Sport is made for betting

I'm sick of this bullshit of the 'age of forgiveness'. Not that long ago, people had honour - when they laid their cards on the table and screwed up royally, they packed their bags and left. These days it's like the Aussie cricket team - harder to leave than it is to get in, no matter how shit you are at what you do. Ricky Ponting was allowed to lose the Ashes three times before being forced to walk the plank as captain. If you can bullshit with the best of them, you've got a job for life apparently. BHA Chief Exec Paul Roy has made at least three absolute blunders whilst at the helm which should have sent him to the dole queue a long time ago. But it seems he is impossible to sack and won't walk because he has less class than a Premier League footballer with a superinjunction. Blunder 1 - in his other role as big cheese of an investment firm, he recommended buying a big chunk of shares in Betfair. The fact he didn't notice they were massively overvalu...

There's no hiding behind the facts. Australia have been completely outplayed by England in this Ashes series, an England side that aren't best in the world either. The best thing Cricket Australia can do now is give the current team a finale in Sydney, push Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich into Test retirement and commit to a plan to be ready for the 2013 Ashes. They must look further than next summer or the next series - the depth of players currently isn't there in Australia, they need to start sweeping out the dead wood who consistently underperform - Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson etc and not let them back into the Test XI unless they show sustained form at a lower level, above and beyond their rivals. Phil Hughes is to be stamped 'NTPFAA' (Never To Play For Australia Again), his technique is far too flawed for international cricket. A sustained period of success and the attraction of Twenty20 cricket has damaged Australia's cricketing future. Massaging ...

That sums up the Australian cricket team this series - it is simply a mediocre side and no matter who they bring in, it is highly unlikely to change it. Is Twenty20 cricket to blame? Have other sports stolen cricket's thunder by snapping up the promising young players, who are often gifted at more than one sport? Is it a backlash against an overly cocky Australian team since Ponting took the helm? Or is it simply a regression to the mean after a superstar-studded golden era, now we have to return to a more 'normal' set of cricketers, with no match-winners amongst them? Things don't look good for either side to be honest. 11 wickets each over five full days on a pitch which usually has plenty of life in it doesn't augur well for the bowlers of either nation. Let's hope there's some life in the remaining pitches of the series because we all slag off the lifeless pitches on the subcontinent which lead to huge scores. The crowd on the final day showed what the...

Naming a 17-man squad ten days out from the First Test sounds like a bone-headed decision to me, but the selectors had no control over it apparently - they were told to do it by Cricket Australia who wanted to have the team finalised this week in order to fulfill all their bloody sponsorship and marketing commitments. Reeks of cockiness at a time Australia doesn't deserve it, when their official Test ranking has dropped to fifth - not that anyone particularly cares about that rating but it is obvious Australia no longer rule the roost. THE INCUMBENTS Ricky Ponting - still a world-class batsman but the rust is starting to creep in. Have not been convinced by his captaincy for several years now but the lack of a better alternative keeps him in the job. Also, Aussie selectors tend to retire Australian captains rather than let them play under another leader, although that policy hasn't been required for many years now. Should never have kept the job after losing the Ashes twice...

I did say last week that I gave Australia little chance of winning the World T20 tournament, however I did expect them to put up a better fight in the group stage. And it does take a little bit of value out of my tickets to the double-header at Lord's on Friday :( We've just come off an IPL series where only six bowlers played 10 matches or more and avergaed less than a run per ball. What was the common denominator? They (Murali, Duminy, Harbhajan, Kumble, Karthik, Raina) are all slow bowlers, and half of them are part-timers. Spin bowlers averaged 1.5 runs less per over than pacemen in the 2009 IPL. So what was Australia's tactic? Bowl fast, bowl fast, bowl fast. Blind Freddie could tell you that slow bowling in the middle overs of a 50 over game slows momentum. In T20, it makes the batsman work harder. No dinky lobs over fine leg, no flailing the bat knowing a thick edge will go for four, make them earn their runs. Brett Lee - possibly the most over-rated player in crick...

Have you been following the Australian cricket team lately? Can't blame you if you haven't, they've been rubbish this southern summer. But on the other hand, mug punters are still backing them at ridiculous odds, so laying them (either to the end or to trade a position) has been a very profitable practice in recent months. The simple facts are that South Africa are now clearly no.1 in the world in Test and one-day cricket, the Aussies are little better than average. After a period of domination, an almighty fall is bound to occur - just look at the WIndies in the 80s/90s. How will India go when Tendulkar finally retires, given that Ganguly and Kumble have already gone, and guys like Dravid and Laxman can't be far behind. But the players coming through isn't the problem in my opinion. It's the changing culture of the game Down Under. Aussie cricketers are the most revered of any sportsmen or women in Australia, with the possible exception of the swimmers post-Oly...