The Sporting Hack

First Test, Perth Australia won by eight wickets England 172 & 164 Australia 132 & 205/2   One must feel for the food and drink vendors at the Optus Stadium in Perth. They have missed out on some bumper trade over the last couple of days. Instead, punters are spending their hard-earned cash in the hostelries on the Swan River or cramming the Fremantle to Rottnest Island ferry thanks in no small part to England's second day capitulation in Western Australia. The facts are etched in to the mind with England collapsing from a commanding 105 run lead for the loss of just one wicket to posting a very gettable 205 run target which Australia - and in particular, Travis Head - relished. It was a game which felt peculiar from the very beginning. Visiting skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bat first, forgoing the preferred fourth innings run chase. Whilst this has proved to be the winning formula for all of the previous test captains at Optus Stadium, it isn't tradit...

  With less than three weeks until the eagerly anticipated 2025/26 Ashes series commences, there is an air of confidence growing within Australia that the hosts will triumph against England over the festive period and retain the urn. The comments of ex-Pommie pace man Stuart Broad - that this Australian crop are the worst in more than a decade - have been amplified the most.  While those sentiments were not fully endorsed Down Under, there has been an awareness that there are fragilities in the hosts ranks. Chief among those concerns are that skipper Pat Cummins is absent from the series opener in Perth, at the very least, and that the top order lacks clarity. Perhaps this is what the retired Broad focussed on as he suggested Australia might be about to lose for just the second time in eleven home series. However, stand-in skipper Steve Smith (118) looked in good touch for New South Wales against Queensland recently, and Marnus Labuschagne seems assured of a berth somewhere i...

Second Test, Wellington New Zealand won by one run England 435-8 dec & 256 New Zealand 209 & 483 It was perhaps fitting that in the land of adrenaline junkies, England’s thrill seekers came unstuck looking for their latest hit.  England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum New Zealand is the birthplace of commercial bungy jumping; falling to the floor from a great height with only an elastic cord tied to your ankles to prevent the inevitable. It’s something England’s head coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum (far right) will probably have done and doubtless enjoyed.  You can add variance to this practice by going backwards, going with a partner, or going blindfold but the premise remains the same.  In defeat at Wellington’s iconic Basin Reverse though, England went some way off-piste and asked for too much rope. It was to be their downfall.  To play ‘Bazball’ you are asked to disregard test cricketing convention and wisdom. Five, six, seven runs requir...