South Africa

Was Graeme Smith overprepared?

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We assume this was why he was just dismissed for 15 in the first Test against Pakistan.

Last week, in the only warm-up match for this series, Smith made two against Pakistan A. The innings before that was for Surrey in May. You might think he’d have wanted a bit more time in the middle before this Test, but no, he sat out the second innings of that warm-up match.

Questioned about this decision, he went all Matthew Hayden on us:

“Not batting today was just a management process.”

This hasn’t been the only example of recent guff-talking from Smith. Before the tour, he gave advance warning that match practice wasn’t a major concern:

“I’ve upped my cricket skills in the last two weeks or so and it will be about getting mentally ready.”

The good news is that he now has plenty of time to ‘fine-tune his mental skillset’ back in the shed.

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15 comments

    2. After the match, George Bailey said:

      “How embarrassing is that? We couldn’t even get our high fives right. What about just a handshake? Just take it back to ‘well bowled.'”

      We have to say that we rather like Bailey. He’s smart and straightforward like all the best Aussies.

    4. Does anyone think one day international form can justify test selection?

      Jesse Hogan, The Age cricket journo, shared Bailey’s stats so far:

      George Bailey record after 30 ODIs: 1146runs at average of 47.75 (1 100, 9 50s). Only G.Chappell (1213 at 52.74) and @shaunmarsh9 (1149 at 39.62) had more.

    5. We’d say one-day form combined with not being a complete child is probably enough to warrant Bailey being selected in Australia’s Test team.

    6. Being a two times Shield winning captain should count too, especially when you consider Australia’s leadership black hole.

    7. I suspect George will be picked to play Tests as captain. There seems to be quite a bit of media management going on preparing the Australian public for Pup getting dumped, despite his talent with the bat.

  2. It’s pretty simple really, he wasn’t sure about batting, he escalated it to his line manager who in turn referred it to the board. They looked at the risks presented and did a full cost benefit analysis of the situation. Conclusion: It’s only a warm up.

    Afterwards he took the positives from the situation.

  5. management are *always* due a bonus. few people realise how stressful it is having to make bad decisions all the time. you’re only as good as your last balls-up in that line of work

    1. True dat. If you really balls it up, you get a nice pay-off, a glowing reference, and off you go to do it somewhere else.

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