A thrilling season of skill, innovation and extra-time finals showed netball’s local growth but also built a platform for the game to become truly global“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin was, of course, talking about the evolution of species when he penned these words, but as the Super Netball 2023 season drew to a close over the weekend, the sentiment stood out as particularly relevant.In yet another season where politics, chaos and calamity have dominated the conversations around the Super Netball, casual viewers could be forgiven for not fully appreciating the incredible season that has played out on the court. The 2023 season...
Smashed in the Rugby Championship opener, the Wallabies have hit early trouble in their 2023 World Cup quest. Yet their coach says it won’t take much to get his side ‘back in the money’Eddie Jones said he wanted a “robust performance” from his new-look Wallabies. He got an insipid debacle. He told media he had coached his men to play like “mongrel dogs”. He delivered a mob of mewling pussycats. He promised fans this week was the first step toward a “smash and grab” on rugby’s greatest prize. Instead, 62-days out from the World Cup, a season that promised so much has kicked off with disaster.After all the hoopla about Jones returning as the saviour of Australian rugby, his Wallabies...
In the most testing of circumstances and when his team needed it the most, Travis Head rescued Australia againTwo and a half Ashes Tests into the series, this was the real quiz. The third day at Headingley involved a lot of waiting, the covers coming on and off in a damp cold dance of the seven veils. An extra two sessions for England to leave Mark Wood floating in the plasma tank, soothing his mind with a tropical VR experience while infusing his fast-bowling muscles with restorative calf’s blood.Then, it was on. Some distance after an early tea break, Australia got ordered out to bat, already four wickets down, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head to the middle. Throughout the contests...
An alternate reality tells the story of England’s Yorkshiremen providing a blossoming partnership to save the summerIt is the morning after the day before. The beer-with-breakfast customers have emptied out of the Golden Beam pub on Headingley Hill and wound their way up St Michael’s Lane, scooping a second pint inside the ground as they head to their seats. The sky is bluer than Thursday, the mid-morning sun more powerful. It’s a day for broad-brimmed hats, factor 50 and batting, batting, batting.Jerusalem’s opening arpeggio plays across the speaker system, and the two home ground heroes make their way to the crease. Jonny Bairstow wheels his arms like windmills. Joe Root crosses the boundary with his customary sprint-out-of-the-blocks and a couple...
Patience pays off for unexpected inclusion for third Test with exhilarating yet controlled batting for his throwback century Travis Head is supposed to outscore you. That’s what Travis Head does, the guy who was already living England’s new ethos before England knew it existed. His power is shifting the scoreboard in the blink of an eye, having you glance up to see 20 or 30 runs from as many balls.What does it mean, then, when Head is already at the wicket on nine, and the player who walks out to join him brings up a century by the time Head has reached 35? To start the first morning of the Headingley Test, Mitchell Marsh’s call-up as an injury replacement was...