The tourists face a daunting prospect on a dry pitch, even though they will feel more competent against the turning ball than on previous tripsTrial by spin. That was the likely scenario for the Australian men’s Test team, as posed by Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne. Softly spoken and not inclined to swagger, the content of the message rather than the delivery held a challenge for Australia, with the likelihood that Sri Lanka will take four spin options into the first Test at Galle. “Last time we had two fast bowlers, we did not use one,” said Karunaratne, referring to last year’s Test against West Indies when his quicks Suranga Lakmal and Dushantha Chameera bowled 14 overs between them across...
Poor tackling, basic handling errors and a lack of discipline ensured a dire final script for the Maroons in State of Origin Game 2A star was born in debutant Matt Burton. An all-time game was produced by halfback Nathan Cleary in an arena he had failed to truly put an imprint on. A maligned pack dominated from beginning to end. It was New South Wales’ night in Perth, a dominant 44-12 victory that levelled a compelling series.At its core though, it was a failure at the basic fundamentals of the game that saw Queensland on the back foot for much of the opening half before being blown away in the second stanza. Poor tackling, a loss through the middle, basic...
The bitter rivalry shared by the Cats and Tigers only intensified after the weekend’s MCG thrillerAmidst all the sanctimonious slop, the slaps on the wrist, and the shock jock slanging matches, an actual round of football broke out. It was billed as Moving Weekend. It was supposed to be the round where the big boys made their run, and where the also-rans stood revealed. It pitted first against second, third against fifth, fourth against sixth and seventh against eighth. By Saturday afternoon, it had already re-established Melbourne as the top dogs, exposed the less than leonine Brisbane and added another half dozen pages to Essendon’s internal review.As Richmond and Geelong warmed up at the MCG, the Dockers were trudging off...
A short but pivotal period of time that saw the Vixens edge the Giants 55-54 to reach the grand final epitomised the 2022 seasonSeventy-five seconds is not a lot of time. It’s not enough time for the world’s fastest runners to finish an 800-metre race. It’s barely enough time for an NRL team to score a try. Maybe if someone was really committed to saving water they could squeeze in a shower in that time.However, the last 75 seconds of Saturday night’s Suncorp Super Netball preliminary final was long enough for hearts to break, find hope and then explode with joy. Long enough for fans to scream in excitement, then in anguish, despair, belief and finally in agony. Long enough...
To succeed in Australia as they did last time, the tourists will have to bully the hosts and not be distracted by the World CupOne by one the traditional pillars of shared Anglo-Australian culture are slipping away. Dame Edna Everage has long since hung up her frocks and the final episode of Neighbours is due to be aired on 1 August. Almost the last of the old-school entertainers still working the room is Eddie Jones, back on familiar soil and as keen as ever to enjoy his farewell Test series as England’s head coach.With no July tours scheduled next year before the Rugby World Cup and every chance of one-off, home-and-away Tests in a Nations League format becoming the future...