Sam McNally on Cricket

This week in The Slips Drive we review Australia’s horrific loss in the First Test against South Africa, offer our thoughts on where the changes need to be made in the lineup and generally chew the fat on the domestic scene. Enjoy.

Welcome to ‘the Slips Drive’ – Making the Nut’s periodic (hopefully fortnightly) look at the world of cricket, focusing on the domestic scene and the Australian team, with a mixture of analysis and opinion.

We hope you enjoy the read and look forward to any reader comments via the MTN site.

The new domestic cricket season is upon us and here at Making the Nut, we are across every angle of state cricket in 2011/12. In this article, we’ll run the rule over all six state sides and speculate on their prospects for the coming season. We’ll also give you some names to watch out for as the new generation of Australia’s cricketers seek to make it to the big time.

Stay tuned throughout the season for player interviews, match analysis and of course, it wouldn’t be Making the Nut without the odd betting tip.

Another Test, another excellent performance from a debutant. The Australian cricket team were denied the opportunity to clinch their Test series against Sri Lanka in Pallekele last week mainly due to a mixture of bad light and rain, but the big story was Shaun Marsh becoming the 19th Australian to score a century on his Test debut with an excellent innings of 141.

Well, what a fantastic win it was for the Australian cricket team in the first Test against Sri Lanka last week. Winning the toss and batting first was crucial, as the ball spun and spat right from the first morning, but the Aussies played some excellent cricket to take a 1-0 lead in the three Test series.

Sam McNally on Cricket

With the Argus review and the (long overdue) sacking of Andrew Hilditch making all the cricket headlines in mainstream media of recent times, it’s easy to forget that the national team is currently on tour.

Australia begin their three Test series against Sri Lanka in Galle on Wednesday, the first under the full-time leadership of Michael Clarke.