“Clark had influence on my sacking,” says Simon Katich

Peter Lalor, in the Weekend Australian, 29-30October 20111, with different title

SIMON Katich has hit out at Michael Clarke, claiming the Australia captain was responsible for him losing his contract, and said he believed he would never play for Australia while the new skipper was a selector. The prolific opener traced his downfall to a dressing room clash with his teammate in 2009. Katich, axed from the national team in June despite being one of its best performed batsman, also slammed Cricket Australia. Katich scored 110 for NSW at the SCG yesterday and returned to the dressing room to hear that the new chairman of selectors, John Inverarity, had said the door was not closed on his Test future. “It’s pleasing to hear, but you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that it is not just the selectors that had a part in sending me on my way, so that is one of those things,” Katich said. Asked what he meant, he referred to an incident in the same dressing rooms after a Test against South Africa when he grabbed Clarke by the throat in a late-night incident.

Headhunting for Aussie cricket coach begins…. Rixon, Moody, Arthur in the line-up

Peter Lalor, in the Australian, 19 October 2011

CRICKET Australia’s new general manager has hit the ground running and will begin interviews to find a new chairman of selectors this week.  Pat Howard, a former rugby union high-performance manager, was appointed last Friday and is being guided by Mark Taylor in the search for somebody to take on the new job. Howard’s hiring has allowed Cricket Australia to fast-track the recruitment of a new head coach and a new selection panel, including a full-time chairman, in line with changes recommended by the Argus review. The organisation announced yesterday it had appointed corporate headhunters to scour the world for potential candidates for the new role of head coach.

Lessons learnt from the Australian and English cricket series for Sri Lanka

Ravi Ladduwahetty,  in the Island, 14 October 2011

The Sri Lankan cricket team will be very disappointed that it lost the Test and the One Day International Series to Michael Clarke’s Australians. If one were to critically analyse it,Sri Lankawill also be disappointed that the batsmen did not have any solutions to the disciplined bowling attack of the Australians, especially the seamers. Special mention should be made of Ryan Harris and it was he who kept it very simple. He kept the deliveries outside the off stump, got the Sri Lankans to play those swung that away from both the right and left handers.

The Galle wicket for the first Test was prepared to suit spinners. Australian skipper Michael Clarke, walked up to the media box and said that he wished he could bat on that track. What he said by innuendo was that the wicket was very dry and that the side that batted last was going to have a torrid time. In all due fairness to Clarke, it was a pitch that was difficult to bat on. That held true withAustralia, still one of the best batting line-ups, was against what was a very mediocre Sri Lankan bowling attack. But the rider is thatSri Lankadid not have Muttiah Muralitheran and Chaminda Vaas who have retired and Lasith Malinga, who does not want to play Test cricket. So,Sri Lankadid not have the depth in bowling and was struggling on a dry track.

Wallaby Rugger Man to scrum down for Australian cricket

Peter Lalor, in The Australian 14 Oct. 2011, with title “”Cricket Australia picks a Wallaby, Pat Howard, to lead the way”

THE man appointed to lead Australian cricket out of the ash-strewn wilderness has played 20 Tests, but they did not involve stumps, red balls or lunch breaks. Pat Howard, 37, a former rugby international, was yesterday appointed to the new position of Cricket Australia’s general manager team performance. He played 20 Tests for the Wallabies during the 1990s and was recently the high-performance manager for the Australian Rugby Union, but admits his cricket playing experience is rather limited.

From Tearaway Pace to Refined Medium Variety, that’s Watson

Peter Lalor, in The Australian, 5 September 2011

Pic from AP

AFTER proving himself Australia’s most damaging reverse-swing bowler in Galle, opening batsman Shane Watson took a moment to confess he had a wasted youth. He admitted he made mistakes. That he lived fast and damaged his health. Like many a young man before him, it was only when the damage he had done began to take hold that he realised he had to slow down or perish.

Of course, we’re not talking drink, drugs and fast women here. We are talking fast bowling.

Tom Moody’s tough talk leads Shaun Marsh to the Baggy Green

Peter Lalor, in The Australian, 6 September 2011

Pic from ZeeNews

SHAUN Marsh is set to make his Test debut in Kandy this week, but he has had the baggy green withheld and withdrawn too often to get ahead of himself.  The West Australian’s father, Geoff, was a veteran of 50 Tests and although Shaun grew up around cricketers and was exposed to all elements of the game, there was one thing that was off limits – his dad’s baggy green. “He kept it away from us kids,” Shaun said. “We didn’t see it too many times. It was hidden.”

Geoff wanted his children to understand the value of the cap, to know it was no play thing, nothing that was handed down from father to son. It was a sacred object and one you had to earn.

Aussie Country Boys strike Pay Dirt at Galle

Peter Lalor, in The Weekend Australian, 3-4 September 2011

Pic from AFP

 NATHAN Lyon had a dream. Country boys don’t dream too big, but he had ambitions. The agricultural worker’s son from rural NSW wanted one day to make it right to the top of the pile and be the head curator at the Adelaide Oval.  As a teenager he packed up his bags and moved from Young, a cherry-growing district with a population of a little over 7000, and moved to the big smoke. Once in Canberra he gained an apprenticeship as a groundsman, working for four years watching the grass grow at Manuka.

Things really started to happen for him when he landed a job with the ground staff at his field of dreams: the Adelaide Oval. To this point Banjo Patterson had done a rough draft of the hungry-looking part-time cricketer’s script, from here on in the bloke that penned Shane Warne’s improbable script took over and hammed up the story line.