Big chance for Big Dirk
Wed, 3 February 2010
Australian fast bowler Dirk Nannes views the one-off Twenty20 international against Pakistan in Melbourne on Friday as a 'huge opportunity' to cement himself in the team with the ICC World Twenty20 just over two months away. A change in selectors' attitudes towards the shortest form of the game has seen 33-year-old Nannes drafted into the national Twenty20 squad this week after amazingly being overlooked for last year's ICC World Twenty20 in England despite being the leading wicket-taker (12) in the 2008-09 Big Bash while representing Victoria. Friday night's Twenty20 clash with the Pakistanis serves as only one of five chances to play for Australia in the newest incarnation of the game in the lead-up to the showpiece event in the Caribbean. The other four are against the West Indies and New Zealand twice each. And while Nannes ended up playing for The Netherlands in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, he would love nothing more than to be donning the green and gold in the 2010 edition of the tournament. "I think any chance to play is a big opportunity," Nannes said outside Cricket Australia headquarters on Tuesday. "Every game you play in the Big Bash is a massive opportunity to prove yourself." "Hopefully I get a few more opportunities after that (Friday's clash against Pakistan) and who knows? I'm not a selector and all I can do is try and bowl as best as I can." "It's great to be sort of, I guess, recognised to be in the Australian team and whether that, going forward, gets me a place to the World Cup that would be fantastic." Nannes' record in the shortest form the game is undeniable, having taken 70 wickets at 17.74 for various teams around the world, and he is thankful that national selectors don't view age as an important factor in Twenty20s any more. "It's a bit of a different game, I think there's a different mentality for sure bowling Twenty20 as opposed to bowling one-dayers and stuff," the Twenty20 specialist bowler said. "It's probably the first time they've really gone down that track, they did it in England, they picked a different side and unfortunately we got rained off," he said of the two abandoned Twenty20 matches in Manchester against England that followed The Ashes series last year. "So this is the first time really that the new-look outfit, I guess, really has a chance to shine." "(The selectors have) certainly picked a lot of people who have got good records in the (Twenty20) game." Nannes played a pivotal role in the Bushrangers winning their fourth Big Bash title from their fifth attempt last month, taking seven wickets at 10.74 in the last four matches of the tournament including figures 1-8 off four overs against South Australia in the final. But he doesn't feel that performance against the Redbacks, which also featured a maiden - a Twenty20 rarity, was the sole reason for his national call-up. "I think I've played well for a number of seasons now, so I don't think a couple of bad games necessarily writes you off," he said. Meanwhile, Nannes has dismissed Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi's claims that ball-tampering is commonplace in light of the bizarre incident which saw the 29-year-old bite on the ball in the fifth and final one-dayer against Australia at the WACA Ground on Sunday and subsequently get suspended for two Twenty20 internationals. "It's no secret that everyone wants to change the condition of the ball but that's (done) through shining the ball and things like that," Nannes said. And the star Bushranger also hoped the potentially-ugly ground invasion in Perth involving a spectator tackling an unsuspecting Khalid Latif to the ground was an isolated incident. "It'd be sad if Australia ever became a country where the fans were fenced off from the cricket and hopefully that never comes about," Nannes said. "Hopefully people behave themselves and realise that was a one-off incident, the guy was dealt with effectively and hopefully it doesn't happen again."
Ronny Lerner, Sportal
