Ponting's critics master reverse swing

Patrick Smith | November 18, 2008 Article from: The Australian IF one game defines Australian sport it is cricket. In its excellence, spirit and tradition. The Melbourne Cup represents our love of a gamble and the outrageous, AFL football is our own crazy design and rugby league an uneven but thrilling mix of aggression and unexpected daintiness. But it is only cricket, as a single sport, that can set the mood of the country. When an Australian team beat England over two days at The Oval in 1882 the Ashes were born. The mother country was beaten at her own invention and the death of the game in England was grieved. The body - in spirit at least - was taken back to the colonies. For ever after, no game has affected as many Australians as deeply or broadly. Bodyline brought Australian and English politicians to the brink. The... [read full story]