Page 7 - First Test Match News Today

‘David Warner may or may not play in Adelaide today’ was how I was going to start my final column of the year. I’m not sure whether Pat Cummins’ ears were burning at the time or what, but around the same time I was having this thought, the new Australian captain was setting minds at […]

Win the toss and bowl at the Gabba. It’s pretty bloody simple. Particularly when your favourite Uncle and Aunty of the Sinaloa cartel, El Nino and La Nina, are visiting for Xmas and general preparations on the wicket have been lean. I know everyone is singing the praises of chief selector George Bailey for picking […]

The real value of runs made lies in how they ultimately influenced your team’s chances of actually winning the match. Consider these four imaginary batsmen. Batsman A scores 44 not out at number 6 in a team total of 4 for 657 declared in which three batsmen make massive centuries. They win by an innings […]

Joe Root is adamant he doesn’t want to make the same mistakes of England’s past couple of doomed Ashes tours and if that’s the case, he shouldn’t recall both James Anderson and Stuart Broad for the Second Test in Adelaide. In the 5-0 whitewash of 2013-14 under Alastair Cook and the slightly less embarrassing 4-0 […]

New Zealand cricket great Brendon McCullum has questioned the leadership ability of England captain Joe Root, while Stuart Broad has expressed his disappointment at missing out in Brisbane in today’s edition of Ashes Scout. McCullum said England went missing at the Gabba as their “dire” 2021 continues, and believes Root must shoulder a lot of […]

Alex Carey has just completed his first Test match. Many commentators made the observation that he had gone about his business so efficiently that you had to blink to notice him. That’s a very fine way to begin your Test career as a wicketkeeper: unobtrusively. Carey completed a very composed first Test, taking eight catches. […]

Nathan Lyon precipitated an England collapse with four wickets to set up a crushing nine–wicket victory for Australia to go one up in the Ashes series on the fourth day at the Gabba. Lyon snared 4-91 to trigger an anaemic England batting performance, with the tourists losing eight for 77 in the morning session to […]

You might have thought that with Russia’s armed forces poised to gloriously crush the Ukraine that the British media might have had more to talk about than a party. However the media are obsessed with the Christmas party held at Number 10 last year.

It didn’t take long for all our fears about heading into a fifth day with a tricky run chase to be eased, and I sense England’s approach led to their downfall. Having got themselves back into a postition of hope they may have been too negative when they came out for day four. Yesterday I […]

Isn’t it great to have Test match cricket back in our lives in Australia? It seems like forever since we could cheer on the national team, though it’s only been ten months. New captain, new keeper, but the same old enemy. Here are a few thoughts on the match. The Gabba Test has to be […]