Cricket Australia signs off on more one-day internationals against New Zealand in cluttered schedule
JAMES Sutherland has tried to defend Australia’s schedule but further humiliation could await in the form of another pop-up one-day fiasco against New Zealand. SEE THE SCHEDULE
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JAMES Sutherland has tried to defend Australia’s alphabet soup schedule, but further humiliation could await in the form of another pop-up one-day fiasco against New Zealand.
A lack of first-class preparation has exposed Australia against South Africa, and now Groundhog Day is looming ahead of the upcoming three-Test campaign against Pakistan.
Just when Steve Smith’s confidence-stricken side desperately need continuity, many of them will be forced back into coloured clothing for 50-over matches against the Black Caps in early December, a series many suspect exists primarily to pay a debt for Cricket Australia’s front office.
New Zealand were so reluctant to take part in last year’s inaugural day-night Test they had to be lured by Cricket Australia with a huge financial sum, and it would seem a promise from their big brothers to regularly play them for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
Australia’s obligation to New Zealand doesn’t end next month either — preparation for next February’s all-important Test tour of India also threatens to be derailed by yet another white ball assignment in the land of the long white cloud at a time when key stars may be prevented from playing Shield.
In fact Australia has signed off on a further three one-day series against New Zealand over the coming years.
Sutherland pointed to the ICC’s Future Tours Program as the reason why October’s random ODI series against South Africa took place, but when it comes to the upcoming disruptions against New Zealand, Cricket Australia only have themselves to blame.
Test cricket is Australia’s No.1 priority insists Sutherland, but the facts are a compromised schedule may be playing a part in putting the heads of Darren Lehmann, Rod Marsh and Pat Howard on the chopping block.
“I accept that someone can always run an argument to say we don’t treat it (Test cricket) as the priority it deserves to be,” said Sutherland on ABC.
“At one end of extreme you can say it’s the priority and therefore everything else gets cast aside and all you do is play Test cricket. But the reality is high level we want to have the best teams in the world and we want to win every game whether it’s Test, T20 or one day cricket.
“Test cricket is the most important but it’s not the only thing.”
CA wanted to increase the trans-Tasman rivalry in the wake of the World Cup final at the MCG, but there’s little doubt the pink ball Test was the impetus for such regular one-day series against New Zealand.
Day-Night Test cricket has been a positive development and could save the longer-form from irrelevance, but the problem for Smith, Darren Lehmann, Rod Marsh and Pat Howard is that the pink ball pay-off is coming at a significant cost for their under-siege Australian team.
Sutherland is right that the cluttered ICC schedule is extraordinarily difficult to navigate and to his credit the CA boss is working towards a scenario where there is less international cricket.
However, the problem for Australia is that it always seems to be the Sheffield Shield competition that feels the squeeze.
The Matador Cup window now delays the start of the Shield season, then there is a month-long break for the Big Bash League, which means the second half of the first-class season doesn’t conclude until well after Australia’s Test match commitments are over for another summer.
Condensing the Matador into a two and a half week tournament has been a success, but it’s not played as a lead-in to any one-day international cricket.
Then only one or two Sheffield Shield matches can ever be fitted in before the Test summer gets underway in the same week as the Melbourne Cup.
It seems that the Sheffield Shield is always the first form of cricket to feel the squeeze — and the impact on the Test team is frighteningly obvious.
AUSTRALIA’S CHAOTIC SCHEDULE
TESTS
-3rd Test v South Africa, Nov 24-28
ODIs
-1st ODI v New Zealand, Dec 4
-2nd ODI v New Zealand, Dec 6
-3rd ODI v New Zealand, Dec 9
TESTS
-1st Test v Pakistan, Dec 15-19
-2nd Test v Pakistan, Dec 26-30
-3rd Test v Pakistan, Jan 3-7
ODIs
-1st ODI v Pakistan, Jan 13
-2nd ODI v Pakistan, Jan 15
-3rd ODI v Pakistan, Jan 19
-4th ODI v Pakistan, Jan 22
-5th ODI v Pakistan, Jan 26
ODIs
-1st ODI v New Zealand, Jan 30
-2nd ODI v New Zealand, Feb 2
-3rd ODI v New Zealand, Feb 5
T20s
-1st T20 v Sri Lanka, Feb 17
-2nd T20 v Sri Lanka, Feb 19
-3rd T20 v Sri Lanka, Feb 22
TESTS
-1st Test v India, Feb 23-27
-2nd Test v India, Mar 4-8
-3rd Test v India, Mar 16-20
-4th Test v India, Mar 25-29
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