2010 CLAXTON 2010 in REVIEW! - by Peter Flintoff Section 1

Flintoff & Dunn’s AUSTRALIAN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 2010 CLAXTON 2010 IN REVIEW! - By Peter Flintoff Section 1 VICTORIA EMERGES TO WIN 22ND CLAXTON SHIELD - LAST OF THIS FORMAT? Under assurance that Australia’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 National League 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 Perth 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 @ Victoria Queensland @ 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 – Holloway Field: 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 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - 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. Flintoff & Dunn’s ALMANAC 14th Edition Page 1-12 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 Adelaide a shot in the arm with games returning to Norwood Oval 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 Perth Heat. 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 Sydney 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 Baseball Park 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 Melbourne Ballpark, at Altona.

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