Tabla de contenidos para 2017-18 en Universal’s Summer Cricket Guide

CAPTAIN STEVE SMITH Smith is locked with England’s Joe Root as the finest batsman in the game, his everimproving career average of 60-plus having been matched by only a few post-Bradman. Australia’s full-time captain since 2015- 16, Smith averages 67 at No.3 but prefers to bat at four. Bowls his leg-spinners only sparingly now, despite having playing his maiden Tests as a frontline wrist spinner batting with the tail. Hasn’t missed a Test in five years since being recalled at Mohali in March 2013 amidst the ‘homework’ scandal which saw four top-liners crazily suspended for a match and coach Mickey Arthur unceremoniously sacked. Topped the Australian Test run charts in the 2016 Test calendar year with 1079 runs at 71 and was heading for another 1000-run aggregate in 2017 approaching…

FOUR OR MORE TOURS DOWN UNDER 6 Johnny Briggs: 1884-85, 1886-87, 1887-88, 1891-92, 1894-95, 1897-98 Colin Cowdrey: 1954-55, 1958-59, 1962-63, 1965-66, 1970-71, 1974-75 5 Billy Bates: 1881-82, 1882-83, 1884-85, 1886-87, 1887-88 George Ulyett: 1876-77, 1878-79, 1881-82, 1884-85, 1887-88 Bob Willis: 1970-71, 1974-75, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1982-83 Bob Taylor: 1970-71, 1974-75, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1982-83 David Gower: 1978-79, 1979-80, 1982-83, 1986-87, 1990-91 4 Arthur Shrewsbury: 1881-88, Bobby Peel: 1884-95, ‘Drewy’ Stoddart 1887-98, Wilfred Rhodes 1903-21, Wally Hammond 1928-47, Godfrey Evans 1946-59, Brian Statham 1950-63, Geoff Boycott 1965-80, Ian Botham 1978-87, Graham Gooch 1978-95, Alec Stewart 1990-2003, Alastair Cook 2006-18, Jimmy Anderson 2006-18 Editor’s note: Not counted in this listing are three tours preceding the first Test match: in 1861-62, 1863-64 and 1873-74. Also excluded are three MCC ‘non-Test’ tours in 1922-23, 1929-30 and…

UNFINISHED BUSINESS FOR BLUES It’s a case of ‘unfinished business’ for New South Wales and Trent Johnston, entering his third year as the team’s head coach. ‘We have played some great cricket but failed to sustain it for long enough in some important matches,’ Johnston said. ‘NSW has always been a high performance state with a strong emphasis on developing players. That will continue with the young ones having more opportunities to progress and excel.’ While the Blues have not contested a Shield final for four seasons, last summer it missed a place by just six runs, having been denied a spot 12 months earlier in an epic finish against old rivals Victoria in Alice Springs. Cricket NSW’s general manager David Moore praised Johnston for his work ethic, passion, commitment…

ISLANDERS ON THE RISE The wintertime appointments of a new coach and a new high performance manager were seen as pivotal in the island state’s immediate hopes of a renaissance. First-year head coach Adam Griffith has a top-notch administrative off-sider in rowing legend Drew Ginn, who has a key managerial and leadership role akin to Pat Howard’s job at Cricket Australia. The Tigers finished a long last in 2016-17, winning only one match all summer, coach Dan Marsh a late-summer victim. There is also a new CEO at Cricket Tasmania in another mainlander, Nick Cummins from Sydney, who wants every sports-mad Tasmanian boy and girl to consider cricket as their game of choice. ‘Other sports are trying to choke us,’ he says. ‘The AFLW are proposing to start their (second)…

UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS Andrew Ramsay & Cricket Australia (Harper Collins, hardback, $45) The Ashes downunder, 1877-2017, the highly illustrated history of the 175 Test matches played between Australia and England since the inaugural match in 1877. It includes: • Memorable moments: results, characters and controversies • The best: snapshots of the 10 leading runs scorers and 10 leading wicket-takers in Ashes Tests in Australia • The traditions, the venues & much, much more. THE POCKET HISTORY OF THE ASHES Barry Nicholls, (New Holland, softback, $25) Fun and informative and at an easy to handle size and price; all you need to know about cricket's classic contest. GREAT AUSTRALIAN TEST CRICKET STORIES Ashley Mallett (ABC, softback, $30) A collection of insider yarns, from ex-Australian off-spinner and author Ashley ‘Rowdy’ Mallett.…

As redheads go, English visitors Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow are two of the reddest. And as cricketers go, two of the finest. They are so good they would walk into any bestever world Redheaded XI — not that it is an extensive group mind you… The Redhead XI is very exclusive. There are few redheads to be seen in the West Indies and in all the countries from the sub-continent, including newcomers Afghanistan, among billions. But Test newcomer Ireland is sure to give the red contingent a boost in the near future. Red hair in Ireland is as common as shrimps on the barbie. And the team’s new bowling coach is a redhead in ex-Melburnian Rob Cassell. Naming an all-time best ‘Redheaded XI’ is tough, especially with colour photography…

There was a day early in Usman Khawaja’s career in which Australia’s most sublimely artistic batsman might have met an untimely end. As Khawaja sat in the cockpit piloting a small Piper Warrior through shuddering turbulence somewhere above the Great Dividing Range, the plane’s throttle broke clear of its socket and couldn’t be screwed back in. Calculated and improvisational, Khawaja reached for a small prong where the lever once sat and, in time, calmly landed the plane. Crisis averted. Trouble negotiated. Such is the unflappability of Australia’s No.3. Khawaja, the death-defying pilot, is now more commonly known now as Khawaja, the life-affirming left-handed batsman. For sheer virtuosity he rivals Lara, Gower and Sangakkara at their most supple and effervescent. With a circular swish of the arms and an insouciant shake…

These weren’t easy runs or token wickets with a game and series already decided. These men dominated when the battle was its most intense. They were so brilliant and decisive; their signature moment effectively determined the destiny of the Ashes that year. Venue by venue, here are five of the definitive, most legendary Ashes performances of all: BRISBANE FIRST TEST 1974-75: Jeff Thomson (A) 3-59 & 6-46 Little-known Jeff Thomson, aka ‘Terror Thommo’ demolished and demoralised Mike Denness’ Englishmen to launch Ian Chappell’s side to a stunning 4-1 series win. In just his second ever Test, Thomson’s sling shot lightning pace was scary from the boundary, let alone from 22 yards. England had been lulled into a false sense of security by stories on the previous tour of a fast…

CHUCK STEPS DOWN AND UP New Queensland coach Wade ‘Chuck’ Seccombe, one of the Bull’s most celebrated and decorated domestic players, is a most worthwhile successor for Phil Jaques this summer. He was the wicketkeeper in the historic Queensland team which won the State’s first Sheffield Shield title in 1994-95. He was also a member of four other title-winning Shield teams from 1996-2002. Until veteran Chris Hartley passed him last season, Seccombe had been the long-time holder of the record for most wicketkeeping dismissals in Queensland history with 519 first class dismissals. A former Queensland Youth coach, he was an assistant coach for the Bulls and Brisbane Heat under Darren Lehmann in 2011-12 and toured to Bangladesh as Australian fielding coach in the same year. Seccombe was appointed to the…

C AN VICS BE THE BEST IN 50 YEARS? The return of internationals Matthew Wade to Tasmania, Marcus Stoinis to WA and the retirement of Rob Quiney has provided fresh opportunities for young Bushranger squad members to break into a powerful unit intent on making a fourth consecutive Sheffield Shield final. If the Vics go all the way and win the title, they will cement their standing as the most successful domestic team of the last 50 years. Sam Harper, 20, starts as the No.1 wicketkeeper having missed the second half of the first-class season in 2016-17 with injury. Brad Gotch is his deputy. Aaron Ayre was not offered a contract. Ian Holland was also delisted. Among the full contracts for 2017-18 is teenager Will Pucovski, who also joined in…

Priorities for Ian Chappell came in a firm order: 1. Australia, 2. South Australia; 3. Glenelg. After the final Test of 1975, Chappell fulfilled a promise to his wife and voluntarily stepped down from the Australian captaincy before ‘the bastards’ — as he termed the administrators — could get him. It ended a stormy, deliciously-successful period for Australian cricket in which the Ashes were regained and retained and the two-man blitzkrieg of Lillee and Thomson became national heroes. Chappell had lost just five of his 30 Tests as captain. Not once did he forfeit a series. He was bold, brazen and totally committed. According to the very expert Ray Robinson, who chronicled all of Australia’s captains in a best-selling book On Top Down Under, Chappell placed more pressure on opposing…

Few can reminisce like cricketers, especially old bushies. The stats and the years may become cloudy, but the names and faces rarely fade. Those fortunate enough to have played in the era of country XI ‘internationals’ talk fondly of their greatest moments in the game opposing the world’s best. Itineraries were so much more relaxed then and allowed a series of ‘friendlies’ in-between the Tests. An ‘Australian’ tour lasted for four and even five months, with headlining matches both in the city and the leading provincial towns. On one very grey mid-week morning in Hamilton in 1965-66, Dimboola express Rex McKenzie was so fiery and threatening that the English vowed to stop play. Ken Barrington walked in with a message from his captain Mike Smith. If the match was to…

CAPTAIN JOE ROOT Born: December 30, 1990, Sheffield. Represents Yorkshire, 183cm (6ft.). Right-hand high-order batsman. Firstclass debut: 2010. Test, ODI & Twenty20 debut: 2012-13. Overall Test record: 57 games, 5055 runs at 55.84, best 254 v Pakistan, Manchester 2016, 12 100s, strike-rate 55; 15 wickets at 48.93, best 2-9 v Australia, Lord’s 2013, strikerate 96. Test record v Australia: debut 2013, 14 games, 991 runs at 41, best 180 (Lord’s 2013), 3 100s; 7 wickets at 38.14, best 2-9 (Lord’s 2013). Overall ODI record: 93 games, 3802 runs at 49.37, best 133* v Bangladesh, The Oval, 2017, 10 100s, strike-rate 86; 18 wickets at 56.05, best 3-52 v Ireland, Lord’s, 2017. ODI record v Australia:debut 2013, 13 games, 227 runs at 17.46, best 69, Hobart 2014-15; 5 wickets at 33.60,…

REDBACK PACEMEN A KEY Coach Jamie Siddons believes fast bowling depth and the continuing emergence of wrist spinner Adam Zampa is a key to South Australia again playing off for silverware at Sheffield Shield level this summer. He rates fast bowler Chadd Sayers highly and was disappointed he wasn’t rewarded with a tour to Bangladesh after his magnificent 2016-17 domestic season during which he captured 62 wickets in 11 games. SA has made the last two Shield finals without taking the ultimate prize. What Sayers may lack in height, he makes up for in stamina. On the opening day of last summer’s Shield final in Alice Springs he took a season-best seven for 84 in 40 degree heat. It was estimated he ran more than 23 km for the day,…

STOINIS’ RETURN BOOSTS WA The continuing advancement of a fit-again Jason Behrendorff and the return of Marcus Stoinis had WA pundits predicting a Shield play-off place after a near miss in 2016-17. Swing bowler Behrendorff has claims to playing a Test or two for the Australians this extended summer — especially with one of the feature pacemen James Pattinson again breaking down in winter. Stoinis, 28, is another in contention for on-going international honours. He built a fine Victorian record, averaging 500 runs a year from No.3 at an average approaching 40. He also did well at ODI level and returns to Perth as a tried-and-true frontliner. He’d previously played just three games, his first as a teenager, in four seasons with WA. The selection of Zimbabwe-born Hilton Cartwright for…

The deadly pairing of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson left scars on England’s batting that would take years to heal. The English visitors had no answer to ‘The Terror Twins’, a point underlined by the MCC’s captain, Mike Denness. ‘As our plane left Australia for New Zealand,’ he said, ‘some of the lads said they were glad to get out alive, even if some of them didn’t exactly get out all in one piece. That was difficult for me to take. They had spent three months fearing for their livelihoods and wondering if they were going to get hit on the head. ‘We had no helmets and little protection. I should have picked up on it earlier.’ None escaped the physical and mental torment. Survival at the crease meant more…