Ludeman adds class
Adelaide’s loss is Geelong’s gain
THE summer of cricket starts today in many local competitions and Geelong Cricket Club kicks off another campaign in Premier cricket with a few changes in personnel, none bigger than the off-season recruiting coup in securing former South Australian keeper-batsmen Tim Ludeman.
His departure from Adelaide was somewhat controversial and very disappointing, as I believe he is in the top three keepers in the country.
The Victorian Bushrangers have started their domestic one-day competition this week — whatever it’s called these days. Perhaps it should be called the Cameron White Cup.
Once again he is dominating proceedings, yet still continually gets overlooked for an Australian call-up. Why? What is so wrong with White?
It appears no matter what White does at state level his papers have been stamped “NEVER AGAIN”.
How on earth can it be explained otherwise? Our Australian players who spent the entire off-season in heated pay dispute negotiations have not endeared themselves to the public with their recent on-field performances.
White continues to strut his stuff at state level. His aggressive career-best 165 at the WACA during the week against Tasmania was another reminder to the selectors that his currency remains high.
Our two-Test series in Bangladesh last month was below average and the recent ODI series just concluded in India has been underwhelming, losing the series 4-1. Our record in recent times in coloured clothes is very poor. We are picking unbalanced teams and trying to fill up with bits-and-pieces players instead of picking skilled specialists.
White is a specialist batsman and in the form of his life over the past few seasons in one-day cricket.
This column highlighted on February 4 the communication breakdown and gulf between selectors and players when White publicly questioned the lack of feedback for fringe Australian players.
Sadly, it seems this protocol has not improved. Victorian spinner Jon Holland has been the most in-form spinner in Shield cricket over the past two years yet Ashton Agar and Mitch Swepson were preferred as spin options alongside Nathan Lyon for the Bangladesh Test series.
Much to everyone’s amazement, when a replacement player was summoned for the injured Josh Hazelwood another spinner was called.
Stephen O’Keefe, who was serving a suspension from the New South Wales side for drunk and disorderly conduct at its end-of-season presentations, leapfrogged the lot and went straight into the Test team.
Holland never even received a courtesy phone call. This is totally unacceptable.
The burning question remains: who will be the Australian wicketkeeper for the Ashes series?
Matthew Wade is the incumbent but under fire for now. His supposed strong suit, his batting, is failing. This dilemma left selectors in a panic, recently inserting Peter Handscomb into a one-day game for his country.
Seriously, how do you go from third in line in your state to national gloveman? This is outrageous and disrespectful to the art of keeping.
Peter Nevill is still the most pure gloveman in the country and should be reinstated for the Ashes and then persisted with throughout the summer.
The keeper is a crucial element of the team unit and the instability the selectors have created since Brad Haddin’s retirement is farcical.
Young South Australian Alex Carey, who replaced Ludeman last summer, had a standout season and is a bolter, but my experience tells me “let’s see what this summer holds before we jump too soon for a greenhorn”.
Tim Paine is a quality operator behind the stumps but sadly will be pushed aside for Wade in Tasmania and has no chance to press his claims.
Keep an eye on young Victorian Sam Harper, who returns behind the stumps after a frightening head knock. He looks a neat and tidy stumper and he may be the long-term answer.
Meanwhile Ludeman, who has them all covered for natural glovework, will be sadly plying his craft in club cricket in readiness for a return with the Melbourne Renegades when the Big Bash comes to town.