Day Three: some opinions

why I prefer WBBL

Having watched my fair share of WBBL games over the last few years, you would have thought it would be easy to transfer over to the Men’s Big Bash. I struggled, however, when the two competitions were played side by side. The women’s game took place first, and getting up at two in the morning would mean by the time the men’s games kicked off, I required a snooze.

With that barrier out of the way, it should have been easier. For instance, a game between Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Sixers should have been a good game to watch for today. There were familiar faces in Phil Salt, Rashid Khan, Alex Carey, and Danny Briggs in the Strikers team. All have pulled on the Sussex Sharks shirt; they were the obvious team to watch. But I wanted to see Suzie Bates, Tahlia McGrath Alex Price, Megan Schutt and Laura Wolvaardt in action.

Keeping women's international cricket at the forefront

It was a shame when the women’s series between Australia and India was postponed. India’s women seem to be on the raw end of several decisions from the BCCI. What is good to hear is that the series between South Africa and Pakistan are still set to go ahead. Neither side has been in action since last March. South Africa nearly visited England last summer, but it eventually fell through. Women’s international cricket mustn’t be an afterthought for the national boards and the ICC.

Men's cricket is important too!

It is good to see Test cricket taking place in New Zealand and South Africa.

New Zealand dismissed Pakistan for 297 by the close of play. Azhar Ali top-scoring with 93 for the visitors. Kyle Jamieson continues his impressive start to test cricket with figures of 5 for 69.

In Johannesburg at The Wanders, South Africa dismissed Sri Lanka for 157 and by the close were just 9 runs in arrears with Dean Elgar on 92 not out overnight. Anrich Nortje was the pick of the bowlers for South Africa picking up figures of 6 for 56.

A good read

Over the Christmas holidays, I have taken the opportunity to catch up on some reading. I finished Luke Fletcher’s Tales from the Front Line in fewer than 24 hours. As you would expect, it was an enjoyable read. Also among the Christmas reading was Fletcher’s Nottinghamshire teammate James Taylor Cut Short was an honest detailing of how Taylor dealt with the events that lead to his retirement.

Moeen by Moeen Ali was another interesting read. There aren’t many players in the England set-up with his background.

I quite often read more than one book at any given time so I am currently reading Steve Smith’s Men by Geoff Lemon and The Test by Simon Jones.

I have a big stack of cricket books by the side of my bed and am making good headway through them. That isn’t to say that I am not looking for recommendations.