Doolan mustn’t blame himself
When you lose a T20, everyone’s accountable
ALEX Doolan suggests that the 11-run away loss to the Adelaide Strikers was all his fault, even though he scored at a faster strike rate than that of his opposition counterpart, Jake Weatherald, who was hailed a hero for his support role to Alex Carey’s brilliant 100.
Doolan also scored at a faster strike rate than that of D’Arcy Short. Yes, D’Arcy Short. The man touted as the next David Warner and soon to be the richest man in Tasmania should the rumours from IPL central eventuate.
He didn’t cost the team any runs by allowing ground balls to roll between his legs. Heck, the Adelaide Oval runs smoother than Eddie Charlton’s personal billiard table — it is not the goat-mown surface of Anzac Park. How does that even happen?
And nor did Alex drop any catches. Though he was in the vicinity when Cameron Boyce got spooked out by the air surrounding him when he let a straightforward sky ball hit the deck — without an attempt to catch it — off the blade of Alex Carey. That only cost the side about 67 runs.
Was it Alex’s decision to have the out-of-form George Bailey bat at No. 3 again when the game clearly required some Dan Christian, Nathan Reardon or Ben McDermott firepower after the stagnation of the innings from some quality Strikers bowling?
The decision to bowl Dan Christian and Boyce for their third overs, which went for a collective 39 runs, ahead of the second most economical bowler of the innings, and one of the best defensive spinners in the competition, Clive Rose? Was that Doolan’s too?
Maybe Doolan jumped on to the HH Facebook page and read the remarkable displays of hindsight-hero-ball that suggested he was solely to blame for the loss.
According to that mob, Doolan is Liberty Valance!
Maybe they believe too it was Doolan who traded Ben Dunk for Hamish Kingston.
Anyway, this was not Alex Doolan’s loss to shoulder blame on. His role in the team is not cavalier game breaker. Yes, he can play, and yes, he is capable of being that player, but that’s not his role. He is a support act. An accumulator to support the aggressiveness of his partners.
And when the partners failed him — Bailey and Short — he morphed into the hitter that saw him go toe to toe with McDermott in the 100-run partnership across 10 overs that gave his team a chance.
Now, what you can question on Facebook is whether or not that role — accumulator/ support — is actually required when a specialist power hitter in Nathan Reardon is set to bat at No.7.
Would the balance of the chase have been better suited to Reardon at the very top in the hope of extreme carnage with Short in the power play?
And with Reardon the late replacement for the injured Milenko in the team, where was the team balance before
His role in the team is not cavalier game breaker. Yes, he can play, and yes, he is capable of being that player, but that’s not his role. He is a support act.
the injury? Six bowlers were used against Adelaide without Milenko making up a seventh.
To beat the Scorchers, the Cyclones will need runs against the best defensive bowling unit the BBL has seen; something the Pirates have never done. Even without Andrew Tye and Jhye Richardson, they still have the role players to be able to perform at a level of miserly.
Reardon’s inclusion in this team is the key to balance, as is the thievery of Scorchers coach, Justin Langer, who holds some type of jedi-mind trickery over the tournament, and the Australian selectors.
Upside there is that like Tim Coyle, he is easily held hostage in the front pocket of any regulation-sized backpack.
T20 cricket relies on that true sense of team more than any other cricket format. EVERYONE is accountable, meaning that collection of individual numbers can’t be hidden behind should you fail across any of the disciplines.
And as you can read above, it takes more than one guy, one miscommunication between fielders, one tangle of legs for four and one or two captaincy decisions that don’t work how you’d hope to lose a T20 cricket match.