Wednesday Comedy...Dubber journo claims Dubber bias is BS

"When they give out the baggy blue cap in New South Wales, they give you a baggy green in a brown paper bag as well to save making two presentations."

This famous quote from the late David Hookes in 2003 has become the mantra for many disgruntled Australian cricket fans, the majority of whom reside outside of New South Wales.

Does a baggy blue equal a baggy green?
Do you think Australia's cricket selectors have a NSW bias?
Yes, I'm from NSW
20.26%
Yes, I'm not from NSW
39.8%
No, I'm from NSW
24.44%
No, I'm not from NSW
15.49%
It's a mantra they follow blindly, and one that leads them to angrily shake their heads whenever a man in Blue is handed a baggy green.

NSW Test players to debut since 2000
Nathan Bracken Michael Clarke Nathan Hauritz Phil Jaques Stuart Clark Brad Haddin Beau Casson Doug Bollinger Phillip Hughes Steven Smith Usman Khawaja Trent Copeland
And it is a mantra that, like most conspiracy theories, is completely baseless and devoid of fact.

NSW ODI players to debut since 2000
Brett Lee Stuart MacGill Nathan Bracken Brad Haddin Michael Clarke Stuart Clark Phil Jaques David Warner Doug Bollinger Moises Henriques Steven Smith Josh Hazlewood Mitchell Starc


Players from New South Wales have dominated Australian cricket for as long as most fans can remember. Meanwhile, the anti-NSW brigade have pointed to the hard-working cricketers from other states who have been unrewarded by national selectors despite standout performances in domestic cricket.

Players such as Brad Hodge, Martin Love, Michael Klinger, and countless others.

There is little doubt such men have been unlucky not to have played more cricket for their country over the past decade. And these injustices, mixed with Hookes's famous line all those years ago, have fed the anger among non-NSW supporters who claim Australia's selectors are biased towards players fortunate enough to wear Blue.

But what started off as a bit of good natured "Blue Bagging" and fun between states has developed into something resembling a witch hunt.

Players such as Phil Hughes and Steve Smith have been viewed by "Blue Baggers" as the antichrists of Australian cricket for the past 12 months, with critics claiming they were selected to satisfy the Blue urge of the selection panel.

But what advantage does Australia's selection panel possibly get from picking NSW cricketers ahead of the rest? What does a staunch Tasmanian such as David Boon or a proud Victorian such as Merv Hughes stand to gain from promoting the ability of those from another state?

The Blue Baggers seem to forget that no New South Welshman has occupied a spot on the national selection panel since John Benuad way back in 1994. But, like all good conspiracy theories, the facts in this case do nothing but get in the way of a good story.

While Blue Baggers point to the plights of Hodge, Klinger and Love, et al, they seem to forget that a fair share of players in Blue have copped a raw deal in the past decade as well.

There is no doubt that Hughes's selection midway through the 2010-2011 Ashes campaign was strange given he was woefully out of form and Shaun Marsh was making runs for fun.

Hughes may have been fortunate on that occasion, but the Blue Baggers fail to acknowledge that he had copped the wrong end of the stick earlier in his career.

The opener was dropped halfway through the 2009 Ashes series despite boasting two hundreds and an average of well over 50 in his first five Tests. If Hughes had been from anywhere outside New South Wales, the anguished cries from the naysayers would have been deafening.

Does anyone remember Nathan Hauritz? The closest Australia have come to a permanent spinner since Shane Warne, the NSW offie looked set to lead the attack during the 2010-2011 Ashes before he was sensationally dumped for the untried Xavier Doherty. It was a decision that raised eyebrows at the time, and, in hindsight, it was the wrong call given Australia have used four spinners in eight Tests matches since Hauritz's dumping - with limited or no success.

Ironically, Hauritz was very fortunate to be chosen ahead of NSW leg spinner Stuart MacGill for the 2004 tour of India, where he subsequently made his Test debut in Mumbai. At the time, Hauritz was plying his trade for Queensland and was several years away from a move to his adopted state. Looking at Hauritz's case in isolation, one can argue that his "favouritism" with the selectors actually decreased when he moved south of the border.

And what about Phil Jaques?

The left hander made three hundreds and six fifties in his 11 Tests, but he hasn't represented his country since registering 108 against West Indies in 2008. There is no doubt a crippling back injury contributed to the end of his international career, but he is another Blue who can consider himself unlucky not to have played more for his country.

Jaques's last Test also marked the only international appearance of NSW's chinaman bowler Beau Casson. The left armer, whose career has been plagued by a serious heart condition, took three wickets on debut and showed promise before he too was thrown on the selection scrap heap.

We could go on.

MacGill, Doug Bollinger, Stuart Clark and even Usman Khawaja on the recent tour of Sri Lanka have all drawn the short straw at the selection table in the past decade. All are New South Welshmen through and through.

And this is even before we get to what many regard as one of the biggest selection injustices in Australian cricket history; the dumping of Simon Katich from Cricket Australia's list of contracted players.

There once was a time when state bias was a very strong influence when it came to national selection.

Fred Spofforth, one of Australia's greatest bowlers, boycotted the very first Test match in 1877 after Victoria's Jack Blackham was selected ahead of Spofforth's NSW teammate Billy Murdoch.

But that was more than 134 years ago.

When it is finally announced, Australia's new selection panel will consist of a full-time selector, two part-time selectors as well as the coach and captain. These five men will all act professionally; they will have state allegiances, but they will leave them at the door when it's time to make the difficult decisions.

The point of this article isn't to use hindsight to highlight the poor decisions of Australia's selectors over the years. Nor is it to argue that NSW players have had a hard time of it when it comes to national selection.

And it is definitely not to trivialise the unlucky cases of non-NSW players from the past decade.

It is merely pointing out that good and bad selections have always been a part of cricket. And always will be. Some players will be lucky, some will be unlucky, and many won't even get a chance to prove their worth.

Some will wear blue, some red, some even pink.

But the colour of a player's state cap will have no influence on his chances of higher honours.

But what advantage does Australia's selection panel possibly get from picking NSW cricketers ahead of the rest? What does a staunch Tasmanian such as David Boon or a proud Victorian such as Merv Hughes stand to gain from promoting the ability of those from another state?

It is a conveniently ignored question.

Don't know about other states but Chippy journos certainly don't give their players the same sort of hype that the Spivs do.

They've been sacked ...for not meeting the dubber quota

JGK wrote:

But what advantage does Australia's selection panel possibly get from picking NSW cricketers ahead of the rest? What does a staunch Tasmanian such as David Boon or a proud Victorian such as Merv Hughes stand to gain from promoting the ability of those from another state?

It is a conveniently ignored question.

Maybe they did'nt want to be seen as biased.

That might explain Dan Cullen's Baggy Green I guess.

It's one of those myths that has become true because the Twitter illiterati and the 'Comments' noise have kept screaming it and the rest of us are most of the time too busy living to GAF arguing.

(Oh, and can you guess where I'm calling from? Turn left at Liverpool, keep going about 800k and when you see a Ford factory you're nearly there.)

Isn't it more overrating than having anything to gain - i.e. He's from NSW, he must be good? England really needed to cut out the Surrey cancer, although that was clear nepotism from the senior players. Similar in football, although from a wider pool of 3-4 teams.

Lardy]Bruce Francis[Lardy

I think the spiv media and journos like Lalor who big up players of the dubber persuasion need a hard look at themselves...I am convinced the bigging up in the media has influenced selection

NSW simply has the strongest and best cricketing culture, the highest population (one third of the Country), and is the State least likely to have players lured away from cricket by AFL.

Victoria? Well for whatever reason, their leading players tend to turn into difficult to work with c*nts- Elliott, Hodge, Rogers, Berry....even Warney, but his amazing ability neutralised the fact that team spirit wasn't high on his list of priorities.

WA and Queensland have traditionally relied on imports (usually from NSW), South Australia have been in general pretty sh*t throughout history, and Tasmania produces gutsy cricketers, but only a couple have had the talent combined with the guts to be successful Australian players (namely Boon and Ponting).

His list of NSW test players to debut since '00 is testament enough to either a blue bias or selector stupidity.

Trev

From a wozzie perspective I think you need to look at your definition of "traditionally" "relied" and "usually"

let alone the rubbish comment about TGM

horace wrote:let alone the rubbish comment about TGM

Aye ...dont call TGM a Vomit

Isn't Rogers essentially a Dubber-Wozzie? What's that got to do with Vomitdom?

Chris Rogers' old man (John from mem) played a handful of games for NSW and is remembered, if at all, as the guy who took John Benaud's place when JB was suspended late in 69-70 for wearing the wrong kind of boots.

Chris was born in NSW, shortly before the family moved to Perth and John became involved with the WACA. He was still playing for WA when he won his single Test cap in Jan 2008. At age 34, the chance of a second has almost certainly gone.

I heard he was a bit awkward in the dressing room. Didn't really fit in. Of course, that may not be his fault. It seems like only certain personalities were tolerated under Ricky Ponting's captaincy.

Could mean anything, or nothing.

In 2008 the old gang was breaking up and the group dynamics may have been a tad, er, 'interesting' for newcomers. Shaun Tait was another who didn't exactly thrive coming into the side around that time.

Henry wrote:WA and Queensland have traditionally relied on imports (usually from NSW)

errrrrr wot?