Cricketers Play Computer Games
The Sunday Age
Sunday August 13, 2000
GIVEN the hours the Australian one-day players have spent in meetings in Brisbane over the past few days, it is easy to see why they are the best-prepared side in the world. The Australians arrived in Brisbane on Wednesday morning and spent the day collecting their latest batch of new gear before heading in to individual meetings with captain Steve Waugh, coach John Buchanan and team psychologist Sandy Morgan.
On Thursday the Australians held a series of tactical meetings at the Allan Border Field, including a computer session at which they were shown how to use the team computer analysis system to check their own form. Yesterday the Australians were back at the ground for another spell on the laptops before more nets in the afternoon.
The computer system is run by scorer and assistant manager Mike Walsh, who is teaching the players how to use the CDs of highlights he burns after a day's play. The eventual plan is for the players to be able to download straight from the main team computer any number of specific packages. Shane Warne could study a set consisting purely of his wrong'uns to left-handers or Ricky Ponting his drives through the off-side to pace bowlers.
Such high-tech marvels reveal some interesting statistical snippets. One such factoid was that Damien Fleming fielded just two balls in a one-day game in South Africa in April. The reaction was a mixture of mock annoyance that he avoided the action so well and amazement that the feat was possible in such a hectic game.
PUNTERS ON THE PROWL
Brisbane's Allan Border Field is a pleasant spot not far from the city centre and right next to Albion Park Raceway. After Friday's game, the team's two punters, Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting, were seen heading out of the hotel together. No prizes for guessing they were going to the greyhound meeting.
Ponting owns greyhounds but last night he ignored the attractions of the trotting meeting, opting instead to be a guest of the AFL and the Brisbane Lions at the sudden-death final against the Western Bulldogs. Waugh said he enjoyed AFL, but had to go the trots. ``There's a big race on," he said. When you like the trots as much as Waugh, there's always a big race on.
PONTING'S HUMBLE PIE
There was a certain amount of tension during net practice at the Border Field yesterday as Ponting, a fierce Kangaroos supporter, traded quips with Walsh, an equally avid Essendon fan ahead of their teams' finals meeting at the MCG. Walsh has copped a hard time since the Bombers fell over in last year's preliminary final, losing by a point to Carlton. At the time he was sitting on a rickety chair under an equally rickety scoreboard at a ground in Colombo, Sri Lanka, scoring a tour game. Team members and staff went easy on him that day, but have lately been reminding him that the Bombers' invincible form had begun to fade a little. Yesterday's 20-goal hiding of the Roos should keep them quiet for a while.
A HARD SLOG
While football finals continue across the country, the Allan Border Field is a centre of late-winter cricket activity. As well as the Australians, the South Africans arrived yesterday for two days of practice, and the New Zealanders are dropping in on their way to a one-day tournament in Singapore. The Kiwis (sorry, Black Caps) will practise there today and play Queensland tomorrow and Tuesday, giving the local side four days' cricket in five, a tough ask at this time of the year.
FROM BAT TO VERSE
The canon of sporting verse is about to grow with the imminent publication of poems written about the Australian cricketers by their team manager Steve Bernard. Bernard, a former NSW fast bowler, has supplied several poems for a book due out in October that traces the Test team's triumphant 10-Test winning sequence. The Dominators will have contributions by Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Justin Langer, Allan Border and The Bard Bernard.
© 2000 The Sunday Age
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