbacks will suffer.

One way the grade comp should go, thats by getting rid of some clubs or by mergeing clubs. Some of them will fight of course.
But this way you get better competition for places in a side. If you look at the Aussie side, they have 6 sides to pick from.
The redbacks have twice that.

This is from the Northern District CC website.

The NDCC can provide that pathway. The club entered the SACA competition in 1997-98 as the result of the amalgamation of the Elizabeth and Salisbury District Cricket Clubs.

What necessitated that amalgamation? - It was brought about because the SACA put forward a plan to reduce the number of clubs in the grade competition by four. The State team had met with limited success and it was envisaged that the reduction of teams would strengthen the grade competition and ultimately provide a stronger S.A. team.


The idea was to eventually relegate the four bottom teams to a lesser competition and therefore have ten instead of fourteen teams in the grade competition. At the time Salisbury was re-building and Elizabeth had not yet become consistently competitive.


Neither club wished to be part of a relegation system and wanted a northern club to compete at the highest level of grade cricket. The clubs entered into a series of discussions and meetings, culminating in the formation of the NDCC. This decision was applauded by the SACA Management. It is interesting to note that no other clubs have followed the same path. Thirteen teams remain in the grade competition.

I didn't know the SACA had a plan about ten years ago to introduce a relegation system so there were only ten teams playing Grade cricket. I'm not sure a relegation system would work as it wouldn't give all areas of Adelaide an equal chance to guide a junior player through the pathway to Test level.

It would be hard to just cut or merge clubs, but maybe this just has to be done. Port, Woodville, Prospect and Uni may be the most vulnerable at the moment, but all have been around for at least 70 years and Port and Uni for 100+ years.

West Torrens and Woodville were very close to merging about ten years ago, but Torrens now have the strongest junior program, since their move to Henley, and are one of the strongest clubs in the competition. Kensington, Sturt, East Torrens, Glenelg and Adelaide are all traditional clubs and Northern District, TTG and Southern District are all based in strong growth areas.

With the introduction of the Cricket Australia Cup 2nd XI comp and so many U/19, U/17 and U/15 SACA talent squads and competitions, how much of a role does the Grade competition really play anyway? Many of the young talented cricketers who the SACA have earmarked for the future are not even playing A Grade and certainly not dominating so the standard can't be that bad.

For those that know about the Adelaide Grade scene, are there many potential guns out there? I'm referring to the 15 - 19 year olds who are the future of the Redbacks. I'm referring to young players who excelled in junior ranks, but haven't made their first class debut yet. From reading the results in the paper, looks like theres a talented young quick bowler by the name of Sayers, who might have a future. I remember reading somewhere about a young batsman playing for Southern Districts as well.

I realise that theres no quick fix, but who knows, if we have some great young talent coming through now, it may mean that the Redbacks will be in good shape in 5 to 7 years time. Then again, if we dont fix the structure of the grade comp........

Aerie wrote:I didn't know the SACA had a plan about ten years ago to introduce a relegation system so there were only ten teams playing Grade cricket. I'm not sure a relegation system would work as it wouldn't give all areas of Adelaide an equal chance to guide a junior player through the pathway to Test level.


With the introduction of the Cricket Australia Cup 2nd XI comp and so many U/19, U/17 and U/15 SACA talent squads and competitions, how much of a role does the Grade competition really play anyway? Many of the young talented cricketers who the SACA have earmarked for the future are not even playing A Grade and certainly not dominating so the standard can't be that bad.

The SACA have been trying to do something about the structure of the Grade competition for many years. The problem is they meet formidible opposition from representatives of certain clubs who are interested in their own agenda rather than the welfare of SA cricket.

Yes, there are a number of special squads in which the better young players can participate, but unless they are playing Pura Cup, they still play most of their cricket in the Grade competition, and that is why it needs an overhaul.

Adelaide Hawk wrote:

Aerie wrote:I didn't know the SACA had a plan about ten years ago to introduce a relegation system so there were only ten teams playing Grade cricket. I'm not sure a relegation system would work as it wouldn't give all areas of Adelaide an equal chance to guide a junior player through the pathway to Test level.


With the introduction of the Cricket Australia Cup 2nd XI comp and so many U/19, U/17 and U/15 SACA talent squads and competitions, how much of a role does the Grade competition really play anyway? Many of the young talented cricketers who the SACA have earmarked for the future are not even playing A Grade and certainly not dominating so the standard can't be that bad.

The SACA have been trying to do something about the structure of the Grade competition for many years. The problem is they meet formidible opposition from representatives of certain clubs who are interested in their own agenda rather than the welfare of SA cricket.

Yes, there are a number of special squads in which the better young players can participate, but unless they are playing Pura Cup, they still play most of their cricket in the Grade competition, and that is why it needs an overhaul.

If this is the case, and based upon very simplistic thinking, could the SACA not create their own NEW League (a Premier type) and accept invitations from clubs and elect 10 teams to commence with ... If that omits a Uni or Port or Kensington or whomever, surely it would still attract the best players if they were to throw enough financial incentive in to initially get it off the ground?

Constance_Perm wrote:If this is the case, and based upon very simplistic thinking, could the SACA not create their own NEW League (a Premier type) and accept invitations from clubs and elect 10 teams to commence with ... If that omits a Uni or Port or Kensington or whomever, surely it would still attract the best players if they were to throw enough financial incentive in to initially get it off the ground?

The major problem is that these people interested in the agendas of their own club also have a very substantial influence over cricket on a wider scale. You can probably guess the club I am referring to, and once you have worked that out you could imagine the stature of those people and the problems they could cause.

all we need to do is to get rid of 1 more team and then have two divs of six playing each other twice. As for which team to get rid of???? how bout the club that does absoultley farg all for junior development. you guys do the maths

Get rid of the bookworms

Max wrote:Get rid of the bookworms

well done Max, take it that you aint one of them

Certainly not. Nothing against Uni - but we need to get rid of the bye in Grade Cricket. A two-teir grade competition with six teams in each division sounds like an option.

What happened to my post on Lehmans captaincy

mal wrote:SA V ENG 3 DAY FARCE.

We bat to 1/164 with promising junior Dan Harris getting to 71 not out AND THEY
CALL THE BLOODY GAME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AT 4-30
What would 100 have done to his kids career .
Sorry Boof I didnt give a rats a..e what happened in this less than 3 day contest, but
you may have impeded Harris's career.
And we robbed the public of an hours cricket in a 3 day game!

I totally agree with these two points. Someone said in another thread that this game was all about England. Sorry, I disagree. It was also a chance for some Redbacks players to get into form. Harris could have made a 100 which would have been a milestone in his career. We call the game off with Harris on 71. Why? Because the Poms have had enough. Who cares what the Poms want??!! It's time 1st class cricketers understood that they are in the entertainment industry, and to walk off with an hour to play is just not on. What would we think if we were at the U2 concert and they decided to walk off the stage an hour early? Not good enough people. I pay my money to watch 6 hours of cricket, not 5.

He has done it again TA V SA one day game today.
Early morning game o/d game wins the toss and BATS.
History shows that sides batting first bat in conditions that assist bowlers for at least
the first 25 overs.

Mr Lehmann last year blasted officialdom for having early morning starts in the o/d game
after being routed by NSW in a final for 150 in bowler friendly conditions.
NSW in easy batting conditions made the runs narrowly

How can you blast the system, then win a toss today and bat first in the morning

Champion batsman.
Fantastic personaility
Much improved bowler
SA 7/123 in this game batting first WAKE UP!
8/185 after 50 overs

And we lose TA 2/186
His latest blunder Borgas 3.3 overs 1/34
Gillespie only got 6 overs for 16 runs I am stunned
TA get a bonus point with 3 balls to spare

I think there are bigger issues than Boof's captaincy, also the games now start later in the day, last season the Ch9 games started at 9-30am, with Fox now covering they are startign at 10-30, around the same time grade cricket starts

i agree dutchy forget about the great boofs captaincy and lets have some players stand up and delivery eg ferguson,manou,blewett,elliott cosgrove on a regular basis etc etc. potential only gets you so far i think s.a will be stuffed for along time.