Posts tagged ‘australia’
Brad Hodge Announces He is to Retire
Aussie batsman Brad Hodge has decided to call time on his first-class cricket career after losing hope of a Test recall.
He told PA Sport today:
“I feel the time is right to step down from first-class cricket. It’s been a wonderful journey, which hopefully has more to go at limited-overs and Twenty20 level. I’ve loved every time I’ve pulled on the navy blue cap and it was a dream come true to swap it for a baggy green for the times I did. Playing Test cricket for Australia was an incredible experience and I feel proud and blessed to have had that opportunity. Hopefully this decision will allow me to continue playing good cricket and also spend more time with my young family.”
A wonderful batsman, if Hodge had been from any other country or been around at any time other than the past 10 years, when Australia were blessed with a plethora of world-class players, he could have been a real force in the Test game.
Hodge averages more than 55 from six Tests – including a double-hundred – but has found it difficult to hold down a place in the competitive Aussie middle-order.
Having plundered 17,000 first-class runs in Australia and England, Hodge, unfortunately, retires as the nearly man of Australian cricket.
Warne the Greatest Sporting Icon of the Noughties
Fellow sports blogger Josh Pettitt this week posed a debate for the greatest sporting icon of the noughties.
In cricket, we have been lucky enough to witness the greatest of cricket teams in action over the last decade and, for all the brilliance of Brian Lara, the outstanding cricketer of the era must be an Australian.
Of the Australians who spearheaded this great side, many have brushed greatness on more than one occasion.
Adam Gilchrist redefined the role of the wicketkeeper-batsman, Matthew Hayden has tormented bowling attacks the world over, Ricky Ponting has ruthlessly racked up the runs and Glenn MacGrath’s meticulous accuracy was too good for most.
Best of the bunch
But it is Shane Warne who stands shoulders above his peers as a man who rarely slipped below the tag of greatness. Warne would be the first pick in anyone’s all-time XI and single-handedly made spin bowling sexy again.
From the turn of the century to his retirement at the end of the 2006/07 Ashes, Warne took an unprecedented 357 wickets at an average a little above 25.
And all this after being named as one of Wisden’s cricketers of the twentieth century. To achieve true greatness across in two centuries is a truly remarkable feat.
Ball of the century
When Warne bowled that magical ball to Mike Gatting on his Ashes debut in 1992, the cricketing world knew they had a special talent on their hands.
People feared he would struggle to generate such devastating spin after shoulder surgery in 2000 and 2002 and some even feared his career may be over. But Warne came back stronger, adding excruciating accuracy to his devastating spin.
And he finished his career in the greatest possible way – as the star of the Australia side who whitewashed England in the 2006-07 Ashes.
The sheer consistency with which Warne not just brushed greatness, but maintained it over seven years of the past decade – and fifteen in all - make him the greatest sporting icon of the noughties.
Check out the other contenders here;
Will Gilgrass on David Beckham
Rob Goodman on Zinedene Zidane
