My Australian Cricket World Cup Squad #CWC15 @cricketworldcup

My Australian World Cup XV

2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand

By W D Nicolson - January 8, 2015

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The Australian 15-man squad is named on Sunday January 11 - so here is the Australians www.wdnicolson.com has picked to win the World Cup on home soil.

We'll start with our squad and name the 11 we'd take into each game to try and win this thing.

BATSMEN
Michael Clarke (c)
Steve Smith (vc)
David Warner
Aaron Finch
George Bailey

ALL-ROUNDERS
Shane Watson
Mitchell Marsh
James Faulkner
Glenn Maxwell

KEEPERS
Brad Haddin
Tim Paine (Update: now injured so go an extra bowler)

BOWLERS
Mitchell Johnson
Ryan Harris
Mitchell Starc
Cameron Boyce

My Best Australian XI

1. David WARNER
2. Aaron FINCH
3. Michael CLARKE (c)
4. Steve SMITH
5. Shane WATSON
6. Mitchell MARSH
7. Brad HADDIN
8. James FAULKNER 
9. Mitchell JOHNSON
10. Ryan HARRIS
11. Cameron BOYCE/Mitchell STARC/Glenn MAXWELL

Let's win a World Cup for the first time AT HOME!

I want to find room for Bailey at #6 but it is hard to push the likes of Marsh, Haddin, Faulkner and Johnson down another rung. If Bailey does get a run - Marsh misses out in all likelihood if the selectors decide Starc has to play or they want Maxwell's spin - my choice is Boyce because we need a genuine turner of the ball who can push for wickets vs keeping the runs down. He's not perfect by any means but I desperately want a spinner because if the wickets take spin (it is a relatively big IF but you have to cover it) I want an actual spinner - and that's not Glenn Maxwell (but yes - he makes my squad because you might actually use him vs Shaun Marsh or ).

The batting picks itself - the openers are locked in stone and I'd play Clarke at 3 so he gets maximum batting time - ditto for Smith. That pushes Watson to 5 where I think he's better suited to in ODI cricket anyway, Marsh or Bailey at 6 = very happy with that for a top/middle order. 

Haddin gets the job behind the stumps and I'd pick Tim Paine as my backup (Update: now has a broken big toe so he's out) because he can bat like a batsman if he has to and Haddin may benefit from a breather in the prelim stages and I just like having a squad member as the backup vs a converted batsmen who hasn't kept. He narrowly gets the call ahead of the guy who has impressed me massively this Big Bash in Tim Ludeman - the guy hits the ball as cleanly as anyone and plays smart shots to good areas of the ground rather than just launching wily nily.

Harris is just too good a player to leave out for a young bowler - this is a World Cup not a ODI series in preparation for a World Cup - you pick your best players. Johnson is a weapon and clearly beats out Starc as our left armer and Faulkner, Marsh, Boyce and Watson bowl 30 overs between them. Just quietly - I love that attack.

So there's no Pat Cummins (may make it though and probably gets my open spot vacated by Paine), Josh Hazlewood (he's gassed after 3 Tests in a row - not for me), Justin Behrendorff (one too many left handers sorry kid), Nathan Coulter-Nile or James Pattinson (if fit I'd have considered the last two) and I just think picking Brad Hogg wouldn't be the right choice... a T20 World Cup - yes I'd pick him, but not if you want him bowling 10 overs... mind you, I wouldn't complain if he got the 15th spot - as I think there isn't a standout choice otherwise. I also don't think we need another batsmen - for mine if we lose one of those we've picked - we can find a batsmen in an injury swap easy enough - same goes for the bowlers.

So there's my team... I think we make the Semi Finals - but gee there's some good teams in World Cricket right now so I can't say for sure we make the Final or win the thing. 

But gee it's going to be good to watch.

And if you are in Australia right now and haven't bought a ticket yet - why not? I'll be going to as many games in Sydney as I can and if I have to shell out $140 for the Semi Final - then yep, I'll do it. It's been 23 years since we've had a World Cup in our backyard - and it might be nearly that long again given the powerful nature of the subcontinent with hosting major tournaments - so get 2015 WORLD CUP TICKETS.

GO AUSTRALIA!

Look for semi-regular tweets on the #CWC15 via @AustCricket and @wdnicolson during the tournament.


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Here is our favourite #NRL photo from 2014 - a #Christmas gift for following @NRLTweet #MerryChristmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

By W D Nicolson - December 24, 2014
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Just a quick note to wish everyone who reads www.wdnicolson.com, follows @NRLTweet and listens to NOT The Footy Show - a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year ahead of 2015.

Below is the one photo I took during my 2014 NRL travels that I think puts footy into perspective for all of us... especially at this time of year when quite frankly there is far more to life than footy.

See you in 2015 everyone!

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#NRL Season 2015: 'Leaked Round 1' draw misses one key trick thanks to TV land

TV still rules, but you knew that right?

2015 National Rugby League Premiership

By W D Nicolson - December 8, 2014
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So we have a 'leaked' Round 1 Draw for NRL 2015 and clearly some lessons have been learned from last year's '7-games-in-Sydney' experiment but despite Fox Sports having the perfect opportunity to hand Sydney a single game on each day across the opening round - they've let the crowd boosting side down and gone with an all out of Sydney Super Saturday (just when fickle Sydneysiders will be itching for a game to attend).

According to the Tele - we start with Bunnies at Broncos on Thursday, head to Parra for Manly v Eels on Friday, then spend Saturday in Newcastle (Warriors at Knights), in Townsville (Easts at Cows) and then finish with Tigers v Titans on the Gold Coast. Come Sunday it's off to Penrith at 4pm for Dogs v Panthers, then Raiders at Sharks for Sunday night footy. The opening round ends with Melbourne heading to Kogarah to face the Dragons in MNF.

All in all a good mix of games but how have Fox Sports erred with their picks for no apparent ratings reason?

Here are a few things that you would've liked Fox Sports to have considered given they choose how Super Saturday, Sunday Night and Monday Night Football play out:

• Having no game in Sydney on Saturday takes away one of the few prime drawing days from the long long NRL season. Think about it - opening weekend is the most universally anticipated game of the Rugby League fan - and Fox just took one valuable crowd drawing day away from the biggest market.
• Playing two games back to back on Sunday in Penrith and Cronulla makes the not-their-team-playing footy-starved-fan have to either choose which game to go to or alternatively - and more likely - watch both from home. Statistically not a game changer ratings wise but the impact on the gate will be felt far more either way.
• And they appear to have overlooked the crowd value of moving Cronulla's game to Saturday fits their home fanbase better than Sunday night. Sat arvo makes it an event for the Shire - Sunday night makes it an inconvenience - new season or not. Saturday night is also preferable as at least in March we can wish for non-traditional Shark Park rain right?

So which Super Saturday game gets changed without impacting the crowd significantly you ask?

• Newcastle could still draw 17-18k on Sunday night (and thus also be prime time in NZ) v maybe 22-25k on Saturday at 4:30pm so the clear candidate is the Titans v Tigers game.
• You want to believe the Titans opening up a new season on Saturday night at 8pm can draw 15k+ but would a Sunday 6:00pm (QLD time - so that makes it 7pm in NSW) start draw much less - if not possibly more?
• TV wise it's hard to believe that game would rate worse as the Sunday night game - so why did Fox Sports go with this instead of Cronulla v Canberra in Sydney?

...Respectfully, can we offer a simple 'they didn't think it out'?

So our 'solution' is move Sharks v Raiders to Saturday 7pm, Cowboys v Roosters to 8pm (QLD time) and Titans v Tigers to Sunday 6pm (QLD time).

This gives Sydney four straight days of stand alone games for the ficklest of fans to attend and then... we all hope for the best on the crowd front.

Note: The above draw discussion is based purely on the Telegraph leak published Sunday December 7, 2014. www.wdnicolson.com has absolutely no inside knowledge of how Round 1 2015 will be shaped beyond this information.

What do you think?
Let us know your thoughts by commenting below or replying on Twitter.

Now you can still subscribe to our NOT The Footy Show Podcast on iTunes here and although we're not sure if or when we'll be back on air again, it doesn't hurt to hope right?

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