Aussie NBA rookie reflects on Cavs deal
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West Australian
5 hours ago
- West Australian
The Ashes: What Australia learned from epic contest between our two rivals England and India
England's epic series against India finished in some of the most dramatic scenes cricket has ever seen on Monday evening. A one-handed Chris Woakes came agonisingly close to helping the Poms to a famous series win at the Oval, but Australia's villain Mohammad Siraj crashed the party. Here are three things we learnt from the two-all series. Joe Root is as good as he ever has been. Root tried to reinvent himself around the time of the 2023 Ashes, but has now settled down again and truly found his groove. He scored another 537 runs this series at an and has now passed Ricky Ponting as the second-leading run-scorer in Test cricket history. The knock on Root is that he has never scored a ton in Australia. But good luck stopping him this time. He has better players around him than he has since he was fresh to the side and this will be his fourth tour Down Under. He's had enough time to figure it out. As David Warner pointed out this week – he is susceptible to the ball that nips back into his pads – but right now he is the form batter in the world. England have gone all in on this Ashes series by building genuine depth in their pace stocks. They want to meet Australia with fire this week and will bring rapid-quick trio Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Brydon Carse if they can all stay fit. But Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue have now strung some good Test cricket together. Jamie Overton was picked at the Oval, but their big quicks should push him and Woakes out of the side. If Australia is gettable, they're gettable at the top of the order. Mohammed Siraj is now more than just Jasprit Bumrah's understudy. It would be fair enough for Aussie fans to remember him as a bit of a fake tough guy who battled during our home summer. But Siraj genuinely broke out in this series. He was brilliant across the final two days of the fifth Test and was comfortably the best bowler in the series. He took nine wickets at the Oval to be named player of the match, including a monster 30-over effort to win the match.
Perth Now
10 hours ago
- Perth Now
Taipans lure McVeigh as new marquee man
Jack McVeigh will return from his NBA stint with the Cairns Taipans in a major boost for the NBL's reigning wooden spooners. The sharp-shooting Australian forward made his NBA debut with the Houston Rockets in November after a career-best 2023/24 NBL season with the Tasmania JackJumpers ended in a championship ring. The JackJumpers had retained McVeigh's contract rights in the event of a return from the NBA but agreed to the 29-year-old's request for a release from the final year of his contract on Monday. A day later, the Taipans announced McVeigh had signed a one-year deal containing a mutual option for a second season. While the NBL has not yet ratified McVeigh's contract, there is no suggestion his move to the Taipans will be blocked. The forward becomes the Taipans' highest-profile local player since Nathan Jawai and signals optimism in North Queensland following two seasons towards the foot of the ladder. "I know that the club were aiming for a marquee-type signing throughout the off-season and knowing that it was a real possibility changed everything about the type of roster we could build," said coach Adam Forde."I couldn't be happier that it's Jack." McVeigh played nine NBA games for the Rockets and 35 for G-League affiliate the Rio Grande Vipers during his brief American foray. He was named the 2024 grand final MVP in his last season with the JackJumpers, memorably hitting a half-court shot that won game three and put the Tasmanian side up 2-1 in the best-of-five series. McVeigh also represented Australia at 2024 Paris Olympics, where the underwhelming Boomers bowed out in the quarter-finals. The forward is the Taipans' first new arrival for the 2025/26 season and joins Sam Waardenburg, Alex Higgins-Titsha, Kyrin Galloway, Kyle Adnam and Kody Stattmann on the roster.
Perth Now
12 hours ago
- Perth Now
Youthful Boomers add Dash and dare for Asia Cup defence
Dash Daniels will become the youngest Boomer since Ben Simmons and won't be alone in pressing his case for bigger things when Australia put an unbeaten Asia Cup record on the line. Australia begin their campaign in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday against South Korea as two-time defending champions, 12-0 at the tournament since the Oceania powerhouse was granted entry in 2017. The spectacle has become a tool for Basketball Australia to blood youth and develop leadership in more established players, with the 2027 World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics firmly in mind. New coach Adam Caporn has handed Paris Olympian Will Magnay the captaincy, while Jack McVeigh, Jack White and Xavier Cooks are the only other players in their late 20s. Daniels, the 17-year-old brother of NBA talent Dyson, will be the youngest Boomer since 17-year-old Simmons debuted against New Zealand in 2013. US college forward Harry Wessels and highly rated college graduate Reyne Smith, who has signed with Cairns for the next NBL season, all bring down the average age. Ben Henshall, 21, will also play after opting out of the NBA draft and re-signing with Perth. Long-time Boomers assistant Caporn, currently on the Washington Wizards' staff, will lead the team in a tournament for the first time since taking over from Brian Goorjian. Goorjian took the team to bronze at the Tokyo Games and was in charge at last year's Paris Olympics, the Boomers crawling out of a tough pool before losing in overtime to Serbia in the quarter-finals. "There's a lot of value in the Asia Cup; it's a chance to prove you belong at a level like this, opportunity for those young guys and role players to carve out and define what they can bring to a higher-level team we'd bring to a World Cup," said Magnay, who has rekindled his career with Tasmania. "I want to push this program forward to achieve the highest highs. "However we have to do that ... if that's me stepping up and doing more, then yes. "If it's taking more of a back seat, being a bench dude, then yes. "I just want this program to continue to move forward." Caporn brought in Boomers great and new Sydney Kings assistant coach Andrew Bogut as an adviser for the side's Gold Coast camp, where Josh Giddey, Matthew Dellavedova, Johnny Furphy and Dyson Daniels all participated. Guard Sean MacDonald (knee) was a casualty in their only pre-tournament game, with forward Josh Bannan elevated in his absence. Former Illawarra Hawks wing Hyunjung Lee is one of South Korea's key men, while Saturday morning's pool clash with Lebanon will be a replay of the 2022 decider, won 75-73 by the Boomers. BOOMERS' ASIA CUP POOL FIXTURES: v South Korea, Wednesday 6pm (AEST) v Lebanon, Saturday 1am v Qatar, Sunday 6pm
