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Courier-Mail
2 days ago
- Sport
- Courier-Mail
Brian Lara's phone call to Matthew Hayden after Aussie broke cricket's most iconic record
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cricket. Followed categories will be added to My News. Brian Lara has revealed he rang the Australian dressing room in the middle of the night to congratulate Matthew Hayden on breaking his record, only to take it back the following year. Cricket fanatics would have been nostalgic for Lara's left handed strokemaking during the West Indies' 3-0 Test series loss to Australia in the Caribbean this month, but he still holds arguably cricket's most iconic record. West Indies vs Australia Test & T20I Series | Watch every ball LIVE with ESPN, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. Lara's knock of 400 not out against England in Antigua in 2004 remains the highest individual score by a batter in Test cricket and it doesn't look like being broken any time soon. Even on the rare occasions players come close, they are reluctant to even consider chasing the record and wiping the West Indies legend from the history books. South Africa's Wiaan Mulder scored 367 not out against Zimbabwe earlier this month, but his coach Shukri Conrad made the call to declare at 5/626 to let Lara's record live another day. 'Speaking to coach Shukri Conrad (Shuks) he kinda said to me: 'Listen, let the legends keep the really good scores',' Mulder said. Matthew Hayden kisses his bat as he leaves the field after scoring 380. Brian Lara and Matthew Hayden have a confrontation in 2003. Photo: Phil Hillyard. Lara has held the record twice — he scored 375 against England as a youngster in 1994, which remained as Test cricket's highest individual score until Hayden bludgeoned 380 against Zimbabwe at the WACA in 2003. Speaking on The Overlap and Betfair's Stick to Cricket show, Lara recalled the moment he found out Hayden had broken his record, as you can watch in the video above. 'I was asleep in Jamaica and my agent called me and said, 'I have a number for you to call in the Perth dressing room, someone just broke your record',' Lara said. 'So, I called the dressing room. It was very noisy, very loud and I got to Matthew then congratulated him.' Matthew Hayden breaks the world record of 375 runs, held by Brian Lara, by finishing with 380 against Zimbabwe. Lara didn't have to wait too long to get the record back, famously scoring 400 in the fourth Test of the 2004 series against England in Antigua. 'Funnily enough, I felt that for that 10-year period I had a lot of stress because of those records,' he conceded. 'One of my things was to try and be a good captain and leader, not to be strangled by the record, so I didn't worry too much about it - but then came England again 10 years later …' Lara is one of 15 players who have scored 10,000 Test runs — he finished his 131-match career with 34 centuries at an average of 52.9. Brian Lara celebrates breaking the world record of 380 runs on his way to 400 not out in 2004. Lara gets a guard of honour from teammates after his 400. The 56-year-old also shared his reverence for the late Shane Warne, with whom he shared many great battles on the field. The pair later became great friends before the legspinner's tragic death in 2022. 'Of course I got on with Shane Warne, we had a great time together,' Lara said. 'He is the best - I'd go out to bat against Muttiah Muralitharan, and I was confused. 'He gave me more pressure than Shane, but I'd walk out to bat against Shane and the ball would be coming off the middle and about 2-3pm he just produces this magical delivery or spell. 'That's why I rate him higher, because I think he was mentally stronger. With his bowling attack and the pitches he bowled on which favoured the fast bowlers, for him to pick up that number of wickets is very special.' 'The best team I ever faced by far was Australia in 1995. The defeat in the West Indies for the first time in 50 years, from then we were unable to turn things around - they were the toughest but also brought out the best in me.' Originally published as Brian Lara's phone call to Matthew Hayden after Aussie broke cricket's most iconic record
The Independent
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Why hosting the first test in Perth will shake up the Ashes formula
Looming over the Swan River the Perth Stadium sits silent and imposing. A massive hulk of brushed metal, intricate curves and sloping framework, Western Australia 's sporting centrepiece truly is a marvel to behold. Officially opened in 2018 after board meetings, design meetings, negotiations and compromises, the Perth Stadium, known as the Optus Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is situated on rejuvenated swamp land and is the main draw of a specifically built area of the city to host, watch, and enjoy a multitude of events from rugby, AFL, and football matches to musical concerts and even the WWE. This winter the multi-purpose stadium will also host its first Ashes test match, taking over from the famous and traditional WACA ground, with fans from both England and Australia flocking to Perth in November to experience the match first hand. Perth Stadium CEO, Mike McKenna, explained how and why the venue was built as an answer to the city's growing desire for improvement and innovation. 'Sometime around 2013 the process started and the debate within WA was about whether we needed a new stadium,' McKenna told The Independent. 'At the same time there were questions about the WACA redevelopment. The WACA had gone down the path of developing the stadium by selling parts of the land to use for commercial and residential development. That was really opposed by Cricket Australia who didn't think that was great for the Western Australia Cricket Association. 'The debate went on; do we need two new venues? One new venue? They decided they wanted one stadium to be a multi-purpose investment.' The decision to make the stadium a multi-purpose venue is clearly evident. Spreading out from the concourse there are tennis courts, a racetrack, cricket nets, plenty of parking and a purpose-built train station to improve public transport usage for matchday fans. 'The public transport service brings people here. Not only are there great bus and train access but they've built a network of routes that serve the venue on gameday,' McKenna clarified. 'We probably get about 77-78% of people who arrive come by public transport in a city that loves cars. It's accessible, it's easy to walk, train or bus. 'When you walk from the bus, train or the city you get caught up in the atmosphere. There's a lot of people coming on foot and you get that buzz that comes with arriving at a great venue. 'If you're wearing Barmy Army gear, you'll get the same reception as someone wearing Australia gear because people want you here and having a good time. There'll be the typical ribbing from both sides but there's not that animosity you can get in other places with cultures clashing together.' Typically, an Ashes series down under begins in Brisbane, at the Gabba in recent times, but this year's tour will begin in Perth. As the Perth Stadium has never held an Ashes test – they missed out in 2021/22 due to Covid restrictions – there is an air of the unknown about the beginning of this series. The Gabba is well known for its hostility, especially for England's players, and a cauldron-like atmosphere from hyped up fans but will that be replicated in a larger stadium built to hold 61,000 people? McKenna believes so. 'The atmosphere of the first ball of the first test of a series is quite incredible,' he revealed with fan-like joy. 'Something always happens. Expect the unexpected for that first ball. Whatever it is, that moment everybody is there together, and you get that roar that is quite different from anything else. 'This is the most passionate group of sports fans in the country. They'll take it out on the English team on the field and that first ball will be a hell of a lot louder than the Gabba. 'If Australia are bowling first, it'll be even more raucous. You wouldn't want to lose the toss here and bat if you're an English team on the first day. This place retains noise well, it's designed and engineered to keep the sound in so if you have 55,000 people here for a first ball and someone running in about to deliver it, it'll be big. 'The Gabba is an old-fashioned design and as you get further away in your seat you're further away from the ground. Here the stands have been built to face inwards, and you feel that in the ground.' And as for the game itself, well, the Perth Stadium was specially designed to accommodate drop-in pitches which have been specially tested and grown to replicate the fast and bouncy conditions that the WACA is known for. McKenna explained: 'Part of the objective when the stadium was built was to replicate the old WACA wickets. The myth of it is that it's fast, bouncy and lots of carry. That's what's been replicated and it's probably better than the WACA wickets were towards the end of their time. 'It doesn't crack up like the WACA wicket used to do, we used to have big, wide cracks running down the wicket, but this one doesn't crack that much. When it does start to crack there's a lot more variable bounce. It'll play fast but like the WACA if you can last and get yourself in you can get runs.'
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘He got up under Sachin's armpit with a short ball': Mitchell Starc spell to Tendulkar in 2012 destined him for greatness, says Ricky Ponting
Australia's pace superstar Mitchell Starc had a milestone 100th Test match that not a lot of fast bowlers can dream of. Starc perfected it in reality as he tormented West Indies and reduced them to the second-lowest score (27 all out) in Test history as Australia completed a 3-0 whitewash in Jamaica. Sixteen years on since making his First-Class debut for New South Wales, Starc has stamped his legacy among the greats of fast bowling and former Australia captain Ricky Ponting who has seen the left-armer through his early days believes he has gotten 'better and better' with age. The 35-year-old Starc took home a heap of records as he became the second-fastest man to reach 400 Test wickets and even extended his record with the new ball with 23 scalps in the first over, the most since his Test debut. 'Skill-wise and mentally, I think he understands his body, understands his game probably better than ever, especially the last couple of years,' Ponting noted in the ICC Review podcast. 'He's added a couple of different skills maybe the last two or three years that don't seem like massive things, but he's sort of incorporated that three-quarters seam, that wobble seam delivery that's just made his in-swing of that little bit more potent as well and has given him a little bit more variation.' Ponting recalled how it was a fiery 2012 spell at WACA, Perth to his long-time contemporary and India batting great Sachin Tendulkar that destined Starc for greatness in his eyes. In the second innings of the WACA Test in 2012, Ponting recounted how Starc, playing only his third Test and a first against India, had constricted Tendulkar by targeting his shoulder. 'I remember, he was bowling a spell to Sachin Tendulkar and was able to sort of bowl a short one, get up under Sachin's armpit and Sachin just sort of knocked one into short leg on the leg side. 'And when you could see that sort of pace and bounce and have someone like Sachin not be able to cope with it, I think that was the reassurance for all of us that there was probably something extra special there for Mitchell Starc,' said Ponting. Starc ended up trapping Tendulkar lbw on 8 as Australia rolled over India by an innings and 37 runs. Starc's menacing form was full on display in the Caribbean as he registered the fastest Test five-wicket haul by a bowler in history, bettering a joint record held by Ernie Toshack (v India, 1947), Stuart Broad (v Australia, 2015) and Scott Boland (v England, 2021) in 19 deliveries.
Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Mitchell Starc at 100: Durable, new-ball hitman, man for the grand stage and an Aussie great
When revisiting the supersonic 160.4 kph yorker from Mitchell Starc on the fastest pitch in the world from 10 summers ago, it is not just the frenetic sequence of a delivery in the 88th over of the New Zealand innings that imbues one with bewilderment of a fast-bowling superhuman. On either side of 'that' delivery to Ross Taylor at the old WACA in Perth, the broadcaster's speed gun had shown signs of breaching the 100-mile threshold, teeming with Starc's fiery 150-kphers. 153.7 kph, 152 kph, 154.8 kph, 149.2 kph – jotted the four deliveries before the left-armer peaked at 160.4 kph(99.8 mph) in his fourth over with the second new ball – the second-fastest delivery recorded in Test cricket history. Exasperated and visibly drained after seeing a dropped catch of his following ball (149 kph) at gully, Starc descended to serve out the rest of the spell, nudging closer to his 146.4 kph average speeds that day. At 35, Starc may not have a 160-kph bullet in him anymore, but the 6-foot-6 pace powerhouse can still hit the mid-140s consistently as he did in Grenada against the West Indies last week, as he will in his landmark 100th Test in Jamaica this weekend. The left-arm pacer has sustained much of his hunger and speed in the decade since the Perth pace peak, piling on 517 more wickets (280 in Tests) to become only the second specialist pacer from Australia after Glenn McGrath to mark a century in whites. Soaring rapidly up the Test ranks as one of the most fearsome strike bowlers from Australia, 'FLOAT' Starc has simultaneously left an imprint in the shorter versions. No bowler has reached the 200-wicket mark quicker in ODIs than the two-time World Cup winner. No pacer has taken more T20I wickets for Australia either. Having picked up seven wickets in the two Windies Tests this month, Starc needs five scalps in his milestone 100th appearance to touch 400 wickets. Armed with a cushion of at least 1300 deliveries, he will likely slot in as the second quickest ever to reach 400, behind Dale Steyn (16,634 balls) as the second man to get there in under 20,000 deliveries. Player Innings Wickets Average Strike Rate Glenn McGrath 195 451 21.73 52.1 Wasim Akram 175 409 23.17 53.7 Mitchell Starc 190 395 27.39 48.0 Shaun Pollock 186 391 23.25 58.4 Makhaya Ntini 189 390 28.53 52.9 Save for the exceptional outlier ala Steyn who stormed to 439 in only 93 Tests, Starc tops the 12 other pacers on strike rate (48.0) ahead of their respective 100th Tests. The staggering numbers are a product of his metronomic presence as Australia's seam spearhead in the last nine years. Since August 2016, when his bowling average definitively dipped below 30 for the first time, Starc's cost per dismissal has only seen decimal variances – from 27.88 at the end of his 27th Test in Galle to 27.39 post the 99th. The strike rates have similarly stood firm, moving to 48.0 from 48.5 between his last 72 Tests. Starc in Tests Mat Wickets BBI BBM Ave SR 5 10 Before 30 57 244 6/50 11/94 26.97 48.1 13 2 Since turning 30 42 151 6/48 8/108 28.07 47.8 2 0 Save for his questionable resourcefulness on Indian pitches (AVE: 53.66, SR: 89.6), Starc has been potent in all conditions where he has had considerable game time. And his ageing limbs have been no bar to the effectiveness, sporting improved wicket-taking rates since turning 30 in the 2020s. Of the five Australians to have picked up at least 200 wickets at home, Starc's 47.9 SR stands clear of the rest. Only compatriots Glenn McGrath (87 at 39.8) and Terry Alderman (83 at 42.9) have bettered Starc's 44.6 SR for 65 scalps among pacers on England visits. The exhilaration of watching Starc in full tilt with a fresh red ball has been seldom challenged in the time he's taken over the mantle of the opening bowler's role for Australia. 90 percent (356) of his Test scalps have come opening the attack, with none of the other four seamers who have amassed as many scalps in the role topping his strike rate (46.8). This unfettered tune to reel in wickets up front is the essence of Starc's bowling. Player Overs Wickets Avg SR Dots Mitchell Starc 155 20 22.95 46.5 736 James Anderson 155 14 23.79 66.43 773 Kemar Roach 79 10 20 47.4 395 Stuart Broad 48 9 10.33 32 248 Jasprit Bumrah 55 8 11.62 41.25 293 One of three bowlers (after Nathan Lyon and R Ashwin) to have stacked up at least 350 Test wickets since January 2015, five percent (20) of Starc's wickets were plotted within the first six deliveries of a team innings. Nobody can fault his sense of occasion either. Starc began three momentous Test matches in his career with wickets of the first ball of the match – the joint-most in history. He was on point nipping Dimuth Karunaratne in that Galle Test in 2016, castling Rory Burns with a swerving yorker off the first ball of the 2021 Ashes and serving up a stark riposte to Yashasvi Jaiswal's 'too slow' comments in Adelaide last year. Jamaica will brace for a similar wind. Starc will be ready. Lalith Kalidas is a Senior Sub-Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Working with the online sports desk, Lalith specializes in the happenings on the cricket field, with a particular interest in India's domestic cricket circle. He also carries an affinity towards data-driven stories and often weaves them into cricketing contexts through his analysis. Lalith also writes the weekly stats-based cricket column - 'Stats Corner'. A former cricketer who has played in state-level tournaments in Kerala, he has over three years of experience as a sports journalist. Lalith also covered the 2023 ODI World Cup held in India. ... Read More
Sydney Morning Herald
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Inside the splinter group that stormed an Israeli restaurant, as police make more arrests
It would be a night of disturbance for Melbourne's Jewish community. In a separate incident nearby, at almost the same time, a NSW man allegedly attempted to firebomb a synagogue while children and families were inside. Later, in the early hours of Saturday morning in Greensborough, three cars were set alight and a building spray-painted with anti-IDF graffiti at a weapons company with Israeli defence links. No one was physically injured in any of the incidents, and police say they are yet to find a formal link between the three or determine if the firebombing was an act of terror. Both WACA and the broader pro-Palestine movement have disavowed the synagogue arson as a horrifying attack. They say they stand against Israel's war in Gaza, not the Jewish community, and are frustrated by 'the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism'. But two local Palestinian protesters who did not wish to be identified said the WACA activists at Miznon were 'dickheads' too. 'They think they are righteous and have the right to impact innocent bystanders,' said one. 'It ruins public opinion – they do it in Palestine's name, and not one Palestinian was there.' 'There are a few of these groups, and WACA people are one. They come in and take things too far. We have to step in and de-escalate,' said another source, though they also noted that the chant of 'Death to the IDF' again rang out through Melbourne during Sunday's weekly pro-Palestine march. WACA is often shadowy about its activity and membership online, reminding associates not to post evidence of actions and increasingly taking steps to avoid police surveillance through encrypted messaging and carefully planned meet-ups. The group has been on the fringes of a wider campaign to expose Israeli defence ties to local companies and institutions for more than a decade. But, with the outbreak of war in Gaza and a new influx of student activists, their membership and tactics have shifted. The group say it now stands against the police too. Some who stormed the Miznon restaurant wore masks, others shirts emblazoned with 'ACAB', short for 'all cops are bastards'. Last year, WACA members were among many anti-war protesters who clashed with police outside the Land Forces weapons expo in Melbourne. (Some of those cases are still before the courts.) Months earlier, WACA scaled 60-metre cranes, formed barricades and paddled out on canoes to partially shut down the Port of Melbourne more than once as they tried to block an Israeli shipping company from docking. A police source said they had spiked truck tyres and set debris on fire during the blockade. WACA was also the first to post footage of masked vandals spray-painting and lopping the head off the King George V statue in the city during King Charles' birthday holiday last year. For this year's holiday, the same group posted new footage of the statue's head drifting off into the sea 'back to England' in a Deliveroo bag. Among those charged over the Miznon incident so far is 50-year-old Antwany Arnold, who is accused of hurling a chair at a diner at Miznon and was already out on bail for an incident at an earlier protest – which, a court heard, put him in breach of a condition not to travel into the city when he joined the action. WACA spokeswoman Gaye Demanuele, another long-time protester, said she couldn't confirm details of the arrests that would 'make people vulnerable to police' or speak in detail about the group's operations, given recent crackdowns on protest groups in Australia and overseas. Jemima Demanuele, who was photographed sticking up her middle finger at people in the restaurant during the incident, has already been stood down from her job at St Vincent's Hospital as it investigates her conduct. WACA was the 'front facing' mouthpiece of a fluid collective of activists and 'collaborators', Gaye Demanuele said, and had posted a statement 'on behalf of community members' who staged the Miznon action. 'While politicians in so-called Australia clutch their pearls over one meal that was interrupted, we ask people to refocus their attention on Israel's genocidal reign of terror over the Palestinians,' WACA's statement read. Demanuele was also one of the protesters at Miznon, and has been criticised by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for justifying the trashing of the restaurant while appearing in an ABC broadcast this week. 'There is no justification for that,' Albanese said on Thursday. 'The idea that somehow the cause of justice for Palestinians is advanced by behaviour like that is not only delusional, it is destructive.' Asked about criticism of WACA by the broader pro-Palestine movement, Demanuele said: 'People are afraid of being associated with a more radical element because they see how the state represses protest … Because their income is threatened, their reputation is threatened, now [Premier] Jacinta Allan and Anthony Albanese are talking about terrorism.' 'They've formed a taskforce to deal with us,' Demanuele added, referring to Allan's flagged crackdown on protest and the new antisemitism taskforce set up following the synagogue arson and Miznon incident. Federally, too, the government is considering stripping funding from institutions that fail to combat what is deemed hatred against Jewish people, as well as screening visa applicants for antisemitic views. The earlier rally on Friday, railing against recent deaths in custody and alleged police violence at protests, was organised by WACA and other pro-Palestinian groups. But the rally split over WACA's plans to march to Miznon – most refused to join them. Pro-Palestine protesters have been calling for a boycott of Miznon after it emerged that one of its part-owners, Israeli entrepreneur Shahar Segal, was also serving as a spokesman for the controversial US-Israeli aid group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Contractors guarding the foundation's aid distribution sites have opened fire on starving Palestinians scrambling for food. At least 500 people have been killed and thousands more injured while trying to access aid at the sites, according to the United Nations. Segal, whose restaurants in New York, Toronto and Paris have also drawn criticism from pro-Palestine groups overseas, has since reportedly resigned from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Gaye Demanuele insisted WACA did not instigate any violence at Miznon – it was a 'spontaneous' plan formed on Friday to 'inform diners about where they were spending their money' that spiralled into chaos. 'The restaurant was not targeted because it has Jewish owners,' she said. 'It was targeted because it is repping for the Gaza Humanitarian Fund. There's nothing humanitarian about the GHF – it's an outfit that's set up to lure people into killing fields. At no point were we anti-Jewish.' It was 'disingenuous' for politicians, police, and others to conflate the Miznon action in Melbourne with the arson attacks at the synagogue or the defence company the same night, Demanuele said. 'The fire at the synagogue we are not connected with, and we would condemn. We are not about harming people. A bit of yelling is nothing compared to potentially putting people's lives at risk by burning a synagogue. That's horrific.' Another WACA 'collaborator' Charlie, known as Charlie the Commie online, told this masthead the earlier rally was organised in the wake of recent police assaults on demonstrators, including some that he said had left his friends with lasting injuries.
