Today In Sport

Last night, Pakistan ODI cricket captain Shahid Afridi decided to have a mid innings snack by taking a bite out of the ball.  the ball was changed soon after amid howls of ball tampering from all and sundry.  he has since been found guilty of misconduct and banned for the next two matches.

But are we not seeing the bigger picture here?  What if Afridi has a medical condition that has brought him to this point?  After an exhaustive few minutes of research I have discovered a rare eating disorder called Foodconfusionitis whereby the person sometimes confuses everyday items for food.

Does Afridi have this condition and did he mistake the ball for an apple in the heat of the moment?  It is highly likely that this man is in desperate need of medical attention before he tries to eat something a little more deadly than a cricket ball.

Give us this day our daily cricket

And appease our appeals with bountiful wickets

Forgive us our wides and no balls

As we forgive those who bouncer us

We ask this in W. G. Grace’s name

Amen.

Well the most eagerly awaited test match of this week is upon us.  There is always a buzz around the world when England plays at Lords and when Australia plays there, well it normally means a win for the convicts. (continue reading…)

It would seem that England have resigned themselves to losing the Ashes unless they are allowed to cheat as much as they can.  After posting a half decent total in their first innings, they went on to completely lose control of the match as Australia put up a huge total with four batsmen posting centuries in one innings for the first time in Ashes history.

So as soon as it seemed as though the match was slipping away from them, the English resorted to stalling tactics.  First captain Andrew Strauss took an hour to set a field after every over and then there was a revolving door on the English dressing room as every man and his dog went off for a rest. (continue reading…)

The 2009 edition of the oldest rivalry in world cricket is about to begin.  Australia versus England is known as The Ashes in memory of the day when the tea lady at the Earl of Wessex Hotel burnt the English Breakfast that was being made for the Aussie team.  The remains were put in a little urn and are housed at Lords.

The English brought cricket to the poor colonists of Australia in the mid 1800’s and have regretted it ever since.  They have tried everything from Bodyline to stealing our coaches and players and even tried adopting South Africans and Indians to beat Australia but to no avail.

So this year Australia has decided to go easy on them.  They told Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Langer and Hayden thanks for your service, you can go have a rest.  Now they have rocked up to the first test with the most inexperienced lineup since they sent a bunch of random aboriginal guys to go play the first series. (continue reading…)

Today has been one of the biggest days of Australian sport for quite a while, at least this year.  The Wallabies began their international season with a huge win over The Barbarians.  The mashed together squad of  The Barbarians was no match for the crisp passing and team work of a new looking Wallabies squad.

Australia started off a little slow but then began to play some awesome rugby finally running out winners 55 to 7 at the Sydney Football Stadium.  Former Rugby League star and sometimes boxer, Sonny Bill Williams was playing his first international rugby game for the Barbarians.  He was greeted by a massive hit from Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock but knowing how big and dumb he is Sonny probably didn’t feel it.

On the Wallabies young future superstar James O’Connor got himself a try near the end of the match.  All in all a great opening effort to the campaign. (continue reading…)

The Australian Test cricket squad for The Ashes series against arch enemy England was named today.  The team is a mixture of time tested experience and youthful exuberance.

Coming back in to the squad are quicks Brett Lee and Stuart Clark along with spinner Nathan Hauritz who has impressed recently.  The experience of Lee and Clark will be invaluable for the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle.

Andrew McDonald and Shane Watson take the All-Rounder spots at the expense of troubled genius Andrew Symonds.  Marcus North can also fill an all-rounder role if needed.

On the batting side young star Phil Hughes gets his first taste of Ashes cricket after his superb form against South Africa.  The opener joins with the resurgent Simon Katich at the top of the order.

Out of sorts middle order batsman Michael Hussey retains his spot in the squad.  Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin gets his chance to prove he can perform on the big stage.  His back up is the uncapped South Australian keeper Graham Manou.

Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke are the captain and vice-captain continuing the great leadership that has served Australia so well.

This is the complete 16 man squad.

• Ricky Ponting (captain)
• Michael Clarke (vice-captain)
• Stuart Clark
• Brad Haddin
• Nathan Hauritz
• Ben Hilfenhaus
• Phillip Hughes
• Michael Hussey
• Mitchell Johnson
• Simon Katich
• Brett Lee
• Graham Manou
• Andrew McDonald
• Marcus North
• Peter Siddle
• Shane Watson, subject to fitness

The young fast bowling group of Mitchell, Siddle and Hilfenhaus get to try their tricks for the first time on English soil in test conditions.  Twenty year old Phil Hughes has been tearing it up with county side Middlesex giving him a great feel for English pitches.

Make no mistake, this is a very inexperienced squad but it is full of guys who want to cement themselves in the team for years to come.  What better way to prove themselves than in the biggest Test cricket showdown of the year.

I can’t wait for The Ashes to start.

The Indian Premier League Twenty/20 Cricket tournament has been going for a couple of weeks now in South Africa and it has provided a lot of exciting cricket but no real substance so far.  The tournament that was hastily reorganized for South Africa after India became a potentially unsafe place to play has missed out on the crazy Indian fans that make this league something to watch.

With a bunch of current day stars like Duminy, Gayle and Pietersen mixed with retired legends of the calibre of Warne, Gilchrist and Hayden to the wannabe Indian future stars it is a really weird mess of players in teams together.  There are some really inventive team names around as well with the Punjab Kings XI and the Chennai Super Kings closely followed by the Rajasthan Royals and the Bangalore Royal Challengers.  But the best of the lot is the aptly named Mumbai Indians. (continue reading…)

The past few weeks has been a wild ride in the world of cricket.  From the beginning of the “World Title of Cricket” matchup between South Africa and Australia to the potential end of international cricket, at least for a while in the nation of Pakistan after the attack on the Sri Lankan players and the umpires.

There are so many series’ happening at the moment it’s hard to know where to look sometimes.  Obviously everything has been overshadowed by the terrorist attack in Pakistan during their series with Sri Lanka.  Many teams had refused to tour Pakistan lately with India being the latest due to unrest and bombings in the country.  Sri Lanka has always tried to maintain an open door policy with regards to travelling to Pakistan and stepped into the void left by India.  This would now be looked at like a bad decision by most but some of the players seem determined to go back whenever possible.

The umpires on the other hand will not be going anywhere near any place with Stan on the end of it for a long while.  I believe they are thinking of avoiding all people named Stan as well just to be safe.

But on to the actual games on the pitch, the South African juggernaut got sideswiped by a bunch of kids from Australia on some kind of joyride.  After his first innings rush of blood, 20 year old Phil Hughes has become a run machine for the Aussies.  His wacky batting style has bamboozled the Proteas attack and they are struggling to figure him out.

The Aussies went into this series with the most inexperienced bowling lineup since time began.  But the likes of Hilfenhaus, Siddle and McDonald have supported new superstar Mitchell Johnson and part timers like newcomer Marcus North and the ever reliable Michael Clarke.  It would seem some of the Sth African batsmen looked at the lineup and forgot that they actually still had to bat to beat us.  They looked like they thought they could just hold their bat and score runs.  Didn’t really work out that well for Graeme Smith did it?

So Australia remains as the number one team in Test Cricket.  Was there ever really any doubt….except from everyone including me?  It appears the only people who really thought they could do it were the players themselves (and maybe some of them were faking too).  But good on Ricky and his band of merry men for doing the fine job they are….doing.

Elsewhere India was flogging New Zealand in some meaningless one-dayers and England was being beaten by the West Indies.  Actually further to that end, I have a massive bone to pick with one Paul Collingwood.  Are you really still claiming that “catch” you took off of Simmons?  You know the one I mean.  Last time I checked you can’t catch the ball and then have the ground help you to complete said catch.

If this is how England try and “win” games then I hope Ponting doesn’t enter into the Gentlemans Agreement on catches during The Ashes.  At the moment The Ashes are looking like a good bet for the Aussies if things continue like they are.

Let’s just hope that Test Cricket continues to be as interesting as it has been lately.

Today we see the start of a series that is the closest that cricket will ever come to a World Championship series.  South Africa and Australia play a 3 Test series to determine the number 1 Test Cricket nation in the world.  Australia, the current and undisputed (well a little bit disputed) number 1 nation and Champion of the World.  South Africa, after winning the series in Australia has earned a right to challenge for the title.  It’s Liddell v Couture, Ali v Foreman, The Rock v Stone Cold….lets just say it’s big.

South Africa are without question playing some of the best cricket in the last 10 years right now.  Australia has taken over their most inexperienced squad since….well, ever.  Just look at the 1st test in Joburg and the Aussies have 3 debutants.  It’s a recipe for cream filled disaster.  Can the Aussies turn their summer around and make the South Africans nervous and retain their title or will the Proteas finally reach the summit of a title they believe is rightfully theirs?

I guess we will just have to wait and see…but I think it is pretty obvious that we are screwed.