The Sporting Hack

The build-up to the latest instalment of the Ashes series between Australia and England has ramped up a notch with 14 of the 15 players selected by the home side on domestic duty this week in preparation for the first test in Perth. We asked the artificial intelligence bots if they could shed any light on proceedings and, crucially, who would be lifting the urn in Sydney in January. TheSportingHack: “Firstly, what is the Sheffield Shield?” ChatGPT: ‘The Sheffield Shield is Australia’s domestic first-class cricket competition, featuring four-day matches between the six state teams (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania) from October to March. It began in 1892 and is the highest level of long-format cricket in the country. The top two teams after the season play in the Shield Final.’ TheSportingHack: “Does it have anything to do with Sheffield in the UK?”  ChatGPT: ‘Indirectly. It’s named after Lord Sheffield (Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl ...

  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...

Victoria (256 & 330/5d) lead Tasmania (232 & 28/1) by 326 runs Day 3 | Sheffield Shield Campbell Kellaway's second innings knock of 147 put Victoria in a commanding position heading in to the final day of their encounter with Tasmania, who require a further 327 runs to take victory. The opener, who celebrates his 23rd birthday this weekend, holed out to deep square leg off the bowling of Tigers pacer Riley Meredith (3/87) but not before he had blazed a trail with 16 fours and 2 sixes to his name. Sharing a 195-run stand for the fifth wicket with the experienced Marcus Harris (101*) Kellaway’s innings helped stabilise the Vics who had fallen to 91/4 and has given his side the best possible chance of a win ahead of a likely entertaining last day. A tall left-hander with punchy strokes down the ground and a potent cut in his armoury, Kellaway reached his half century punishing the ineffective off-breaks of Nikhil Chaudhary by slog-sweeping the spinner out of the ground...