Are The Golden Days of Australian Cricket Over?

South Africa dish it up to the Australian Cricketers
With the Australian Cricket Team struggling to avoid a 3:0 test match whitewash by the South Africans – for the first time in history on Australian soil – international cricket fans will be looking forward to a season of new possibilities. With the World Cup series starting again in 2009, India hosting a raft of 20/20 games and Australia defending the Ashes against England, it will be a battle royal between South Africa and India for the No 1 ranking in the world.

 

  © Lance Bellers – The Huddle | Dreamstime.com

 

Michael Clarke shines

South Africa finally broke a fantastic seventh wicket partnership of 142 between Michael Clarke (c&b Duminy 138) and Mitchell Johnson (64) in this third test at the SGC. This stand has been a bright and shining light in the face of Ricky Ponting’s “Golden Duck” in the second innings, Brett Lee’s injuries and Andrew (Roy) Symonds bad knee could not have come at a worse time for the Aussies. The Australian Captain’s criticism of the WACA pitch after the second test did not add much glory to the Australian’s game, either. The loss of Smith with a broken finger will hamper South Africa on the last day of play

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Win Great Prizes & Stump Your Mates

How can we fairly compare cricket statistics and players?
Cricket statistics are hard to compare fairly, over different eras and playing conditions – as well as the great difference it can make to your statistics when you have a teammate with whom you virtually practice ESP.

Who would challenge that the Lillee/Marsh bowling and wicket keeping combination is one of the best the world has ever seen. Even the great Adam Gilchrist, as a wicket keeper, did not have the intuitive support that Marsh had with Lillee, even though “Gilly” took 10 catches against New Zealand in 1999/2000. Rodney (Iron Gloves) Marsh ended his career of 119 tests with 395 dismissals, many from his partnership with D K Lillee, who held the record of 355 test wickets until Shane Warne overtook him in 2000. Glenn McGrath is one of only five bowlers to have taken over 500 Test wickets.

You must have the latest Quiz Book to drive your Mates mad with all the things they THINK they know about cricket.

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Autobiographies Outnumber Falling Wickets

Telling their own stories
Playing and retired Australian cricketers are publishing their autobiographies almost as fast as the current wickets are falling: Shane Warne, Steve and Mark Waugh are all in print – while Max (Tangles) Walker prefers the humour of How To Hypnotize Chooks and others. Brett Lee, David Boon and Alan Border have all made their contributions to the printed history of how Australian cricket has enjoyed a glorious period for the past twenty years. In my view, no one has more right than the great Adam Gilchrist.

Sir Garfield (Garry Sobers) tells in his autobiography how Dennis Lillee got him out, in the first innings, for a duck in Perth (b Lillee, c I Chappell) and again, in the first innings, in Melbourne (b Lillee c Stackpole). His revenge came in Melbourne when Sobers bowled Lillee a bouncer that caught him off guard and the next ball the Aussie dropped the easiest of catches into the hand of the captain, Tony Grieg. To rub salt into Lillee’s wounded pride, in the second innings Sobers cut Lillee to ribbons in that New Year test of 1972. He scored 254 and Sir Donald Bradman said it was the best innings of cricket he had ever seen on Australian soil. Finally, Sobers was b Chappell, c Walters to end his innings. You can win your own copy of this book, in our competition.

England Will Not Be Facing The Little Master

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England to tour India
Some of the best recent news is that the English cricket tour of India will go ahead. This will be a great boost for Indian cricket after the terrible bombings in Mumbai, and Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement from test cricket will rejuvenate their team with new selections. While Sachin ensured some terrible criticism in the last couple of years of his career, he stands alone in the 12,000+-run club.

On 17 October 2008, he passed Brian Lara’s Test match tally of 11,953 runs. He is the same Brian Lara that ended Garry Sober’s 36-year record in 1993/94. In his career, Sachin Tendulkar tallied up over 16,422 runs at the rate of 44.26 runs for every time he has gotten out. A remarkable performance for any cricketer and he is quoted as saying that his personal cricket hero was the West Indies Captain Viv Richards.

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