I'd just like to acknowledge Australian Test captain Alyssa Healy's wonderful career now that she has announced her retirement. She has had an outstanding career in all forms of the game.
I really enjoyed listening to her insights in the commentary box. She is extremely knowledgeable, speaks clearly and explains things very well, and has a good sense of humour without being blokey. I think part of her post-playing career is sewn up!
Congratulations!
Agreed, a stellar career, and perhaps not dissimilar to Gilchrist in changing the way Keeper's are perceived.
The girls are really showing that in some sports the difference in performance between men and women can quite small. I accept we are unlikely to see a 200cm 150kph bowler in the women's competition, but there are already plenty pushing towards the 130kph mark and that's plenty by the standards of the vast majority of cricketers male or female.
Trump is apparently offering Greenlanders 10,000 to 100,000 to switch the country to the USA If I was a Greenlander and he made it a million I'd do it in a heart-beat.
Then I'd move to Canada
Inflation says no.
If RedTrump went ahead with this inflation in the USA and Greenland would go through the roof, immediately the $1M would be worth next to nothing. It's the fundamental problem with unrestrained capitalism and it would be put on steroids by adding 100k overnight millionaires to USA economy at the expense of US citizens.
In any case, whatever value remained they would lose almost immediately it in fees, taxes and duties. Can you imagine Greenlandic natives suddenly losing Danish Health benefits and welfare to be left at the mercy of the privatised US Health and Social Services system, what's the fee for a call out to Greenland?
Trump's plans to acquire Greenland are disturbing for Australia imho.Denmark has been a good ally, had a long-term military relationship buying USA equipment and producing fighter aircraft parts for them.
RedTrump is a loudmouth fluffernutter, he can't even roll out the National Guard in his own backyard without it being defeated. He'll talk big but the actions won't match the words, there are too many in his immediate political circle that have too much to lose.
Don't confuse bullying Venezuela's crooks who were already skimming from the USA, with the USA having a genuine crack at a Sovereign nation.
We can only speculate based on the tactics of the past, but that weas a list with a very different structure.
Most of our list have AFL capabilities, they might not be the capabilities that fans want but whether they succeed or not tends to be more about how the MC and Coach put them to use and not so much about the opinions of fans.
There is no valid short-term reason why Green keeps getting a game ahead of Webster, I'm not interested in a debate just posting an observation.
Webster has done nothing wrong at every opportunity and struggles to get a game, Green has done little right and can't be dropped.
I'm assuming Boland has some injury or issue because he's bowled well but got just a couple of overs before they brought Green on and Nesser back.
Smith's a great batsmen but tactically he's a dud captain, he's lucky he's captained in an era through which we have dominant individuals including himself.
I don't know who to blame for the lack of a front line spinner, but regardless of the game outcome it's biting them on the ar5e at the moment. They have taken their foot of the throat of England, did they do this for the good of test cricket or through stupidity?
I think it's just a fundamental nature of tyrants, and there are tyrants on all sides of this issue, there is no good will evident from any angle.
The more disturbing aspect of this latest series of events, is that RedTrump did not even consult his own caucus in the planning. It's a sign he no longer holds regard for the political process, he has become bolder and bigger than the GOP. As a result I doubt he will abide by the next election result, and I suspect the fundamentals of the US constitution are now at very high risk, more so than at any time previous and previous events were alarming enough.
We went into a SCG test without a spinner, batting so deeply Starc is at 10, and we sent out a nightwatchmen.
There are so many wrongs with the current state of Test Cricket I don't know where to start, the sport of cricket is doing this to itself, it's like Test Cricket is now an unwanted obligation rather than the pinnacle of the sport!
RedTrump, Maduro, Rodriguez, Putin, Xi, Kim, etc., etc., are basically all grifters lining their own pockets at the expense of the societies they live in, they are a den of thieves and cannot be trusted in either words or actions.
I feel the only way to get them into line is for society to threaten their personal wealth, but I have no idea how that could be accomplished. I'd like to see far greater personal risk attached to their investments, with much longer term liability.
Brazil did well with Bolsonaro, but Brazil is a rather unique politically active and highly motived culture that has a history of defending it's environment.
After all the calls for Green's head, he's now bowling early on a wicket that so far this season looks like the least helpful wicket for fast bowlers, and they've gone into the game without a spinner on what appears to be the most spin friendly pitch cut to 6mm.
Furthermore, he's bowling ahead of Webster who seems to have him well covered as a change bowling option in domestic 1st class.
I'd assert on display is the full bullsh1t of Cricket Australia.
It reminds me of AFL players who put end at the last possible moment before the contract is signed.
King Taco might try to grab low hanging fruit but he didn’t earn his nickname lightly.
Putin, Xi and Lil Kim assassinate domestic opponents and occasionally a foreign based dissidents, but not foreign bureaucrats or leaders, in this regard they are somewhat smarter than RedTrump.
RedTrump is a two bob bully, and bullies never pick on someone who is capable of fighting back!
It seems to me this event has exposed a major weakness in the USA, they are desperate for oil. Obviously the US domestic reserves aren't anywhere near as abundant as the GOP claim, otherwise they'd be busy enacting the "drill baby drill" protocol in their own backyard, instead they embarked on an exceptionally expensive foreign incursion.
The pitch, prepared by the diligent Matt Page, was perhaps a day shy of ideal, its early moisture and grass yielding unpredictable bounce and seam.
Batters from both sides crumpled like autumn leaves in a gale. Wickets tumbled in clusters, scores hovered in the low hundreds, and the crowd, that vast sea of 90,000 souls at the MCG, was left cheated of the epic they deserved. What shocked me most was not the conditions themselves, for cricket has always been a game at the mercy of the elements.
No, it was the batters’ reactions: gestures of disbelief, muttered oaths, wry smiles as they trudged off, as if they alone had been cursed by a rogue delivery in the sport’s long history. They behaved like novices encountering adversity for the first time, oblivious to the blood, sweat, and sheer willpower that have sustained Test cricket through far worse trials.
The media are jumping on Stokes pitch criticism, but he is speaking with a forked tongue.
Stokes and his coach know all too well that to have any chance of winning a series let alone the odd test, the Bazball regime needs dead flat pitches. So what do the media and public expect, to hear him praising pitches with a bit of bowler assistance?
Bazball is basically cross bat cricket, deviation, turn or variable bounce are it's natural enemy.
The tragedy of the MCG Test is that the Aussies went soft letting the Poms win against the trend, they've used the pitch criticism as cover for their own abhorrent lacklustre play! When stoicism was needed to crush the opponents hope, we folded and left the doors open.
