Category: England

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After 1968, Australia has not won a five-game series at home after losing the first Test

If Australia wins the current Test series against India, it would be the first time since 1968-69 that it has won a five-game series at home after losing the first Test. That season, Australia played the West Indies and lost the first Test at Brisbane.

But the locals then bounced back with wins in Melbourne and Sydney, before a thriller in Adelaide ended in a draw. The fifth and final game saw the West Indies thrashed by 382 runs in Sydney, giving the home team a 3-1 series win.

Australia’s win against India in the second Test of the current series has levelled things at 1-1, with three games left. Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney will host those three Tests. Given the way the series has see-sawed thus far, it is difficult to predict with any degree of certainty the outcome of these three games. Continue reading “After 1968, Australia has not won a five-game series at home after losing the first Test”

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Australian rugby needs an Anglo-Saxon coach if it wants to win

Australia will be able to regain something of its former glory in international rugby only when it is coached by an Anglo-Saxon. The Wallabies, as the team is known, may go as far as the world cup final, but will not win until a coach who can understand the prevailing dominant Anglo culture within the team is guiding its fortunes.

Australia takes on New Zealand in a Blesisloe Cup game on 29 July. Courtesy YouTube
Australia takes on New Zealand in a Bledisloe Cup game on 29 July. Courtesy YouTube

Australia has won the rugby World Cup twice. In 1991, Bob Dwyer was the coach; in 1999, it was Rod MacQueen. Both white men, steeped in the same culture as the team.

But now, things have changed quite a bit. There are a fair number of non-whites in the team, predominantly from the Pacific Islands. This is partly because the game tends to come naturally to people from that part of the world and partly because the pool of youngsters from whom one can select possible players is getting smaller and smaller. Rugby is a game mostly played in private schools and is an expensive and physically demanding sport; thus, the numbers who take it up are small. Continue reading “Australian rugby needs an Anglo-Saxon coach if it wants to win”

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Bairstow was out, sure. But it was the end of the over and…

There’s one little fact that’s been left out when talking about the incident in the second Ashes Test, when Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey stumped his English counterpart Jonny Bairstow. And that is the fact that this happened at the end of an over.

Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

There have been numerous other cases of batsmen being run out in a similar manner cited, but none of them was at the end of an over. In earlier years, once the ball had landed in the hands of the wicketkeeper at the end of an over, it was considered to be dead.

In other words, you could not use the ball to effect a dismissal at that stage. Continue reading “Bairstow was out, sure. But it was the end of the over and…”

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ChatGPT on the incident in the second Ashes Test

The hype around AI is everywhere but the actual power of this technology is far from what it is made out to be.

I often experiment with ChatGPT and here is what this great piece of tech was able to produce about THE incident in the second Ashes Test between England and Australia.

Jonny Bairstow leaving the field after Alex Carey effected a stumping.
Jonny Bairstow leaving the field after Alex Carey effected a stumping.

My query: Write an article about the incident in the second Ashes Test.

What ChatGPT spat out:
Title: The Ashes Unveil Unforgettable Drama: A Recap of the Second Test’s Epic Incident

Introduction:
The Ashes, the historic cricket rivalry between Australia and England, has always been a showcase of intense competition, raw talent, and nail-biting moments. However, the second Test of the latest Ashes series will be remembered not only for the fierce battle between the bat and ball but also for an incident that shook the cricketing world to its core. In a moment that will forever be etched in cricketing folklore, an unforeseen turn of events unfolded, leaving fans, players, and pundits in awe and disbelief. Continue reading “ChatGPT on the incident in the second Ashes Test”

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Black Ferns’ World Cup win is best outcome for women’s rugby

New Zealand’s victory in the women’s World Cup rugby union competition on Sunday — held in their own country — should be welcomed if only because it signals a triumph for the way the game should be played: fast, running rugby, which showcases the players’ skills and is attractive to watch.

The Black Ferns, as the team is known, were up against England, a team of huge players, whose main skill harks back to the 1960s: rolling mauls and a slow grinding down of their opponents. It is the worst way to try and win.

And it is the last style that will inspire anyone to watch the game. It is a defeatist attitude to a game that requires the skills of a soccer player and also those of a track athlete. It is a poor tribute to a game where communication between players, most of the time without a word spoken, is simply surprising. Continue reading “Black Ferns’ World Cup win is best outcome for women’s rugby”

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Don’t go overboard with the sentiments, Warne was just another flawed human being

There is an unwritten rule in most human societies that one does not speak ill of the dead. You can be the worst murderer, thief, rapist or sociopath and beat your wife every day of the week, but the moment you die, you have to be treated as some kind of saint.

This kind of hypocrisy is so embedded that at least in one language there is a specific word to describe it: Sinhalese, the language spoken in Sri Lanka. [Despite all my efforts, I just cannot recall the word which was told to me when I was in the eighth standard many moons ago.]

Courtesy: megapixl.com

That rule appears to be asserting itself in Australia following the death of cricketer Shane Warne, a player who revived interest in the art of spin bowling when he came on to the international scene in 1992; this was after fast bowlers, predominantly from the West Indies, had ruled international cricket for two decades.

Continue reading “Don’t go overboard with the sentiments, Warne was just another flawed human being”

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Vale Shane Warne, the man who revived spin bowling

The master has gone. Spin legend Shane Warne bows out, bowled for 52.

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne has shuffled off the mortal coil. He died in Thailand on Friday at the age of 52, felled by a suspected heart attack.

The leg-spinner arrived on the international scene in 1992, a blond-haired kid from Melbourne, but did not catch the attention of the game’s pundits right away.

It took a while, but under the captaincy of Allan Border he grew in stature and slowly became the go-to bowler when Australia needed a wicket.

Continue reading “Vale Shane Warne, the man who revived spin bowling”

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Branagh’s Death on the Nile is an insult to Agatha Christie

After viewing the film Death on the Nile which was released this month, one just has a single question: why was this film ever made? It is a terrible effort, one that takes the plot of a well-written book by a famous author, makes ludicrous changes to suit Hollywood’s woke agenda, and then compounds that with terrible acting, hoping that the so-called big names in the film will attract a crowd.

Kenneth Branagh released one film based on an Agatha Christie novel, Murder on the Orient Express, in 2017, and chose to play Hercule Poirot himself, giving a truly terrible performance. But it looks like he wasn’t satisfied with that; he’s back as Poirot again in Death on the Nile, making one long even for the bumbling Peter Ustinov to rise from the grave and reprise the performance he gave when the same book was adapted to the big screen in 1978.

Picture courtesy Pixabay

Death on the Nile tells the tale of a couple who are on their honeymoon; the husband was formerly in love with his wife’s best friend. This woman is extremely wealthy and ends up as the first of three people murdered during a cruise down Egypt’s most famous river. The best friend tails the woman and her husband, annoying the hell out of them. Poirot happens to be on board and is given charge of the case; he solves it, with the story ending with one of his well-known denouements.

Continue reading “Branagh’s Death on the Nile is an insult to Agatha Christie”

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Old is gold: 1937 crime thriller Death on the Nile is being remade

In recent years, there have been a number of remakes of old films, underlining the fact that people in the industry appear to be running out of good ideas.

That trend will be emphasised in February 2022 when a version of the Agatha Christie novel Death on the Nile is released, with Kenneth Branagh playing the role of the detective Hercule Poirot.

It is worth noting that this film was first made in 1978, with the late Peter Ustinov leading a cast full of big names: Mia Farrow, David Niven, George Kennedy, Olivia Hussey, Angela Lansbury and I.S. Johar.

Continue reading “Old is gold: 1937 crime thriller Death on the Nile is being remade”

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The world has become the domain of liars

There’s a common element to much, if not most, of the news that flits across the TV screens: lies.

People attempt to add a touch of sophistry to lying, by trying to create classes of lies, but in the end it all adds up to the same thing: saying one thing when knowing that the opposite was correct.

One well-known example: the current president of the United States, Joe Biden, came to office promising a US$15 minimum wage for the country. He also promised to provide medical services for all and forgive at least a part of the billions in student debt.

Continue reading “The world has become the domain of liars”