Wrap - Operatic Bats

1. India v England in Test Cricket. This looks to be a very interesting series coming up. It could be a cracking struggle, especially if Broad and Anderson fire. Interesting to see Pakistan dominate South Africa in their first test. The South Africans are really struggling like Australia these days. Some good bowlers, but no batting. We know it well. Hopefully the development programs of India are copied for our teams and structures... a bit like laptops in dressing rooms. Once upon a time it was only cricket gear.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka have hit rock bottom and West Indian cricket lurches from disaster to disaster. Perhaps Bangladesh will be a future shining star on the world stage, but they put the cleaners through the Windies. The Bangladeshi U/19 form recently has been exceptional. India of course are the masters here and their younger players, including Pant, have graduated well from here.

2. Tom Brady - Super Bowl #150. Can he do it? A remarkable turn of events for him. No one in New England will be happy at all, but all strength to him. He has lit Tampa Bay up with his brilliance. His team mates can play too and he is surrounded with some emerging stars. A great story.

3. BBL. The competition that never ends. It has been a cracking series and great to see some of its stars selected for Australia too...Tanveer Sangha, Josh Phillipe, Alex Carey, Riley Meredith. These blokes deserve their spots. Cracking players. The best hitter of the tournament is easily Alex Hales. The bloke is such a crisp striker of the cricket ball. His bat usually sounds like an opera. Tonight it sounded like a choir of plastic recorders v the Heat.

4. AJ Tye. Whatever way you cut it this was a terrible wide to then prevent a ton being scored from James Vince. Slippery, ill directed? In a normal over you would need to hose him down it was so bad. And your team cops a complete belting! Daniel Hughes hitting a four just before didn't really help. Great innings by Vince and hard to see the Sixers losing this comp. You would need to see a corker of an innings by an opponent too. That Jordan Silk is a gun. I would have him in my Test team. He has great character and poise. The best fieldsman in Australian cricket.

5. Justin Langer. It didn't take long before the pressure mounted. It is truly absurd that one coach takes all three forms of the game, but Langer's intensity is his strength - and his weakness. Players are expert too at trying to deflect blame. We will need to look closely at the team moving ahead to judge, but Ricky Ponting is surely our best next option. 

Soft players with lots of excuses and whining is incredible. Can you believe a Test player was putting a toasted sandwich in his pocket and going out to field? We'd blow up in the park with that sort of idiocy. He got a little annoyed when told by Langer to wake up. Honestly. The arrogance and childishness of some players is incredible. Yet they only sack Wade. We need to be really cultivating an 'Australian A' culture with our best and brightest young stars... Harvey, Phillipe, McGurk, Meredith, Sams, Agar, Turner, Davies, Bryant... on it goes.

What about Jhye Richardson making the team with one healthy arm? Ridiculous.

Not sure that Andrew 'Ronnie' McDonald is the best option for us as our future national coach. Andrew is pictured here below and has been enjoying his cricket for years. 

5. Benji Marshall. Not sure why you would knock back a massive contract to play for the Rabbits, but maybe premiership glory has something to do with it. Remember Bennet brought back an ageing Alfie to win Origin. Perhaps a similar story. Souths look strong on paper, but will need to keep their forwards healthy because they are a little shallow there, despite the signing of Arrow. To win a comp you need a quiver.

6. The Olympics. Are they becoming increasingly irrelevant? Certainly not what they once were and now will teeter on the brink, with their own amplified brand of international athletes who have no brains or sense about pandemics. That is why half their countries are struggling and people are sadly dying en masse.

7. The Australian Tennis Open. A great message to the world that you can manage COVID through the crowds at these events. Don't get too close to players and coaches however. The stench of the whinging may land you in quarantine for a month. Wouldn't it be nice for the 'policeman of the tour', Nick Kygrios, if he took his own advice. Perhaps when Nick wins his twentieth Grand Slam, he might be able to offer some opinions. Of course, Rafa and Roger remain sensibly distant and professional. This expectation that they have some sort of duty to defend the whining lower ranked player is a nonsense. Give us a break. That is why they are champions. They welcome adversity and pain and triumph through it.

8. EPL. Nice to see the West Ham 'Hammers' up near the top of the table. A rare moment! Oh how we love an underdog!

9. Patrick Reed. A cheat? No. The officials call out this I thought - not the media. How the golf world loves a scandal! Four shots ahead at the time tells you he may have just been following advice from officials, especially when the audio says it did not bounce. Not his fault... sadly for the scandal mongers. Adam Scott may be able to pounce here.

The Wrap - Indian Cricketing "All Blacks" Domination

1. Indian 'All Blacks' Domination. As mentioned last week, India are the All Blacks of world cricket and should dominate the world of cricket (and us) for many years to come. Their traditional respect for our cricket is fast evaporating (with plenty of justification). A top class win by the Indian team. Attacking and backed themselves.

Meanwhile we have massive problems. We need a strong Shield season lead-in before every Test series. Now we can't choose anyone else in the team for South Africa because they will need to determine the team before the Shield resumes. Where is the traditional ODI or international T20 season? We are so not ready and our annual cricket agenda is a mess. Cricket Australia need to sort out their nonsense.

Tim Paine needs to learn how to attack. Our batting did not get enough runs in the second innings - and not fast enough. It was interesting hearing Ponting's views on commentary. He has a different view of cricket to Paine. I am tiring of the sympathy captaincy appointment argument - and continuation in the role as some sort of reward for past deeds.

Langer is under pressure too. Ricky Ponting needs to come in as soon as possible.

2. EPL. A great piece of good fortune for our Aussie goalkeeper Matt Ryan to get a transfer loan from Brighton to Arsenal. He would be pinching himself and has every chance to stamp his name in their books more powerfully. Probably as lucky as Central Coast Mariners who lead the A League after a million wooden spoons in recent years. ManU on top. Leicester poised

3. UFC. Connor McGregor seems to lose a lot these days. He's a hype machine, but getting knocked out is a shorter career than most.

4. James Anderson. He has been playing for a million years and this week recorded his 30th 5 wicket haul. Awesome. Over 600 test wickets.

5. Greg Norman. For all his skill, the man has truly lost the plot. He has been quoted as telling the world he has no ego and he is just simply too fit. His ridiculous schlong photo tells us he has no perspective whatsoever. He is a prize tool these days. Now he is designing Holey Moley course world wide. Fair dinkum.

6. BBL. Jordan Silk is one of the most consistent BBL players. Great fieldsman and times the ball beautifully. Phillipe and Dan Christian are incredible too. Daniel Sams has been great with bat and ball in 2020. Riley Meredith has sheer pace like Jhye Richardson. I like this young Harvey and Fraser-McGurk too. We have some talent out there.

The comp seems busted however. I am tipping the Sydney Chunder may not progress at all, but the Sixers will be hard to beat - esp. with Sean Abbott coming back into the team.

7. Australian Open Tennis. The spoilt brat is alive and well. The string of whingers (hangers on and all ranked outside of the best players) have no respect. The tournament performance from the weaker players will be blamed on quarantine. If they played with a different attitude, they may succeed more often.

8. NFL. The Green Bay Packers take on Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers tomorrow morning for a Super Bowl gig...and the Kansas City Chiefs play the Buffalo Bills. Some newer team names arising at the business end!

The Wrap - Double The Payne Paine

1. Test Cricket - Steve Smith. Shadow batting? Work on shadow scratching the pitch markings. Silly nonsense. ‘Stay off the pitch’ is a good rule. He needs to be smarter than this and avoid any storms in teacups. After all, he created the opportunity for some awful commentary.

2. Captain Competence. Tim Paine’s poor judgement is an ongoing worry with ridiculous DRS errors and deep fields at silly times. Lack of attacking fields, especially as pressure mounts. He skippers like an Englishman or a New Zealander too often. Dropping catches seems to be a too regular occurrence too.

3. Cameron Green. Comparatively, great hands in the field often reveals a great talent. He needs to up his aggression factor with the ball. Rip in!

4. Indian resilience. Amazing strength and self belief right through the Indian order. All the injuries and omissions. They should never lose to us. Great depth nationwide.

5. Bug Snapple. We struggle to find two openers when India have a zillion options. Hazelwood has been exceptional this series. Cummins too. Labuschagne has also been outstanding. More reliable at number three than we have seen since David Boon. Composed under pressure and incredibly talented. (He was a Greg Chappell discovery!).

6. Warner Retirement? I get the feeling Dave Warner may surprise us all and retire from Test cricket soon. Young family and a wonderful T20 career to sustain him and his family.... he just doesn’t move his feet quickly enough and we have seen this at least three times now (including in the Ashes) and they are becoming more frequent with lesser space between them. Ominous. Having said that, a blistering Day 4 ton will suffice!

7. Aaron Finch. His T20 form as Australian T20 Captain has been woeful in the BBL. Appalling really. Is his time up?

8. The Broncos. Payne Haas arrested. There is something magical in a team who got the wooden spoon being given free rein on the Gold Coast. Great judgement by someone in team management. Payne needs to show more self discipline. It is poor on the field sometimes (eg. Origin 2020), so as a young man, it is time to grow up.

9. NFL. How good are the Buffalo Bills going? They have been caught up in the backdraft of the Patriots for many years and have one more win for an unlikely SuperBowl appearance. Bill Parcells would be proud.

A big test for Tom Brady tomorrow with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers! How long will their show continue?

10. EPL. ManU on top of the table and Leicester rallying hard. Liverpool v ManU is set to be a cracker overnight.

11. Australian Open Tennis. How predictable that lightweight spoiled brats behave so appallingly. They come from countries where they have made a hash of managing the dreaded COVID and expect total and open slather. Respect for the host country seems not to apply to some countries by a handful. Lots of others are simply toughing it out. These will be the ones in the finals following some hot Melbourne weather - not the COVID whingers. Some may need to head to the nearest airport.

The Wrap - Hogwash

1. Marnus Labuschagne. His two innings in Sydney (with plenty of help from the super talented Steve Smith) have helped shaped the game. Like Warne and Andrew Symonds said though (BTW, who thought putting the two of them together was ever going to be a good idea? Last time in England it landed in a disaster on that Ashes tour), he needs to iron out some stupid immature bits to his game. Asking inane questions from short leg, blowing bubble gum bubbles (often this signals he will get out soon) and the ridiculous exaggerated "no run" antics need to be removed from his game. Smith is no better on this last one. None of that does any favours to him. Stick to run outs, great catches and poise at the crease. He has been a remarkable find. 

Warnie has probably summed up many thoughts of viewers (and he is teflon man at the best of times), but Roy always seems to be a bit too extreme. It started with chasing drunks and shoulder charging blokes running onto the field... then a string of silly advertisements. As many runs as Marnus has and will score, would have been a better memory.

2. Steve Smith. How good is this bloke? Smith (62.07) has now edged ahead to have the best Australian Test Cricket batting average since the great Adam Voges (61.87). Marnus currently averages over 60 in his 17 tests too. A fair start.

3. Nathan Lyon. Wicketless in this Test thus far. A million appeals and DRS nightmares (Paine has a problem on his hands...maybe Smith will get the captaincy again after all. Alex Carey or Daniel Hughes surely comes into the team. I like Nick Larkin too. Carey can play and might just replace the woeful Wade as well).

Lyon needs to roar and guide the team to victory! He needs to show class and patience on a favourable deck. That or give Allan Border the ball!

4. Racism - Sydney Tests. This Indian squad sometimes sound like Australia when we used to tour India in the 1970s and 1980s and whinge about the accommodation, the food, the weather, the people and everything else... The ugly side of racist taunts has no place in any part of our sport and society - including to our Aboriginal brothers and sisters - but to say it has happened for years revisits the famous two right handed gloves from the time wasting Ishant Sharma, the Michael Clarke wickets test... but I firmly remember Laxman and Tendulkar scoring so many runs it was ridiculous. That kept the fools very quiet.

5. Bumrah. He has done it at least twice now, but he is a spoilt brat sometimes. His latest trick? Knocking the bails off the stumps when the umpire rules against him...at the end of the over or between balls. Not when coming in to bowl - but when returning to his mark. I saw it Day 1 and again today. Fool. Such players should be penalised runs which go against their bowling eg. 20 runs.

6. Tests - Perfect Storm. The drums are beating louder. The Gabba Test could be off still, especially with an Indian loss tomorrow at the SCG. India seem very churlish at present. They need Shastri to exercise some leadership.

7. NFL Play Offs. Tom Brady has proven his class with a fine display with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the things on the side of your buccan head). Meanwhile the New England Patriots sit at home. He was the difference and was moved on a trifle premature - especially when the Patriots had no ready made replacement.

8. NRL. No known catastrophes this week on 'Idiot Watch'. There is always a later pre-season goose or two...or an Australia Day cruise aftermath. AFL's Jonathan Patton is keeping them busy south of the border.

9. BBL. When will we see our first instance of five runs from one of the three caps worn by the skipper of a BBL team falling onto a saved or fielded ball? Are these umpires losing it? Are they going to catch COVID from a player in the bubble? Impossible, but this nonsense continues.

We had one bloke - Popeye - not even signal a power surge the other night and Carey and Finch needed to sort it out. That bloke is hideous. Watch out for him. He has the Southern Cross tatoo on the forearm. Popeye. He also specialises in LBW decisions off the bat.

The Wrap - Big Bubbles, No Troubles

1. NRL. Are we serious that Penrith's Brent Naden - who apparently tested positive to cocaine - is now right to resume pre season training with his club? Great work by the doctors and club officials. Assuming the public media reports are correct, how can this occur? Sure, the 'young player with mental health issues' argument will be rolled out, but this is a really poor example for the code and for every aspiring league player. I cannot believe V'landys has not stepped in here. The precedent is staggering. Old mate James Segeyaro surely comes back and any other number of players... Reni Maitua, Sandor Earl and the gang (Ben Barba, Jason Smith, Jarrod Mullen, Karmichael Hunt, Mick Gordon, Kevin Proctor, Jesse Bromwich...) may be tuning up their solicitors.

2. SCG Test Cricket. There is something very unusual about a mandatory mask rule in Sydney and then allowing a 20,000 crowd at the cricket. Nothing at all to do with the SCG Trust of course... or the new stadium policy and rebuild at Moore Park. The SCG Trust? Stephanie Brantz, Michael Crismale, David Gilbert, Nihal Gupta, John Hartigan, Peter Ivany AM, Alan Jones AO, Kerrie Mather, Maurice Newman, Barry O'Farrell, Katie Page, Phil Waugh. A little influence there perhaps?

The big difference to the rugby league, rugby, soccer, is that it is an all day event. I think that is the strange bit. However, Kerry Chant would not give you breakfast if she thought it was dangerous. 

Interesting comments by the Shadow State QLD Health Minister "Well, if the Indians don't want to play by the rules, then don't come". This will fire the BCCI up, being told they need to follow the rules. There is an Indian strategy here too. A victory in Sydney will almost assure the Indians of a ICC World Test Championship (2019-2021) gig and will negate a useless fourth test (Why we ever have series that are an even number of tests is beyond me). See the progress points below.

3. Indian Cricketers/ Australian Cricketers. Is it any surprise that we are continuing to see spoilt cricketers behaving like prize clowns with little regard for anyone but themselves? It is a growth industry. Blissful ignorance as if they are demi-gods. Possible COVID breaches from the Indian cricketers... the COVID bubble protects the professional sportsman from themselves chiefly. It also keeps more of them away from others so there will hopefully be fewer issues...but then online and social media becomes the greater risk.

Watch for pathetic Indian Cricket Board excuses (Although sympathies are extended to Ganguly of course...a fierce competitor). Did they actually tell the players? Cricket Australia are hardly covering themselves with glory. An agreed outdoor eating rule? That sounds ludicrous. 

4. NRL Off Season. Not sure if Peter V'landys was behind it (!), but the closure of niteclubs in Sydney should prevent a few more off season issues.

5. BBL Umpires. After their glorious work from last week, we saw an LBW off the bat this week. We see no balls not called and overstepping bowlers unchecked. There is a complete lack of talent in the umpiring ranks. I wonder how much contemplation of the over rates/ players, 'power surge' windows, fielding circles, Duckworth-Lewis, no ball and wide rules all get in the way of the basics?

6. BBL High Achievers. Glenn Maxwell is in fine hitting form. Shaun Marsh has looked powerful. Josh Philippe is one of our best. So are Riley Meredith, Ben McDermott, Alex Carey, Tanvir Sangha, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Liam Hatcher, Steve O'Keefe, Nathan Ellis, Ben Cutting, Oliver Davies. I am starting to think that there should be an end of season 'best of' game, as voted by the fans. COVID won't allow this of course, but this would be a huge success - esp. if at the Gabba...north (uniting QLD and NSW) v south? (Heat, Sixers, Thunder v Stars, Renegades, Strikers, Hurricanes, Scorchers).

How bad are the Renegades? They are back to the bottom of the heap. Poor imports seem to be their specialty.

7. A League. Hard to believe that Sydney FC will not be in the finals and contesting for the dunny seat trophy again in 2021. They seem to be the most professional and most prepared - without excuses and dramas. Surprising to see The Mariners actually winning anything. About time.

8. EPL. ManU have come screaming back into contention now that the same number of games have been completed. Liverpool and ManU are now three points ahead of Leicester and Everton. A lot more ups and downs in season 2020-2021. Tottenham doing a lot of good things... West Brom and Sheffield United look cooked already.

9. New Zealand Test Cricket. The best Test nation in world cricket?  That sounds dream-like, but everyone knows they cannot possibly lay claim to that if they travelled to play tests. The vast majority of their Test victories since 2016-17 are at home on decks that they are most familiar with - not hospitable for international teams. COVID has assisted them. This Jamieson, the big blonde quick looks good on the seaming, rising NZ decks.