He did have a stellar year but he doesn’t play LOI cricket and Smith made it to number 2 on the all time ICC batting rankings during the period.
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True. Which is annoying because he should be playing in the one day format.
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland has told the Herald Sun that the next season of Big Bash League will extend deeper into February 2019, with double-headers staged from Friday-Sunday and days off during the week, plus a new finals format. The extended fixture will clash against the early rounds of AFLW season.
If Nine or Ten wins the next BBL rights, it will be able to continue to show regular programs from Monday to Thursday, but I doubt either network will be prepared to sacrifice the Sunday timeslot to show more cricket instead of their big shows (Married at First Sight and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here).
Cricket rated better than celebrity anyway…
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If Ten were to show BBL doubleheaders on Sundays next season, it will have to be at 1pm and 4.15pm AEDT so regular programs can be shown at 7.30pm. However, there could be 1-2 matches held at Perth Stadium at 7.30pm AEDT which, due to time difference, will be in the twilight timeslot.
IPL Day Games start at 4PM and Night Games start at 8PM.
I wish the IPL games were on FOXTEL or free to air here.
I know ONE HD showed the IPL here on its first season but hasn’t been seen since.
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I agree. Given Australian players continue to get interest from IPL franchises, surely it’s time an Australian network picks up the rights again?
Australia has posted a world record Twenty20 run chase in tonight’s tri-series match against New Zealand at Eden Park. NZ batted first and scored 6/243 with Martin Guptill hitting 105. One lucky fan won NZ$50,000 when he caught a six in the final over as part of a beer promotion. I thought the Aussie would capitulate but Warner and Short had other ideas. They posted an opening stand of 121 in 8.5 overs before Maxwell and Finch took up the chase.
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Australia just chased down 244 in a T20I, 244!
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@OnAir et al - has there been a serious discussion about the suitability of playing international cricket at Eden Park?
Yep, gets discussed quite a bit. Most people are in agreement it shouldn’t be an international venue (and it wouldn’t be if it was built now - only eligible because it was approved under former rules and has been grandfathered). The problem is where to go. We don’t have enough population to justify grounds that only have one purpose really. There’s ongoing discussions about moving it to a smaller venue (capacity wise) but the current occupants are up in arms. The regional facilities are toothless and fail to make big calls. Western Springs is the venue mooted (currently a speedway venue and club rugby ground)
It’s kind of surprising that there can be a justification to build a ground like the cake tin in Wellington, but not in Auckland where you could possibly share the ground with League and Union in winter and Cricket in Summer
If the ICC are going to crack down on pitches - surely its also time to start to turn the screws on grounds that don’t meet the grade in other areas
Dare I suggest its time to revisit the waterfront proposal 
The Cake Tin’s boundaries aren’t much better and for rectangular sports you tend to be too far away from the action. It’s ok but does have a few problems.
The waterfront stadium was such a good idea. It frustrates me every day it never happened. They wouldn’t have had cricket there though.
It’s sort of back on the agenda though.
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I appreciate Australia’s grounds are on the larger side (thanks to them being shared with Aussie Rules) and sharing with rectangular sports is a compromise - the cake tin comes across a little bit soulless (mind you most modern stadia suffer that fate) and I know from experience thats not the case at Eden Park
Yep. The NZ v RSA semi-final of CWC15 was the best cricket match I’ve ever experienced for atmosphere.
I’ve never seen cricket there - but experiencing a “blackout” for the Bledisloe was one of my best sporting experiences ever
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In NZ, rugby is the biggest and most popular sport by a fair margin, cricket there isn’t as popular as in Australia.
Thus the main stadiums generally cater for rugby and it’s dimensions as the main consideration and everything else is somewhat secondary. Also helps that it works for rugby league and soccer as well.
Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city and yet it doesn’t have its own international cricket venue?
When I first saw cricket from Eden Park on TV in the 1990s I could not believe it was played on a pitch about 45 degrees to the length of the field. I was thinking “how could a cricket field be squeezed into a rugby field like that”? It was ratified when the venue was rebuilt for the 2015 Rugby World Cup with the pitch at right angles, but boundaries up and down the pitch are shorter than before.
Correct. But there’s only now 2 major grounds around the country that share rugby/cricket (used to be 4-5).
Complicating matters is that Eden Park, despite all its issues as a cricket venue, still draws in punters. 35k last Friday approx. A new venue wouldn’t do that and NZ Cricket needs the money.
Australia has won the Twenty20 tri-series final in Auckland. New Zealand batted first and scored 9/150. With a small ground like that it was a below-par score. Australia’s run chase was interrupted twice by rain, the second one came when the Aussies were 30 runs from victory with seven wickets in hand and five overs to go. In the end the umpires ruled the outfield was too wet to resume before the cut-off time, so they won by 19 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis system. The win means though Australia has claimed the No.1 world ranking in T20. What a turnaround after they were ranked eighth 3 months ago!