Blogs & Pods

Date: January 1, 2016 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

Some of the biggest sports in the world could borrow from the Queen’s phrasebook and use annus horribilis to describe their 2015. FIFA and the IAAF – the world governing bodies of football and athletics respectively – have both limped to New Year’s Eve. The reputations of both have been sullied by scandal of the […]

Date: December 25, 2015 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

Mitch Marsh may well be asking Santa for an elixir that will help restore his batting. The all-rounder will go into his 12th Test on Saturday badly in need of runs. An innings of 87 in his second Test appearance – against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi in October 2014 – remains his only half-century. In […]

Date: December 18, 2015 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

  BBL 05 starts this evening and it is shaping as the main event for fans over the next five weeks. After the complete destruction of the touring West Indies side in the opening Test at Bellerive Oval interest in the marquee MCG and SCG Tests is at its lowest ebb since the World Series […]

Date: December 12, 2015 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

It is no wonder Sir Garfield Sobers was recently reduced to tears. Six weeks ago the game’s greatest all-rounder was asked at a media conference in Sri Lanka about the plight of West Indian cricket. The man who played 93 Tests, scored 8032 runs and captured 235 wickets found it tough putting his thoughts into […]

Date: December 11, 2015 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

Jackson Bird turns 29 tomorrow. I have no idea what his loved ones will give him but the Australian selectors’ early present was a lemon. And it must have had a particularly sour taste. There is no doubting that Bird would have considered himself a prospect to replace the injured Mitchell Starc in the 12 […]

Date: December 4, 2015 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

Today’s Test cricket is a batsman’s game. Every now and then you will get matches like the recent concurrent Tests at Adelaide and Nagpur where bowlers reign supreme. But, on the whole, a quick scan of the top-end batting averages will show you just how many batsmen have profited in recent times at the expense […]

Date: December 1, 2015 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

While a turtle only advances by sticking its neck out, Cricket Australia decided to put its on the line and it won. No doubt the sound of champagne corks popping is still being heard at its headquarters in the Melbourne suburb of Jolimont. It may have gone less than three days, but for mine, the […]

Date: November 27, 2015 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

Of the all the batsmen to have played over 20 innings across Test cricket’s 138-year history just 43 boast an average over 50. In each decade there has been a very select group of batsmen who have been members of the 50-plus club. Across the 1970s and 1980s, for example, there were just five batsmen […]

Date: November 20, 2015 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

He’s back and the question being asked by many people is “WHY”? Shaun Marsh has been thrown yet another lifeline by the National Selection Panel with the enigmatic left-hander recalled to replace the hamstrung Usman Khawaja. Once again the selectors are hoping that Marsh will defy the set of numbers that are testament to his […]

Date: November 19, 2015 / Posted by Glenn Mitchell

Few things excite a cricket crowd more than a full-throttle fast bowler. They personify menace and have fans collectively edging towards the front of their seat. Mitchell Johnson, who drew the curtain on his international career yesterday, was one of those men. On his day, and there were many of them, he was a weapon […]