Sheffield Shield, SA v WA: The Hill, the Hilditch and the Hughes

by Patrick O’Keeffe I arrived at Adelaide Oval on the first morning of the Shield game between Western Australia and South Australia, feeling a great deal of apprehension. Since my last visit, the Edwin Smith, George Giffen, and Mostyn Evans Stands had been pulled down, which saddened me. I really loved those stands. Andrew Hilditch was [Read more]

Punter’s Predicament

A good trick in life is to get out while you’re ahead. No one wants to be stuck with the cleanup when the party’s over. It’s often better for your reputation to remain a vision of eternally splendid youth, than to suffer the indignities of ageing. To be Jim Morrison, not Mick Jagger. Team sports [Read more]

Third Test, Day 5: This is the end

After an extra half an hour on Day 4 stumps were called with the West Indies 51 runs short of a potentially transformational victory. Australia on the other hand were a solitary wicket away from a flattering victory. Day 5 was set up. The potential of a grand stand finish was just as strong as [Read more]

Third Test, Day 3: Introducing the Test Cricket Quaddy

by Chris Riordan Here’s a new betting medium I’ve just uncovered. As we know, they’re what keep sports afloat. It’s the Test Cricket Quaddy and you’d have scooped the pool if you got it right by tonight. The challenge is to pick runs and wickets per session, from tea one day until stumps the next.

Third Test, Day 2: A Day In The Life Of An Accountant

by Damian O’Donnell (Note – at least 50% of this story is fictional) I’m sitting at my desk with my brown cardigan on (the one with the brown leather elbow patches) singing that well known accountants’ song “For Every Debit There’s A Credit” (sung to the tune of “Stairway To Heaven”). The cricket is on [Read more]

Third Test, Day 1: Gabba grass memories – cheery; WACA prospects – dreary.

I was reminded by the WACA test today, and I’m not sure why, of December 1979 when the West Indies came to the Darling Downs, to Gold Park, in Toowoomba. I had played quite a few Colts games there. The Windies side included Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge and Desi Haynes, IVA himself, and both Murrays, DA [Read more]

The Legend of Chicken Man

Not over the Hill – Issue 1 by Andrew Gigacz I’ve been known by many nicknames over the years. These days most people know me simply as “Gigs”. But at various points in my life, and for various reasons, I’ve also had the monikers Gene, Roy, Bop and, more recently in these tech-dominated times, Gigabyte [Read more]

The game – by Debbie Kairn

After stumps Pitch dark Crickets play

A thoroughly Australian few days

by John Harms I have always had a sense of being Australian. Not in a flag-waving, Aussie-Aussie-Aussie sense. It’s more a feeling of being connected to the place I come from. The land. The people. The way of life. A job if you can find one. A beer and a bet. My first overseas trip [Read more]

Cricket: Country boys take block for a good cause

By Kara Bell Late afternoon, 17 January 2009. Farmers v Graziers in the annual Colombo Creek Classic at the Whiteheads’ Colombo Creek property outside Jerilderie in the Riverina. Farmer Ed Ryan is at the crease and has only two balls remaining to rein in the Graziers’ target of 198. The crowd is silent and the [Read more]

Second Test, Day 3: A challenging day

by Tim Adam Watching cricket in Singapore is strangely dissatisfying … and culturally challenging. The internet tells me that at drinks in the midst of the first session on day 4 the West Indies are 2/64 in their second dig with the honours going to Australia this morning.

Logic from the backyard

by Patrick O’Keeffe Some of the hardest fought cricket matches I ever played took place in backyards and driveways. And I’m not just saying that. As pleasantries were dispensed with, friends became bitter enemies. Every ball was delivered with ferocity, while the batsmen rarely gave their wicket away cheaply. When they did, they would channel [Read more]

Second Test, Day 3: A classic day of cricket

by Chris Riordan I heard an ABC Radio cricket promo refer to “the rhythm of summer”. I like that. Cricket on the radio is synonymous with holidays, sunshine…a myriad of memories in which cricket is sometimes at the foreground but just as often is the backing beat to this great time of the year. It [Read more]

Second Test, Day 2: Aussies’ effort all well and good, but did you hear about Mumbai?

West Indies 451; Australia 0/174 I awoke before dawn on Saturday to pore over the many elements of the impending contest, and then spent much of the morning attending to the nuts and bolts of getting to the big event – next year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa, that is. By breakfast, I had [Read more]

Second Test, Day 2 – A change of fortune for West Indies and Clifton Hill

by Andrew Gigacz From the outside, the parallels between the current West Indies team and the Clifton Hill 5th XI may not appear obvious. Actually, even from the inside, they probably aren’t apparent to anyone but me. And in truth, they did not even manifest themselves in my mind until I woke up on Day [Read more]

Second Test, Day 1: A uniform performance from a team that doesn’t know how to play the Safe way..

By Steve Healy After spending my first holiday morning at the uniform shop with my Mum, the cricket couldn’t have come at a better time: The West Indies won the toss and elected to bat, Adrian Barath and Chris Gayle strolled onto the brilliant Adelaide surface at the picturesque Adelaide Oval, with an attacking mindset. [Read more]

Second Test, Day 1 – Bravo Bravado

by John Butler The lead up to this game was again dominated by dire prognostications on the state of Test cricket, the state of West Indies cricket and various predictions on the state of the Earth (emanating mainly from Canberra). I leave the state of the Earth to those better informed, but can’t help feeling [Read more]

Cricket: Love of the game develops into family adventure

By Darren Dawson Cricket has consumed great slabs of my time over the past thirty summers. It’s cost me many life experiences: trips to the surf coast with mates as a teenager, weekends away with friends, long summer holidays with my young family. The only Derby days I ever attended were when the cricket was [Read more]

Cricket: I was there as Slasher took on Windies in best Test at Adelaide Oval

By Peter Schumacher I was at the Fourth Test match between Australia and the West Indies at Adelaide from 27 January to 1 February 1961 for 4 of the 5 days, and on that memorable fifth day I was present in the outer  in the general vicinity of where the Chappell Stands are now located. [Read more]

West Indies batting is bad news

By Steve Healy It was a day that started with the West Indies at the crease, and ended with the West Indies at the crease, a day where 15 wickets fell, all West Indian ones. Adrian Barath was the clear highlight of the day, with an inspiring 2nd innings century on debut, in a West [Read more]