Australian’s dominant century in the World Test Championship final against India strikes an ominous note before the AshesFrom time to time around the Oval press box, little English-accented groans of annoyance burbled through the quiet. “Oh God. Here we go again.” Steve Smith was the cause, across the first two days of the World Test Championship final. Through the tinted windows placed just behind the bowler’s arm at the Vauxhall End was the perfect view of him, ball after ball: setting up outside leg stump, stepping across, nudging off his pads for a run on his way to 121.For British scribes who covered their last home Ashes in 2019, it was simply Smith picking up where he left off. They...
Fifa has a point in asking broadcasters to pay more for the tournament but the game needs a quick solution If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? If a World Cup kicks off on the other side of the world but no one can watch it, does it really happen?We are 43 days out from the Women’s World Cup starting in Australia and New Zealand but, with Fifa threatening a blackout because of low offers for the broadcast rights from the biggest European footballing countries, you wouldn’t know it. There are no adverts, no references to coverage and there is no buildup. Instead, prospective viewers and existing fans in those countries have been left in...
When Travis Head arrived at the Oval crease, his side were in a precarious position – now they will enter day two well in chargeTest it out quietly to yourself, because it is not yet a fully formed idea. One to be rolled over the tongue to see how it goes before it is released. But maybe, at least at this moment, Travis Head is Australia’s most important Test batter.This is not an idea born of his run-a-ball century in the World Test Championship final, when he took Australia from precarity to primacy against India at the Oval. It was when that century was still just a threat, on 28 from 18 balls shortly after Marnus Labuschagne had been clean...
Tour merger gives Smith everything he could possibly want while the LIV commissioner’s time as a powerbroker is surely overAs the golf world continues to reel from the news that the Saudi-backed LIV Golf will merge with the PGA Tour and the DP World tour, Australia’s Cameron Smith now has everything he could possibly desire: the money, more money to play for and his tournament of choice to play in.With Yasir al-Rumuyyan at the helm of a new world golf entity, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) take-over will have an immense impact on Australian golf and its most well known figures. Continue reading...
An impending appointment at Spurs has been met with near universal acclaim in his home country, although the coach is not without faultsAnge Postecoglou will finally get an opportunity to exact revenge on Manchester United. Just over 23 years after Quinton Fortune’s brace condemned his South Melbourne team to a 2-0 defeat in the 2000 Fifa Club World Championship at the Maracanã, the Australian is set to become a Premier League manager, with Tottenham expected to offer a two-year contract with an option for a further season.Reaction to Postecoglou’s impending appointment in north London has been mixed among Tottenham fans, even if it has become somewhat more favourable as the doubters learn more beyond the information on his Wikipedia page....