Latest news with #AustralianCricketTeam
ABC News
16-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Ashes question marks around Sam Konstas, Australian batting after West Indies tour
The Test tours of Sri Lanka and the West Indies were supposed to bridge the gap for the Australian men's Test team and paint a picture of the future both imminent and distant. Instead, with the Ashes starting in four months, it doesn't feel like we know much more than we did a year ago about who should line up against an England team brimming with bravado. And it starts at the top. It was never likely to be a straightforward tour for Usman Khawaja and Sam Konstas. In Caribbean conditions rarely seen by Australian cricketers, against a team cobbled together haphazardly and with nothing to lose, 19-year-old Konstas and 38-year-old Khawaja were both playing for their immediate international futures. And now, after three Tests and six innings each, those futures are both up in the air. The numbers are damning. Konstas scored just 50 runs at an average of 8.3, and Khawaja fared only slightly better, with a top score of 47 and a 19.5 average. Each Test followed a similar pattern for the opening pair. With Australia batting first in all three matches, Khawaja's opening effort of 47 was the only occasion either batter made it to the first break. In each Test, Australia was back at the crease for its second innings before the close of play on day two, and in each match, neither Khawaja nor Konstas came out to bat on the third morning. It was hardly subtle from the West Indies, but it didn't have to be. Around the wicket and angling in, their quartet of right-arm seamers homed in on the left-handed Khawaja's pads. Three of his six dismissals were LBWs prised with such an approach. Despite his tough series, Khawaja still played the odd authoritative shot and remained composed for much of his time in the middle, as he generally does. Konstas, meanwhile, seemed to deflate further with every innings. That fearless, nation-stopping Boxing Day cameo felt like a lifetime ago as he fought for his life on the uneven, unfamiliar Caribbean pitches. His hard hands and lack of footwork were exposed again and again by Shamar Joseph in particular, who claimed Konstas's wicket on three occasions. By the final session of the third Test, Konstas's confidence was clearly shot. He grassed two catches and produced the misfield that allowed the West Indies to escape equalling the record for the lowest Test total of all time. But how much have we actually learnt from Konstas's first overseas series? For every Australian batter, the going was tough in the West Indies. There was uneven bounce and pronounced movement off the seam in Barbados and Grenada, while in Jamaica, the combination of magenta mystery and floodlights was never likely to provide ideal batting conditions. Across the three Tests, no batter came close to scoring a century for either side. The West Indies Brandon King made the highest individual score of the series with 75, while Steve Smith hit Australia's best of 71. Travis Head was the only batter to average over 35, while in Jamaica, no-one made it past 50. The 516 runs scored between the two teams in that third Test was the lowest Test match aggregate for well over 100 years. It shouldn't be a surprise that batting was tough. The strength of this West Indies team lies in its fast bowling, and the hosts were always likely to choose venues and manufacture conditions that would suit Jayden Seales, Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph, who all had excellent series to continue promising Test match careers. But, through the carnage, Cameron Green had a promising, if understated, tour. Arriving in the West Indies just one match into his international comeback, his failure in the World Test Championship final against South Africa meant questions were already being asked about him at number three. Before the opening Test in Barbados, Cummins told the media Green was seen as Australia's "long-term" first drop, despite having never played there in first-class cricket. After an uncomfortable first Test in which he made scores of 3 and 15, Green played the series' longest — and perhaps most telling — innings in the second. He ate up 123 balls for his watchful 52, laying the foundation for his middle order to build a substantial second-innings lead. In the third Test, his two scores in the 40s made him by far the game's best batter. The manner in which Green made his scores will be particularly pleasing to the Australian selectors. Critics had labelled him too slow and too robotic to be effective against a lively new ball. But success against exactly that was the backbone of the West Australian's solid series. With his return to bowling now only a matter of months away, Green's success at number three is also vital for the future of Australia's newest Test success story, Beau Webster. The all-rounder continued his outstanding start to international cricket, scoring two vital half-centuries and picking up five wickets in the Caribbean. If Green can make the number three position his own, Australian selectors can feel confident including both in the team. Of course, there is a lot of men's cricket to be played between now and the start of the Ashes. Australia is playing 22 limited-overs matches in four countries over the next three-and-a-half months, which overlaps with the first three rounds of the Sheffield Shield season. Meanwhile, a strong Australia A side is playing Sri Lanka A in the first of four straight four-day matches, with three 50-over games completed in Marrara and three to come in India in September and October. Including the fourth round of the Shield season, from November 10 to 14, there are dozens of opportunities for players to prove their worth in the long and short forms of the game before the first Ashes Test in Perth on November 21. And already some batters are putting their hands up, albeit without any great consistency. Matt Renshaw has gone on a heater in 50-over games against Sri Lanka A but isn't playing the first-class fixture, while fellow recent Test opener Nathan McSweeney has jumped between opener, first drop and number five, boasting as many 80-plus scores as single-digit innings. Kurtis Patterson still has a Test average of 144 (from two innings) and has enjoyed something of a resurgence in the first-class scene of late. Jason Sangha had unbeaten centuries in his past two Shield games and a pair of half-centuries for Australia A, and don't be surprised if you start hearing "Ollie Davies" whispered on the wind if the 24-year-old makes a hot start to the Shield season with NSW. Of course, none of these players are currently starting the innings for their states. Konstas has the inside track as the incumbent Test opener but Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne were picked ahead of him in Australia's past three Tests, so selectors clearly aren't sold on him. Add in his failures in the Caribbean and a tough start to the Shield season might just see him lapped by the field. Plus, as we learned with McSweeney last summer, selectors aren't afraid to make a mid-series change if things aren't going right. So, even if Konstas starts the summer, a couple of poor outings against England could see the tides shift. Cricket Australia made sure to point out the fifth round of Shield cricket, played during the first Test, will feature day-night games at Adelaide Oval and the Gabba, the site of the second pink-ball Test against England the following week. At the end of the day, the top scorer in domestic first-class cricket last summer was a specialist opener: Jake Weatherald. The Tasmanian was the only batter with over 900 runs, and scored three tons — all over 140 — last season. He's also already turned 30, which didn't scare selectors away from Beau Webster in their hour of need, but would signal a clear change of tack away from the selections of McSweeney and Konstas, both of which were at least partly fuelled by their youth when compared to the rest of the Test team. And while we're talking about 30-plus Shield veterans, don't be surprised if calls start for Marcus Harris to resume his 14-Test career. Despite a rare down year in Shield cricket, he travelled to England and averaged 63.5 with three centuries and two 50s for Lancashire in April and May, albeit while batting exclusively at number four and facing none of the bowlers England will bring down under. And the bowling attack for England will be an interesting watch. Rarely have they brought a seamer to Australia with any sort of success, leading to a decade without the Urn, but this time could be different. Jofra Archer has returned from four long years in the Test wilderness to torment superstar India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal with the sort of rapid pace and bounce that lends itself to Australian pitches and England missed so sorely when he was absent for the 2021/22 series. Gus Atkinson is also returning for the next Test and has genuine speed in his arm, while Headingley destroyer Mark Wood continues his recovery from a knee injury, looking to return to Australia for the first time since taking nine wickets with the pink ball in Hobart three years ago. Brydon Carse offers more seam, while Ben Stokes is back bowling at his lion-hearted best in the gripping five-Test series against India, which should have England far more ready for a proper contest than Australia after brushing aside the West Indies. The team Australia picks will be anyone's guess, but if England can keep its pace attack fit and firing, the flimsy batting line-up will need to find some fight to keep the streak alive.
ABC News
15-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Australia's record cricket win in Jamaica
Andy Park: Now to Jamaica, where wickets tumbled and so did the records as the Australian men's Test cricket team completed one of its most historic wins over the West Indies. Questions had been raised over the Australians' ability prior to the series starting. They've now been answered emphatically as they surge to a 3-0 win. But this memorable result could be the last of its kind as the future of the Caribbean Test match tour is being pondered by other powerhouse cricketing nations. Myles Houlbrook-Walk prepared this report. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: There's a distinctive rhythm to the calypso music of the Caribbean. The Australian cricket team as well seemed to be hitting every right note in Jamaica when they overwhelmed the West Indies. Cricket Commentary: Stark bowling to Jayden Seales. Left arm bowled in! And that seals the deal! Myles Houlbrook-Walk: The Australian side whitewashed the West Indies 3-0, dismissing them in the final innings for 27 runs, the second lowest score ever in the 147-year history of international Test cricket. Tom Decent is a sports journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald and watched on in the stands. Tom Decent: Nothing short of remarkable. I mean, no one could have foreseen the magnitude of that win. Mitchell Stark, obviously, with three wickets in the opening over. And just when we thought it was going to be Mitchell Stark's day, Scott Boland comes in and jags his first hat-trick. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: That hat-trick from Scott Boland, where he took three wickets in three balls, was the first by an Australian in a Test match in 15 years. Speaker 4: Warwick can't await! He knocks him over! Boland's got a hat-trick! Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Mitchell Stark, meantime, took five wickets in just 15 balls. He spoke to ESPN after the game. Mitchell Starc: It's been a fantastic series. I think we've seen some difficult batting conditions throughout, but a fantastic series for us. It's been a good few days. I'm very enjoyable. So yeah, I'll go home with a smile on my face. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Tom Decent says while the achievements of the Aussies are to be admired, it comes at a time where Test cricket is stagnating in the West Indies. Tom Decent: With the absolute greatest respect to the West Indies, they're a pretty ordinary cricket team at the moment. This is not the West Indie side from 1995 or the early 80s who came and conquered and beat Australia. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: And while Jamaica played host to an historic moment, there's questions over whether this series could have been Australia's final Test tour of the West Indies. Carl Hooper is a former West Indian cricketer and now commentates for the ABC. Carl Hooper: When are we going to see Australia again on our shores or a West Indies team on these shores, the way the financial model works? I don't know. I mean, you want now to host India and England. So where does West Indies cricket go from here? I don't know. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Carl Hooper isn't the only person pondering that question. Tom Decent from the Sydney Morning Herald says there's limited financial returns for Australia and other large nations in hosting or visiting the West Indies. Tom Decent: The International Cricket Council is looking at whether or not they try and pit the best teams against each other. More often, the Indies or Englands and the lower teams will have to fend for themselves. Myles Houlbrook-Walk: But for now, Australia and hat-trick hero Scott Boland are soaking up the victory. Tom Decent: Amazing feeling. I've never been involved in a game where we've bowled a team out for 27. Andy Park: Test quick, Scott Boland ending that report by Myles Houlbrook-Walk.
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Dear cycling: a letter and a warning from cricket's golden free-to-air summer in 2005
Dear cycling, hello from 2005. It's dusty back here, piles of unloved pagers, a cityscape of VHS towers and chest freezers packed with turkey twizzlers. It's been a strange sort of summer – switchbacking in mood. On 6 July, London won the rights to hold the 2012 Olympics, a last-minute heist from under the Parisian nose; the next day terrorists murdered 57 people on the London transport network. The country was in a state of high alert, but the Australian cricket team, who had landed in early June, stayed to play in the Ashes. I'll always be grateful for that decision – it turned out to be not only our last summer, but also our greatest. I hear that this is your last summer too, the final time the Tour de France will be shown on terrestrial television after years on ITV. As a casual kind of cycling fan, I'll miss it, like the sudden disappearance of a holiday friend who you've grown up next to, summer after summer, from jelly shoe to Birkenstock. I've always enjoyed becoming a temporary expert on the gradients of obscure Alpine hills, the timbre of the cobbles and the tribes of razor-faced, skinny-legged domestiques set the task of dragging their team leaders into position, ready to pounce. And I love the coverage – part travelogue, part Eurovision, part technical micro-detail. I love the plane trees, lines stretching and shading the peloton, eyes on the prize. I love the villages, the tricolours, the spectators and their insane cheek-by-jowl roars of encouragement (you might have guessed that I'm a Francophile, though I draw a line at the Pas de Calais cricket origin story). And your heroes and villains have been our equal: for Lance Armstrong, see Hansie Cronje; for marginal gains, see sandpapergate. But back to 2005, when our final terrestrial Test summer did not start until 21 July, by which stage the Tour was almost finished and Armstrong was about to collect win number seven – another one that did not stand the test of time. Our TV coverage was being carried by Channel Four and had been since they pinched it from the BBC in 1999. Their work was excellent, good-humoured and innovative, and they bowed out with a bang that year. The decisive Oval Test, the last of the summer, was watched by an average of three million over 15 sessions – the highest average audience for cricket since Channel 4 took over. It also took 23.3% of audience share during the last day, making it the most-watched channel of the day, for the first time in its history. I don't know if you paid any attention to cricket that summer; probably your feet were still in an ice bucket and your thoughts in the mountains. But we grabbed the British consciousness and would not take our sticky paws off. We were everywhere, all over the newspapers, television and magazines. When you walked along the street, stationary cars, windows down, builders on the scaffolding, everyone seemed to be tuned into Test Match Special. Simon Jones, a fast-bowling maverick, who had been stung by an old-fashioned tabloid kiss-and-tell during the first Test, suddenly became the country's eye candy. Damien Martyn suffered a similar fate on the front of a women's magazine in Australia. On the final day of the third Test at Old Trafford, with the series 1-1, people were queuing by the early hours, drawn to the match in streams like a Lowry painting, and 15,000 were turned away, the ground groaning at its down-at-heel seams. Those who had been lucky enough to slip inside watched a brilliant century from Ricky Ponting in another thrilling match – a thrilling draw, but there is not time to explain that for now. All five days were sold out in advance at Trent Bridge for the fourth Test and The Oval for the fifth and after the success of their big screen at Regents Park during the Lord's Test, the ECB organised more, at Wollaton Park and Clapham Common. The madness even hit the Australians. Their superstar wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, who was being hunted down by England's colossus Andrew Flintoff in each successive Test, said: 'I knew I'd hit rock bottom when one night I rolled over in bed to give my wife Mel a kiss goodnight and all I saw was Freddie Bloody Flintoff.' After England won, there was a huge parade in Trafalgar Square. You won't believe it but thousands of people turned up, tens of thousands, and more as two double decker buses crawled along from Mansion House, London hanging out of the window like Melbourne did to Frank Worrell's Australians in 1961. Then the squad, fat with disbelief and bleary-eyed, were invited to a reception in Downing Street, where they strong-armed Tony Blair into opening some wine. It was magical. And then everything changed. So wave the bunting and enjoy yourselves over the next three weeks. And don't worry, the coverage will be wonderful next year – knowledgeable and classy and technically brilliant. It's just that fewer people will drop by, and those that do won't be strangers unexpectedly falling in love with the spoke and the wheel as the French countryside rolls by. See you somewhere over the paywall. Yours affectionately, English (and Welsh) Cricket. There is so much potential for the competition to grow its fan base. We have seen crowds double in just five years here at the Kia Oval and huge numbers of younger fans come through the gates and learn to love the format' – Surrey throw big love at the County Championship ahead of the review of the domestic structure. Show a county seam bowler a shiny box of Kookaburra balls and watch him turn on his heel and run. He won't be alone. The balls, used during June (and July's) Championship matches brought heavy sighing not only from head coaches, but fans who were unimpressed by some of the more turgid days of play (day one of Essex v Yorkshire, at Clifton Park) and the domination of bat over ball. Surrey's 820 for nine declared against Durham was a record of both run-making and spectator endurance. Yorkshire coach Anthony McGrath was typical. After their draw with Notts – one of seven in the first Kookaburra round – he said: 'The match as a whole was not a great watch for spectators and I'm still not sure why we are using [the Kookaburra]. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion 'We don't play Test cricket in England with a Kookaburra and if we are thinking about the next series in Australia, then the people who are going to play in that series probably need to be using the Kookaburra as well.' But by the end of the second round, there seemed to have been a softening of attitudes. On the back of a closely fought draw with Gloucestershire, Glamorgan's head coach, Richard Dawson, was almost positive, 'With the Kookaburra ball, you've got to be precise in your line and lengthy, be patient and build pressure, and we were prepared to do that.' While at Taunton, slow left-armer Liam Patterson-White, who sent down 72 overs in Nottinghamshire's draw with Somerset, said: 'To come away with a draw, having played on that type of wicket with the Kookaburra ball, will I think prove beneficial to us in the long run.' Even Sussex's coach Paul Farbrace, who has been around the block, found something almost nice to say. 'It's a shame when I walked into the ground on the second day and people told me they knew it was going to be a draw. But we said we'd use it for four rounds and we can't be defeatist ... We have to find a way to compete and perhaps be a bit more thoughtful in our approach to playing with it.' With Rob Key's data print outs showing that 25% more spin bowlers were used in the first of the Kookaburra rounds compared to the last round of the Dukes', the ball with the sponge-like interior could be here to stay. But if it is, the counties have only themselves to blame. It is the directors of cricket who decide the Kookaburra's fate at the end of each season – something they will not always be keen for their seam bowlers to remember. A trip down memory lane for England v India at Lord's, the latest iteration of which starts on Thursday, would not be an especially happy one for David Gower, who was replaced by Mike Gatting after England lost their sixth Test in a row in 1986 at Lord's. It was the first Indian victory over England at the home of cricket and is recalled here by Steven Pye in our 1980s Sports Blog series. Ben Stokes has such a big influence as captain that it goes almost unnoticed that he has so little influence as a batsman for England these days, warns Andy Bull. In the other corner Shubman Gill is batting like a prince as India's skipper. South Africa's Wiaan Mulder declared 33 runs short of the record Test score of 400, and said: 'Brian Lara is a legend … for someone of that stature to keep that record is pretty special.' Still, 367 is not bad in your first Test as South Africa captain. And India and England will do battle in the fourth Women's T20 at Old Trafford on Wednesday night with the five-match series still alive after England pulled victory from the jaws of defeat on Friday.
ABC News
03-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
West Indies vs Australia live: Second Test, day one in Grenada
The Australian men's cricket team will be looking to win a Test match at a 58th unique venue when it takes to the field for the second Test against the West Indies at the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada. Steve Smith's return from a finger injury bolsters a top order desperate for runs after an underwhelming first Test, with a win guaranteeing Australia retains the Frank Worrell Trophy. Follow all the action in our live blog below, listen to every ball of our live radio call, and keep up to date with all the stats in our Score Centre.
CNA
11-06-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Smith confident as Australia seize control against South Africa
LONDON :Australia batsman Steve Smith hopes the variable bounce at Lord's will help them make further inroads into South Africa's fragile batting line-up on the second day of the World Test Championship final on Thursday. Australia had South Africa reeling at 43-4 at the close on Wednesday after being put in to bat first and scoring 212. Smith marked his first outing since March with 66 runs and felt Australia were in the driving seat after the opening day. Yet they were now looking to capitalise on their advantage. 'I think the bounce is going to be variable throughout the game, as we've seen already on day one, so hopefully we can get a few early wickets in the morning and sort of go through them and have a bit of a lead. That's the ideal scenario for us right now." Australia are 169 runs ahead after a day in which 14 wickets fell. 'I think we're in a good spot. We've probably had a few missed opportunities with the bat to try and get a bigger total, but I think the wicket offered something all day. 'We could have had a better day, but we're still in a nice position,' he said after stumps on Wednesday. Smith, a prolific run scorer at Lord's, was returning after a lengthy holiday in which he said he hardly picked up a bat. 'I felt good, felt in a nice place. I love batting here at Lord's and enjoyed my time while I was out there but left a few in the shed, unfortunately. 'It felt quite tricky, the wicket felt like it was doing enough all day... probably a little bit on the slower side, and then one kind of zings through.' Smith was irritated to have been dismissed by part-time spinner Aiden Markram, trying to slog him to the boundary but getting a healthy edge to slip. 'I'm still trying to fathom how I've done that,' he said.
