More likely still are the half of us who were born in Australia to two Australian-born parents: 37.4% of whom watch Test Cricket.
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I knew this day was coming eventually.
“My body feels really strong and the jump up shouldn’t be too much”.
The Sri Lanka captain’s unbeaten 77 left the home side to a commanding 291-run lead with five second-innings wickets still standing, after being in trouble at 35-3 earlier in a rain-affected day.
Coach Darren Lehmann paid tribute to the lion-hearted paceman, who made his test debut in 2010 against New Zealand in Wellington at the age of 30. “I don’t remember playing a Test match without him, and he is as good as anyone to play for Australia“. “It is always good to see batsmen jumping around”.
Likely first Test XI: D Warner, C Rogers, S Smith, M Clarke, A Voges, M Marsh, B Haddin, M Johnson, M Starc, J Hazlewood, N Lyon. Each has had the upper hand at one point or another, with Johnson now holding the crown for his exploits in the 5-0 whitewash in 2013/14.
In many ways, Cummins was an appropriate replacement for Harris given the way injury has also hampered his career, limiting him to just six first class matches and his one and only Test. “I’m just going to try to go out there and do the things I’ve been doing for the last 12 or 13 months and score runs”.
Johno and Starcy have both just got raw pace.
“I need surgery to fix it, I need a bone graft to get some bone in there and fix that and I’ve been told – I’ve never had that done before – it’s a slow process that pointed me to this decision”. Natural pace delivered from a 6ft 5in frame and his ability to swing the ball into the right-hander – and away from England’s seven left-handers – will make him a threat, however. It was disappointing but at the same time I’m chuffed for the boys because a lot of things we talked about, we actually went out and did. He can bowl quite full because he gets that bounce because he’s so tall.
“We had some good meetings”, he said.
“I’m pretty lucky, I have had a wonderful career and nothing made me prouder than pulling on the baggy green”. But that would cap it off, hopefully that can happen sooner rather than later and be many more to come as well.
“He loves winning as much as I do and that’s a great trait to have”.
A crack in Ryan Harris’s tibia brought a premature end to the Australian fast bowler’s career on the eve of the Ashes series, with the 35-year-old determining he could not put himself through another arduous rehabilitation and instead retiring.
I’m not one for the tit-for-tat stuff before Ashes series but we’ve noted a couple of things that have been said.
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“Given the news I received yesterday, and after talking it over with my family, I know now is the right time to step away from cricket”, Harris said.
