Merry Christmas or Happy Boxing Day! Tonight, I’ll be tuning in to see the wide emerald expanse of Melbourne Cricket Ground as Australia takes on South Africa in the annual Boxing Day Test. Australia warmed up by beating the West Indies handily in two Tests, one in Perth and one in Adelaide, and then beat South Africa in the first Test of the tour at the Gabba in Brisbane. They will play a third Test in Syndey starting on January 3rd my time.
India staved off defeat yesterday at Mirpur against Bangladesh and won by 3 wickets in the second Test match of the tour. The Tigers had India down 7 wickets with a variety of spin on the turning Shere Stadium pitch, but could not break the partnership of Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin, who were able to get the needed 145 runs in the second innings. India won the first match by 188 runs.
Pakistan and New Zealand will start a Test/ODI/T20I series in Karachi tonight. Pakistan is coming off a rare and spectacular whitewash by England and will look to get back to their winning ways against the original BazBall team.
Adelaide and Melbourne Renegades are on top in the BBL. Sydney Thunder won their opener in a thriller, and then started a three-game losing streak by scoring only 15 runs against Adelaide.
The New Zealand Super Smash has just begun. Wellington and Canterbury each won their openers in both the men’s and women’s competitions.
