I saw the Curtly Ambrose one. Enjoyed his account of his infamous spat with Steve Waugh.
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Sri Lanka collapsed from 71/0 to 133 all out in the space of 14 overs leaving New Zealand a target of 189 to win the second test in Hamilton. New Zealand on 142/5 at stumps on Day 3 with Kane Williamson unbeaten on 78.
NZ knocked these off with the minimum of fuss. Williamson scored almost all of the runs today, ended with an unbeaten century. He really is a superb batsman.
Brendon McCullum is set to announce his retirement from international cricket after the second test against Australia in February.
Big blow for England. Jimmy Anderson has been ruled out of the Boxing Day test in Durban with a calf strain.
Australia captain Steve Smith has been named cricketer of the year and Test cricketer of the year by the International Cricket Council.
He becomes the fourth Australian to lift the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy after Ricky Ponting,Mitchell Johnson and Michael Clarke.
Smith, 26, was the sixth highest run-scorer in Australia’s triumphant World Cup campaign this year, with 402 runs at an average of 67, and made 1,734 in 13 Tests, at an average of 82.57.
He succeeded Clarke as skipper of the national team and led his side to a 2-0 Test series win over New Zealand last month.
When it really mattered in the 3rd & 4th test of the Ashes at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge, Smith weighed in with scores of 7, 8, 6 & 5 as Australia were trounced in both tests and relinquished the Ashes.
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That was poty material from @bandage to whom I would like to extend my thanks, my Christmas greetings, and my best wishes for the new year.
Thanks, pal. Compliments of the season to you and your family too.
Anderson ruled out of the first test in South Africa with a calf injury.
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Yes, a most astute observation.
Joe Root and Ravichandran Ashwin were the standout test cricketers of 2015.
Imagine what his average would be if he didn’t fail against England?
Woakes will probably get the call.
Will be Finn for one of the two spots. Most likely Woakes for the other one I’d say, would like to see Footit given a go though.
Chris Woakes to start instead of the injured Jimmy Anderson.
I was going to have a look at the first hour of proceedings at the MCG but its pissing rain so going to turn in for the night and be up bright and early for Durban in the morning.
Just catching up on the utter disgrace and farce of a so called ‘test match’ that is unfolding at the MCG. The hapless Windies put in Australia to bowl (presumably the thinking was to avail of assistance from the wet conditions earlier in the day. No sooner had proceedings got underway, the sun came out and there was the now familiar utterly lifeless Australian wicket to buttress batting averages.
Warner hits five 4’s off the first 11 balls before getting out 12th ball playing a stroke that would have been just ridiculous even in a T20 match. There was then a 2nd wicket stand of 259 between Joe Burns (who finished with 128) and Usman Khawaja (who finished with 144) as Australia moved from 29/1 to 289/2. The newly crowned ICC world cricketer of the year Steven Smith came to the crease under usual levels of pressure with Australia floundering on 289/2.
As @balbec most astutely observed about two months back - ‘The Aussies love their stats almost as much as the Indians’. Its all about boosting the batting averages. The batting figures over this Australian summer are just staggering.
Last test in Hobart, Australia scored 583/4 dec - with a world record 4th wicket partnership of 349 between Adam Voges (who finished with 269) and Shaun March (who finished with 182).
In the New Zealand series at the once feared WACA, there was a scorecard of Australia 559/9 dec, 385/7 dec, New Zealand 624 & 104/2. David Warner scored 253, Usman Khawaja 121 in Australia’s first innings and in the 2nd innings Steven Smith scored 138 and Adam Voges 119. For New Zealand Kane Williamson scored 166 and Ross Taylor 290 (a career highest score).
In the Brisbane test against New Zealand, Australia posted 556/4 dec and 264/4 dec in their two innings - David Warner 163 and Usman Khawaja 174 first innings and an opening wicket partnership of 237 in the second innings of David Warner 129 and Joe Burns 116.
The only test where there a wicket was prepared that represented a proper contest between bat and ball was Adelaide with Australia winning a very exciting test by 3 wickets with a scorecard of New Zealand 202 & 208, Australia 224 & 187/7.
The ICC really should be asking hard questions about the wickets that are served up in Australia. Its been going on for years now. Instead the ICC go and select Steven Smith as their test cricketer of the year for his flat track bullying exploits completely ignoring the fact that when the pressure was on at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge and Smith needed to be stand up and be counted, he produced scores of 7, 8, 6 & 5.
Don’t worry. The proper test starts in ten minutes.
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Start of play delayed by half an hour. Some early morning drizzle in Durban. We’re been told to expect challenging and testing batting conditions. Can’t wait`now for some proper test cricket again
Over at the MCC it finished up 345/3 at stumps. The ICC World Cricketer of the Year is on 32 n.o.
England 55/3 on a rain interrupted day with tough batting conditions and a fired up Dale Steyn who removed both openers cheaply. Cook was out for a duck and Alex Hales scored 10 in his first test innings.
This is proper test cricket in comparison to the rubbish we’ve had to put up with in Australia for the last three months.
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Compton and Taylor are digging in here. 121/3.
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Steyn gets Taylor for 70 runs.
Eng 174-4
Taylor will be gutted. Good player that lad. Making the most of his chance. Very good from compton to anchor the innings after Cook was out.