Australia Ashes Squad Michael Clarke (capt), Steven Smith (vice-capt), Fawad Ahmed, Brad Haddin, Josh Hazlewood, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Peter Nevill, Chris Rogers, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson. Australians don’t like to hang around. The MCG drop-in pitches have barely taken up their winter…
Australia regained the World Cup in front of a packed MCG on Sunday evening after relinquishing their title for just 4 years. Their historic triumph now means they have been victorious in four of the last five tournaments. They secured a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over their Trans-Tasman rivals and looked in control throughout the match.…
Tomorrow sees the final act of what has been a game-changing World Cup. It is a clash between two great Trans-Tasman rivals. Two countries whose histories, heritage and culture are intrinsically linked, will take to the field at the MCG to battle for the honour of being crowned the best ODI side in the world.…
Tomorrow sees the second semi-final of the Cricket World Cup, as undefeated India take on co-hosts Australia at the SCG. I would try and predict the result but that just seems futile when it comes to these sides. All the form in previous meetings would point towards a comfortable Australian victory, but it would be…
When Dave Richardson made his no infamous ‘only 8 competitive teams’ comment, I’m sure he didn’t think it would come back to haunt him as spectacularly as it did. Not only did Ireland cause a few upsets, and Bangladesh make it through to the knockout stages. But also the matches involving the supposed 8 competitive…
Get off Misbah’s back – Pakistan’s commander in chief hasn’t exactly enjoyed an easy ride in the job, with #misbahsfualt frequently trending on twitter. While I’m sure much of it is in good humour, the constant negative media and supporter attention must be having a detrimental effect on him and his team. If Pakistan are…
South Africa v Sri Lanka (Wednesday 18th March- SCG) The first of the quarterfinals pits perennial World Cup overachievers Sri Lanka against the might of South Africa. Sri Lanka head into the knockout stages with some reasonable results behind them, having beaten both England and Bangladesh, but their two defeats to co-hosts Australia and New…
Australia B- It’s been pretty difficult to get a handle on the co-hosts in this tournament. They came out of the blocks all guns blazing and dispatched of a woeful England with ease, they then had what seemed like a lifetime to wait before their next match. A rain off against Bangladesh followed by a…
With the World Cup now a full five days old, and 13 of the 14 teams now having opened their tournaments, I thought I’d take a little look at a few things we learnt from these opening matches and what, if anything, they can tell us about the course this World Cup is going to…
Where to begin then? Woakes’ costly drop? Finch’s brilliance? England’s inability to bowl a yorker? The fearsome Mitchell Marsh? Taylor being cruelly denied a century by an umpiring error? While the opening match between Australia and England was over as a contest after just 70 overs, the game was certainly not short of talking points.…
My latest player to watch comes from the side that I’m backing to go all the way and claim the World Cup trophy. Mitchell Starc has enjoyed a superb return to form over the past few months, and is now seen as one of the most in-form bowlers in ODI cricket. Starc’s recent returns have…
In the tri-series final at Perth, Mitchell Johnson’s pace and aggression certainly had England on the back foot, leaving them at 46/4 and with little chance of victory. However, as any seasoned England viewer will know, the match was realistically over when Australia posted their total of 278/8. No other team so often produces such…
England completed a workmanlike victory over India this morning to ensure qualification for the tri-series final. The manner of the victory, while frustratingly including a batting collapse, will be cause for optimism in the England camp. Learning to win ugly is a skill that is highly valued with a World Cup around the corner. One…
It was a familiar tale. England looked good for large parts of an ODI and appeared to be ahead during long passages of the match, only to throw it all away and end up as valiant losers once again. It would be easy to suggest that England’s ODI defeat to Australia today was another failure…
They did it. England have finally won an ODI in a convincing fashion. Sure, other teams do it quite often; some even make a habit of doing it a few times, perhaps even to win a series. But this is England, and we are used to a few close defeats, the rare hiding and the…
Both Australia and England began their final preparations for the World Cup this Friday at the SCG, and it was nice to see the tri-series back on the Australian cricketing calendar, but this event is only serving as a competitive warm up for the ‘big three’ sides involved. The two sides could not have entered…
Today, fast bowling tearaway Brett Lee declared that he was hanging up his boots at the end of the current Big Bash season. He is the final regular member of Australia’s all conquering Test side of the late 90’s and early 00’s to call time on his career. Looking back, Lee can be pleased at…
Over my next four posts I’ll be taking a look at the four most exciting young batsmen in Test cricket heading into 2015. First up- Steve Smith. I was lucky enough to be in Sydney for the final day of the 2010/11 Ashes series. Aside from England’s victory, my abiding memory from that final morning…
I’m not a complete traditionalist, but when it comes to the game I love, the longer the better – at international level anyway. It was always the drama and tension of a test match that drew me to the game and from there I expanded into watching the One Day game. In an ideal world…
In the wake of England’s crushing defeat in Sydney and with his side 3-0 down in the current ODI series, Alastair Cook gave the strongest indications yet that he may step down from his current role as ODI captain. When asked about his position as captain Cook responded saying. “I’m going to have a decision…
Jack Vittles 