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sri lanka in australia
Gilchrist hits 100th six
By Will 3 years ago, mid-November, 3 Comments »
He’s whacked his 100th Test six, becoming the first man to do so. It sailed into the crowd, and he’s made a plea to the guy who nicked it that he can have it back as a memento – as well he should, too.
137.5 Muralitharan to Gilchrist, SIX, And there you go. SIX No.100, take a bow Adam Gilchrist, another slog sweep and he clears the stadium, the Bellerive is too small for him, no batsman has hit 100 sixes in Tests, we have the king now. It’s over midwicket and on it’s way to Perth there
3 Comments »Australia are killing the game
By Will 3 years ago, mid-November, 27 Comments »
Weather permitting, at some stage on Monday Australia will beat Sri Lanka, probably by a large margin. It’s becoming an annual trend, re-discussing Australia’s dominance and why it is hurting the game so much. But I’m not going to bother mentioning India and Pakistan’s one-day series, which interests me not a lot, so let’s go round in circles and debate why you think (or not) Australia are killing the game.
The sadness of Australia continuing to raise the bar in Test cricket means the foundation of the game is becoming less and less relevant in more countries as the Twenty20 phenomenon multiplies the excitement in shorter forms of the game.
This is even so in Australia, which has the strongest tradition of Test cricket with England. If Australia was playing a one-day or Twenty20 match at the Gabba it would have sold out long ago.
But modest crowds of little more than 15,000 on the first three days, followed by just 7629 yesterday amid showers, left many empty seats among the 40,000 at the recently redeveloped, world-class Gabba.
This is despite one Queenslander, Mitchell Johnson, making his Test debut and another, Andrew Symonds, playing his first Test at the Gabba, not to mention Matthew Hayden, as Ponting and his men try to extend their winning streak to record levels.
Victory here will give Australia 13 in a row since South Africa hung on for a draw in Perth almost two years ago. It is the second-longest winning streak in history, behind the 16 in a row Steve Waugh’s side set from October 1999 to March 2001.
Australians in defence of their juggernaut will point to the all-conquering West Indians of the 70s and 80s, and they’d have a point. But was the void so great as it is now? And were they, as we are now, so flummoxed as to a solution?
27 Comments »Australian press threaten boycott
By Will 3 years ago, at the start of November, 5 Comments »
Australia are gearing up to face Sri Lanka but a cloud is looming: the Aussie print media might boycott the Test because Cricket Australia have implemented a new policy in which they’re charging news organisations for permission to take photos.
How utterly blinkered Cricket Australia are. Any organisation that makes the ECB look vaguely competent is worthy of immediate ridicule. CA are renowned for major cock-ups. Remember the farce with the tickets for the last Ashes series? And of course the “fun police” inside the grounds. Cricinfo and other media companies also (if my memory serves me) had trouble at the grounds due to CA’s extortionate Wifi fees (all grounds in England are free, as well they should be). As if they don’t make enough money, they now want to risk their reputation and for the sake of a few extra dollars.
I hope they boycott it. We do not want journalism following the same seedy, greedy path of television rights.
5 Comments »