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To catch everyone up, The Melbourne boxing day (and following days) test was over in 2 days, so I didn't get to go for day 3. There was a period where I ended up hoping for a quick ending because it looked like it might go for only an hour or two on day 3, which would have meant a long trip for not much cricket and not ticket refund. Refund finally arrived this week. I'm sure Cricket Australia were happy to keep all that money in their account earning interest for as long as possible.
The last thing I expected on these forums was a cricket thread. I guess there are more than a few from the Commonwealth on here.
I would have preferred a somewhat competitive series but they are rare in Australia, such is the dominance of our side in home conditions. The same can be said for India at home, though.
Well done to Pat Cummins and co, though- a well deserved triumph. Now that the competitive series is over, we may as well make it 5-0. I do enjoy the lamentations of the British press in times like this, particularly given the build up about the Australian side being the 'weakest since 2010'. A similar thing was said in 1989 and we walloped the Poms then, too.
Yes the standard of test cricket has been sullied and lowered by the glut of T20 cricket (20 overs a side) which encourages daft strokeplay. To use an analogy, T20 is like commercial radio and fast food, whilst test cricket is for the purists and more akin to RP in the radio world.
Agree 100%...I should have added cricket to my enshittification rant. I don't like the 20-over format much, and the ODI format not much more.
Test cricket is the best game in the world, and it pleases me greatly to share the game with my five-year old son in the backyard format. It is one of the sports I allow on the TV in my house.
Well played Australia, relentless and ruthless. Nathan Lyons, some sharp catches by Labuschagne, Travis Head....several other superb contributions over the past three matches. We are looking forward to the rest of the series....and seeing the Poms being soundly beaten.
And well done to the South African ladies going 3-0 in the ODI series over the Ireland ladies in South Africa.
The best game in the world, for sure.....
The last thing I expected on these forums was a cricket thread. I guess there are more than a few from the Commonwealth on here.
I would have preferred a somewhat competitive series but they are rare in Australia, such is the dominance of our side in home conditions. The same can be said for India at home, though.
Well done to Pat Cummins and co, though- a well deserved triumph. Now that the competitive series is over, we may as well make it 5-0. I do enjoy the lamentations of the British press in times like this, particularly given the build up about the Australian side being the 'weakest since 2010'. A similar thing was said in 1989 and we walloped the Poms then, too.
Yes the standard of test cricket has been sullied and lowered by the glut of T20 cricket (20 overs a side) which encourages daft strokeplay. To use an analogy, T20 is like commercial radio and fast food, whilst test cricket is for the purists and more akin to RP in the radio world.
Yes, the British press and the team said some shockingly stupid things. Between that and their strategy, I'm feeling some schadenfreude. I mostly agree about the influence of T20, except some of the fancy-pants strokes can keep the bowlers and fielders on their toes. When it goes wrong, the batter looks exceedingly stupid, though.
As an aside, my favourite online comment was comparing Marnus Labuschagne (who made some brilliant catches) to a Labrador Retriever,
'Hang on that's a cricket ball! I fucking LOVE cricket balls! Holy shit and its coming right towards me?! And I can just reach out and grab it?! IS THIS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE?!?!?!'
Location: The Valley Of The Sun near Canberra Gender:
Posted:
Dec 21, 2025 - 7:28pm
The last thing I expected on these forums was a cricket thread. I guess there are more than a few from the Commonwealth on here.
I would have preferred a somewhat competitive series but they are rare in Australia, such is the dominance of our side in home conditions. The same can be said for India at home, though.
Well done to Pat Cummins and co, though- a well deserved triumph. Now that the competitive series is over, we may as well make it 5-0. I do enjoy the lamentations of the British press in times like this, particularly given the build up about the Australian side being the 'weakest since 2010'. A similar thing was said in 1989 and we walloped the Poms then, too.
Yes the standard of test cricket has been sullied and lowered by the glut of T20 cricket (20 overs a side) which encourages daft strokeplay. To use an analogy, T20 is like commercial radio and fast food, whilst test cricket is for the purists and more akin to RP in the radio world.
Three matches into the five match series and Australia have won all to retain the ashes. At least the last one made it to the final day. So the big boxing day test in Melbourne will be a bit anticlimactic. They can adjust the players for each match so I would like to see some young up and coming players get some test experience for Australia. I don't know if that's a thing they do, but they should. Only 18 months until the next Ashes in England
Three matches into the five match series and Australia have won all to retain the ashes. At least the last one made it to the final day. So the big boxing day test in Melbourne will be a bit anticlimactic. They can adjust the players for each match so I would like to see some young up and coming players get some test experience for Australia. I don't know if that's a thing they do, but they should. Only 18 months until the next Ashes in England
Three matches into the five match series and Australia have won all to retain the ashes. At least the last one made it to the final day. So the big boxing day test in Melbourne will be a bit anticlimactic. They can adjust the players for each match so I would like to see some young up and coming players get some test experience for Australia. I don't know if that's a thing they do, but they should.
What a weird Ashes test series this year. For those who don't know, the ashes are between England and Australia. This series is in Australia, which means hot summer. Today, it reached 39 C in Adelaide which is not much fun to be outside all day.
Anyway, it has been a lot of amateurish play by both sides and amateurish officiating. But there has also been some brilliant play by some Australians and ok play by some Brits. So far England have been getting thrashed, but there have been lots of times where it seemed like they might have had the edge.
So the big officiating scandal revolves around review of the umpire's call. Among other things they use sound to see if the ball hit a bat or a glove. Apparently they totally botched lining up the sound with the swing for an Australian who was called not out and went on to bat a century (100 runs). The cricket overlords decided that the host country's broadcaster has to pay for the technology so Australia uses a somewhat inferior local technology. If nothing else, it gives the Poms an excuse for doing so badly. A test lasts up to 5 days but the Brits performed so poorly in Perth that it was over in 2 days. I don't think that will happen again, which is good because I'm going to Melbourne for day 3 of the Boxing day test.
T-20 cricket is a fair bit of fun - designed for short matches that encourage hitting for the boundaries and fancy knocks to send the ball in different directions. It has started to influence one day and test cricket where players in some situations realise it is better to just go for it than to play defensively.
"To some, the thought of Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan hammering fours and sixes on Dandenong's Shipley Oval â while DJ Havana Brown blasted tunes in the innings break â simply sounded too good to be true.
In the end, it turned out only to be half-true â¦and not entirely legitimate.
The first of the two scheduled games went ahead as planned, but the second was called off when allegations emerged that a tournament organiser had bankrolled the event using stolen money."
But you have to admire his dedication to the sport.
