The Source: Tim Smith stars at top of the order for Chipperfield Clarendon

Drink drive MP Tim Smith knows a bit about crashing into fences, but these days it’s loose deliveries he’s been sending to the fences in a star turn with a local English cricket team.

Tim Smith starred with bat and ball in an all round performance.

Putting the squeeze on Victoria’s movers, shakers and headline makers.

Can drink drive MP Tim Smith provide an unlikely solution to the dilemmas confronting Australia’s selectors for the upcoming Fourth Test at Old Trafford?

Admittedly, details are sketchy.

But the Source has been told that Smith opened the batting for a ChipperfieldClarendon XI in the Hertfordshire League north-west of London last weekend.

It has been reported that Smith batted well, then bowled even better, in an all round performance.

Who should be more concerned – David Warner or Mitch Marsh?

That said, late on Thursday, Nationals MP Tim Bull responded to the above item, telling The Source: “Having played a game with Smithy, it must be a low standard!”

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Dan sits down for rare one-on-one media grilling ... in Italian

While much of well-heeled Victoria is spending their July on the Italian (or Greek) coast, Premier Daniel Andrews is spending the winter break with the local Italian media.

Andrews has turned up for an exclusive interview (un-intervista exclusivista) on Italian language outlet Il Globo, in a move which mocks the almost always dominant ratings of 3AW, as perpetuated in the latest radio survey released this week.

Keen observers may notice that host Riccardo Schirru even looks a bit like 3AW’s Neil Mitchell during Mitchell’s pandemic-era “long hair” period, though he could also stand in for Robert De Niro.

Andrews doesn’t often do sit down TV interviews unless he has a big policy or milestone to sell. He makes exceptions for friendly environments like fishing shows on community TV.

Il Globo’s Riccardo Schirru (left) has snared a rare interview with Daniel Andrews but 3AW’s Neil Mitchell is still waiting.

Perhaps the Il Globo appearance is an acknowledgment that Labor needs to win back some sections of Melbourne’s Italian and Greek migrant communities.

In 2020, Mitchell answered his own question in a Herald Sun profile: “Why doesn’t Dan Andrews talk to me? Because he doesn’t want to answer the questions.”

Years ago, Andrews and Mitchell had an on-air disagreement, and Andrews has offered a firm “mi dispiace” to Mitchell’s interview requests ever since.

“I’ve given up,” Mitchell said on Wednesday night.

“If Riccardo managed to get a straight answer he deserves a Gold Walkley. I haven’t heard one from Andrews in eight years.”