ODI Squad for India - Where's the Boof ??

[JLC]

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/15/1065917455335.html

Doesnt seem the strongest squad with a few players missing because of injuries. However more than likely will be good enough to get the job done one would think.

jlc

[gobbles21]

Lehmann's out injured

[Donny]

Lehmann out of Test
October 15, 2003 - Fox Sports

DARREN Lehmann was today ruled out of the second cricket Test against Zimbabwe after a scan revealed acute inflammation of his troublesome left Achilles tendon.

Lehmann has also been omitted from the Australian one-day cricket squad for the triangular series against India and New Zealand in India this month.

Dashing NSW youngster Michael Clarke was included in the 14-man squad named today, apparently at Lehmann's expense.

Injured paceman Jason Gillespie was included subject to a fitness test with his spot to go to West Australian Brad Williams if he's ruled out.

Explaining the decision to exclude Lehmann from the tour, selection chairman Trevor Hohns said: "We have accepted the view that the demands placed on the body are sufficiently different in a one-off Test match compared to the intensity of a one-day tournament.

"The Cricket Australia medical team believes that although Darren might be able to get through this Test match, he will not be able to endure the rigors of a one-day tournament without suffering further damage.

"Darren is fully accepting of that view.

"From a team perspective its disappointing because he has been a key member of Australias success at one-day level."

Clarke, who made his one-day international debut against England in Adelaide last January, played four matches on the tour of the West Indies as a replacement for the injured Damien Martyn.

New South Wales left-arm paceman Nathan Bracken was included in the squad for the first time since World Cup in South Africa where he replaced the injured Gillespie.

It will be the second limited-overs tournament Bracken has played in India having taken part in Australia's five-match series against the host nation in March 2001.

Queensland captain Jimmy Maher, who missed out on selection for the three-match VB Series of one-day internationals against Bangladesh during August, was also included.

Australian squad: Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Andrew Bichel, Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke, Jason Gillespie (subject to fitness), Ian Harvey, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Jimmy Maher, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds.

(Brad Williams to come in if Gillespie is ruled out)

The Australian squad departs for India on October 22,

Match schedule:-

Oct 26: India v Australia (day-night), Gwalior

Oct 29: Australia v New Zealand, Faridabad

Nov 1: India v Australia (day-night), Mumbai

Nov 3: Australia v New Zealand,Pune

Nov 9: Australia v New Zealand, Guwahati

Nov 12: India v Australia (day-night), Bangalore

Nov 18: Final, Calcutta

[Donny]

Lehmann faces up to age-old problem

Martin Williamson

October 16, 2003





Darren Lehmann: 'I'm 33 and I'm not getting younger'
© Getty Images


Not so long ago, it wasn't unusual to find international cricketers still playing as they neared 40, and in several instances well into their forties. Less than a decade ago, Graham Gooch was still England's No. 1 opener at the age of 41, and last month Alec Stewart played his last match as England's first-choice keeper at 40.

But top-flight cricket is increasingly seen as a young man's game – well, at least it is by selectors. Whereas the early thirties used to be viewed as being near a player's peak (often later for spin bowlers), now they are almost on the scrapheap when they turn 30.

Against that backdrop, Darren Lehmann admitted to reporters that he feared that by missing the second Test against Zimbabwe and the forthcoming one-day series in India because of an Achilles tendon injury, he might be considered too old to persevere with by the selectors. Lehmann is 33.

He had hoped to play in the Test – he admitted that he was not up to the demands of a one-day match – before an MRI scan revealed that he had a tear in the tendon that he risked rupturing were he to put any stress on it. "As the doctor said, if it did rupture that is probably it," Lehmann shrugged. "No play again." He now faces six weeks in a plastic boot and an enforced lay-off until the end of November.

It is perhaps ironic for a man with no reputation as a keep-fit fanatic that Lehmann's injury came not on the cricket field but on the running track. "I just had too much exercise for my frame," he admitted. "I should've stayed how I was for the last 15 years instead of doing the right thing for a change." The pressure to maintain fitness increases with each birthday.

Lehmann's form of late has been excellent, with three centuries in his last six Tests, but he is aware that the vultures are circling in the form of talented – and crucially younger – batsmen. Martin Love, who was dropped recently following the return of Damien Martyn, is 29 and highly rated. Michael Clarke is 22 and ever more highly regarded. Lehmann is a worried man. "Yeah, you would be, too," he said. "I'm 33 and I'm not getting younger."

All Lehmann can do is hobble round and wait. If one of his replacements plays well, then it will be increasingly hard for him to force his way back into the side, especially when the team contains Steve Waugh, another geriatric who is subjected to endless questions about his age and appetite for the game as if anyone over 35 had no right to be walking, let alone playing sport.

"Obviously things had been going really well over the last two years and now it's back to square one," Lehmann said. The reality is that it could be worse than just being back to square one.