Michael Clarke has unexpectedly left Australia’s tour of New Zealand to fly home. Is his girlfriend about to give birth? Did a close family member receive some bad news? Is he mentally exhausted? No. He’s flying back because his partner, the model Lara Bingle, is pursuing legal action over publication of a half-naked photo of her in a shower, taken by an ex-boyfriend years ago.

Wow. Did not see that excuse coming.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, it’s goodnight Brett Lee, and Test cricket loses one of it’s few genuine box-office bowlers.

His Test career was an odd one. He finishes as Australia’s fourth highest wicket-taker with 310 wickets in 76 Tests – more than Benaud, Lindwall, Thomson, Hughes and Miller. Yet for the English, Lee will be remembered primarily for his pace, and as an inconsistent nearly man, despite opening the bowling for the greatest side in Test history.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well there goes England’s (very slim) chances of winning the World Cup next February*.

In a move that must have been taken with the widely cherished post-Ashes seven-match ODI series in mind, the ECB and Cricket Australia this morning announced that they have repeated the trick: that’s right, we’ve all got two Twenty20s and seven one-dayers to look forward to after the final Test at Sydney.

Read the rest of this entry »

The death of Australia’s Test-match aura was talked about so much during the Ashes that I was waiting for Ricky Ponting to take the field in a black armband. Yet it didn’t die, for I have found it: it wasn’t down the back of the sofa next to Monty Panesar’s form, South Africa and India hadn’t stolen it and John Terry’s mum denied she had anything to do with its disappearance.

Instead, the Aussies have simply handed it over to their one-day team, who have just gone 4-0 up at home to Pakistan. It continues an astonishing sequence since they lost the Ashes: Played 23 ODIs, won 19, lost three. Six of those wins have been by over 40 runs and seven by five wickets or more.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pakistan are being squashed in Australia but if you’ve seen any of the cricket you’ll know their visit to England this summer won’t be boring.

We will be seeing a lot of them. Pakistan arrive in June and will be here until well into September. They play six Tests in total (two against Australia), five ODIs (all against England) and four Twenty20s (two against Australia).

Read the rest of this entry »

Audience participation doesn’t usually feature in the self-important world of the press conference, so it was refreshing to hear Ricky Ponting invite journalists who had doubted his decision to bat first at Sydney to raise their hands.

Since all the locals were presumably in such a good mood – Australia last night overcame a 206-run first-innings deficit to win an astonishing second Test against Pakistan by 36 runs – hands were duly raised. But if Ponting really thinks his team sealed the series because they batted first on a raging greentop, then – light-hearted or not – he’s sprinkling retrospective stardust on his leadership skills.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Test cricket is an emotional rollercoaster sometimes,” says Brad Haddin as a defence for his bat-pointing at Sulieman Been, showing a finer grasp of clichés than he does conduct.

Yep, that’s right. Haddin and his Australia team-mates don’t know how to conduct themselves. Even Ricky Ponting admits it.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Australians, as a nation, like a drink and a joke and most people love them for it. It’s far more fun to sit with the Aussie Fanatics than the Barmy Army. Trust me, I’ve done both.

Yet, over the last 15 years, their cricket team has failed to reproduce this spirit. Aside from the snarling comedy of Shane Warne, we’ve had to deal with the humourless Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Justin Langer, Glenn McGrath … this list could end up longer than Tiger Woods’ little black book.

Read the rest of this entry »

Australian cricket journalists are a ravenous pack of animals that love fresh meat. Much like their cricketers. Perhaps you could say that most press pools are like their teams. You could say that England’s is prone to massive highs and despairing lows, much like their team. And that India’s press pool just isn’t as good away from home. I probably didn’t research this enough.

Summer after summer the Australian press have been thrown a meal masquerading as the opposition. Last year that all changed. Australia lost at home for the first time since Dakota Fanning was born. Then they lost another under-reported Test series.

Read the rest of this entry »

November 1993: Nelson Mandela ratified South Africa’s first democratic constitution, John Major and John Smith were arguing across the Commons floor and Norwich City gloriously dumped Bayern Munich out of the UEFA Cup. It was also the last time Australia had to bounce back from a home Test-series defeat. Now, 16 years later, Australia will be attempting to do so again. It’s been a long time.

Read the rest of this entry »