Having picked injured stars hoping they would recover in the shortest possible time, the tourists are left with few options in DelhiYou go to war with the army you have – so goes a piece of unintended wisdom from Donald Rumsfeld as cycled through Natasha Lyonne on Russian Doll. Like any good motto leaning towards truism, it’s something you can take beyond the literal and apply to the trivial. It’s a phrase that you can mutter as you plough into the passport queue at a seething airport, or glance at the other adult trying to control an eighth birthday party.For our purposes, it can apply to any sporting situation dealing with a lack of resources. Billy Beane could have slotted...
Nine decades ago this week, Australia’s under-fire cricket board rowed back on complaints against the tourists’ brutal bowlingIn this era of cricketing glut, some matches pound through the sausage machine so effectively, they might never have happened at all. But one series continues to hold fast in the imagination: England’s Bodyline tour to Australia of 1932-33.It was 90 years ago on Wednesday that the Australian Cricket Board swallowed their pride and sent a cable to the MCC, taking back their earlier complaints of “unsportsmanlike” behaviour by the English cricket team, who had been pounding down brutal leg theory bowling in the name of victory. It was done through gritted teeth, under pressure from the then Australian prime minister Joseph Lyon,...
Australia’s best-since-Bradman wants to play a few games before the Ashes but the chance to learn may not be all one wayAt a time when cricketers bounce from one Twenty20 league to the next without much fuss – often halfway through, like cowboy builders yet to finish off the skirting boards – it’s almost reassuring that the idea of a player dropping into the County Championship for “three or four” matches can get plenty of backs up.The player in question is no cowboy, it must be said, rather one Steven Peter Devereux Smith. Yep, Australia’s best-since-Bradman, the master of a thousand idiosyncrasies, has been in talks with Sussex over a short-term deal before the World Test Championship final in June...
With a series win in the bag, injuries to consider and a looming visit to India, the hosts have the freedom, scope and necessitySydney is a place for experiments. Attending your first Mardi Gras parade, fomenting the Rum Rebellion, paying $4m for a dilapidated single-front terrace house: it’s all about opening your eyes with something that you may never have anticipated. There will be experiments for the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground this week, then. The Australian men have already won the series against South Africa, so they have the freedom. They are missing two first-choice players through injury, so they have the scope. And they are eyeing a difficult visit to India in a month’s time, so...
The everyman quick’s form stacks up but his selection for a home Test in Melbourne against South Africa is also about the vibe he bringsFor the last five years, Australia’s bowling attack has been a given. Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, set and forget. There have been change-ups to cover injury or when a second spinner has been needed in Asia, but there has been no question about the best four options in the country when the time has come to revert. With this stability, the quartet has played 22 Test matches together, a record shared with the West Indies’ 1950s and 60s combination of Garfield Sobers, Lance Gibbs, Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall.The fact that 22...