Roar Rookie
Joined September 2017
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Try to picture a town of only 46,832 people. According to Wikipedia, the closest real town to this in Australia is Gladstone (45,000), although…
The Australian summer is over (not counting the Sheffield Shield, but sadly nobody seems to). So what better time to slip in another light-hearted…
Welcome to another fun, frivolous hypothetical cricketing XI. The concept this time is quite simple: come up with the best possible alphabetical XI in…
A talking point that often comes up regarding the state of cricket is the balance between bat and ball. Many people say that in…
This article is another contribution to the annual state-of-the-game hand-wringing festival, so if you’re over that already, I totally understand and you’re free to…
With all this imposed indoors time, I’ve been conjuring up any number of imaginary XIs, and here’s my latest idle idea: beautiful versus ugly.…
Despite the complete lack of cricket to watch, I’ve found this period of time to be quite conducive to random pondering and what ifs.…
Every time the Olympics come around, or perhaps at any moment for our sport-mad brains, we wonder which country is the best at sport.…
and rubbish on top of that, so double the pain!
FLEM'S VERDICT: 'Five years ago he'd be stressed' - Warner's big mentality shift, England's selection self destruction
that was an ironic and completely self-aware absence of a full-stop…honestly
FLEM'S VERDICT: 'Five years ago he'd be stressed' - Warner's big mentality shift, England's selection self destruction
I agree with Huss, those constant glove changes and unofficial drinks breaks really are a blight – batters are somewhat to blame.
I wouldn’t agree with the free hit idea, but not because it’s against tradition, just because it’s not the simplest solution. Docking runs seems much simpler
And it’s terrifying to think that Shane Warne is on the MCC world cricket committee (whatever that is). Hopefully they just pat him on the back while he prattles on about pizzas and flicks between muttering curses at Starc and advertising hair products, then turn around and ignore everything he says
Test cricket needs free hit rule to cut down on no-balls and time wasting
Yep, they just throw baguettes and cheese at them while they ride past non-stop, their meal is whatever sticks. Probably why they’re so skinny
Brutal banter or total bulls--t? The myths and reality of the greatest Ashes sledges
On your last point, I wonder if it’s because they release the ball from a wider angle, so you feel it’s coming in at you more directly? I always felt more comfy against them if I took a leg-stump or even outside leg stance – that way I’m basically playing either only a cover drive or it’s on my pads and I’m safe
Agar's 2022 prospects, India-NZ draw: Talking points from the world of cricket
He dropped one chance. Otherwise he was fine – in fact his pickup of the Maxwell throw which nearly ran out Neesham was very clean
MATCH REPORT: Magnificent Marsh outdoes Williamson epic as Australia claim World Cup glory
I have to disagree with you, and mainly because i think the rose-tinted glasses are speaking for you. i don’t begrudge them doing so, it’s understandable, but i don’t think they speak of accuracy
i’m 27. when i did my L’s driving test (just a few years ago, was lazy getting round to it) i asked the instructor roughly what % of the people he sees are manual vs automatic. i expected much what you’re saying, but was surprised to hear that it’s 60/40 in favour of manual, and growing
i recently stopped coaching a cricket team of 7/8 year olds. if any of them wear a cricket jersey to training most likely it’ll be a big bash uniform, but when i asked them if they’d prefer to play tests or t20s, only 2 in the team said t20s.
even though it looks it, things don’t always change as radically as they appear. the values and the reasons behind the things you cherish still exist for kids growing up now, and will do so for kids growing up 30 years from now. sure there’ll be new things and everything will get a bit messier, but i don’t think there’s any reason to think that there’ll be a total revolution in the things we value and enjoy
MATCH REPORT: Magnificent Marsh outdoes Williamson epic as Australia claim World Cup glory
Right, I thought you were referring to CSA’s decision as hypocritical, not the Aussie’s broadcaster’s words. Nevertheless, I don’t think media identities, nor many people at all, are considering academic legal definitions when throwing around words like ‘racist’, so it’s not entirely reasonable to hold them to that standard.
On the other hand, who cares what the broadcaster said. I think most people here are discussing Quinton’s actions, a South African person in a uniquely South African context, hence the confusion with the reference to Australian law. Fundamentally you’re right though, discrimination can be thrown both ways
'How racist do you have to be?': ABC presenter stunned by de Kock decision as cricket world divided
Well to be annoying that’s an Australian law, not South African, so it’s irrelevant to CSA’s decision.
But you’re probably right in assuming they’ve got something similar. Still, it’s not an uncommon idea that human rights as an idea are a tool, not a universal truth. So it shouldn’t be surprising that the tool is used for slightly grubby purposes as well as the more noble ones
'How racist do you have to be?': ABC presenter stunned by de Kock decision as cricket world divided
It’s ironic, but with all these bizarre ideas CA is actually the only cricketing body treating t20s as their originally were intended to be: pure irrelevant entertainment. Does anyone else remember the very first t20s, with the players joking around and having a laugh? We’re coming back round to that, only now it’s the administrators doing the joking around
There could be some very weird diamond ducks in the Big Bash with huge rule tweak
That was hilarious. Thanks for the article!
'Every game I left two tickets for Ferris Bueller': Australian cricket's underrated comedy genius
Actually Siddle didn’t execute it as he planned. I remember him saying afterwards that he was aiming for the top of off! Not a bad mistake though
My top ten Ashes dismissals: Part 1
Seems overall a good XI, agree on dropping Starc, not as sure about Harris over Pucovski.
If they’re going to keep picking Head, he should be swapped with Green. Green has a better defence, starts slower, and could do with the extra rest if we want him bowling. Head barely has a defence but likes to start quicker, which would be better suited at 6
It's on: England players agree to Ashes tour after CA calm COVID restriction fears
Thumbs down from me too for the strange inclusion of gambling odds. Doesn’t add anything to the discussion.
But is the roar a site of professional journalism?
The six men who could replace JL for the Ashes if player unrest becomes full-blown mutiny
On the one hand, I agree with some of your rules (1, sort of 4, 5).
One the other hand, it makes me ask: why bother? And I don’t mean it personally, because I’ve also drawn up my own set of rules (no subjectivity, only human powered, technology can’t make a significant difference, must involve some fatigue/exertion), I mean it in relation to the general thought-exercise.
Why bother trying to create such strict, theoretical delineations for things if it’s just talk, if nothing depends on it? There’s a whole bunch of things: some things are more similar to these things than those things, what’s the point of creating a set of rules just to let us say these things are “things” but those things aren’t “things”?
Is it to say that your set of “things” is better than all the other non-“things”? I think that’s subconsciously I did when I created my rules, what about you?
For the sake of argument, what constitutes a sport?
Oh damn, didn’t know that. Oh well, still a cracking team without him.
Who will wear the baggy green with so many Test stars on T20 World Cup duty?
Great first article! I agree with most of your side, although I’d put Green above Head – Green’s got a better defensive technique and scores slower.
I also like the idea of Maddinson instead of Carey, so maybe Head could even go below him.
I feel this is a good opportunity to give Mitch Swepson a cap. Swap him with a pacer (not sure which one, I agree with finally rewarding Neser). We’ve already got Green to help out with some overs, Swepson definitely deserves it, it gives Paine some experience captaining two spinners and means that whenever Lyon retires his replacement isn’t starting completely cold
Who will wear the baggy green with so many Test stars on T20 World Cup duty?
Apart from the great writing, great photo too! He really looks like he wants to cause some pain. Bit of Clockwork Orange in him even
My biggest surprise from your story was how he wanted to stop the game when a bit of chirp came back at him. Seems like more of that fragility that ran through the whole Steve Waugh tough guy mentality – turns out to be quite a whiny, one-sided version of “toughness”
BRETT GEEVES: 'The day I truly believed Justin Langer was going to kill me'
Much as I love Gilly, the issue isn’t how the information is being communicated, it’s the content of the information itself. If the players are that unhappy with him, that’s the issue.
And what a slimy weasely little out they gave themselves, “great success…when all players were available”. I wonder if the Indians gave themselves that excuse before the Gabba
'Incredible job': CA backs Langer as coach faces accusations that he's causing player unrest
I certainly do, on a not-too-messy google spreadsheet. Interested in having a peak under the hood? 😁
'Punching above our weight': Who really won the Olympics?
Here we are then! I used 2020 or 2021 estimates, depending on what was available, of GDP per capita, and divided that by number of points. This produced a ‘cost per point’ measure, which is basically how much it cost each country to ‘produce’ a point – i.e. an Olympic finalist.
This is the top 16 (because Aus came 16th), median and bottom 10:
1. China – $18 USD per point
2. Ethiopia – $35
3. Russia – $36
4. Kenya – $38
5. USA – $49
6. Uganda – $55
7. Ukraine – $57
8. Brazil – $59
9. Japan -$60
10. GB – $63
11. Cuba – $78
12. Jamaica – $78
13. India – $81
14. Italy – $85
15. Uzbekistan – $86
16. Australia – $96
Median – $435 (Greece)
115. Kuwait – $4,335
116. Montenegro – $5,339
117. Mauritius – $5,508
118. Cyprus – $5,649
119. Panama – $6,078
120. British Virgin Islands – $6,840
121. Uruguay – $7,598
122. Bermuda – $8,180
123. Trinidad and Tobago – $8,628
124. Singapore – $14,075
'Punching above our weight': Who really won the Olympics?
I agree of course, it would be silly to say that the Olympics is the comprehensive measure of a nation’s sporting ability. Measuring that would be really interesting, and I’m not even sure where’d you start
'Punching above our weight': Who really won the Olympics?
Who on earth is Majeed?
Stokes, Woakes and Foakes: Why England should dump Buttler