Test cricket will lose a part of itself when England’s elder statesman retires and, while it will survive, it will be painful“Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head.” A few weeks ago English cricket was thrown into a medium-sized spasm by the news that Jimmy Anderson had sustained a groin injury playing for Lancashire against Somerset. On one level it felt faintly ridiculous that England’s Ashes chances should rise or fall on the fitness of a man old enough to have bowled at Derek Randall. But the predominant sensation was really a kind of paralysing fear: the sort that grips you when you hear that an elderly relative has fallen over at home. Everyone knows the...
The NSW back’s absence is a blow for the Blues and State of Origin itself – he is one of the few who are irreplaceableIn a huge blow to Brad Fittler’s New South Wales men and the NRL’s hopes of making an impact in the non-traditional rugby league town of Adelaide, Latrell Mitchell has been ruled out of the State of Origin opener.A calf injury picked up at training on Sunday saw Mitchell’s hopes of returning to the Blues dashed. Stephen Crichton, an undoubted talent, takes his place but Mitchell is one of the few players in this game – and in his generation – that are irreplaceable. Continue reading...
Resources, workload and the media can make it a stressful job and the wolves will always circle if the results dry upPressure, the fighter pilot and champion cricketer Keith Miller once said, was a Messerschmitt up your arse. It’s a quote often wheeled out by Mark Latham types bemoaning a world gone soft. It bobbed up a few times last week in regards to AFL coaches, who are apparently stressed, under-resourced and burnt out. Two of the most successful coaches of their generation stepped away from the game in recent weeks. “Coaches feel like the scum of the industry,” Caroline Wilson said. Even Craig McRae spoke of the enormous toll it takes on his wellbeing and his family life.Not everyone...
A proposed new split of global cricket broadcast money is massively skewed in India’s favour but the move would be against the BCCI’s own interestsWhen India’s cricket board first tried to take hold of International Cricket Council finances in 2014, it enlisted support. The BCCI was flanked in the attempt by Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Board – the so-called Big Three arguing that as the dominant financial entities in the international game, they should divide the proceeds between themselves.The attempt only ended with change inside Indian cricket, when reformist administrator Shashank Manohar ousted a tainted predecessor. But Manohar is long gone, and today’s cronies have an appetite awakened by a reported new four-year broadcast deal for ICC...
Australian fans fell in love with the singer after her collaboration helped cleanse the game’s image and instil in it a true sense of worthIt has been 28 years since Tina Turner featured in her final campaign as the soundtrack of rugby league, yet such is the reverence in which she is held in Australia, news of her death has cast a long and dark pall over the game.The singer, who starred in the promotion of the Winfield Cup with her hits What You Get Is What You See and The Best from 1989 to 1995, died on Wednesday at her home in Switzerland aged 83. A testament to her immense and enduring popularity, the game has been overcome by...