The arrival of the Messiah
Konstas energises the AUS audience, SA’s unconventional attack beats PAK, & the impact of the 2004 Tsunami on Galle.
The arrival of the Messiah
AUS put up 474, Bumrah carries IND, & Konstas energises the AUS audience.
At the time of publication, Australia have made 474, and India are padding up. ESPNcricinfo’s Sampath Bandarupalli has the key stats from the first day, while Alagappan Muthu writes that Jasprit Bumrah continues to carry India.
Sydney Morning Herald’s Tom Decent thinks India should’ve seen this coming with Konstas after they played them in the warm up game, while Malcolm Knox thinks the sudden unrelenting hype around the youngster is because he made Test cricket fun again.
In other news, a record 87,242 fans came for the match, and Virat Kohli will be fined for barging into Konstas. Indian Express’ Venkata Krishna B decries the moment as banal and ugly, and surprisingly un-Kohli-like.
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The Proteas pack a punch
SA’s unconventional attack beats PAK, Rabada and Ghulam lock horns, & ZIM defy expectations against AFG.
South Africa sit at 82/3 after skittling Pakistan out for 211 on day one. ESPNcricinfo’s Firdose Moonda writes about the battle between Kagiso Rabada and Kamran Ghulam that defined the first innings.
ESPNcricinfo’s Danyal Rasool thinks Pakistan could and should have scored more, while Firdose Moonda writes about South Africa’s 35-year old and the 19-year old who bowled in tandem to terrorise the visitors.
Zimbabwe put up 363/4 on day one of their Test against Afghanistan, defying pre-match predictions that they would crumble against cricket’s rising star.
Cricbuzz has a roundup of the Vijay Hazare Trophy action.
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20 years on from the Tsunami
The impact of the 2004 Tsunami on Galle, & the Test team of the year.
Cricverse’s Simon Hughes remembers the impact of the 2004 South Asian Tsunami on the cricketing community, particularly in the idyllic and devastated Galle region of Sri Lanka.
The Guardian’s Andy Bull selects an international Test team of the year.
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Awards Season
The quirkiest awards of the cricketing year, and the best No.5 batters of all time.
Test Match Special’s Henry Moeran talks to Andy Zaltzman and Dan Norcross to come up with some weird and wonderful annual awards for 2024. [Apple Podcasts]
Good Areas’ Jarrod Kimber, Estelle Vasudevan & Behram Qazi debate who the best Number 5s are of all time.