Should Australia select more youngsters??

[Richard]

The thing is, though, if Maher, Perren etc. are better than the young players, it doesn't say much for said young players, does it?

They'll get their chance when they get their chance, and if they're good enough by then, they'll do well.

 

[Prince EWS]

The thing is, though, if Maher, Perren etc. are better than the young players, it doesn't say much for said young players, does it?

They'll get their chance when they get their chance, and if they're good enough by then, they'll do well.

I completely agree. Even when you get situations like the Mail/Cowan one; that is just poor selection, rather than any intrinsic problem with the system.

If youngsters are good enough, they'll get their chance. If we water down the competition to include more young players, the competition won't teach them as much as it would have done previously as it'll be weaker, and they'll just be playing against the same guys they've come across in youth competitions etc.

Furthermore, if I was Clinton Perren for example, I'd be pretty dirty at the prospect of having to step aside for a lesser player just because he was younger. If you're good enough, you will get picked.

 

[vic_orthdox]

So if it's 12-a-side, and there's quotas on this and that, it's fair to say Second XI cricket isn't a terribly serious business?

Well, each team only plays 4 games a year, so you don't even play every team once (because ACT are in it as well). I think the actual points are kept over a couple of seasons or something weird, until everyone's played each other an even amount of time. Look, the cricket is taken seriously, it's hard and tough and teams really care about the result of the game. But I think a lot of people see it as a litmus test for players to see if they can cut it at the next level.

 

[Richard]

Oh, I don't doubt for a second the players take it seriously and try their damndest (little point playing if you don't IMO) but what I mean is that the competition isn't one of any great seriousness, unlike the Pura Cup.

You've played in one or two of these matches, BTW, do I recall?

 

[vic_orthdox]

Yeah, the actual competition isn't really all that important, from what I gather. I don't know, maybe when I played we weren't in the running so it wasn't mentioned.

I played one official 2nd XI game, and one other which was more informal, organized between Vic and NSW.

 

[iamdavid]

From what I can see CA Cup is very intense in terms of the preparation undertaken, they train just about full time and there is a big emphasis on achieving results in that competition.

Although fair to say it may be a little more important in the ACT as we dont have a FC side so CA cup is the sole focus of the ACTCA, and results are very important as there is a school of thought that if we do well enough against the state second teams we'll eventually play List A games again.