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The slow, painful death of Test Cricket

The World Test Championship was meant to be the pinnacle of Test cricket, the final being the premier event of the format in line with the ODI and T20 World Cups, instead, it has shown the cricket world something it already knew. The long form was dying.

Of the nine countries eligible to compete for the 2021-2023 Championship six play between 12 and 15 tests, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with 12, West Indies (an amalgamation of Caribbean countries) and current World Test Champions New Zealand with 13, Pakistan with 14, and South Africa with 15. The other 3, Australia, India, and England will play 19, 18, and 22 Tests respectively. Now while the league table is decided on the percentage of points won, this discrepancy between the number of tests played shows, as recently as just completed test series between Australia and South Africa.

On paper, this series was meant to be an amazing one. South Africa had won their last 3 Test Tours of Australia, and was second on the Test Championship table, with Australia in first. Two of the best bowling units going toe to toe this was an exciting series, especially after the dismal performance of the West Indies in their tour the month prior In reality rain in Sydney was the only thing that saved South Africa from being completely whitewashed after they lost in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Traditionally Australian pitches have been batter friendly, but of the 6 times they went bat, South Africa was bowled out 5 times, Australia batted 4 times, and was bowled out once. an utterly disproportionate amount with what should be the two best teams with some of the better bowling attacks in the world.

But it gets worse. Before South Africa toured, the West Indies did, losing both tests, the last of which by 419 runs, the West Indies then travelled to Zimbabwe, a team not competing in the World Test Championship, for a two series, drawing the first test, and then beating Zimbabwe without having to bat a second time inside 3 days. Both tests Australia have played so far in India this tour have been similar too, but this time, in favour of India.

Teams not playing a lot of tests begins to make sense when all that seems to be happening is they tour just to get comprehensively beaten and go home, and with the advent of domestic T20 leagues around the globe paying players up to 1 million AUD for 6 weeks work, why bother focusing on the longest form if glory is only going to come at home.

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It's just not cricket, it's human rights.

It's the Ninth of September 2021. In response to the Taliban taking power in Afghanistan and potentially banning women from taking part in sports, Cricket Australia suggests that they will cancel the men's test between Australia and Afghanistan, already delayed one year due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Flash forward to the Fifth of November 2021, only 22 days out from when the test match was due to be played, and the test was once again postponed indefinitely due to the speculations of women not being allowed to play cricket. Ahmadullah Wasiq, the deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission suggests it not being seen as necessary for women to play cricket did not help the cause.

"I don't think women will be allowed to play cricket. It is not necessary that women should play."

On the twelve of January 2023, Cricket Australia once again cancelled matches against Afghanistan, this time 3 One Day Games to be hosted in the United Arab Emirates following a recent announcement from the Taliban that women were to be banned from university education.

"This decision follows the recent announcement by the Taliban of further restrictions on women's and girls' education and employment opportunities and their ability to access parks and gyms," The Cricket Australia statement read.

"CA is committed to supporting growing the game for women and men around the world, including in Afghanistan, and will continue to engage with the Afghanistan Cricket Board in anticipation of improved conditions for women and girls in the country."

This has led to anger from the Afghani players, most notably Rashid Khan, who has taken the seventh most wickets and the most by any international player in Australia's domestic T20 competition, The Big Bash League. Khan Tweeted an image of a written note which said:

"I am really disappointed to hear that Australia have pulled out of the series to play us in March,"I take great pride in representing my country, and we have made great progress on the world stage. This decision from CA sets us back in that journey. If playing vs Afghanistan is so uncomfortable for Australia, then I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable with my presence in the BBL. Therefore, I will be strongly considering my future in that competition."

This Statement had come shortly after the Afghanistan Cricket board had called Cricket Australia's statement "pathetic". It was "prioritising political interests over the principles of fair play and sportsmanship", and "undermining the integrity of the game and damaging the relationship between the two nations". However Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley hit back, declaring "basic human rights is not politics"

"It is clearly a very challenging and sad situation. We did not take this decision lightly and consulted widely including with our government," Hockley said. "We were hopeful of playing the series and have been in regular dialogue with the Afghanistan Cricket Board.

"However announcements by the Taliban in late November and late December signalling the deterioration of basic human rights for women in Afghanistan led to our decision to withdraw from these games. Basic human rights is not politics."

Australia are scheduled to play Afghanistan twice more in the coming years. with 3 T20 internationals at a neutral venue in august 2024, and Afghanistan touring Australia in 2026 for 3 more T20 internationals and one Test match

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Every Silver Lining Has Its Cloud

Fresh off Australia's best-ever finish at a world cup, today, Football fans around the country are reeling, as Melbourne Victory fans threw a flare onto the pitch in the Melbourne Derby. After Melbourne City goalkeeper Thomas Glover, threw the flare back off the pitch, some 150 Victory fans came spilling out onto the pitch, one striking Gover with a metal bucket full of sand. The game was abandoned after 20 minutes of play, but how did we get here?

With the exception of 2008, when the Central Coast Mariners had their Home Advantage taken away in favour of a Sydney Stadium that could fit more people, every team that has finished higher on the regular season ladder has had the home ground advantage in the final as their reward. However, on the 12th of December, the A-Leagues and Football Australia announced a 3-year deal with Destination NSW that would see Sydney host the final regardless of who made the final, following in the footsteps of the model that the AFL (Melbourne), NRL (Sydney), and Super Netball (Host City Predetermined before the start of the season)

This did not go down with fans and players alike. Sydney FC's Supporters Group, The Cove, said of the decision: Whilst of course this decision benefits us, it is completely unfair and unjust to the rest of the league.” Western Sydney Wanderers' Official Supporter Group, Red and Black Bloc echoed these sentiments: “We are completely against the decision... It was a decision to chase $$$ regardless of the integrity of the competition.” The third Sydney-based team, Macarthur FC's supporters' group The Bullpen posted a picture of a sign on their Facebook page reading "Greedy Businessmen Fans Over $$$" with the caption: "Our banner & Perth’s banner has been confiscated, can’t even have a peaceful protest. Danny Townsend has sold out the league without fans there’s no football."

Socceroo Craig Goodwin, who scored a goal against both World Cup Finalists Argentina and France, who also appeared in the announcement video had this to say on Twitter: https://twitter.com/craig_goodwin11/status/1602145474873475073

He also went on to say: "Like many fans around the country, and like I said, I too am disappointed in this decision. Thanks"

From here The Central Coast's "Yellow Army" and Newcastle's "Terrace Novacastria" in each of their games walked out in protest at the 20-minute mark of the game or in the case of "The Cove" some did not attend the game at all. However, instead of the planned walk out of the stadium, Melbourne Victory fans walked out onto the pitch.

Victoria Police have since released photos of suspected pitch invaders to help identify people who may be able to assist with their enquiries into ripping of flares, assaults, criminal damage and invading the field of play. Football Australia has also issued Melbourne Victory with a show-cause notice as to why they should not face serious sanctions for bringing the game into disrepute through the conduct of its supporters, which may include financial penalties, loss of competition points and/or playing matches behind closed doors, or on neutral territory. Melbourne Victory has until 9am December 21st to respond.

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The greatest quartet and 2 double ups

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Australia did not have the best of starts for the 5-day cricket test match vs the West Indies. With Australian captain Patrick Cummins winning the coin toss and electing to bat first, opening batter David Warner played a wild shot early on in his innings, against bowler Jayden Seales, with the ball deflecting off the inside of his bat onto the stumps, he was dismissed for 5 on what at first glance looked to be a bowler-friendly pitch.

However, the ship was not unsteady, with the West Indies having to wait for 48 overs and 142 runs for their next wicket, this time being Usman Khawaja, with Kyle Mayers' delivery finding the outside of the bat, resulting in a regulation catch for wicket keeper Joshua Da Silva, Khawaja was out for 61.

Unfortunately for the West Indies, with the dismissal of, the number 7 ranked batter in the world, Usman Khawaja, the number 2 ranked Marnus Labuschagne, was now joined by the number 4 ranked Steve Smith. These two would put on a mammoth partnership of 251 runs from 66 overs, with Labuschagne bringing up his second career double-century score in the process, before falling to West Indian captain and part-time spinner Kraigg Brathwaite, giving Da Silva another regulation catch on 204.

This would bring the damaging Travis Head to the crease, who would score at over a run a ball, on his way to 99 runs from 95 balls, before also falling to Brathwaite, this time being bowled cleanly by the spin. This would end the 4th wicket partnership at 196 runs from 34 and a half overs, with Smith finishing not out for 200 after Cummins used the Head dismissal to declare Australia's innings at 4/598.

This would be Smith's 4th career Double Century, putting him equal with Michael Clarke, and Greg Chappell, and behind Ricky Ponting and Sir Donald Bradman with 6 and 12 double centuries respectively, this would also be Smith's 29th score of 100+ in 155 test innings, making him the 3rd fastest to the mark, behind Indian great Sachin Tendulkar who scored 29 centuries in 148 innings, and Bradman again who reached the mark in an astonishing 79 innings.

It would take a lot longer for Australia to find a wicket than the West Indies, waiting till the end of the 26th over to finally dismiss Tagenatine Chanderpaul on 51, with Warner taking a catch to his left side off the bowling of Josh Hazelwood, in what was a great debut knock for the son of West Indian great Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who also made a fifty on his debut for the West Indies.

The next wicket, some 28 overs later, would also be Cummins' 200th test wicket, bowling Brathwaite for 64. In doing so he also joined fellow front-line bowlers, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, and Hazelwood on 200+ wickets becoming the first-ever bowling quartet to each reach the mark in the same side.

From here wickets fell in regular intervals for the Australians. As the most extended wait between wickets being just short of 12 overs, the West Indians fell from 2/159 to all out 283, 8 wickets in 124 runs. Cummins and Starc took 3 wickets each, Lyon with 2 and Hazelwood and all-rounder Cameron Green taking 1 each.

Even though their lead would be more than 200, Captain Cummins would not elect to enforce the follow-on and instead give himself and fellow bowlers a respond bat again, A "small strain" in Cummins' quad meaning he would spend some time off the field and not bowl in the later West Indian second innings

In the second Australian innings it would be Khawaja's turn to fall cheaply. Giving Da Silva a simple catch to his left side off the bowling of Kemar Roach for just 6 runs.

Unfortunately for Warner however he would fail to make it to 50 again, giving Shamarh Brooks a reflex catch to his right off the bowling of Roston Chase, for just 48.

This would mean that Labuschagne would be joined once again by Smith, as Labuschagne would become just the 9th person overall and the third Australian to score a 200 and a 100 in the same test match, ending the innings on 104 not out from 110 balls, with Smith finishing on 20 also not out from 29 balls, Australia declaring at 2/182

Once more, Australia would have to wait for their first wicket, with Starc finding the stumps of Chanderpaul for 45, becoming the first bowler to dismiss both Tagenatine and father Shivnarine Chanderpaul in tests.

After dismissing Brooks, Jermaine Blackwood, and Mayers for 11, 24, and 10 respectively, Lyon also found the stumps of captain Brathwaite for 110, Brathwaite in the process scoring each of now 11 centuries by West Indian openers since 2014. In that time he has also scored 19 of the top 20 scores by a West Indian opener.

With Head picking up the wickets of Jason Holder and Alzarri Joesph for 3 and 43 respectively and Hazelwood finding the wicket of Da Silva, the next 2 wickets of Chase, who scored a fighting 55, and Roach for a first ball duck, were also Lyon's finishing the innings with the impressive figures of 6 for 128 off nearly 43 overs.

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Messi 1-1 Australia

One of the best players ever in Lionel Messi scored his first goal in the knock-out stage of the world cup, which was also his 1000th game for club and country. With all 8 of his previous world cup goals coming in the group stage, even in 2014 when he was named player of the tournament leading Argentina to a final they eventually lost.

However, this game will have to share another first. Australia scored a goal for the first time in knock-out stage too. A deflected wayward shot by Craig Goodwin finding its past the keeper after coming defender Enzo Fernandez. Halfing the lead Argentina had built after goals from Messi and Julian Alvarez in the 35th and 57th minutes respectively.

Alvarez's goal coming from wayward play from back at the hands of Australia's goalkeeper and captain Mat Ryan. After Ryan was dispossessed of the ball it was an easy pass and then a shot an empty net.

But the Australians were defiant missing two goals in the final minutes, Aziz Behich going on a fantastic run before getting blocked by the keeper: Lisandro Martinez. Martinez then blocked a fantastic shot by Garang Kuol, managing to control a Goodwin cross before turning and shot.

The socceroos will rue what could have been, Ryan's dispossession and the two blocked chances in the dying embers will sit in the minds of many, leaving them wonder "what if?"

The Australians left their mark on the world stage, with Martinez even praising the Australians, and the way they play: “We knew exactly what we were going to face. They’d done extremely well to qualify and to play these kinds of games.”

Basked in the UK, The Times journalist Jonathan Northcroft wrote of the Australian:

 “They have more reserves of optimism than Qatar has of natural gas”.

“Australia are an incredible story and bowed out with Aussie punch and pride gloriously intact."

"They are a triumph of mentality over pedigree, the Australians, a collection of A-League and Scottish Premiership players pushing one of the World Cup’s leading contenders to the very wire."

The Guardian's Jonathan Liew also talked highly of the Socceroos:

“did you expect Australia to sit down and accept their fate?”

“Australia took the hard road to Qatar and they took the hard road out of it, outgunned but never outrun, even burgling a late consolation goal and threatening a staggering shock."

With a young core and the next major tournament of the AFC Asian Cup also being in Qatar, a place where 2 qualifying games and the world cup was held, the future looks bright for Australian football.

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Bazball, A flash in the pan or something bigger?

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News came out of Pakistan that England had scored a whopping 506 runs on the first day of the Test in 75 overs. This beat the record for most runs on Day 1 of a Test, which has stood since 1910, and likely would’ve seen the all-time record of a combined 588 runs on day 2 of the 2nd 1936 Test between England and India had bad light not stopped the final 15 overs from happening.

Just as a comparison on what could be considered an easy-to-bat-on pitch in Perth, Western Australia, the Australians made 598 runs in almost 153 overs, over double the number of overs over 2 days against what would be a less dangerous bowling attack than Pakistans in the West Indies, an amalgamation of Caribbean countries.

Let’s go even further with this, a One Day game between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan finished after 99 and two-thirds of an over scoring 627 runs total. One Day games have fielding restrictions which open up the batting and allow for more aggressive scores. 627 divided by 99.67 is approximately 6.29 runs an over. The Australians in their test match had a scoring rate of approximately 3.92 runs an over, much more in line with what you’d expect over a 5-day test match. The English? They were scoring 6.75 runs an over on the first day of the test.

The English Cricket team has been known for this type of aggression batting in test matches since Brendon “Baz” McCullum became Head coach of the test team in May 2022. This was after the 2021-22 Ashes series in Australia, in which England lost the 5-match series 4-0. Such is the way of the test side right now, that the England side that won the Twenty20 World cup in November last month, a cautious but still striking the ball at over a run a ball score of 52 English Test captain Ben Stokes in the final, led to fellow player Jos Buttler joking  “If he batted like that in a Test match he’d drop himself”. For the record, England’s runs per over in that game? 7.26.

The question is, should Australia be worried that England is just dominating Pakistan right now? Not yet at the very least, Pakistan are yet to bat, so we are yet to see how much the pitch is contributing to England’s batting, however, England does have a home series vs Australia in the middle of next year, and recent Australian tours of England have not proven fruitful for us, the best we have managed in recent years is the 2019 2-2 drawn series, meaning we retained the Ashes and left England for the first time since 2001 with the trophy.

But with England being able to sustain this way of batting in test matches since McCullum’s takeover of the helm and notably aggressive batter Ben Stokes becoming Test Captain, I would not be holding my breath for a successful 2023 Ashes Campaign for the Australians.

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One could be forgiven for having a strange sense of deja vu for this year’s FIFA world cup. Australia’s group stage opponents, France and Denmark, were also in our group in 2018. The fourth and final member of the 2018 group C, Peru, was the last hurdle for the Socceroos to qualify for the 2022 edition, a game we eventually won on penalties, 5-4. Back then an own goal against France and a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Peru was enough to send us back home from Russia.

9 minutes into our first game of the 2022 FIFA world cup, like in 2018, against France, a country dared to dream, with Craig Goodwin scoring our first goal that was not a penalty at a FIFA world cup since Tim Cahill’s iconic left foot volley against the Netherlands in 2014. However, 18 minutes later France would equalise, and after that, it was all one-way traffic, as France ran out 4-1 winners, a margin 2 goals bigger than our encounter 4 years before.

4 hours earlier, a 0-0 draw between Tunisia and Denmark would prove pivotal in our hopes of progressing to the knockout stage.

For our second game of the tournament, against Tunisia, a second loss would surely see us go home, but 23 minutes in, Mitchell Duke scored and this would be enough to see Australia’s first win at a FIFA world cup since defeating Serbia 2-1 in 2010, but unlike that tournament in which Australia missed the knockout stage on goal difference, the Socceroos would still have one more game to play, but our defeat to France made missing on goal difference a very real chance yet again.

The equation would be simple, win and we go through to our first knockout stage since 2006, and the so-called golden generation, a draw would see us relying on a France team resting players to defeat Tunisia, something that would not occur, and a loss would see us losing out on spots in the knockout stage to France and Denmark yet again.

After a scoreless first half, anyone awake at 3am Sydney time would have surely been nervous, our fate was in our hands, and with the hero against the French, Craig Goodwin subbed off shortly after play recommenced, Australia was holding out for somebody, anybody, to put them in front, and with 30 minutes of play to go, their prayers would be answered, playing in his third world cup Matthew Leckie would score his first goal in the tournament with Australia holding onto this lead for the half hour that remained, qualifying for the knockout stage for the first time in 16 years.

But what about The first golden generation, how did they fair? After a come-from-behind win of 3-1 against Japan, and a 2-0 loss to Brazil, a 2-2 draw to Croatia would be enough to see us qualify on 4 points for the knockout phase. But Australia’s 2 wins in the 2022 edition would see us make it with 6 points. As manager Graham Arnold said “I’ve been listening and hearing about that golden generation of 2006. They got 4 points and now we’ve got 6.” Suggesting that his team should go down in history as better than that team, and who am I to argue.

Next on Australia’s radar is Argentina, a team we last played in 2007, and have only defeated once in 7 matches, back in 1988. A team that also boasts one of, if not the best player of this generation Lionel Messi. There’s always a chance that we get past the round of 16 teams, but a scoreline similar to that of a game against France would not be out of the question.

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When you consider the history of the Melbourne Demons Women’s side the weekend’s win was truly a long time coming. From its beginnings nearly 10 years ago in the first AFL sanctioned Women’s exhibitions matches against the Western Bulldogs back in 2013 to the now 18-team competition we have in AFLW season 7 there was a lot of expectation surrounding the Demons to succeed.

Last season, held from January to April 2022 Melbourne reached its first AFLW grand final, in its 6th season, 5 years after the Western Bulldogs won their first AFW grand final. They eventually fell, to the winningest team in AFLW history, The Adelaide Crows, 4.5 29 to 2.4 16.

But they would not to have wait long for redemption, this season, held from August to November would be theirs. starting by defeating Adelaide in round 1 and only losing to the Brisbane Lions in round 4 Melbourne would finish second on the ladder by the slimmest of margins, had they scored one more point in the regular season, they would have finished first over Brisbane.

But, by finishing second they had set up a mouthwatering second clash of the season against the Crows. Dispatching them once again by 21 points, earning themselves a week off before ending the 8th seed North Melbourne’s miraculous run through the finals, having to play each of their finals games away from home, by 17 points.

But now came their biggest test, having to play Brisbane again, but unlike in round 4, this game would be played at a venue of Brisbane’s choice, and with the Gabba in Brisbane, and Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast in use, Brisbane chose their training base, Brighton Homes Arena, in Ispwich, a ground with only 600 seats and a total capacity of 8000 people, which led some people to believe the game should have been held at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, negating the advantage Brisbane had earned, by 0.3 of a percentage point or 1 point in a game.

Compared to Melbourne, Brisbane had started fast, kicking 2 first-quarter goals, to the Demons’ measly 1 point. However, these would be the only 2 goals Brisbane would score, as in the second quarter they would go scoreless, but would still lead Melbourne by 2 points, with Melbourne’s 1 goal and 3 behinds not enough to take the lead. Melbourne would finally take the lead in the second half, kicking their second goal 6 minutes into the 15-minute 3rd quarter. Brisbane would only kick more behinds for the match, both also in the 3rd quarter. To cap off this low-scoring affair, Melbourne would kick one more point in the third, and two more in the final quarter, running out 4-point winners 2.7 19 to 2.3 15, finally capturing the premiership that had alluded them for years.

Considered to be one of the greatest players to ever grace the women’s game, Melbourne Captain Daisy Pearce finally won her AFLW first grand final medal but gave her medal to the young girl who presented her with the medal, hanging it around her neck instead.

Brisbane would lose their third Grand Final in 7 seasons, playing in their 4th overall. While Brisbane player Shannon Campbell would become the first losing player to win the best-on-ground medal, whose elite defending kept Brisbane in the game for longer than they should have been.

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Back to Back to Back² for the Kangaroos

The 2021 Rugby League World Cup in England has come to a close. Delayed by a year because of covid, this year’s edition was the first time the Men’s, Women’s, and Wheelchair Rugby League World Cups were held at the same time. With England winning the wheelchair tournament, and Australia winning both the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The Australian Men’s team did not lose a game on their way to the final, with their jumbled numbers proving no problem, only conceding 32 points up until the final, giving up 10 more against Samoa as they won the final by a margin of 20 points. It would only be fitting that Australian Captain James Tedesco would be the player of the match in the final, scoring two tries.

Australia also had the joint leading point scorer for the 2021 edition of the world cup in Nathan Cleary, who missed the first game due to a selection battle with fellow half-back Daly Cherry-Evans with 68 points, and the leading try scorer in Josh Addo-Carr with 12 tries (for a total of 48 points). Addo-Carr would also join fellow Australians: Cameron Murray, Liam Martin, and Harry Grant in the Men’s team of the tournament.



The Australian women’s team was even more dominant throughout the tournament, only conceding 12 points, all to New Zealand, as they also did not lose a game, the closest being a 10-8 win against New Zealand in the group stage. In the final, played before the Men’s game, they defeated New Zealand 54-4 in what was truly a more one-sided display than their previous thrilling encounter, with coach Ricky Henry ruing his side’s freeze on the big stage.

Surprisingly with having the lowest amount of points conceded, this did not convert into having the most points scored by a single player, perhaps due to two players sharing the goal-kicking duties on Australia’s part, but the award went to England’s Tara-Jane Stanley with 6 tries and 19 goals, totaling 62 points. Australia’s Julia Robinson, however, did score the most tries in the tournament with 7. This did not earn Robinson a spot in the women’s team of the tournament, with 5 of her countrywomen taking spots in front of her.



The only final not contested by Australia was the Wheelchair rugby, with England and France, the two best teams before the tournament and throughout duking it out for top honours. In the end, England captain Tom Halliwell scored the final and match-winning try to defeat France 28-24. It would be little consultation for the french in that they had both the most try scorer and point scorer with Moustafa Abassi (17) and Lionel Alazard (92) respectively.

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