The lunch break is always the killer when I try to stay up to watch cricket in Australia. After the first two hours, all bets are off.
I woke up just after the tea break on the opening day to see that nothing much had changed…
Well, England’s Ashes preparations continue to progress serenely, the latest victory coming against an Australia ‘A’ side that had few answers to some very good cricket played by the tourists.
Before I look at that latest tour match in more detail, I’ll continue scratching my head while trying to fathom out the latest reason for Australia experimenting with another spinner from their ranks and excluding Nathan Hauritz from the squad of 13. I must confess this did come as a surprise, not because Hauritz has impressed enough to be warranted automatic selection, but I thought he was probably deserving of the first shot at the Poms, for the sake of continuity, and I query whether Xavier Doherty is actually that much better than Hauritz or if it is a change for change’s sake.