What an Australian side this is. History will regard it fondly. The best nicknames in cricket are taken, with Don Bradman’s era The Invincibles and Steve Waugh’s sides The Irrepressibles, but an unprecedented run through the Ashes will warrant a moniker of suitable gravitas. Need to give that some thought. Suggestions?
Steve Smith needed one run. It took him one ball. Was he relieved to join the 10,000-run club? No. Emotional? Not even close. Doing cartwheels from one end of Galle to the other? No chance.
Beth Mooney has dominated the Ashes. With piercing eyes and pursed lips, she rarely lets anything go. ‘I probably don’t mince my words too much, to be honest,’ she says ahead of the historic Test at the MCG. ‘I don’t see the point.’
Jannik Sinner and his Australian supercoach Darren Cahill, revered globally but under-appreciated locally, were the epitome of gracious victors. But a CAS hearing in April looms.
Madison Keys was told from 12, you’ll win a slam! A compliment to a kid. A complication when you’re 29 and haven’t done it. ‘I got to the point where I was okay if it didn’t happen.’ Which was when it happened.
We’ve seen the good, the great, the bad and the ugly at the Australian Open. All par for the course, says tournament director Craig Tiley.
Boo! Not to Novak Djokovic, but to the appallingly badly behaved and boorish crowd at the so-called Happy Slam.
The battle of women’s tennis two biggest hitters will be won in the mind.
Golden oldies suspect the current generation are precious and pampered. Maybe they just aren’t used to a fondness in Australian broadcasting for taking the piss.
The shell-shocked Alex de Minaur is heading to next week’s Davis Cup tie in Sweden and a place he knows all too well. The drawing board.
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