The Pakistan cricket team has the reputation – some of it deserved, some not so much – for performing in an enigmatic and unpredictable fashion. Through the decades, Pakistan have won easily on home surfaces and lost regularly on the road, much as any other national team, yet they have been tagged like no other.
Patrick Cummins has been on the national scene for what seems like a longish time. He made his debut for NSW at 17 and for Australia at 18. He has played just that one Test match at the Wanderers were he took seven wickets and hit the winning runs. In total he has played eight first-class games, the equivalent of less than a single season of Sheffield Shield.
In selecting Matthew Renshaw ('Matthew Who?' doesn't work as well as 'Peter Who?') , Nic Maddinson, the returning Matthew Wade, Chadd Sayers, Peter Handscombe and Jackson Bird, who is also a newbie as he wasn't officially in the Hobart Test squad , Australia have picked six new members of the Test side, with perhaps four debutants. It is a rare occurrence in Test cricket.
In sport, as in life, you can't enjoy the highs without suffering the lows.
The NSW Coroner wondered why 'sledging' was a part of the game. But the term should not be used as a catch-all for the chatter that takes place between opponents on the cricket field.
This will not be a World Cup dominated by the fast bowling Australia used so devastatingly in the 50-over format.
The international cricket season is no more, until next weekend when they set it up in another town. Cape Town, that is.
Both Australia and New Zealand had clear goals when they took the field for the second Test.
Cricketers at all levels like to think they can get a scoreboard advantage by verbal means even before they have to bowl or receive a single delivery.
The Australian cricket team has a responsibility to fans and paymasters alike. And what happened in Auckland wasn't good enough.
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