http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/...8-27561,00.html
Boof's dream torn apart
By Malcolm Conn
February 10, 2005

DARREN Lehmann has been dumped from Australia's one-day side to tour New Zealand, almost certainly bringing an end to his international career.

A new-look 14-man squad was announced today for the five-match series, with the intriguing inclusion of West Australian batsman Mike Hussey and Queensland all rounder James Hopes.

The immediate future of Matthew Hayden is clear, with the four-man selection panel of chairman Trevor Hohns, Allan Border, David Boon and Andrew Hilditch including the big Queenslander in the squad.

Lehmann, 35 last Saturday, has paid dearly for a poor finish to the recent one-day series, when he played sloppy cricket to register three single-figures scores including a first-ball duck reverse-sweeping.



http://www.news.com.au/story/0,1011...781-421,00.html
ABC makes secret bid for Ashes coverage
By Steve Lewis and Geoff Elliott

ABC TV has made a secret bid to show this year's Ashes series on free-to-air televsion / file CRICKET fans may still be able to watch Australia compete against England for the Ashes on free-to-air television, with the ABC in secret negotiations to snare the rights for the much-loved event.

The national broadcaster is close to presenting a plan to the Howard Government that could see full television coverage of what is tipped to be the most competitive Ashes contest in years. ABC managing director Russell Balding will tomorrow discuss the cricketing issue when he meets federal Communications Minister Helen Coonan in Sydney.

The Australian has learned the ABC's head of television, Sandra Levy, has been in secret talks with the English Cricket Board over the free-to-air rights.

Typical, what a joke that Jmaes Hopes is in the squad. He is a blonk!!
I am so sick of Victorians who are better players being overlooked.
If they wanted an allrounder give me Cam White over Hopes anyday.
We already have 1 allrounder who cant play in the squad ie- Watson, now we have two.
Cam White is going to be a star oneday player for Australia in the future.
And what about Brad Hodge, how he doesnt get a go ill never know. Actually, yes I do, he's from Victoria. I guarantee if he was from one of the nortern states he would have played a dozen tests already and around 50 onedayers.
Hohns and his cronies should have a good hard look at themselves!!

What is a 'blonk' ?

Anyway, yes I agree with you somewhat. I think Hopes can do well, but I also think White and Hodge could have been in there somewhere. They seem to want to replace type with type.... Hopes for Watson (2 right arm medium pace all rounders) and Hussey for Lehmann (2 left hand batsmen).

Blonk is a dud!! Trust me SPORTZ, he's not up to it yet. I watched him in the Aus A games and wasn't particulary impressed. Cam White could be anything

That's just a couple of games. Anything can happen there. Hopes has been consistently good for Qld all season. Agree with you on White though. Especially for One-day Cricket. Don't know about the longer version.

No, I agree. White may not be cut out for the long version.Doesn't turn it that much.
The whole point with Hopes is why has he suddenly jumped the queue?
He's had one ok year at ING level. There should be selectors at every state game, but they're not!!
Katich is playing for Australia and I reckon he's actually doing ok, but that doesnt mean Hodge wouldn't do well also. Katich got into the Australian team last year and yet he hadnt made a ton at PURA cup level for two years.
How many runs has Hodge made in that time. Hodge made 280 against the Indians when they toured Australia last year.
It really annoys me that a bloke like him has paid his dues and at 30 can't get a look in.

Well, I reckon Katich was hard done by when Lehmann was picked in front of him for Brisbane. He'd already been dropped once after scoring a century and then he was dropped again after scoring 99!!!

Playing for Australia is often a matter of luck. I can understand Victorians being upset at people like Hodge, White and Elliott missing out but when it comes to Australia, we've got too many good players for the number of positions available and they don't tend to change a winning team.

Regarding Hopes, I remember watching a game on TV last season and Ian Healy was putting him forward then as a possible future Australian player. I know Healy's a Qlder so he's a bit biased, but I reckon he's not a bad judge. Anyway, ever since, I've been watching to see how Hopes has gone and he's been steadily improving.

One thing I'd like to know is how come Cricket reporter Robert Craddock always knows who's going to be in the team before it's announced? He tipped that Hopes would be in there today.

is Harvey in the team ? ...i rekon his end of innings bowling is what the Aussies lack,,,he would get wickets over there to suit..
I like the idea of Hopes though ....Australia has to take a punt on these young players....throw them in and see what happens...we might as well take advantage of such a strong team in such good form...we can give these young players a go without having a heap of pressure on them..

Obvouisly if you can bat AND bowl a bit you can get fast tracked into side lke Watson (the dud) and now hopes. Have to disagree about Harvey though, reckon he was nearly the first "allrounder" to be fast tracked. he wasnt even in Vic first class team when he was called up for ODI. Yet proven performers like Andy Bichel get chop . Australian cricket is in crisis, so caught up in sucess that they dont seem to want to pick best players, but want to pluck someone from nowhere to star.

Some would call it flirting with form, as we have seen with rotational policy. micheal bevan has scored a million runs this year but thats not enough........and if nathan hauritz gets another start..... dont get me started!!!

Well, there seems to be a big push to find a genuine all-rounder, because this is the only place where we are behind the rest of the world, Flintoff, Kallis, Cairns etc.

Ian Harvey was a major disappointment when he played for Australia. I really thought he was going to be the answer to our all-rounder problems in one-day Cricket, but for some reason, he didn't bring his state and especially his county form to the international games.

While we're on the subject, why the hell isn't Michael Clarke being given a bowl? As far as I'm concerned, he'd be a very handy 5th bowler.