Posts Categorised: Australia

0To boo or not to boo…

Posted by & filed under Australia.

Dur­ing the ODI world cup there has been con­tinu­ous dis­cus­sion amongst the com­ment­at­ors about the reac­tion of the crowds to the 2 Aus­trali­an cheats. Eoin Mor­gan did­n’t take a pos­i­tion and said he felt it was­n’t up to him to tell the fans what to do or think. Vir­at Kohli asked sup­port­ers not to boo the pair in a pos­it­ive ges­ture that per­haps they don’t deserve. Former Eng­land play­ers includ­ing Graeme Swann have been very neg­at­ive about the boo­ing, as have many Aus­trali­an ex-pros. So what is the watch­ing pub­lic to do?

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0Cricket Australia logoAustralia’s Golden Era Hurts the Current Cricketers

Published by & filed under Australia, Test Cricket. Last updated .

Aus­tralia – what the heck! They’ve just lost the series against South Africa fol­low­ing some bat­tling col­lapses worthy of Eng­land at their very best (or worst!)
It’s incred­ible to see what has happened to the side when they are com­pared to the team of recent past. There’s a big wad of rub­bish in the cur­rent line up – I can’t think of any­one who would make the Eng­land side who played in the last test against South Africa. OK they have a few injur­ies, espe­cially in the bowl­ing depart­ment, but things will have to change.… Read Full Article

0Political Machinations Start Series With a Bang

Published by & filed under Australia, England, India, Test Cricket. Last updated .

Dur­ing a week in which the world saw a new Pres­id­ent elec­ted Com­mand­er-in-Chief in Amer­ica and Brit­ish Prime Min­ster Theresa May vis­ited India, it is per­haps apt the first test is com­pared to glob­al polit­ic­al machinations.
The say­ing goes that a week is a long time in polit­ics – and the say­ing would appear apt in crick­et too.
Only a few days ago many naysay­ers (myself included) were fear­ing the hosts could inflict a series white­wash on the vis­it­ors — espe­cially if the top order in par­tic­u­lar didn’t apply them­selves bet­ter.… Read Full Article

2The Ashes urnNo Star Shines Bright for Either Side

Published by & filed under Australia, England, Test Cricket, The Ashes. Last updated .

So the Ashes are now at end with Eng­land the vic­tors and Aus­tralia put back in their place. A 3–2 sco­reline flat­ters the green bag­gied ones a little but in truth the last test was a dead rub­ber for Eng­land. They were nev­er going to play to the same level on intens­ity as when they were try­ing to claim the little urn back from our Anti­podean cousins.
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1Cricket Australia logoMichael Clarke — So long

Published by & filed under Australia. Last updated .

So, Michael Clarke has announced his retire­ment from inter­na­tion­al crick­et after the final Ashes test at the oval. Many have already paid trib­ute, we’re not so bothered about doing that. Here’s why.
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0Cricket Australia logoSteve Smith — world number 1 mouth, not number 1 batsman

Published by & filed under Australia, The Ashes. Last updated .

Con­grat­u­la­tions to Steve Smith who has taken over the “Glen McGrath” pro­fess­or­ship for the pub­lic under­stand­ing of Aus­trali­an hubris. To be fair to McGrath, a man with over 500 test wick­ets, and integ­ral mem­ber of one of the greatest sides of all time, he could be for­giv­en for think­ing his side might white­wash Eng­land, although say­ing it aloud is insult­ing and isn’t a part of the spir­it of respect in which crick­et should be said. Steve Smith how­ever, a man who was pathet­ic the last time he vis­ited Eng­land and pathet­ic again in the cur­rent series (if we exclude his excel­lent double hun­dred which was made on a flat noth­ing pitch at lord’s).
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0The Ashes urnHome conditions — more important than ever?

Published by & filed under Australia, England, India, The Ashes. Last updated .

So, Eng­land have com­pre­hens­ively wrapped up the Ashes with a game to spare. What a turn-around from 18 months ago where they were humi­li­ated by an aver­age Aus­trali­an side. With such huge swings out­come over the past 3 Ashes series the talk­ing heads have focussed on the con­di­tions play­ing a huge part. Are they right to?
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