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It has now been 4 long years since we waved goodbye, with a tear in our eye to some greats of our game. Warne, McGrath, Langer, Gilchrist. Between now and then we have also seen the departure of Hayden, Gillespie, Lee, Katich, S.Clark, and Symonds. All long term servants that gave their all to the Baggy Green. 4 years on and what has changed. You could argue that 4 years on from such depletion of talent and stock is more than enough time for Australian cricket officials to sift through the...
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Usman Khawaja is on the verge of something special; there is something in the air when he bats, something pure and raw, and something that oozes the most prostituted word in the English language since 'trust': Potential. He is, by some distance, the biggest hope for Australia's rickety batting.There are absolute basics in cricket, some are so basic that they are forgotten by international players because they get away with slow, lifeless Test Match pitches in hot, sunny weather. But there has...
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This was my first time at any of the big Australian cricket grounds so naturally I was pretty darn excited. By the end of the day however my spirits were as damp as the shirt I was wearing as first the Black Caps and then the Brisbane weather undermined all of my best-laid plans.The first thing that struck me about Test matches in Australia is that people really seem to get into it. Despite the perceived lowliness of the opposition and the poor forecast people flocked to Woolloongabba in...
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The Australian cricket loving community are in a fantasy world where we are still the team we once were. We are a shell of our former selves and people need to wake up. Sacking the second greatest batsman this country has ever seen is not the answer. Ricky Ponting is one of the best. He is still one our of best. So why are we showing him no love and trying to kick him out the back door? The former captain deserves our upmost respect. He deserves our attention and he deserves better than...
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Former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns has claimed that Ricky Ponting’s time as an international cricketer is up, something many who play real money games agree with. The Australian batsman has recently vowed to keep fighting for his place despite being 36-years-old and on a poor run of form with the bat. Cairns believes that in order for Australia to move into a new era positively, they need to call time on Ponting’s test career, allowing a new group of younger batsman to take the...
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It has been a fascinating week in Australian cricket. A new selection panel has delivered its first home squad and a new coach has overseen his first days in the national office. Two of the biggest cogs are now in place for Australia to once again dream of glory days. But the burning question is will they work?Mickey Arthur is South African. Men from that part of the world are, if you have the priviledge of knowing one, hard, tough people. Their history and physical environment dictates they...
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Rules aren’t necessarily made to be broken, but loopholes are there to be discovered. I believe that I have a loophole that will convince you that Michael Clarke should definitely not be the captain of the Australian cricket team. Let me set a scenario for you;It’s the Ashes, the first three tests have seen one win to England, one win to Australia and one has been drawn. It’s the fourth test and we have set England a target of 300 on the last day. The only problem is that they are scoring runs...
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Surely now, Ricky Ponting's glittering career is over.Overnight, he was dismissed for another duck in the first innings of the second test against the Proteas in South Africa. His second duck of the series couldn't have come at at worse time as Australia went from 0-174 to all out for 296, which is only 30 runs better than the South Africans.Ponting has much been in decline since 2008, and during his last 42 innings, has only made one test century. He says that he his happy with his form and he...
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Children are told that if you close your eyes and wish really hard, dreams can come true. Well, I have decided to test this theory for the Australian cricket summer. I haved closed my eyes, concentrated until I nearly fainted and have concluded these are my five biggest wishes.1. Ryan Harris gets hold of a super-secret, NASA developed, invisible shieldWhat can we say about Ryan Harris? Fast. Accurate. Outswing. All great attributes to have when opening the bowling for your country, but the one...
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The pyjama party is in full swing at the moment in South Africa. As a cricket tragic, all I can say is "when does the real stuff fire up?"Australia have only played 2 lack lustre tests (Sri-Lanka) since the Ashes disaster of last summer. With 8 tests to be played over the course of the next 3 months against quality opposition (NZ questionable), some lingering post ashes questions will now hopefully be answered.When the 15 man test squad was announced, few eyebrows were raised until the name Pat...
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