CA should dump ‘vapid AB Medal fashion show’, not Shield final: Roebuck
By ANITuesday, February 8, 2011
SYDNEY - Noted cricket columnist Peter Roebuck reckons that if Cricket Australia is going to cancel anything, it ought to be the infernal Allan Border Medal and not the Sheffield Shield games.
Cutting back from the current 10 Shield games per state per season, plus the final, is one of the options under consideration as Cricket Australia works out how to fit in a revamped and expanded Twenty20 competition.
“Not meaning any disrespect to Border or any of the winners, but the AB Medal is the greatest load of hooey running around,” Roebuck said in his syndicated column for the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Like the abysmal season launcher at the Gabba that cost Tim Paine most of his season, it’s a TV spectacular not a serious cricketing event, a fashion show, an exercise in vapidity. It’s laid on for corporates, not cricketers.”
“On the other hand, the shield final is worth defending. Its prospects will be debated at the CA meeting otherwise mostly dedicated issues surrounding the T20 franchises - though it’s about time decisions were taken on that topic,” he added.
Roebuck further said that it is nonsensical that overworked players are expected to attend the award function after a gruelling campaign.
“Half these blokes finished the match in Perth, with a three-hour time difference, jumped bleary-eyed onto a plane and next day were obliged to attend a long-winded dinner. On Wednesday they leave for a World Cup due to last another two months. Players are human,” Roebuck wrote.
He also said that retaining the Allan Border Medal, dumping the Shield final and expanding the Big Bash would suggest that Cricket Australia’s priorities are upside down. (ANI)
