By Megan Hustwaite Hustwaite, an award-winning print journalist, has taken out eight national and state industry prizes for newspaper pieces on cricket, AFL, basketball and baseball. A swag of Cricket Victoria media awards have also recognised her enviable list of sports contacts, knowledge of the game and intuition in seeking out the best news yarns for her readers. About Megan Hustwaite
A visit to picturesque New Zealand, a trip to the balmy Caribbean, a tour of the historic grounds in Has this description given you the travel bug? Sound like a leisurely around-the-world trip? No, this is just some of Australia’s frenetic schedule since last playing on home soil on February 23 this year.
So after 149 days, 12 One Day Internationals, 13 T20s and six Test matches the Aussies are back home preparing for another sensational summer of cricket.
Of course the Vodafone Ashes series is the highly-anticipated centrepiece of the season, but there’s been a dose of cricket before the battle with the Poms begins on November 25.
Preparation is the key to success and while form wise the Indian tour might not have been the ideal lead-up to the Ashes, Australia had a series against Sri Lanka as the perfect fine tune.
But it didn’t get off to the ideal start: a seven-wicket T20 loss and Australia’s first defeat, in the shortest format, at home. Then a 2-1 series defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka for the first time in Australia.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Mike Hussey, under building pressure to keep his spot in the side, made a fighting 71 in game one, Xavier Doherty spun his way into the spotlight with a four-wicket haul on debut in game two, paceman Clint McKay strengthened his claims for an Ashes call-up with five wickets in the win and Mitchell Starc showed glimpses of potential in the same game.
Despite the result, the series also provided a platform for coach Tim Neilson to get valuable overs and time at the crease into players, ease others back from injury and experiment with selection ahead of the series which matters most.
But before we look forward, we must look back.
Cricket is a numbers game and here are some of the figures that matter so far in 2010.
Vice captain Michael Clarke has racked up the most frequent flyer points, playing 42 games, across all forms, this year.
With 800 - the skipper, Ricky Ponting, has made the most runs Test runs. Cameron White, 848, is the leading One Day International scorer and Dave Warner has hit 373 T20 runs in 2010.
With the ball, Doug Bollinger and Mitchell Johnson are level on 29 Test wickets, Ryan Harris boasts 40 ODI wickets and Dirk Nannes has the best T20 record with 27.
Clarke, Simon Katich, Marcus North, two, have made the most hundreds, while Johnson boats the best bowling figures of the year with 10 wickets against NZ on March 27.
Starc, Doherty, Peter George, John Hastings, and Josh Hazelwood are among players to make their Australian debut this year.
Meantime, Australia’s most recent preparation for its home series hasn’t been desirable.
Following the series in India, Australia is on a three-Test losing streak for the first time in 22 years. It’s only the sixth time in history Australia has failed to notch a victory on tour, with a drawn practice game, two lost Tests, one lost ODI and the other two 50-over games washed out.
But there’s another game to watch before The Ashes launches and it’s the annual Johnnie Walker All*Star T20 match will be contested at the GABBA on November 21.
Victorian star batsman Brad Hodge will lead the All*Star team which features big hitters in Dave Warner, Shaun Marsh and West Indian Kieron Pollard, all-rounder James Hopes and wicketkeeper Tim Paine.
After their extensive international travels, a minor T20 hiccup and a frustrating series loss to Sri Lanka, Test wins in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne then Sydney will make for a very pleasant trek for the Australians in their own backyard. The best trip possible.
