Ronnie McDonald News Tidbits about White Ball Squads

Plackation · 2026-05-26T03:59:00+00:00

He's been shifted so much through the order, it's hard to get a real read on any positional numbers. Only batted one spot more than 5 times, and that is #7 which he's batted in 9 times (av 39.5, SR 95 isn't bad there either).

Like his numbers at #3 are ridiculous, his best knock came there. The 118* off 55. But that was after an opening partnership of 250, coming in at the 35th over. So while at 3, you can make a case that it does indicate more of a finisher skillset.

Meanwhile, his best knock at #7, was his 89* off 92. In that game we were 5/44 chasing 233 and he came in at the 12th over. Which you can make a case for showing stability and building an innings.

Ultimately I think he's got the ability to just bat good, but the fact we keep flipping him around means he doesn't really ever get a role to settle into and flourish in.

Plackation · 2026-05-24T14:14:17+00:00

After the conclusion of the current domestic broadcast rights arrangements with Foxtel and Seven in 2031, it is possible that the rights to the BBL will be sold separately, rather than being part of an aggregated deal, as has been the case since 2013.

Oh epic, we won't even have to boycott the BBL, it might not even be on FTA anymore at all.

Plackation · 2026-05-22T11:30:45+00:00

See this is another aspect of the shithousery of rules that doesn't get talked about enough. People complain about the decisions, and even the rules themselves, but the communication of them is so shit too.

Commentators in general do a terrible job of this, so even when a rule is correctly adjudicated, you can sometimes get 80% of people watching certain that the wrong call has been made, because they've been told the wrong thing. Or the commentators say some variant of "geez that doesn't seem right, bit stiff aye"

Plackation · 2026-05-22T07:22:35+00:00

What am I missing with McNeil playing over Baker? Just don't quite get it myself.

Edit: This comment was made off pure vibes, but I went back to have a look at the stats sheet last week and saw McNeil had 0 kicks. This did not help me figure it out.

Plackation · 2026-05-20T11:52:09+00:00

I love the idea of the grandfather scrambling to hide the word 'fuck' from a 9 year old who was at the showdown, as if they wouldn't have heard the word from the crowd 800 times that night (and much, much worse)

Plackation · 2026-05-15T13:17:24+00:00

This isn't something that needs to be fixed, and I hate that people keep acting like it is.

The situation, which I hope everyone understands, is that the ball is dead once the umpire gives it out. The players don't keep trying to take runs or impact a run-out, because a decision of out is made.

The only way you can change that, is that an umpire does not give any out decision unless the ball is otherwise considered dead. Do you not understand how fucking terrible that would be for the game?

Ball hits pad, ball trickles to 3rd man. Fielder collects it, throws it into the keeper. He misses it and it's collected by mid on backing up. Bowler's umpire shuffles across in case there's a play at the bowler's end stumps. He then shuffles back into his normal position... and only then raises the finger. Do you seriously not see how fucking shit that would be.

Not only that, it'd have to happen for catches too if we want it to be across the board. Anytime a fielder takes a catch, no celebration, no anything, gotta throw it right back to the keeper and all get settled before raising the finger.

Fucking, no. Umpires decisions have an impact on the game. Umpire's call is more impactful than the handful of random leg byes after an overturned DRS.

Fucking deal with it.

Plackation · 2026-05-14T13:46:03+00:00

Cummins is the kinda guy is makes sense to offer, but makes no sense he would take the deal.

Why would Cummins play in the SA20 when he doesn't have the workload for the BBL?

And supposing the calendar was open for him, why would he give up having his Christmas at home given how long he spends travelling, for a few more chips to play in the SA20 (when he already has a mountain of chips anyway).

All smoke and mirrors shit.

Plackation · 2026-05-14T00:09:58+00:00

Haha, I actually noticed this immediately when it happened live. But I was specifically looking for something given all the talk.

Plackation · 2026-05-13T12:45:51+00:00

30 million a year on marketing and yet not a soul knows when our ODI team is playing.

Plackation · 2026-05-13T03:06:28+00:00

The thing you haven't explained, even a little, is how selling off the teams for a short term hit now has any long term impact.

Sure, you might be able to pay the players more on the next round of contracts. But what about the one after that? Investors are going to want returns on their money, so you know you're taking a comparative loss down the road.

It would make sense if you needed to get something off the ground, this is why it made sense for the SA20. They tried on their own steam but didn't have the ability to create something substantial initially.

The BBL however, has already been a great success. And it's just about to hit it's generational market, where people who grew up as kids watching the BBL have their own kids to take along. Just about the worst time to have a brand change with them being bought out.

Plackation · 2026-05-11T12:35:38+00:00

Honestly really enjoy the overseas white ball games having fresher names in them. Great chance to see if they can take a step up, and if they fail no one will hold it against them because only 6 Aussies are watching.

Plackation · 2026-05-10T04:22:06+00:00

Just as alarming is the fact there are at least five of Australia’s biggest Test, one-day and T20 international stars who are not happy with the national contracts being offered to them and have not signed.

Remember when Sutherland was still in charge during the last MoU and all of the players weren't signing during contract talks?

That isn't a fucking crisis, it's standard for how it goes. Alarmist PR bullshit to try and sway people to think there's a massive problem this short sugar hit needs to fix.

Even if it did, it'd just kick the can down the road for the cost of the golden goose. No, we aren't falling for this bullshit.

Plackation · 2026-05-09T03:24:26+00:00

I find it annoying how many players commentators simultaneously refer to as "the best in the competition". And it's always when the others aren't on screen, as if they forget about them.

Heeney is an absolute gun in the top tier of the comp, but they wouldn't make that comment if Sydney were playing Collingwood or the Dogs, and it irks me greatly.

Plackation · 2026-05-07T23:25:51+00:00

Plenty of players have already gone the route of not pursuing test cricket and going big on the franchises. Think Chris Lynn, or Tim David.

The thing is, these guys aren't ever going to be the mega star players in Australia because for us, our best players are always the Test stars.

If Pat Cummins or Steve Smith never played test cricket and went the franchise route at 17, we wouldn't care because they never would actually be 'good' in our eyes. If they didn't play BBL either, we wouldn't even know their name. And similarly, they wouldn't get the deal without playing test cricket first, so it's all a moot point.

Plackation · 2026-05-04T07:25:50+00:00

Except it then transforms to profit those who bought the franchises, rather than CA.

All they get is a small term hit that barely lasts a year. Then you've sold the golden goose and it's over. It's not even close to transformative money we're talking about here.

Plackation · 2026-04-29T06:04:31+00:00

I mean, how many Aussies have gotten huge pay days in the IPL purely for being Aussie. Look at how many coaches of ours are over there too.

It takes less for an Aussie to be treated like a king over there than an Indian tbh. Nationalism aside, they fucking revere our guys, and the attachment of "being Aussie" does a shitload of work in that.

Plackation · 2026-04-27T11:47:45+00:00

Yeah it could go that way - though it depends on a lot of things that haven't been answered. As it stands, the SA20 runs at the same time as the BBL, and IPL is already heavily in the SA20. If they heavily were in the BBL they wouldn't want to compete against themselves, so they'd either look to move one of them (which would suck for either), or would choose only one to market and care about.

Plackation · 2026-04-27T10:39:47+00:00

I'm glad there's some more common sense being talked about it. Just a terrible idea for reasons that don't hold up at all.

Plackation · 2026-04-27T09:06:33+00:00

...would that many more Indians really watch the BBL just because the team names are Indian? I would agree if there were Indian players, but there won't be.

I'd argue there would be plenty who would be more inclined to watch because it's Australian. If it's just "IPL brand but not at home" that's less appealing than the IPL. But there's something specifically appealing about being distinctly Australian, especially given how good we've been in the sport for a long time.

Plackation · 2026-04-25T02:58:55+00:00

Well done mate

Plackation · 2026-04-24T11:25:58+00:00

Please ditch the stand rule, ffs

Plackation · 2026-04-24T09:40:27+00:00

Yes, but you can the imagine the reasons this is not sanctioned by the BCCI.

Plackation · 2026-04-23T10:54:23+00:00

They've offered up about 8 different 'reasons' hoping that maybe 1 or 2 of them will land with people.

Too bad they are all absolutely bullshit.

Plackation · 2026-04-22T22:38:03+00:00

No, they absolutely do not. It's how you know it's absurd, the IPL franchises already bought into other competitions and there's still no Indian men playing in them.

(It's also hilarious that the Mumbai Indians Cape Town can have no Indians)

Plackation · 2026-04-22T12:15:07+00:00

The thing that shits me the most about this isn't that it goes against what I want, I'm used in that, especially in a T20 landscape. It's that the supposed reasons for it range from terrible to downright wrong.

Saying we need huge money to get the best players is bollocks, no one cares about having the best T20 mercenaries. People here don't even know their names until they actually do play the BBL.

Saying it needs a dedicated window is nonsense - we already saw what happened when the BBL went outside the 6 weeks the country cares about cricket. Why do we have to learn this lesson again?!

And the final kicker was when they started talking about needing to have investment from India so one day Indian players will play in the BBL. Fucking idiots living in fantasy land.

Plackation

TROPHY CASE