It’s going to be a struggle to take an interest in the two Test “3 Test Series” between Australia and Zimbabwe. Coming so soon after the Bangladesh series, it is hard to see this being anything other than a 2-0 cakewalk for the Australians. Continue reading “Australia v Zimbabwe Test series preview”
Channel 9 moves Bundaberg to Cairns
We come to expect the ABC sports department to mangle, ignore, or totally re-invent sporting ground titles when there are naming rights sponsorships involved.
But what is behind Channel Nine’s renaming of “Bundaberg Rum Stadium”, the venue of the Second Test between the Australian cricket team and Bangladesh, to “Bundaberg Stadium”? Continue reading “Channel 9 moves Bundaberg to Cairns”
Bangladesh cricket faces more trouble than just the Aussies
Many cricket followers who are grimacing at the thought of the huge mismatch between Australia and Bangladesh about to get under way in Darwin on Friday morning. Continue reading “Bangladesh cricket faces more trouble than just the Aussies”
Wisden 2003: A bible without commandments
Imagine purchasing a nice new copy of the Bible, and flicking through in search of the Ten Commandments only to find that they had been removed “for space reasons”. Such is the problem with the 2003 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. Continue reading “Wisden 2003: A bible without commandments”
Bring back the Don’s cap, and onya the Black Caps
The streak is over. Australia’s run of twenty-one successive one-day wins has been cut down by the West Indies in Trinidad this morning. Which is a good moment to spare a thought for the New Zealand cricket team. Continue reading “Bring back the Don’s cap, and onya the Black Caps”
A book not to be judged by this year’s cover
Sitting on my desk at this minute is the 1970-71 edition of the New South Wales Cricket Association yearbook. The cover design features a bright orange background with the text “Cricket Year Book. 34th Edition. NSW Cricket Association. $1.40” on it, and a black-and-white action photo of Kerry O’Keeffe bowling a leg-break. By today’s standards it looks drab and tacky. Continue reading “A book not to be judged by this year’s cover”
Another surrealistic technicolour yawn masquerading as entertainment
Opening/closing ceremonies of major sporting events stopped being fascinating a long time ago. I think it was the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympics where they irretrievably crossed the boundary into the realm of surrealistic technicolour yawns masquerading as cultural ballets. After Sydney 2000 (the one where Captain Cook discovered Australia on choreographed bicycles) I thought that wanky, over-indulgent sports ceremonies could go no further. Cape Town 2003, the opening ceremony of the Cricket World Cup, in fact proved that.
Continue reading “Another surrealistic technicolour yawn masquerading as entertainment”
The AB Medal telecast 2003
I watched the Allan Border Medal telecast on Channel Nine on Tuesday night. All two-and-a-half hours of it. That’s a lot of cringing on my part.
Why The Urn shouldn’t come to Australia
“The Ashes” is a concept, not a trophy. The Ashes Urn at Lord’s is not in a physical sense the trophy of England-Australia cricket supremacy. There is no logical reason to bring it to Australia, even if we have been the series winners ever since 1989.
Boof playing pretend Australian captain
The ICC are holding their annual meeting of all the Test captains at Lord’s on Monday. Eight of the ten Test captains will be there. The West Indies will be unrepresented, with Carl Hooper apparently unavailable.
More interesting is the fact that the Australian Test captain won’t be there. Steve Waugh isn’t making the trip, and so Australia will be represented at the meeting by none other than Darren Lehmann!