Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE - 2010 CLAXTON 2010 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1

VICTORIA EMERGES TO WIN 22ND - LAST OF THIS FORMAT?

Under assurance that ’s new National Baseball League would definitely commence at the end of 2010, this 2009/10 Claxton Shield was proclaimed to be the last of its kind. Similar to the previous competition, this program was designed to be as close as possible to what the might bring as a kind of “forerunner” to the new competition. As another progressive upgrade from the previous year, each of the five major state teams were scheduled to play two three-game weekend series against each other state on a “home & away” basis. The schedule comprised more games than the previous season with the abandonment of the “Showcase Round” from the 2008/09 competition.

Standard programming was for a Friday night game plus a Saturday afternoon/night double- header, however, separate games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights were scheduled for as a variation to this. Rained-out and/or postponed games were re-scheduled to be added to weekend programs for the return series between the same teams. At the conclusion of the 24 preliminary games played by each team the top placed team on the table was automatically qualified to host the best-of-three Grand Final series. The second placed team would host the third placed team in a best-of-three semi-final series for the right to play in the Grand Final.

This Claxton Shield review is not intended to duplicate the detail about every game from the individual game reports that will also feature in ‘Flintoff & Dunn’s’ 2010 Edition book, but we do want to run through a brief overview of each series for historical purposes, as follows:

WEEK ONE SERIES WA @ @ NSW 6 Nov – Geelong: VIC 9-8 WA 6 Nov – Blacktown: NSW 3-4 QLD 7 Nov – Geelong: VIC 8-3 WA 7 Nov – Blacktown: NSW 10-1 QLD 7 Nov – Geelong: VIC 1-11 WA 7 Nov – Blacktown: NSW 3-4 QLD

WEEK TWO SERIES NSW @ WA Queensland @ SA 12 Nov – Thornlie: WA 5-3 NSW 13 Nov – Norwood: SA 7-0 QLD 13 Nov – Thornlie: WA 3-2 NSW 14 Nov – Norwood: SA 6-5 QLD 14 Nov – Thornlie: WA 6-5 NSW 14 Nov – Norwood: SA 9-0 QLD

WEEK THREE SERIES WA @ QLD SA @ VIC 20 Nov – : QLD 5-3 WA 20 Nov – Geelong: VIC 4-6 SA 21 Nov – Holloway Field: QLD 4-7 WA 21 Nov – Geelong: VIC 3-2 SA 21 Nov – Holloway Field: QLD 3-4 WA 21 Nov – Geelong: Rained-Out 14 Jan – Norwood: VIC 6-13 SA

WEEK FOUR SERIES VIC @ NSW SA @ QLD 27 Nov – Blacktown: NSW 3-6 VIC 27 Nov – Holloway Field: QLD 5-15 SA 28 Nov – Blacktown: NSW 18-5 VIC 28 Nov – Holloway Field: QLD 2-3 SA 28 Nov – Blacktown: NSW 2-1 VIC 28 Nov – Holloway Field: QLD 9-7 SA

WEEK FIVE SERIES WA @ SA NSW @ VIC 4 DEC – Norwood: SA 2-1 WA 4 DEC – La Trobe: VIC 3-2 NSW 5 DEC – Norwood: SA 2-4 WA 5 DEC – Geelong: VIC 10-13 NSW 5 DEC – Norwood: SA 8-3 WA 5 DEC – Geelong: VIC 9-3 NSW Flintoff & Dunn’s ALMANAC 14th Edition Page 1-11

Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN - 2010 CLAXTON 2010 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1

WEEK SIX SERIES QLD @ WA NSW @ VIC 10 DEC – Thornlie: WA 5-2 QLD 11 DEC – Blacktown: NSW 2-7 SA 11 DEC – Thornlie: WA 1-0 QLD 12 DEC – Blacktown: NSW 2-1 SA 12 DEC – Thornlie: WA 10-3 QLD 12 DEC – Blacktown: NSW 6-5 SA

WEEK SEVEN SERIES NSW @ SA VIC @ QLD 18 DEC – Norwood: SA 8-2 NSW 18 DEC – Holloway Field: QLD 3-2 VIC 19 DEC – Norwood: SA 1-2 NSW 18 DEC – Holloway Field: QLD 2-5 VIC 19 DEC – Norwood: SA 4-1 NSW 18 DEC – Holloway Field: Storm Damage 8 JAN – Geelong: QLD 1-8 VIC

WEEK EIGHT SERIES SA @ WA QLD @ VIC 7 JAN – Thornlie: WA 8-3 SA 8 JAN – Geelong: VIC 3-1 QLD 8 JAN – Thornlie: WA 4-6 SA 9 JAN – Geelong: VIC 9-3 QLD 9 JAN – Thornlie: WA 11-3 SA 9 JAN – Geelong: VIC 2-0 QLD

WEEK NINE SERIES VIC @ SA WA @ NSW 15 JAN – Norwood: SA 5-2 VIC 15 JAN – Campbelltown: NSW 8-2 WA 16 JAN – Norwood: SA 5-13 VIC 16 JAN – Campbelltown: NSW 8-12 WA 16 JAN – Norwood: SA 3-8 VIC 16 JAN – Campbelltown: NSW 11-7 WA

WEEK TEN SERIES VIC @ WA NSW @ QLD 21 JAN – Thornlie: WA 3-6 VIC 22 JAN – Holloway Field: QLD 5-7 NSW 22 JAN – Thornlie: WA 4-5 VIC 23 JAN – Holloway Field: QLD 0-16 NSW 23 JAN – Thornlie: WA 0-6 VIC 23 JAN – Holloway Field: QLD 1-5 NSW

SEMI-FINAL SERIES NSW @ SA 29 JAN – Norwood: SA 0-1 NSW 30 JAN – Norwood: SA 3-2 NSW 31 JAN – Norwood: SA 1-0 NSW

GRAND-FINAL (CHAMPIONSHIP) SERIES SA @ VIC 5 FEB – La Trobe: VIC 5-3 SA 6 FEB – La Trobe: VIC 7-4 SA

WHAT’S NEW

The major conceptual change implemented for this Claxton Shield was the somewhat controversial decision to allow “foreign imports” to represent state teams while playing in local competitions. Many traditionalists disapproved of this variation to the long history of Claxton Shield competition, but it was probably done under the guise of preparing new fans for the National League future that will include import players. This was a feature of the old ABL competition which was always viewed as being something different from the Claxton Shield.

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Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2010 CLAXTON 2010 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1

There was also a suggestion that the influx of “foreign imports” would provide particular help to the South Australian team who had really struggled over the previous two campaigns. There was an undercurrent of belief that some more on-field success would help to give a shot in the arm with games returning to as a prelude to the new National League.

If that was a consideration behind the decision then it certainly did help the SA team to rise from cellar dwellers to play off for the Championship at the end of Claxton 2010. On top of a sprinkle of “foreign imports” South Australia was blessed to add Canberra’s professional star Michael Collins to their roster and they were a very formidable team. In the process Collins almost certainly became the first player in Claxton Shield history to represent three different teams as he had previously played with the Australian Provincial team and then with Queensland in Claxton Shield 2009.

I’m not so sure that I can agree with the logic of traditionally strong states like WA, who had won the last two titles, and NSW adding a few foreign imports to their team at the expense of denying playing time to local players. Queensland, under new manager David Nilsson, seemed to prefer loading their team with current professionals and, while they didn’t call upon import players, their team didn’t enjoy much success with only three wins from their 24 games. Victorian Aces manager Phil Dale took the philosophical stance that there should be enough quality players in Victoria not to have to rely upon import players to help... he proved to be correct!

What wasn’t new was West Australia’s continued insistence on calling its Claxton Shield team . We have stated often enough, maybe too often, that this is an unacceptable notion to us for a traditional STATE competition so, without saying much more, ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ continue to refer to them as Western Australia, or WA.

VENUES

Once again the issue of venues was a key consideration leading into the imminent return of the National League. As far as possible the states were hoping to establish their presence at venues likely to become their National League homes. New South Wales, of course, are well established at Blacktown Olympic Park, yet it still has its detractors in and the location has rarely attracted the type of attendances we would all like. They did play some games at Gilchrist Oval, in Campbelltown, but we may not see this happen too often in coming years?

West Australia is well served with at Thornlie and with ongoing marketing they should be able to sustain reasonable crowd numbers and, hopefully, grow support into the future. South Australia saw the highly anticipated return of big time baseball to their traditional ABL home at Norwood Oval. Even though the diamond configuration, with very short foul lines on each side, might not be ideal the venue is a clear winner in terms of public support. Some of the typically parochial fan support at Norwood produced the best atmosphere I have experienced at a local baseball game since those heady ABL days... it was great!

Queensland appears to favour playing at Holloway Field, Windsor where they played throughout the 2010 Claxton Shield competition but they might also have other options for the future. By far the biggest concern, venue wise, is the predicament in Victoria. The Victorian hierarchy obviously made a conscious decision to eschew what used to be called the Victorian Baseball Centre, more recently Ballpark, at Altona. This, unfortunately, remains one of the best venues in Australia in terms of spectator facilities but it has always been unpopular because, quite simply, it was built on the wrong side of Melbourne’s city. People have voted with a lack of bums on seats over many years and, finally, the decision was made to cut any losses and to move on!

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Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2010 CLAXTON 2010 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1

However, where to move was a much bigger and extremely perplexing question? Everyone in Victoria knows that the baseball heartland in Melbourne lies in the south-east of the city yet, while there are some very good club venues in that area, none had the lighting required for night games as the main concern among a few other minor issues. The city of Geelong, about 75km west of Melbourne, was scheduled to host all of Victoria’s games but, while the playing conditions are very good, spectator facilities are spartan and crowds were generally small... too small.

So much so that the Victorians tried to play games at La Trobe University, in the northern suburbs, and the Grand Final series was played there. This too was inadequate in terms of facilities and fan support. The major headache of where to play National League baseball in Melbourne will probably turn into a migraine before it is resolved... if ever! In contrast to the ‘Field of Dreams’ concept of “if you build it they will come”, in Melbourne, “if you play in the wrong place they WILL NOT come”. This is a fact that has been validated over and over again!

OFFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS

It would be virtually redundant to mention that the 2009/10 Claxton Shield supplied Australian baseball fans with another very high quality baseball product on the various diamonds around the country. As always, neither bat nor ball really dominated and only the best players were able to compile big statistical numbers with consistency across the demanding competition.

With a combination of batting average, power and run production new South Aussie hero Michael Collins stole the offensive show for Claxton Shield 2010. His average of .368 was “only” third best for the competition, but his .671 slugging percentage and .505 on base average led all others, as did his seven home runs. Collins also produced the second most runs driven in as an all round offensive effort of remarkable proportions. In the opening two games of SA’s home series against eventual champions Victoria at Norwood he batted a combined 9-9 with four home runs and eleven RBIs... it was breathtaking stuff!

For batting average Victorian infielder Matthew Lawman was in stunning career-best form with his .416 competition average, followed by impressive young NSW pro Mitch Dening (.392). New South Wales’ heavy hitter Pat Maat equalled Collins with .368 for third billing. The high quality duo of Victorian Aces Andrew Russell and were joined by WA star with .354 as the only others to own an average above .350.

Collins’ seven long balls was well clear of Queensland’s Andrew Utting who was next best with five, but his came from just 44 at bats in a mighty display of power. (NSW), Tim Kennelly, Michael Lysaught (NSW) and import Ryan Murphy (SA) each nailed four bombs.

Tim Kennelly just topped Collins with 23 RBIs compared with his 22, while Josh Davies and Pat Maat were next in line with 19 each. As mentioned Mike Collins led the slugging percentages with .671 from Andrew Utting (.636), Victoria’s Brett Tamburrino (.622) and Tim Kennelly (.615) for those above the .600 plateau.

Victoria’s leadoff star Scott Wearne had most at bats with 114 and he also topped the count with 21, along with SA’s Jeremy Cresswell and Michael Lysaught, while Tim Kennelly had 20 safe hits. Speedy South Aussie import David Washington walked a competition high 23 times and he was a major pest on base with the most stolen bases at 13. Collins walked 21 times for second billing just ahead of WA who walked 20 times. WA’s adopted star was second for base thefts with ten. Victoria’s Brett Tamburrino was the only batter other than Collins to reach the .500 mark for on base percentage with exactly .500.

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Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2010 CLAXTON 2010 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1

PITCHING HIGHLIGHTS

While none of Australia’s big league pitchers were on display during Claxton 2010, there were still a healthy number of quality professionals joining the cream of the local arms. Victoria’s eventual Golden Arm Award winner Matt Blackmore was simply outstanding with his 7-1, 1.71ERA record that came from 42 innings of both starting and relief work. Blackmore was the cornerstone of the Aces success in the regular season and he stepped up again in the Championship Series as a key component of the title victory. Blackmore also limited opponents to a competition low .174 batting average. He was also voted Championship Series MVP.

Next on the “Honour Roll” was recent dual Golden Arm winner Tim Cox, from NSW, who owned another terrific 1.99ERA from 49.2 innings, followed by his Patriots’ team mate Wayne Lundgren with a 2.70ERA from his tally of 50.0 innings pitched. Seasoned South Australian pro was also most successful with a 5-1, 2.96ERA record from the preliminary rounds but he was on the losing end of both his playoff starts to somewhat deflate his numbers.

NSW import Lee Ingram topped the competition with four saves, while Mathew Rae (NSW) and Hayden Beard (SA) both recorded three. Ingram made the most appearances with 12 while Mildren and Lundgren both made a competition most nine starts. Mildren was the workhorse of the campaign with 56.1 innings, ahead of veteran SA team mate Darren Fidge (51.0) and Lundgren (50.0). Darren Fidge, quite typically, was the only one to register two complete games.

However, here we should mention the quite astonishing complete game victory pitched by Fidge’s Canadian team mate Ryan Murphy in the semi-final series against NSW. Not only did Murphy, who played mostly at first base for SA, pitch a complete game, two hit, shutout in the deciding game at Norwood, but his solo with the bat was the only score in the 1-0 victory... how about that!

Tim Cox led the punch out men with 55 strike out victims, followed by Paul Mildren with 49. In another remarkable performance Victoria’s stalwart reliever Russell Spear struck out 21 batters from his total of 12.1 terrific innings of relief pitching.

DEFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS

Once again we must apologise for the fact that our comments are primarily based on games that we saw in person and/or some anecdotal information we received. This might unfairly result in a neglect to mention some other worthy defensive efforts.

It’s not often that an comes to special attention but then it’s also not very often that an outfielder records three outfield assists in a three game series like Victoria’s cannon-arm right fielder Andrew Russell did in the series against NSW at Blacktown. Russell is well respected for his amazing throwing prowess in Victorian club baseball but he was tested three times unsuccessfully by the Patriots with three runners terminated short of home plate while attempting to score. He had four outfield assists for the competition and, I’m sure, he also prevented several more runs once news of his throwing threat found its way around the country.

One game-saving catch by South Australia’s Dan Wilson was reported to us as a “highlight reel”, over the fence, home run robber at Norwood, while we also received reports of some spectacular outfield catching from both teams during WA’s home series against SA in Perth.

Not unusually the catching of most teams was of a very high standard throughout the competition with some very fine plate minders on show.

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Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2010 CLAXTON 2010 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1

THE AFTERMATH

Well, perhaps fittingly, the Victorian Aces concluded what might be the very last Claxton Shield competition of this traditional type as National Champions for a record extending 22nd time. It was a triumph through adversity for manager Phil Dale who resisted every temptation to call upon imported talent to bolster what was, at times, a near threadbare bullpen. He somehow managed to cobble together enough starting pitching to keep decent results coming and it was a tribute to the management and team chemistry that allowed the Aces to prevail. The Aces may have won the Championship but they now face the harsh reality of finding somewhere viable to play in Melbourne, otherwise the glory will be short lived!

Import assistance or not, it was fantastic to see South Australia back at the forefront of Australian baseball and, as I mentioned, the return of healthy crowds back at Norwood Oval gives them a real platform for their National League future. New South Wales was, as usual, right in the mix at the pointy end of the competition and there was not much separating them from SA in that ever-so- tight 2-1 semi-final series in Adelaide.

WA finally fell from the lofty heights of having claimed the past two Claxton Shield titles but they were not far away from qualifying for the playoff rounds and there is plenty of young talent still emerging in the wonderful west. Who knows what might have been for them if young pro pitching star had been available rather than shut down for the summer? Queensland, under new manager and ABL legend , endured a torrid time as they won just three of 24 games while appearing a fair way off the pace throughout. Once again, there is still plenty of quality in the Rams’ ranks and we would expect them to re-group rapidly.

So, Aussie baseball devotees one and all, it seems that we are finally set to head off again into the returning frontier of another National Semi- League. No doubt there is much work to do and many riddles to solve between now and the start of next season. We can only hope that the people we have entrusted with making it all happen make smart decisions as we all seem to agree that failure from here could well be terminal for Australia’s baseball future. If they can manage to build upon the strengths of the previous ABL, which had many positives, and then find a way to make the league more sustainable in the longer term, it should succeed.

What troubles me most at this point are some quite unrealistic expectations that will need to be managed or only disappointment will surely follow. This may be most critical in terms of expected crowd numbers where some visions of up to 5,000 per game, or averages of 3,000, are nothing more than an impossible dream in our current environment. There is much marketing and promotion to do before we could hope to get near the highs of the former ABL era that has not been approached since.

We do wish all involved the very best of luck and support for the good of Australian baseball.

To conclude with a moment of gratuitous self appreciation, the return of the second chapter of the Australian Baseball League will see a key plan of ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ come to fruition. By maintaining our statistics and publications from the original ABL, through the IBLA and subsequent Claxton Shield competitions and on into the new ABL, we will have successfully bridged those baseball eras. In doing so we will have fulfilled our promise to those original ABL pioneers by making sure that their mighty contributions to Australian baseball history are not forgotten.

By Peter Flintoff

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