The Ashes Blog

Runs: 4406
Avge: 46.37
Highest score: 165 (against New Zealand)

I’m sure you’ve heard of Damien Martyn’s retirement from the game. He surprised everyone with that one, including Cricket Australia and his fellow players. During the victory celebrations following the 2nd Test, he made a comment to someone saying, “The best time to get out is when you’re on top.” And that’s the way he decided to go.

I think Damien’s done the right thing. There’s been talk about whether he should even play in the 3rd Test, so the pressure has been on him lately just as it has been for the past year or two. He was selected to play in Perth, but he must know that another failure from him would see him make way for younger talent.

He is 35 years of age, so there can’t be too many seasons left in him, and with the Ashes almost secured, it’s a pretty good time to go. There’ll need to be a few Aussie retirements in the next couple of years, so Cricket Australia will be wanting a staggered approach to player retirements. Going out midway through a series isn’t the usual thing to do, but it works for Marto and I think it works well for the Australian cricket team. As Ian Chappell has said, he’s going out on his own terms, and for a player of his quality, I think that’s entirely appropriate.

We’ll miss you, Marto. We’ll miss your talent, the way you could gently guide a ball to the boundary, and your presence in the Aussie team.

Elsewhere:
Blimey Marto, we didn’t mean it! – The Corridor

My favourite Martyn – Gideon Haigh

Martyn quits cricket on eve of Perth Test – The Tonk

Martyn announces shock retirement – The Telegraph

I thought it would be interesting to do a statistical comparison of the two sides to see how they will fare against each other, statistically speaking. What I’ve done is add up the batting averages for all 11 players in each side to give a team batting average. I’ve then added up the bowling averages for Australia and England, and this gives us a team bowling average. To the Australian batting averages I added the England team bowling average to give a final total (and vice versa for England). So if a side has a very good, and therefore low, bowling average then they won’t be adding too many runs to the oppositions total team average, so it seems to me like a fair comparison: Read the rest of this entry »

I know that it’s only a one day tournament, and that Test Match cricket is a different kettle of fish, but I reckon we can still learn a little about Australia’s pre-series form. First up, Damien Martyn is back in touch, with a superb series. He finished with the second highest batting average in the competition (behind Bangladesh’s Shahriar Nafees), consistently scoring half centuries when they were needed. Martyn is a key player in Australia’s middle order, as we saw in Australia’s last tour of India when Martyn was Australia’s leading Test run scorer. If his good form carries through into the Ashes series, he’s going to be causing a few headaches for England. Read the rest of this entry »