Not used to losing

We don't appear to be able to take a trick this week.

We didn't even come close to getting a successful bid for the FIFA competition in 2022 despite spending in excess of $40 million to just advertise ourselves.

While there is no doubt that we have safety & stability on our side; in reality we are the bottom right hand corner of the world and totally out of phase with the peak viewing times in the northern hemisphere.

Frank Lowy, Australia's spokesperson, said dismissively that "someone has to stay up somewhere in the world". The only trouble with that is there is more of them than there are of us!

We are, after all, a small nation. Punching above our weight in so many things, we don't like to lose. But some have said (David Hill for example) that the true success of Football (meaning Soccer) Australia is not whether or not we host a FIFA competition, but rather that in a relatively short space of time our team has been brought up to speed. That we have played in a final series, and that we are getting better and better.

Then there's the Second Test! Absolutely perfect weather for the newly revamped Adelaide Oval. But, the Poms, had us on the ropes rom the very beginning.

In my opinion, thank goodness that Cricket is once again a competition!