New South Wales Blues

Review by John Polack

It was responsible for unearthing the most exciting prospect of the Australian summer (in Brett Lee) but scarcely would it be possible to conceive that New South Wales could have endured a worse season than it did in 1999-2000. In a campaign which barely rose above the level of the pedestrian, the State remained firmly anchored at the bottom of the interstate first class standings; it was consistently overpowered by other teams; and it was plagued by rumours that ongoing rancour and division existed within its ranks. And to cap it all, its eight debilitating defeats ensured that it underwent the humiliating experience of losing more matches outright in a season than any team in the entire history of interstate first class cricket in Australia.

Admittedly, few sides could adequately offset the loss of eight players to the national team at different times but, then again, few sides would be as accustomed to that reality or as comparatively well positioned (in terms of their population base at least) to overcome the problem. In circumstances in which their selectors persevered with a policy of blooding youngsters, it would naturally have been unrealistic to expect the team to produce miracles. The form of at least four of the first year players (Brad Haddin, Don Nash, Michael Clarke, and Greg Mail) was, in truth, encouraging at various moments. But equally unrealistic should have been any expectation that the side as a whole would fail so miserably.

At the heart of the Blues' problems was utterly unconvincing batting. Michael Bevan underlined his importance to the team with more than 600 runs in the seven matches for which he was available. In his one match with New South Wales for the season, Steve Waugh underscored how sorely he is missed with a brilliant century which set up a surprise win in Perth, the team's only taste of first class success for the entire summer no less. But these were horribly isolated cases. Only Bevan reached the mark of five hundred runs for the team for the season. In short, the side registered seven totals of less than 200, and there were another seven occasions again on which its batsmen were unable to guide it to a tally exceeding 300.

On the bowling front, Lee undoubtedly stood head and shoulders above the rest of the attack, and it is clear that he has a huge future ahead of him. But, once he was summoned to the international arena halfway through the season, the side's bowling options were severely limited. Until suffering an injury late in the season, paceman Nash toiled manfully, and his two hauls of seven wickets in an innings at different times did represent an encouraging sign for the future. Nash is burly, strong and wholehearted (and is a little in the mould of Merv Hughes in some ways); for his State's sake, it is to be hoped that he continues to work his game in future years and that he realises the potential that this season revealed. Otherwise, though, there was little about which to enthuse. Leg spinner Stuart MacGill characteristically tried hard but sadly did not always perform to his best, although he could hardly be blamed for being either disillusioned about the team's lack of competitiveness or dejected about his treatment at the hands of the national selection panel. It was a measure of the team's overall lack of direction that Andrew Downton, a promising left arm fast bowler who had left Sydney in frustration at the lack of opportunities afforded him, crashed through the Blues' line-up on debut to pilot Tasmania to a crushing 101 run win in December.

It should be said in mitigation that the team did reach the semi-finals of the Mercantile Mutual Cup and that, in so doing, it kept alive the State's proud record in that particular competition. But even that was something of a hollow achievement. Indeed, had it not been for the intervention of acts of self-destruction from Queensland and Tasmania in the respective preliminary games against those two States, and for a washout of the match against South Australia, there would have been a very strong likelihood that the Blues would have failed to qualify for the semi-final stage for the first time since 1994-95.

Most horrendously of all perhaps, there was a strong suspicion during much of the season that all was not well behind closed doors. Late last summer, Bevan had openly questioned several aspects of the administrative structure under which the team functioned; more problems seemed to surface just prior to the new season when he beat Shane Lee for the right to take over as captain. Almost immediately after the announcement of that appointment, rumours were rife that the team had been badly divided over the subject of which of the two players should have been handed the honour. Worse was to come when Shawn Bradstreet was not only drafted into the team when the side's international representatives were called away, but also made captain in the absences of both Bevan and Lee. Several of the squad's more experienced members were reportedly incensed, and the fact that such problems seemed to spill into open rebellion on the field in Hobart in a match in January was a statement of the very serious extent to which they had been allowed to fester. Bradstreet went from being captain in the second last first class match to not even being a member of the team for its final game in another adequate indication of the general sense of aimlessness which seemed to have taken hold. That the innings loss in the final match against Western Australia (in less than three days) was possibly the most embarrassing defeat in such a lean season offered the greatest exemplification of all.

Almost immediately upon the season's conclusion, the New South Wales Cricket Association announced that it would be initiating an urgent series of reviews and convening a number of committees to examine the reasons for the pitiful state of affairs and to plot a course for improvement. But the team's manifest failure to answer a similar call for reform made at the same time last year has illustrated in itself that such things are frequently easier said than done. For now indeed, this team brings with it all the look of an outfit which remains submerged in mediocrity. How it recovers from here is in fact anyone's guess.

Site: New South Wales
Key Player: Brett Lee
Rising Star: Brad Haddin
Pura Milk Cup: 6th
Mercantile Mutual Cup: Semi Finalist
ACB Cup: 3rd (Group B)
Under-19s Championships: 3rd
Under-17s Championships: 2nd

Statistics:
First-class
Pura Milk Cup
Mercantile Mutual Cup