Ultra-aggressive batters, cheap wickets: Why Australian coaches are worried

“There is a conversation around what type of cricketer that produces. Does it produce a cricketer, especially the batters, that are ultra-aggressive, trying to hit bowlers off their line and length. Are you getting rewarded for investing in your innings in the first 50-odd balls, or does the wicket keep seaming for the rest of the game. I know the state coaches have an appetite to spark this conversation up, and then it’s really how you go about it.” Victoria’s coach Chris Rogers, who guided his team to the top of the Shield table after 10 rounds before they lost the final to South Australia, said he was conscious that too many games played out in a similar fashion: a lot of pace overs, difficult batting conditions and a marked advantage for bowling first. “We want to make sure we’re not just playing one style of cricket all the time, and that’s a conversation with Cricket Australia,” he said. “I think we’ve got to be a little bit mindful of not falling into the trap of trying to get a result every game that means the best bowlers in the competition are around 130km/h and making sure we’re still making it hard for bowlers to get wickets. “But I’m not taking away from the fact the first-class game is bloody hard in Australia and we’ve still got some fantastic cricketers.

I’m just saying we can make sure we’re producing the right kinds of cricketers who are then going to go on and make sure the Australian cricket side is strong.”