The Wrap - A Big Week At The Travel Agency

1. Pat Cummins. So it is clear why Cummins has not been himself and has been yielding to the hair brained ideas of Ronnie McDonald, Tony Dodemaide and George Bailey. This combination will go down as some of our worst in time. Panicked and rushed calls and crazy tactics, including sweep mania. We could lose 4-0 in this series and miss the World Test Championship. To be honest, do we deserve inclusion? Some of the recent selection oddities:

• Pick Agar in Sydney and then don't play him in India.
• Pick Renshaw and play him in Sydney and in India. COVID fiasco.
• Go to North Sydney Oval for your prep - not to India. On the back of one of the wettest Sydney summers on record. Go figure.
• Don't pick World Test Batsman No. 4, Travis Head for the first test. Outrageous.
• Transport Kuhneman across as our 'saviour' (please). If he came on in B10 you would be happy.
• Tell us Kuhneman looked great in the nets. Who doesn't?
• Pick ill and injured blokes. Hazelwood should never have gone. Starc and Green stayed at home.
• Cummins not bowling aggressively or with short pitch stuff, yet we have blokes hit and injured (he has been shy at times, but gathers confidence with 8-9-10-11 at the crease).
• It has been busy at the travel agent - Hazelwood, Warner, Cummins, Agar, Green, Starc, Kuhneman, Morris, Swepson... all back and forth for various reasons at various times. Not great for team culture and common purpose. No such luxury with distance in the Ashes.
• Not one batsman added to a squad in all that time. Just a procession of mediocre spinners. Yet our batting has been horrible.

One shining light - Murphy, but I worry about him against England and other teams. He could go for a ride in Bazball.

The NSW Shield team is always the benchmark of Australian cricket depth. Not one of the current crop of batsmen deserves to be in the Australian team (outside squad incumbents Starc, Lyon, Hazelwood, Cummins, Warner). NSW are doing dreadfully in season 2022-2023.

2. India Aftermath. The fluffy end of the feather duster has no doubt been used on the team by McDonald and they are all none the wiser. If Australia lose 4-0 and miss the World Test Championship, there will be big changes. What a spoiled lot represent the nation. So sad to see Allan Border's reaction to it all. He was more devastated than the current players and coaches!

I must say that in the SCG Test, I could not believe how many coaches, adviser, technicians and hangers on there were around that Australian Men's Cricket Team. Incredible. Like a second XI plus. Net value?

3. Australian Womens Cricket. Amazing how these girls repeatedly dominate world cricket. Incredible really and not a peep of arrogance, hoopla... Prime TV would have a more popular series if they followed this team. Their T20 World Cup games and approach have been outstanding. A 12.00am midnight kick off is poor viewing time, but it will be an upset if they don't make it yet another title. The intriguing thing is South Africa made the final. They have never managed to achieve that in men's cricket.

4. England Cricket. Their domination continues under Stokes and Brendan McCullum. Attacking cricket at the right time. It has been a while since England carried that ethos in any of their play. This Harry Brook gets after it. He is averaging 90+ in his early days. He needs to be ruffled. He loves lunging on the front foot. Four tons in record time (3 v Pakistan, 1 v NZ). He has played South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand so far. Sterner tests await. However he does have the most runs ever by a batsman after nine test innings.

5. Arsenal v Man City. The new Norwegian striker, Erling Haaland has now scored the most goals ever for Man City in a season (27), yet the typical English nonsense abounds questioning if he has actually been a problem for Man City this season! There will be a few more managers around the place looking for that problem if he was ever cut free. Leeds have bounced back under their new manager and Everton lost dreadfully at home... Even West Ham had a win! (David Moyes is on the nose there).

The race to relegation is a lot tighter this season... week by week. Ange Postocoglou could get a coaching gig in the EPL sooner rather than later. 30 points typically sees you safe:

6. A-League. It would be great to have someone come out to play in the league that the fans could get excited about. Melbourne City are miles in front this year (37 points) and Sydney FC (24) are continuing to struggle. This is not acceptable to the bosses and Steve Corica may find this out soon... but please not Dwight Yorke. They tell me Ed Sheeran draws a big crowd and may be available.

7. NBL Final. Sydney Kings v the NZ Breakers. A best of FIVE games series starting this week (3 March). Eeking every last cent out of the public US style. 

8. Rugby League. Let's look at the pre-season injury toll. These are just the high profile, longer term ones. Are they unlucky, under prepared or sacrificed for no net gain in meaningless competitions for $100K? Or is it just the way the sport rolls?

• Dean Ieremia
• Justin Olam
• Shaun Lane
• Josh Schuster
• Taylan May
• Tevita Pangai-Junior
• Edrick Lee
• Xavier Savage.

9. NRL - AFL. Always a great time of year when the twin footy seasons get underway. Summer ends this week, so we are warming up for the winter sport! As always the AFL dilly dally around for a few weeks, starting on 16 March. The NRL kicks off next Thursday 2 March 2023.

10. Anamoe. What a tremendous horse, ridden by JMac of course. Great turn of speed and too strong once again in the Chipping Norton Stakes on Saturday. It has now won 8 Group 1 races (only Octagonal with 10 and Lohnro with 11 have won more). He is the seventh horse in Australian turf history to win at least $11 million. He is the Godolphin stables most successful horse ever... no breeding talk yet thankfully. Really like Alligator Blood too. Crushed I Am Thunderstruck again!

The Wrap - Can't Wait for the Next Amazon Prime Series

1. Test Cricket. What a complete embarrassment. Ravi Jadeja is too good for us (7/42). He always plays well with Kohli at the helm. He gets wickets, plays tough innings to move the game - or win it. He is devastating in the field too. Our ridiculous impatience is something else. Khawaja and Handscomb gave us hope in the first innings, but we show no poise at key times. Steve Smith has been one of our worst for a player of his ability.

We look like fifty years away from ever winning in India ever again. Totally under prepared. This is without the injured keeper, Pant and Bumrah! India and their fans must just think we are a complete joke.

Carey plays silly reverse sweeps endlessly. Too predictable. Surely working on your natural sweep is a better investment of time. Carey batted like a dunce in today's fiasco it must be said. His dismissals in this test were appalling. Pathetic really. He may have a few questions being asked of him soon the way he is playing.

Tip: reverse sweeps are not for Test cricket on slow, low turning decks.

How Renshaw could ever play another test is beyond me. He is a reasonable BBL player, but he totally lacks composure....0, 2, 2 so far. No future there. Someone thought he was the cure. His record on the last tour wasn't that great either to be fair. Last tour in 2017, he averaged 29 and Handscomb averaged 24. If that is the bar...? Handscomb is at least tough and superb fielding in close too.

Whoever is selecting these teams may need to be retired. All lovely blokes who can beat minnows but not much more.  Kuhnemann is yet another Queenslander selected... Labaschagne, Khawaja...Renshaw? Neser? Swepson?... I even read that he was bowling well in the nets and deserved his selection... ummm.

Can anyone explain Pat Cummins' deep fields in defending 100 runs? He seems lost with reviews, confused in selections and is bowling pies at times himself. His batting effort in the second innings was dreadful. One classic catch. A true test of captain character on the subcontinent.

Coach Ronnie McDonald is about to put his hand on the Mchotplate. But most of the players are happy and feeling upbeat about their useless efforts. Keep the voices down and the egos happy. Honestly. The next Amazon Prime Series will keep up its 100% record of destroying coaches...Langer, Madge Maguire and a few others worldwide... Ronnie?

2. Investment in Pitches. We have a million Centres of Excellence in Australia, but not one where the low - and slow (this is the thing) - Indian pitch is set up to teach our young batsmen anything. Have we thought to bring out some Indian curators to assist? Of course not... we'll be right.

The idea to play no warm up games and then go to North Sydney Oval on a scarified pitch has helped us heaps. Sorry... how ridiculous. I'd like to see the outdoor furniture added at short leg to help us again instead. It was equally ineffective from an inter-squad game back in 2017.

All out for 91 in the First Test and now all out for 113... please.

These scars will run deep when we head to England. Warner may bail out now with this injury. Could be time anyhow.

3. England v New Zealand Cricket. Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad are legendary. Their efforts in New Zealand were superb. Their combination will be missed when they finally split. No signs yet at age 40 for JA. Incredible. 682 Test wickets (178 Tests) and closing in on Shane Warne's magical 708 wickets (145 Tests).

4. Scottish Premier League. Celtic... nine points lead still and another premiership in sight!

5. Arsenal and Manchester City. Close now, but both seem to be giving ground to each other in turn. Everton climbing off the canvas with their new coach, but need a string of wins to stay in the top flight. Man United not far away, regardless of who owns them or who doesn't. West Ham and Leeds are struggling.

6. Pre-season NRL Trials. How many injuries now... Manu, Sualli, Olam, Lane... they need to can this nonsense and get ready behind closed doors. Surely the game is professional enough now. Hard to believe Penrith lost to St Helens too. That was a super effort from them away from home. Bravo!

7. Womens Cricket. Not huge WIPL contracts, but strong for most. Their form at the T20 World Cup in South Africa has been superb. Different with Meg Lanning back and firing in that team. Ash Gardner et al and then Ellise Perry. Amazing strength. (Is there a World Cup every second week?).

8. Tiger. Looked amazing in the first round at the Genesis Invitational. He is T26 after three rounds, but he looked sharp at key times. His presence certainly brings out the fans and media! His shank reminded everyone of the beauty of the game.

9. NBL. The Sydney Kings are into the Grand Final again. Impressive in making their third final in four years.

10. Coolangatta. It was an impressive winner in the Black Caviar Lightning at Flemington on Saturday. Extreme pace. Nature Strip seems to have now edged into retirement. September Run looked impressive too.

The Wrap - NagPOOR Dropped on Its Head

1. Test Cricket. How embarrassing- but not unexpected - to lose to India. You can only imagine the number of gant charts, Excel spreadsheets and video analysis that went into that pathetic team selection. Over thinking.

Murphy got wickets (Jack Leach like), but Cummins thought dropping Head was a good idea…like commenting on world peace and the environment. Stick to taking wickets…and not making panicked decisions about the World Number 4 batsman, Travis Head. 

The obsession with Ronnie McDonald's 'nice way' will bring him down eventually. The team will be stuffing their pockets full of frozen cheese sandwiches and singing Kumbaya together as you read this. No raised voices or anything to damage delicate player egos…you all tried hard, a trophy for everyone.

The ACB need to get some strength back and stop yielding to player whims. A bad culture is forming. It is a losing culture too, sadly.

Kuhnemann has been called into the squad. Honestly. Doorknobs only. Swepson goes home for the birth of his child and surrenders his likely spot in the next Test.

2. Irony. Is there any irony to the fact that India refused to play at the Gabba first last time they were in Australia - but we yield to all they request. Mark Waugh even had the temerity to criticise Kohli’s fielding in the slips (three dropped catches). They are precious and at their worst, the media dreadfully sycophantic and fearful of losing their jobs - and a big oversized cheque.

3. Rohit Sharma. It was interesting listening to him about using the feet and playing with soft hands. He batted majestically.  The ball did not turn sharply...slow and gentle spin really. Renshaw was undone with slow straight breakers. The slowness of the ball is the thing. Lyon tried to bowl too quickly. He was again disappointing, as was Dave Warner. Renshaw should be sent home. He got 0 and 2 and was injured all Test. Thanks for coming. 

4. Pat Cummins. A modern Mr Nice Guy, but there are more and more questions. Champion bowler, but even that was rusty this Test. His IPL form with the ball remember was woeful... $5 million later. He has done some curious things. Prime video are loving him as he prioritises player cash there over the sanctity of the dressing room. His evasive undermining of Langer in the media set it in train. The comments on world energy and the environment...

The Prime viewers will love seeing the Australian dominance over West Indies and South Africa, but as soon as the temperature is turned up, we falter. Our worst fear that we simply have no younger batsmen to lead us into the future is now closer than ever. Pucovski? Turner? Hardie? Harvey? Sangha? There seems to be no future planning.

I am increasingly staggered how often Cummins bowls himself at the tail enders. Some may say it is impatience - others cheap wicket harvesting. It could all come crashing down with losses in India and England…but think of the cash and social media interest…and Prime video! 

5. Superbowl. Philadelphia Eagles (I love, love, love…yes I do!) to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 57 in Arizona tomorrow. Jordan Mailata will aim up well. He is a behemoth and aggressive.  A few Souths fans will be shaking their heads hearing Michael Maguire cut him free. Typical. Mahones will take it to the Eagles however. He is a gun!

6. NRL. $100,000 NRL pre-season prize money? The generosity of the NRL knows no bounds. Until that increases to a million, we will keep seeing reserve graders and up and comers. Injuries from NRL trials? Justin Olam broken wrist...

Ban the trial...and the bye while you're at it.

7. Womens Cricket. IPL cheques will be flying this week in the auction. Elyse Perry has bounced back and is ready for a well-deserved pay day. She has changed the game and paved the way for so many. Alyssa Healey, Meg Lanning too.

8. EPL. Arsenal are doing their best to gift Man City another title. Drawing with the Brentford Bees is not a crowning moment! Leicester are marching back up the table with Harry Souttar doing some positive things.

9. Celtic. Ange on fire. Still 9 points ahead. Spinnaker up!

10. Anamoe. The best horse in Australia. Electrifying pace! With James McDonald in the saddle, victories continue to flow.

The Wrap - Heat: Scorched and Hosed

1. BBL. The Scorchers win a tight one in a cracking BBL final. A huge crowd of 53,000 and yet another BBL victory for WA! Adam Voges (second best average for Australia of all time) has the magic touch. That team could almost represent Australia. Ashton Turner and Aaron Hardie have been superb. Lehmann almost pulled off the greatest of victories. He can coach. No big name expensive overseas players and lots of no names converted to success. An amazing effort against fancied rivals and really they should have won from the position they were in late in the game. 

The ‘death’ bowling from The Heat was really disappointing. Neser especially. The surfie dude, Cooper Connolly (ex-Australian U/19s captain), just planted his front foot and hit it a mile. Smarter bowling required.

2. NRL. Latrell and Wighton scuffling in the street. How the Police love a high profile arrest, but what were the players thinking? Typical arrogance and self-centred behaviour. Latrell should know better especially with his profile in the community. This makes them both look low grade. The Integrity Commission will be sharpening the fluffy end of the feather duster.

3. NBA. Incredibly, Lebron James is about to become the highest ever NBA point scorer this week. An amazing feat over 20 seasons. Grandfather time. It will take some catching,

We have seen some of the extraordinary sporting greats in our time - Kelly Slater, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Roger-Rafa-Novak, Tiger Woods, Cameron Smith (NRL), Tom Brady, Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar...

4. NFL. The Super Bowl is coming soon next week…Philadelphia Eagles (I love, love, love... yes I do!) v the Kansas City Chiefs. Jordan Mailata is a gun and deservedly well paid. What a strong, mountainous fellow! His quarterback would feel pretty safe. This will be tight, but the Eagles may just get there.

5. International Cricket. India v Australia is set to be a cracking series later this week. How often do we go 1-0 up against India and then fold? This Shubman Gill is extraordinary. Highest T20 score (126) by an Indian in a T20 game! Watch his work. 

I am still worried going in with Renshaw, despite how well he batted in the BBL. Green sounds like he may be back. Starc’s injury…as bad as four weeks out of the game? Hazelwood is out again with an injury. The drums are starting to sound around Josh H now. Too many injuries…

6. EPL. Everton are off the canvas after Lampard was axed, beating Arsenal 1-0. Manchester City won’t be far away! Old mate Harry Souttar at Leicester arrives on the pitch with an own goal, but $20M+ is solid pain relief.

7. Ange Latest. Celtic…marching on at 11.00pm tonight! Two horse race with Rangers.

8. NRL injuries. The number of pre-season injuries has been incredible. Waqar Blake (broken arm) and Bryce Cartwright (broken jaw) lead the way, but young Dykes too. Has the game reached a professional level where trial games and other derivatives are entirely unnecessary? Surely. If I am an NRL coach I don't need this headache. Get ready for the main fare and forget the rest!

9. Djokovic. Incredible to hit 22 Grand Slams. They need to work on his persona for the world however. He is unpopular and up to too many silly tricks... hitting wild tempered balls in the past... mystery drinks, coaching from the stalls (what possible good can that do after 22 Grand Slam wins?)... crowd attitude... umpires... mystery hamstring issues, vaccinations, etc. He seems like a decent fellow, but is not always helped by those near to him. 10 Australian Open wins will take some beating!

10. IPL - Women. Some lives will change this week. Elise Perry, Alyssa Healey and the like will become millionaires another time over! A big statement in world sport.