How far is CA prepared to take day-nighters?
The promoters of day-night Test cricket have declared the experiment a success, yet it is far from a sure thing that next summer's Ashes series will feature a pink-ball game.
The promoters of day-night Test cricket have declared the experiment a success, yet it is far from a sure thing that next summer's Ashes series will feature a pink-ball game.
Cometh the hour, cometh the annoying little prick. If the wicketkeeper is the drummer in a cricketing band, Australia had ditched Charlie Watts and brought in Keith Moon.
It is impossible, given the resemblance, not to see Australia's 20-year-old debutant opening batsman Matt Renshaw as the new Matthew Hayden. Before we get carried away, though, we might remember that it took seven years before the old Matthew Hayden became Matthew Hayden.
There is no hiding from reality, and you have to wonder if the infantilising of our cricketers, with support staff to take every adult need away from them so that their minds are free to concentrate on cricket and cricket alone, is doing them a favour.
After the humiliating defeat to South Africa, Steve Smith bemoaned a loss of pride in the Baggy Green ... while hiding under a sponsor's cap.
The question was, How would David Warner cope with being the most reviled Australian since wotsisname from The Bachelor picked the wrong girl?
The choice between watching grass growing in Hobart and Alastair Cook batting in India would normally be a no-brainer. But, given its relevance to the future of cricket, this column made an exception and watched the England captain in Rajkot.
Cape Town, Birmingham, Nottingham, Galle, and now Hobart. Like falling cities in a losing war, the scenes of Australia's cricket disasters have come to our doorstep.
The best players are well cared for, but in Australia, once maturing cricketers understand that they are not going to play for their country, they find it harder and harder to see the point in playing at all.
If world events have told us anything in the past week, it is that forecasting is a game for overpaid mugs. The performance of the Australian team in the second Test match? Better ask an octopus. Even a cold and wet Hobart, normally a safe bet, will not be believed until it is seen.
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