What I learned this Summer

As part of a series on The Sledge, several online columnists were invited to submit what this past cricket season has taught them.  Featured contributors included cricket blogosphere stalwarts Ant Sims of Wicket Maiden, Dave Siddall of World Cricket Watch and Subash Jayaraman of The Sight Screen.  The following was Balanced Sports' contribution.

What I learned this summer:

Andrew Hilditch was really, really bad.

Let's not split hairs, I already knew this – so did everyone except Mitchell Johnson. But John Inverarity's relatively steady start at the helm of the Australian selection panel threw Hilditch's stint as Chairman of Selectors into sharp relief.

The guy wasn't bad, but comically inept.

Australian cricket has for years been regarded as a bastion against petty griping. Like any good marriage, the players and establishment held onto their grievances, only to let them pour out in flare-ups – like, say, World Series Cricket or the A-Team's Rebel Tour of South Africa. However, once there's been some resolution and a few years in which the establishment re-entrenches themselves into “best practice”, then suddenly Australia's competitive again.

With the ascent of journeymen like Ed Cowan and Dan Christian to the forefront of the national setup, Australia appears to be once more rewarding effort rather than physical gifts. This suggests the trough into which Australian cricket sunk wasn't so much the effects Warne, Langer and McGrath retiring, but of Hilditch's inconsistent selection methodology.

In his five years as head honcho, Hilditch debuted twenty-nine players, a neat half of which didn't play more than six Tests. It seems the only people he held to account were the newbies. Hilditch looked at players much like the fifteen year old who lusts at every girl who walks by. His tendencies varied from the youthful (Steven Smith) to the old bags (Bryce McGain).

Hilditch is gone, banished to the vagaries of law practice. Which is good, because we can still feel good about despising him.

The World realised they should have been giving Tendulkar runs a long time ago

Australia's bowling lineup isn't a patch on the attacks Sachin Tendulkar has flayed around the world for a generation. Siddle's pretty good, Harris is an injury looking for a body part, James Pattinson seems to have a bit about him, Hilfenhaus is good if your TV isn't Hi-Def while Nathan Hauritz Lyon failed to trouble any recognised batsmen for the entire Border-Gavaskar series. You could call the ugly stepsisters – in Siddle's case you'd be spot on, as the man has a head like a kicked-in biscuit tin.

But no matter how disheveled the Aussie attack, it's a novelty to write that Tendulkar failed with the bat. More poignantly, he couldn't complete that troublesome hundredth International hundred that's becoming an Obelix-sized bugbear for him and increasingly-frantic Indian media outlets.

Which is confusing, because he's broken nearly all the batting records there are. Records shouldn't trouble him, and especially this one, because it just doesn't mean much (it's a compilation of ODI and Test figures). However, it is a very pretty thing to have on one's resume.

Like an average Joe trying to impress a model, Sachin's got performance anxiety – something none of us would have attributed to such an accomplished player. The cricket world has now realised that bowling to Tendulkar is a lot easier when he's got 99 tons under his belt and they wish he'd just gotten there sooner.

Virat Kohli will be welcomed by Australian fans for the next decade

Aussie fans have always had someone from opposing teams to hate. We don't mind arrogance and cockiness from our own lot (unless it's Dean Jones), but when stuff is thrown at our boys, we get all Simon Katich pissy.

The ultimate example of this is Douglas Jardine. The last two decades have been rife with people who rubbed Aussie cricketers, and the populace at large, the wrong way. For the most part, these guys have been good players, which has only reinforced the average Skippy's frustration at them.

It reads almost biblically.

In the beginning, there was Douglas Jardine. Jardine begat Trevor Bailey, who batted with slowness of a one-legged (and dead) mule. Bailey begat Tony Greig, who in turn begat Richard Hadlee. Hadlee had a son, whose name was Pat Symcox, who in turn brought Sourav Ganguly into being. Ganguly bred his own nation of irritants, but none were more irritating than the spinner, Harbhajan Singh.

This was the first Border-Gavaskar series since 1999 in which Harbhajan Singh didn't play – and for the most part (and perhaps because they lost so badly), the team apparently didn't have anyone for us to actively root against: there was Tendulkar's timelessness, Dravid's stoic nature, Yadav's constant four-balls …

Except Virat Kohli. While succeeding leading the Indian batting averages, he p****d off every Australian he saw with an attitude as calming as the new tabasco-flavoured Red Bull.

And this will see him welcomed on these shores for the rest of his career – probably with the typical Aussie mix of grudging admiration and febrile swearing.

And on the eighth day, Harbhajan had a son, whose name was Virat Kohli.

My Favourite Cricketer: Douglas Jardine by David Green

Throughout this summer of cricket and beyond, Balanced Sports and World Cricket Watch are inviting cricket writers from around the globe to wax lyrical on who they consider their “favourite cricketer”. Today is the turn of David Green of The Reverse Sweep who picks arguably England’s greatest - and definitely most combative - captain.

Despite strong competition from the likes of Jack Hobbs, David Gower, Viv Richards and Hedley Verity, my all-time cricketing hero has to be Douglas Robert Jardine, England’s greatest ever captain and winner of the most controversial test series of them all – the Bodyline rubber of 1932-33.

Despite being born in the 1970’s and having never seen him play, the image of DRJ, resplendent in his Harlequin cap was one that I was drawn to from an early age. And when I read about how he tamed the great Bradman and regained the Ashes in the face of a barrage of unfair criticism, I was hooked for life.

Here is why Jardine is one of our heroes:

England’s greatest captain

“If ever there was a cricket match between England and the rest of the world, and the fate of England depended upon the result, I would pick Jardine as England captain every time” Pelham Warner

First and foremost, Jardine was a brilliant captain. Ruthless and uncompromising, yes; but he was also a brilliant strategist and leader of men. DRJ knew that to regain the Ashes in 1932-33, he needed a plan to nullify Bradman. Leg theory had been tried with varying success for some time, but DRJ perfected it and believed that the extreme pace of Notts pair Harold Larwood and Bill Voce and the bouncy Australian wickets would be a potent mixture and the basis for victory.

And it worked with devastating effect. Even though Bradman still averaged a tick over 50, England dominated the series and easily won 4-1. A combination of the fallout from the ‘Bodyline’ series and Jardine’s status as an amateur meant that he only captained England 15 times (won 9, lost 1, drew 5), but he should be revered as England’s finest captain and certainly its first with a fully professional attitude.

Despite the Australians harping at the time about the unfairness of it all, I expect that most of them secretly respect the ruthlessness and win at all costs attitude of DRJ. Those attributes certainly shone through in some of their finest skippers: Ian Chappell, Richie Benaud and Steve Waugh.

And how was Jardine respected by his men? Perhaps the best epitaph came from the Yorkshire and England bowler W.E.Bowes

“To me and every member of the 1932-33 MCC side in Australia, Douglas Jardine was the greatest captain England ever had. A great fighter, a grand friend and an unforgiving enemy”

A man of Empire and a bygone age

Just like British giants such as Churchill and Wellington, Jardine always struck me as a true hero of the Empire – an era when people were proud to be British, even if at times they could maybe be a little over arrogant to the Dominions. As a firm believer in the British Empire, as a Wykehamist and Oxford Blue, plus his haughty demeanour and Harlequin cap, Jardine was always going to get up the noses of Australians.

He made two trips there for the MCC (as a batsman in 1928-29, he played a crucial role in the 4-1 success of APF Chapman’s team), and he certainly played his part as the pantomime villain.

There are many quotes attributed to him about his dislike of all things Australian, but my favourite two have to be the rather splendid “All Australians are an unruly and uneducated mob”, and also after being told that “They don’t seem to like you very much over here Mr Jardine”, DRJ responded bluntly “The feeling is fucking mutual”.

As a ten year old boy, I found that very funny. And indeed, as a thirty-something year old man, I still find it amusing. I should at this point make it clear that I have spent some of my happiest times in Australia and have many antipodean friends!

“Leave our flies alone, Jardine! They’re the only flamin’ friends you’ve got here!” Australian spectator

I tend to think that Jardine exaggerated his supposed dislike of Australians and accepted the role of villain of the peace in order to take the pressure off his side. If that was the case, it worked handsomely.

Stubbornness and sticking to his guns

In his book about the series “In Quest of the Ashes”, DRJ showed no remorse and no regret. And I love that. In this day and age, people are always apologising for things that they are not really sorry for (that means you, Michael Clarke). Is it not better to stand up for what you believe and stick by it? DRJ felt he had done nothing wrong, not broken any rules and had done exactly what he had been asked to do by the MCC – namely bring back the Ashes. Why should he apologise?

Thankfully, his legacy and stature seems to grow as time goes by especially as winning the Ashes in Australia is not something England have done with regularity before or since Jardine’s triumph. Unfortunately, the man himself died in 1958 without the knighthood and reverence his exploits deserved.

And he was a fine player to boot…

“He was a great batsman – how great I do not think we quite appreciated at the time” Sir Jack Hobbs

It tends to get overlooked how great a batsman Jardine was. Although he only scored one test century, he averaged a healthy 48 from his 22 tests. Again his amateur status and the fact that unlike some of his contemporaries he couldn’t afford not to work; meant that he didn’t play as many tests as his talent justified.

His one test century truly really showed the mettle of the man. It rather ironically came against a West Indian side bowling bodyline against him. This reinforced Jardine’s belief that a strong and resolute batsman could play and prosper against this type of bowling.

A final dig at his nemesis Bradman, perhaps?