Much as we want England to win easily, beating a side captained by Michael Clarke just wouldn’t be right. Ricky Ponting is the most significant player on either side and it brings the occasion down a notch if he’s not there.
To be clear, this is nothing at all to do with the fact that we want Australia to have a number three batsman who was having trouble scoring runs even when his fingers were intact, because if he plays, we reckon Ricky’ll get runs.
When there’s a crowd the size of the one expected at the MCG, everything changes. Young pretenders go all wobbly and your old gnarl dogs take advantage. Compared to everyone else, Ricky Ponting will be largely unarsed by tens of thousands of people staring at him on Boxing Day.
The what now? Come on, you remember: The Alternative Test Cricket World Championship. We did…
Bert writes... Regular readers of this website will be aware that I have a standing…
Players and commentators talk a lot about playing each ball on its merits, but actually…
It's almost time to start looking ahead to the Ashes again, but before we get…
The 2023 Ashes has sogged and then at the last moment unexpectedly fizzled to its…
It's a weird feature of cricket that you can go out in style but then…