Chris Gayle issued an invitation to the kids of Canberra to turn up at Manuka Oval at 4pm on Wednesday for a hit and bowl ahead of the Prime Minister’s X1 match, which starts on Thursday. I happen to be in the area so I go along and have a look. Boys with monstrous cricket [Read more]
Link: Times are strange when Dougie butts out
February 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Holy smoke! Doug Walters has given up the durries! The Guardian gets over its shock to explore the link between cricket and cigarettes. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/feb/02/the-spin-cricket-smoking Almanac Admin
Bat to the Future (or Here One-Day, Gone the Next)
January 25, 2010 by 14 Comments
by Andrew Gigacz Cricket’s big issue of 2010 is the future of the one-day international. Whatever your preferred medium of cricket coverage, chances are the undercurrent flowing beneath it will be the debate about how the Twenty20 form of the game will shape the landscape of the sport over the next decade or two. And [Read more]
Cricket: Yeah, but is it cricket?
January 20, 2010 by 5 Comments
By Darren Dawson The movable feast that is the “20twenty Big Bash” is all but over for another season, and I am now feeling a little bloated from the viewing. However, a number of questions remain unanswered, and to me, chief among those queries: “Is it really cricket?” As a traditionalist, I have been a [Read more]
Third Test, Day 2: Ponting a chance for the Camira?
January 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
by John Harms We are on the Newell Highway. At last. Just south of Goondiwindi. Stumps have just been drawn at Bellrive; a couple of disastrous run outs ruining the Pakistanis day . The Handicapper has taken the wheel. The kids have been very good, sleeping from Michael Clarke’s dismissal, all the way to Pakistan [Read more]
Cricket: Commentary contributes to soundtrack of holiday bliss
January 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
By Damian O’Donnell Picture this: You’re sitting on the banks of the Murray at Yarrawonga just down river a bit from Bundalong. You are shaded by a large leafy willow tree that has seemingly been there since whales walked on land. An ice cold beer is sitting on the arm of the chair, kept ice [Read more]
Third Test, Day 1: Dysfunction, thy name is Pakistan
January 14, 2010 by 2 Comments
3rd Test Australia v Pakistan at Bellerive Oval, Hobart Day 1, Thursday 14 January 2010 [Stumps score: Aust 3/302. Ponting 137*, Clarke 111*.] by Tony Roberts Preview My return to work having blessedly liberated me from reliance on Channel Nine or the ABC’s deteriorating radio commentary, I followed the first day of this match via [Read more]
Akmal’s nightmare sparks memories of dreadful day at Spring Gully
January 14, 2010 by 3 Comments
by Peter Lenaghan Pakistan’s wicketkeeper, Kamran Akmal, described it as a “scary dream”. Three dropped catches off the bowling of the leg spinner, Danish Kaneria. All from the bat of the century maker, Michael Hussey. All while keeping up to the stumps. All in front of a big crowd at the magnificent old Sydney Cricket [Read more]
Bikes, bats, lycra: a big weekend in Ballarat and Bunni
January 10, 2010 by 9 Comments
Local civic and political leaders rarely miss a chance to proclaim Melbourne the “sporting capital of the world”, or “the world’s most liveable city”, blah blah. Whilst I agree that our beloved state capital is a very nice place to live (for most) and a fine sporting town, would it be too cynical to suggest [Read more]
Second Test, Day 4: Australia accomplishes Mission Impossible
January 6, 2010 by 1 Comment
by Andrew Gigacz Day 4 dawns cloudy for Australia, literally and metaphorically. A lead of 80 with two wickets remaining has even the most optimistic of us in doubt. But optimistic I remain and prior to the start of player, I go searching for the silver lining in those clouds. And I find it. Australia’s [Read more]
Mysteries and Demons revisited: An Australian miracle, a Pakistani collapse.
January 6, 2010 by 4 Comments
They call it Test cricket because it has a tendency to test all your resources, both mental and psychical. I wrote yesterday of demons and mysteries. At that stage, it was Australia battling the demons, and Pakistan which held all the mystery. Well, as they say, a day is a long time in cricket (and [Read more]
Mysteries and Demons: Not a Dan Brown sequel, but a Pakistani blockbuster
January 5, 2010 by 2 Comments
Pakistan has always been one of the most fascinating cricketing nations; though not always for the right reasons. There’s usually an alleged teenage prodigy of indeterminate age, who often turns out to be 26 years old and a father of three; the continual unexplained revolving door of captains, coaches and virtually everyone else in the [Read more]
Big Bash a big hit with the kids (and Dad?)
January 5, 2010 by 2 Comments
They say parents go to the football and take their kids. With basketball, it is the kids who go and take their parents. Twenty20 is the basketball form of cricket. Having looked at the cricket calendar I knew we weren’t going to be around for the international short-form games but saw January 2 as an [Read more]
Second Test, Day 2: Akmal misses 50, Dips’s daughter misses the 48 tram
January 4, 2010 by 3 Comments
By Damian O’Donnell The first day back at work is the second day of the second Test in Sydney. The first Pakistan wicket to fall is actually the second (after North dropped a dolly), and the first time I heard a live score was when the second wicket fell. The radio is playing quietly in [Read more]
NIGHTWATCHMAN? – someone please explain
January 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment
My English immigrant father, having only daughters, raised me with an understanding of cricket; of course when I was growing up test cricket was the dominant form of the game. It is certainly a format for the devoted and over many years of observing and analysing, I have come to enjoy and respect it. While [Read more]
Second Test, Day 1: Mohammads make a mountain for Aussies to climb
January 3, 2010 by 4 Comments
By Steve Healy A few days ago, I told my good friend Gigs that I’d be able to report on day one of the cricket. But after doing so, I realised that the Test started on Sunday, the day we were hosting my sister’s Italian boyfriend (who came to Australia on Wednesday) for a barbeque [Read more]
Ridiculous things you really didn’t need to know about this Test match
January 3, 2010 by 26 Comments
By Andrew Gigacz AUSTRALIA IN SYDNEY is an anagram of IN A RAINY DAY TUSSLE. PAKISTAN IN SYDNEY? is an anagram of YES! AND STAY IN PINK! DRAW IN SYDNEY is an anagram of DRY ENDS. I YAWN. A TIE IN SYDNEY is an anagram of I.E. DENY SANITY. Australia were [Read more]
First Test, Day 4: Aamer red hot, Healy red-faced
December 31, 2009 by 32 Comments
By Steve Healy Going to the Boxing Day test is a rarity for me, in actual fact I’ve only been twice before. Last year on day three, and in 2005 on day four. On both occasions, the visiting team was South Africa. While walking into the MCG on a sunny December 29, I realised that [Read more]
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