2 minute read The fifth Ashes Test is a very important thing, even when – in fact, especially when it’s a dead rubber. We hereby retract our knee jerk suggestion that they simply abandon the match in light of the two teams’ decision not to travel to Perth because of Western Australia’s 14-day
Continue readingCategory: Australia
Remember Graham Manou?
< 1 minute read Graham Manou finished his career with a first-class batting average of 25.49. He played one Test for Australia. That Test was the third of the 2009 Ashes series, a heavily rain-affected draw that never really delivered tension at any point. Maybe there was a soupcon when Australia were 52-2 in
Continue readingA fast bowler can definitely be captain in an era when every player misses loads of matches anyway
6 minute read Fast bowlers aren’t often captains. They’re more likely to get injured. They’re more likely to be tired and bad-tempered in the field. There’s always the temptation to over- or under-bowl themselves. But these things aren’t insurmountable. Whenever a Test captaincy vacancy opens up, the discussion begins. Who are the options?
Continue readingBrad Haddin’s finest moment as a cricketer
< 1 minute read Pad Haddin. Brad Paddin. Pad Had-a-Ball-In. There may or may not be a joke in there, but even if there is, there’s one thing we can be sure of: it is not a good one. We refer, of course, to one of the great moments of the 2009 Ashes. One
Continue readingStand-in captain Tim Paine finishes his stint
< 1 minute read World cricket’s longest-serving stand-in captain took heroic and selfless steps to avert a tragedy today. Increasingly concerned that Steve Smith might never again captain Australia, Tim Paine hit upon the idea of sexting someone four years ago – a simple move that has allowed him to immediately resign. Paine was
Continue readingThe 2009 Ridiculous Ashes
2 minute read We’re doing another series of The Ridiculous Ashes, the podcast we do with Dan Liebke in which we revisit the funnier moments of historic Ashes series and decide which side made the more significant comedy contribution. A few people have previously been put off by the fact that Series 1
Continue readingWith less than a year to go, let’s look at who’s finding form for the T20 World Cup
2 minute read It’s now less than a year until the final of the 2022 T20 World Cup. Let’s take a look at how some of the teams are shaping up with just a handful of matches left for fine-tuning. The world is unanimously agreed that the 2022 edition will be the first
Continue readingMatthew Hayden v Justin Langer – what will it be like?
2 minute read “It will be like two balls of mercury on the one plate,” according to Matthew Hayden. Regular readers of this website will know that Hayden is currently serving as Pakistan’s batting coach and principle guff-talker. Justin Langer is of course Australia’s current head coach and principle guff-talker. Way back when,
Continue readingThe real out-and-out highlight of England’s trouncing of Australia over the weekend
3 minute read Sometimes it’s Monday morning and the latest cricket news is… not excellent. So let’s busy ourselves with some good old-fashioned gloating instead. You may have noticed that England beat Australia on Saturday. And then carried on beating them. There were many highlights, several of which did not involve the camera
Continue readingMatthew Hayden’s extra words
2 minute read One of the defining qualities of Matthew Hayden’s guff-talking is his habit of throwing in a load of additional words that add precisely nothing to what he is trying to say. We’re going to talk to you about three recent examples. Last time around – back when Hayden first took
Continue reading