WE all know about the Aussie summer’s flagship cricket event, the Boxing Day Test, but did you know there’s a smorgasbord of cricket on the day after Christmas?
The Australians ($1.05 with Sportsbet.com.au) will take on the hapless West Indies ($26 with Sportsbet.com.au) (draw is $14) on Saturday, at 10.30am AEDT, with a win or draw at the Melbourne Cricket Ground guaranteeing they retain the Frank Worrell Trophy.
While the Aussies are handing it to the Windies, New Zealand will be squaring off with Sri Lanka in the first of five one day internationals between the two nations, this one at Hagley Oval, with the toss just before 9am.
And, later that day, the English will kick off their tour of South Africa in the first test at Kingsmead, Durban.
If that’s not enough cricket for you, you will never be satisfied.
The Australians are all but a certainty to go 2-0 up in the series, having pole axed the West Indies in Hobart by an innings and 212 runs, the win coming inside three days.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Windies, with the Aussies possessing a supreme record at the home of cricket.
A win is beyond them. Fans will just be hoping they can make it past three days.
Merry Christmas.
In New Zealand, the Kiwis ($1.33 with sportsbet.com.au) will be hoping they can continue their dominance over the Sri Lankans ($3.24 with Sportsbet.com.au) after they took out both Test matches they just played, returning to form after their series defeat at the hands of the Australians earlier this year.
Both games were lopsided results, the first match a 122 run victory and the second a cruisy five wicket win.
They have a fellow named Kane Williamson – who was the only real barrier to the Australians – to thank for the win.
Williamson is now the world’s number one test batsmen after a brilliantly composed unbeaten 108 in the second innings of the second test that guided the New Zealanders home.
It’s the first time a New Zealander has held that honour since the rankings were created.
Let that sink in for a minute.
He’s averaging 90.15 in tests in 2015, with a remarkable 1172 runs, a New Zealand record, surpassing his captain Brendon McCullum’s old mark. After a slow start to his career, he now averages 49.93.
He has five centuries in that calendar year – you guessed it, the most ever by a Black Cap and the win marked the 13th straight test match where New Zealand had not lost.
He’s now second all time on the Kiwi’s list of centurions – at just 25 – with 13. That’s four away from the great Marting Crowe. You’d think he’d peel that off in 2016.
He has another record target – the most runs across all forms in a calendar year. Sri Lanka’s retired legend Kumar Sangakarra holds the record with 2868 – set last year.
Williamson has 2633, with three one dayers before the new year ticks over.
Williamson’s never ending quest for greatness is bad new for a Sri Lankan side that is clearly in transition.
They will rely heavily on captain Angelo Mathews, but, as with any side, the loss of a record setting legend like Sangakarra has been impossible to fill.
They lost 10/62 in the second Test in a remarkable collapse that had Mathews scratching his head.
“We just had to bat well and dig deep, but we made a real mockery out of our second innings batting and we just couldn’t give enough runs for the bowlers to get them out,” Mathews said.
“It is actually very disappointing the way the game unfolded towards the end.
“We had our chance, especially after getting them all out for 240-odd in the first innings. We had a healthy lead.”
The only team Sri Lanka has beaten in a Test series this season is the West Indies. What they’re doing against Australia at the moment gives you an idea of how insignificant that win is.
“We’re definitely not being complacent,” Mathews said.
“It’s just that we get to a good position and we do a couple of mistakes where the game turns around.
“Hopefully we can do better in the one day series.”
Kiwi captain Brendon McCullum says the improvement in his bowlers, the likes of Bracewell, Boult and Southee, was a key to their success.
“The guys have got better as the season has gone on,” McCullum said of his bowlers.
“In Australia we were a little bit short of a gallop in terms of where we wanted to be and where we operate.
”But what we are seeing is a team that is continually improving and a bowling group that is world class.
“We know we have the ability to take 20 wickets when we’re on song, it’s just a matter of making sure we’re working together in partnerships and trying to build as much pressure as we can, because we know we have the ability to bowl those wicket taking balls.”
And the English ($3.45 with CrownBet.com.au) head to South Africa to take on a Proteas ($2.05 with CrownBet.com.au) (draw is $3.40) side that might have lost just a little lustre in a four test series against the Indians in India, where they were pummelled 3-0, with one of the matches drawn.
They will want to remember the series win they had in the one dayers against India, which they won 3-2.
The Poms go into the series brimming with confidence after they disposed of a typical poor Pakistan in both the one day (3-1) and T20 (2-0) series in the United Arab Emirates.
The Poms don’t do the Test stuff as well as they do the one dayers, as evidenced by their substandard effort against the Pakistanis, which produced a 2-0 series loss.
And they are up against history.
The Poms have only once won a Test series in South Africa since they re-entered the Test arena, an inspiring 2-1 win built on the back of Michael Vaughan’s captaincy.
They will be sweating on the health of gun all rounder Ben Stokes, who damaged his shoulder during the series against Pakistan and will be hoping captain Alistair Cook can lead from the front at the top of the order.
The South Africans boast an imposing record at home and with the likes of AB de Villiers, Faf Du Plessis and Hashim Amla, will be very hard to beat.
But big Steve Finn’s hostile spell against South Africa A, which produced four wickets, has him in the reckoning for a return to an English bowling line up that has lacked test bite.
“I was disappointed to be left out of the squad in the first place because I know my body and thought I had very good chance to be fit for the Boxing Day Test match,” Finn said.
“But the selectors obviously didn’t think that, I had to accept that, and it made me work doubly hard.”
Ladies and gentlemen, strap yourselves in, make sure you have the Foxtel IQ remote ready, and enjoy what is a huge day of international cricket.
