Posted on June 4, 2010 | Category: Opinion
TEST MATCHES
Matches: 5, Wickets: 12, Avg: 42.08
Last Test: Australia v South Africa at Perth, Dec 16-20, 2005
ONE DAY INTERNATIONALS
Matches: 116, Wickets: 174, Avg: 24.36
Last ODI: England v Australia at Nottingham, Sep 17, 2009
TWENTY20 INTERNATIONALS
Matches: 19, Wickets: 19, Econ: 6.97
Last T20I: Australia v Sri Lanka at Nottingham, Jun 8, 2009
A victim of the dreaded “One Day Specialist” tag that plagued the Test careers of Dean Jones and Michael Bevan, his Test match stats just don’t do justice to how good of a bowler Nathan Bracken is in the four day game. His First-class average is practically half his brief Test one at a very respectable 26.06. Despite his exclusion from Tests, Bracken was a consistent new ball bowler in Australia’s ODI and Twenty20 squads and was consistently the No. 1 ranked ODI bowler in the world. Sadly a knee injury before the 2009 Champions Trophy put him out of action and his spot was quickly filled by the emergence of speedsters like Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris. Regardless of the upcoming 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent, Nathan Bracken was left off from the 2010-11 CA Contracted Players.
THE FUTURE?
While he’s still got a home at New South Wales in all three forms of the game, I think it’s fair to say that we’ve seen the last of Nathan Bracken in the Green & Gold. Bracken was signed in 2008 to the Royal Challengers Bangalore but has yet to play a game for them due to National duty. Since that’s not an issue anymore perhaps a nice little IPL pay packet is in order for Bracken. If anything I’d be cool to see a Nathan Bracken/Dale Steyn new ball combo.
TEST MATCHES
Matches: 24, Wickets: 94, Avg: 23.86
Last Test: England v Australia at The Oval, Aug 20-23, 2009
ONE DAY INTERNATIONALS
Matches: 39, Wickets: 94, Avg: 27.86
Last ODI: Australia v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, May 1, 2009
TWENTY20 INTERNATIONALS
Matches: 9, Wickets: 13, Econ: 6.58
Last T20I: India v Australia at Mumbai (BS), Oct 20, 2007
Unlike Bracken, Stuart Clark was never pigeonholed as a specialist for a certain format and had a relatively successful Test and ODI career. Much like Bracken, an ill timed injury put him out of action for Australia in all formats of the game at a time when all these young whippersnapper speedsters started appearing. A fairly sub par performance when he was recalled to the 2009 Ashes squad in the final two Tests where he took 4 wickets and had an Average of 44.00 probably signalled the end of Clark’s international aspirations. If Nathan Bracken couldn’t even get a CA Contract for 2010-11 then there’s no way in hell Clark was going to make that list. You gotta feel sorry for the way Clark’s international career ended with a whimper but not “Brad Hodge” kind of sorry.
THE FUTURE?
New South Wales has shown interest in making Stuart Clark it’s captain in the absence of Simon Katich, but why you’d want that I have no idea. Clark was approached to play for Kent in the 2010 English County season as it’s overseas player before they realised, at 34 with injuries robbing him of a couple of yards of pace, perhaps this wasnt the best idea. Much like Brad Hodge he’ll be destined to play Domestic cricket until he retires. Unlike Brad Hodge he’s played more Tests, more ODIs and more T20Is. That’s right Stuart Clark has played more T20I’s for Australia than Brad Hodge the all time leading run scorer in T20 history. Figure out that one.
TEST MATCHES
Matches: 11, Runs: 902, Avg: 47.47
Last Test: West Indies v Australia at Bridgetown, Jun 12-16, 2008
ONE DAY INTERNATIONALS
Matches: 6, Runs: 125, Avg: 20.83
Last ODI: New Zealand v Australia at Auckland, Feb 18, 2007
FIRST-CLASS MATCHES
Matches: 146, Runs: 12800, Avg: 51.40
Last FC: Worcestershire v Gloucestershire at Worcester, May 29-Jun 1, 2010
LIST-A MATCHES
Matches: 137, Runs: 5367, Avg: 42.93
Last List-A: Somerset v Worcestershire at Bath, May 23, 2010
You might be wondering just why Phil Jaques gets his non international career stats listed yet Bracken and Clark didn’t. Well thats because while his ODI career was abysmal, Jaques Test and First-Class record is impeccable. An average of 47.47 after only 11 Tests isn’t quite the qualification to have people “oooh and aaah” like they do over Bradman or Mike Hussey’s batting average, when you compare it to his FC average it shows that he can go out there and pile on the runs. A Jaques/Hayden opening combination was the norm after the retirement of Justin Langer and with Haydos’s retirement, a Katitch/Jaques opening pair looked to be on the cards until that fateful back injury took him out. Sadly for Jaques, Phil Hughes appeared and Shane Watson found his niche as a Test opener and all of a sudden Jaques was out of the picture. A shame really cause his domestic performaces were and still are excellent.
THE FUTURE?
Considering he’s an aspiring Test opener that plays for New South Wales (whose entire top order are freaking Test openers now that Watto’s swapped states) Jaques looks like he’ll be spending a lot of time wearing the NSW colours. At 31 years old it’ll just be a matter of time before NSW show him the door in order to groom young guys like Moises Henriques or Usman Khawaja for elevation. At which point poor Phil Jaques will go to the haven for Australian domestic rejects: the English Counties! Say “Hi” to Stuart Law and Michael DiVenuto while you’re there!
TEST MATCHES
Matches: 17, Wickets: 60, Avg: 31.53
Last Test: Australia v Pakistan at Hobart, Jan 14-18, 2010
ONE DAY INTERNATIONALS
Matches: 15, Wickets: 14, Avg: 35.64
Last ODI: Australia v Pakistan at Perth, Jan 29, 2010
TWENTY20 INTERNATIONALS
Matches: 1, Wickets: 2, Econ: 6.00
Last T20I: Australia v New Zealand at Sydney, Feb 15, 2009
Considering he’s the only man in this list that’s managed to secure a Cricket Australia contract for 2010-11, you’d think it would be safe to assume that Siddle would simply slot back into the Australian squad in time for the Ashes this summer. But hey, Brad Hodge has been holding a Cricket Australia contract from 2007-2010 and they did bugger all with him so I dunno about Siddle’s chances. In his absence, Ben Hilfenhaus has suffered a knee injury and he’s got Doug Bollinger, Ryan Harris and fellow Victorian Clint McKay vying for a permanant spot in the Test and ODI squads, while Austalia’s pretty much settled on using Dirk Nannes and Shaun Tait for T20s.
THE FUTURE?
Unlike the rest of the names on this list, Siddle probably has the best chance to return into the Australian squad be it at Test or ODI level. It’s unfortunate for him that his replacements just happenend to be such damn good bowlers, and because he doesn’t have the Brett Lee ability to simply slot back into the team regardless of form, it could be a while before we see him back. Especially with both of them having bowling averages under 24.00 in Tests and 22.00 in ODIs.
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