< 1 minute readMichael Clarke and Ian Bell. Two munchkin-faced, thimble-sized men who’ve made knowledgeable cricket folk go all quivery with their batsmanship. They’re much the same age and apparently both have “natural talent” instead of a skeleton. However, one’s dithering along the same as he always has done, while the other’s a
Continue readingCategory: Australia
Are Australia the worst team in the world?
2 minute readYou’d be forgiven for thinking so with some of the things you read. The fact is Australia are still a feisty outfit and England in particular shouldn’t be fancying their chances against them too much. Australia may have slid a bit, but they’ll never implode. It’s not the Aussie way.
Continue readingDoug Bollinger lacks for effort
< 1 minute readDoug Bollinger’s making his debut for Australia. How much effort is he going to put in? “If I happen to play I’ll put 150,000 percent in.” That’s the bare minimum these days. Remember when Damien Martyn retired because he could only muster a puny 100% dedication. That was a long
Continue readingGraeme Smith does his things
< 1 minute readGraeme Smith’s things are hitting the bulk of the runs in a fourth innings chase and winning Test series. There were no miracles from Australia’s bowlers, because the bowlers who could perform them are gone. South Africa chased down 183 for the loss of one wicket, won the match, won
Continue readingRicky Ponting – an admirable batsman
< 1 minute readRicky Ponting, eh? He’s not likeable, because of the face, the face and also the face. However, he is admirable as a batsman. Look Ponting in the face and it’s tricky to know whether to sigh and hope he goes away or to start with the punching. Watch him bat
Continue readingNeil McKenzie: brave, stupid or mental
< 1 minute readNeil McKenzie did something. Tony Greig called him brave, Mark Nicholas branded him stupid. We’d like to add ‘mental’ to the equation as well. Of course, Neil McKenzie is known to be a bit mental, but this was a different kind of mental. He took up a fielding position maybe
Continue readingJP Duminy shows South Africa’s resilience
< 1 minute readJP Duminy’s Test record is improving: one in his first innings, 50 not out in his second and 166 in his third. The 166 kicks in the balls that he gave Australia’s bowlers were particularly useful as they helped produce 275 ball kicks for South Africa’s last three wickets. Those
Continue readingPeter Siddle’s bowling speed
< 1 minute readArch woodchopper cum fourth choice Australian quick, Peter Siddle, can whang the ball at speeds up to about 150kph, which is about 93mph in old money and officially makes him a fast bowler on the King Cricket scale. In light of this, we now want to see all young English
Continue readingMatthew Hayden gives you a choice
< 1 minute readMatthew Hayden’s been getting a few rough decisions of late, as batsmen often do when the ball’s missing the bat time and time again. Hayden says: “Hawkeye I think gives you a pretty good understanding of what line the ball pitched at, but take my lbw decision in the second
Continue readingAustralia’s selection policy
2 minute readJust what do they think they’re doing? There was a sign that the wheels had come off when Ricky Ponting said: “We’ve really got to pick horses for courses with our selections,” when the Australians were in India. Selection is one of the Aussies’ greatest strengths. Historically, they’ve actually planned
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