I’ve never understood why the Aussie national anthem is called ‘Advance Australia Fair’. From where I’m sitting, there’s absolutely nothing fair about Australia and Australians at all. They get to bask in beautiful heat most of the year (all year in many cities), there’s sod all rainfall and the landscape is diverse and jaw-droppingly beautiful. From the great barrier reef and dense rainforest of Queensland, to the rugged beauty of Uluru and Kakadu National...
The Cult of Alastair Cook
I feel sorry for Alastair Cook. It’s no secret that the English media, and certain fans, love to build someone up and then knock them down. We see it in other sports all the time. You’re either brilliant – a world class hero, a pin-up boy, a genius or an all time great – or you’re a waste of space, a steaming pile of donkey manure or even worse, Luis ‘the biter’ Suarez. But what makes Cook a unique case is that his employers have built him up as much as anyone. In order to justify...
The Cult of Alastair Cook
I feel sorry for Alastair Cook. It’s no secret that the English media, and certain fans, love to build someone up and then knock them down. We see it in other sports all the time. You’re either brilliant – a world class hero, a pin-up boy, a genius or an all time great – or you’re a waste of space, a steaming pile of donkey manure or even worse, Louis Suarez. But what makes Cook a unique case is that his employers have built him up as much as anyone. In order to justify the decision to sack you...
Anatomy of a failure part 3 – the coaches
Just before I went to bed last night, Ian Bell groped at a ball outside off stuff, got a faint edge and was caught behind. His team were left staring into the abyss at 23-5. Amongst the numerous disasters that have unfolded this tour, the dismissal was innocuous enough. However, for me it was typical, and symptomatic of a broader problem that has cost us the Ashes more than any other single factor. Bell played at the ball with a slightly open face. He’s been doing it all tour. It brought him...
Is this actually a test match? Day two at The Oval
If, like me, you enjoy a good moan now and again, this match is providing plenty of opportunities. There’s England’s selection; there’s England’s defensive approach (we had seven or eight fielders out on the boundary at various times today); there’s the ease with which two much maligned Australian cricketers scored centuries; and there’s the fact England were pretty much reduced to a three man attack, even though on paper they had finally, finally picked five. Yep, this test match has pretty...
The Ashes are ours. But we hardly set the world on fire.
Well, we did it. Or to be more accurate, the rain did it. Despite losing three quick wickets in the only short passage of play possible, we got an ill deserved draw and retained the Ashes. Hallelujah. The problem is, it all feels a bit empty. Nobody wanted it to materialise this way. Call me daft as a brush, but I didn’t want it to rain today. I wanted us to bat out the day with no alarms, just to demonstrate our blatant superiority: to show the Aussies that days 1-4 were an aberration, and...
