Voted the players' association's shield player of the year on Tuesday, 32-year-old Hopes made a strong case for the veterans at a time when Cricket Australia has pursued a policy of encouraging younger state squads.
Hopes said they were needed as mentors to the new breed as Australia looks to rebuild its Test status after the Ashes series disaster. His comments came after Australian captain Ricky Ponting expressed concern that the domestic cricket competition was not producing ready-made international players like it used to.
Hopes said it was hard to compare the quality of the competition between eras. "Shield cricket is on the way back up, there's a lot of young kids playing," said Hopes. "I think it's also important to keep the guys aged around 30 playing for as long as they can, because they're going to be the guys that teach the young kids how to play first class cricket.
"We can't run away from the fact that our Test ranking has gone down in the last couple of years, and it's up to these young kids now who are going to get a go in the next year and a half to step up in Shield cricket." Hopes said mentoring Queensland youngsters had been his focus since getting the captaincy. "It coincided with me being dropped from the Australian one-day team," he said. "That was my goal from then on. If I'm not going to play for Australia, well it's up to me and guys like me to help these kids become good first class players."
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said the crowded international schedule was having an effect on the quality of the game at the domestic level. "Perhaps international players don't play quite as much state cricket as they used to, so perhaps the standard is somewhat less as a result of that," he said. "But there's no doubt that the intensity and the fierceness in which the teams compete is at a level in parallel to what it was 15 years ago or 100 years ago."
Hopes polled 23 votes to take out the ACA player of the season award on Tuesday, three more than the competition's leading wicket-taker Luke Butterworth of Tasmania. Victorian veteran batsman Brad Hodge was named the one-day player of the season, while South Australian opening batsman Dan Harris was named Twenty20 player of the year. Western Australia were presented with the Benaud Spirit of Cricket Award.
The awards were presented at Bellerive Oval, which will play host to the Shield final between Tasmania and NSW from Thursday.
Hopes said they were needed as mentors to the new breed as Australia looks to rebuild its Test status after the Ashes series disaster. His comments came after Australian captain Ricky Ponting expressed concern that the domestic cricket competition was not producing ready-made international players like it used to.
Hopes said it was hard to compare the quality of the competition between eras. "Shield cricket is on the way back up, there's a lot of young kids playing," said Hopes. "I think it's also important to keep the guys aged around 30 playing for as long as they can, because they're going to be the guys that teach the young kids how to play first class cricket.
"We can't run away from the fact that our Test ranking has gone down in the last couple of years, and it's up to these young kids now who are going to get a go in the next year and a half to step up in Shield cricket." Hopes said mentoring Queensland youngsters had been his focus since getting the captaincy. "It coincided with me being dropped from the Australian one-day team," he said. "That was my goal from then on. If I'm not going to play for Australia, well it's up to me and guys like me to help these kids become good first class players."
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said the crowded international schedule was having an effect on the quality of the game at the domestic level. "Perhaps international players don't play quite as much state cricket as they used to, so perhaps the standard is somewhat less as a result of that," he said. "But there's no doubt that the intensity and the fierceness in which the teams compete is at a level in parallel to what it was 15 years ago or 100 years ago."
Hopes polled 23 votes to take out the ACA player of the season award on Tuesday, three more than the competition's leading wicket-taker Luke Butterworth of Tasmania. Victorian veteran batsman Brad Hodge was named the one-day player of the season, while South Australian opening batsman Dan Harris was named Twenty20 player of the year. Western Australia were presented with the Benaud Spirit of Cricket Award.
The awards were presented at Bellerive Oval, which will play host to the Shield final between Tasmania and NSW from Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment