Skip to main content

it's all over for Australian cricket

It pains me to say it but the dynasty is over. It had to happen with the retirement in recent years of McGrath and Warne, but this series against South Africa is confirming it. Hayden is past it, Ponting doesn't have any rabbits to pull out of the hat as captain, Mike Hussey is out of form (but will be back), Brett Lee is injured and on his last legs, Stuart Clark is injured and has been found out on flat pitches, and there is no sign of a wrist-spinner anywhere.



The Ashes next year might be quite a tight one. Not sure if I could jump ship to back England, but I'd certainly be wanting to lay Australia at this stage. They could quite easily go to South Africa and lose three series in a row...
Labels:

Comments

  1. Richard29 December 2008 at 08:33

    When you rely on the likes of McGrath and Warne for so long it is no wonder that the younger players aren't coming through. England are at the other extreme - give too many players a cap. Get my mate Marcus North in the side!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Scott29 December 2008 at 18:25

    Plenty have come through, but haven't had the opportunities or just simply weren't good enough. Mass changes likely for the final test, Hayden, Symonds and Lee all likely to go. Watch out for a future star called Philip Hughes if they pick him, he could be anything.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comments, but if you're a spammer, you've just wasted your time - it won't get posted.

Popular posts from this blog

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur
14 comments
Read more

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also,
Post a Comment
Read more

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...
33 comments
Read more