Inhaltsverzeichnis für January 2019 in Inside Sport

And so Graham Arnold, Arnie to some, still loathed by a few who can’t and won’t forget his time at Sydney, gets another crack at this Socceroos coaching caper in a big tournament. January’s Asian Cup, so different for us than last time, what with it taking place in nocturnal hours ... So different in many ways, with natural evolution of the squad throwing fresh names into the fray, and the atypical manner in which Arnold took the job. He was right to miss the World Cup and stay with Sydney. Hiding to nothing if he took that. Bert van Marwijk tried, and didn’t succeed. Sure, there were breathless moments in Russia, but too few to cause a real huff. Arnold stayed at Sydney and waited for this moment. A…

Football’s Asian Cup – you know, the one the Socceroos won here four years ago – marks the first confederation championship since the FIFA World Cup. And while the region only advanced one team to the knockout stage, many of the Asian teams left Russia with some kind of result that was cause for optimism. We’ll see how it plays out in the 24-team event in the UAE – whether there will be spectators watching is an open question (think cricket crowds in Sharjah, which will host matches). Australia $6.50 The Graham Arnold era at the Socceroos, take two, begins in earnest with a title defence. The last time Arnie led the nation at an Asian Cup, in 2007, it didn’t turn out so well – a line-up full of…

LONG-TIME fans of Channel Nine’s coverage of the cricket surely breathed a sigh of relief when one of the people’s favourites from Richie’s brigade, Ian Healy, signed on as a member of Fox Sport’s cricket coverage for the upcoming summer. Healy, a 119-Test player (366 catches, 29 stumpings and a high score with the bat of 161 if you don't mind), is part of the Fox crew alongside his niece Alyssa, who currently stands behind the stumps for the women’s cricket team, which means there's plenty of umm ... Healing power to go around for Australia’s at-home cricket diehards. Apart from being one of Australia’s most celebrated wicketkeepers, these days Ian is also a Specsavers ambassador, helping to the spread the word among cricketers and the general public about the…

1 The women’s T20 comp has already begun its fourth instalment (or “|04” in the league’s style guide), and the 2018-19 campaign marks a significant endpoint for this female sporting flagship – this season will be the last time it is played alongside the “men’s” Big Bash League, as the WBBL moves to a stand-alone schedule next season over October and November. 2 The push to get the WBBL its own space was coming – cricket oÿcials said it might have happened this season if not for the ICC Women’s World T20 in the Caribbean being played last month. But there was impetus to change coming out of the conclusion to WBBL03, when the top two finishers, both Sydney sides, had to play their semis away from home as curtain-raisers…

It might have been considered no great contest if it had ended differently. On a pitch Greg Matthews described as “an absolute road”, 1488 runs were scored. But the tied Test in Madras, 1986 made and destroyed reputations. It was unique. For a start, one team declared twice, while the other was dismissed twice – yet didn’t lose. In fact, it was on the very verge of victory when the sudden end came, deep into the final over. It was a shambolic adventure, full of erratic sequences, epic episodes, interesting types, crazy happenings, noble deeds, with a plot to nowhere, in which characters ebbed and flowed in the action, and the ending was heading toward possible inconsequentiality – until it came, effected by an over-eager deus ex machina in a…

There’s a scene in this book that encapsulates the character of Eddie Jones. In his latest stop on England’s sideline, he has been invited to speak at an Oxford University Union Q&A, a forum for high-profile figures, from world leaders to rugby coaches. Jones is in his element – he latches onto a callow student named Mark, who asks about the physicality of the modern game, and good-naturedly sledges him all night. When this magazine profiled Jones two years ago, the common descriptions of his coaching methods were “hectoring” and “crazy”. He drove players to frustration – but also to the best football of their lives. It’s a style that has led to great feats: a Super Rugby title, a World Cup final, Japan’s upset of the Springboks. But it’s…

In 1968, as a young staffwriter for the Sydney Daily Telegraph, John Smailes was assigned to cover and help organise an epic motorsport event: a London to Sydney marathon car race. With motorsport writing legend David McKay, he’d already written a book about the adventures that followed: The Bright Eyes Of Danger. This one, 50 years later, is its sequel. The best part about Smailes’ efforts here aren’t necessarily the big numbers (total race journey 16,694km, to be exact) but the quicker anecdotes of the many obstacles which had to be overcome. One of our favourites is how Porsche technicians went to Berlin Zoo to measure a kangaroo, then built comprehensive “roo cages” to fit their cars (for the record, no one hit a kangaroo in the end). Then there…

1 Does chess need an HIA? An intense world championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana played out to 12 drawn games. Carlsen showed up for the ninth game with a black eye, suffered in a weeked football match, and then offered a draw from an advantageous position. The chess world buzzed: did Carlsen have a concussion? 2 A Godolphin horse wins the Melbourne Cup for the first time. That’s a relief, because we were worried the Dubai outfit wasn’t going to make it. Pop quiz: do you remember the name of the horse that won the 2018 Melbourne Cup? 3 Aussie 15-year-old Rudi Browning wins the World Drone Racing championship in China. Sure, it may not seem like sport. But decades from now, when drones replace all forms…

Australian basketball is experiencing one of the best NBL seasons in the history of the sport. The stats don’t lie – this season is the fourth closest in the history of the league, more than 50 percent of games have been decided by a single-figure margin and through the first eight rounds of the competition, there were nine periods of overtime. That’s unheard of! The style of play we’re seeing this season is also second to none. We’re seeing teams average 90 points a game, and there’s a more attacking mindset in the NBL this season. I call it the “Steph Curry effect” – teams are setting up from the three-point line more than ever before and they’re sticking their shots. The level of basketball is also at an all-time…

REASONED ARGUMENTS NEW ENEMY The Indians are definitely our main rivals in cricket these days. It used to be the Old Enemy, England, of course but the Aussies and Poms have grown too matey of late. There’s far too much friendly respect between them for there to be any serious rivalry in the modern era. Lately us and England have shared the Ashes urn as if we’ve been sharing a pet dog: your turn, our turn. It’s become all too regular and cosy. We even for a while there were declaring Darren Gough an honorary Aussie because he was just so likable. Imagine us doing that with Virat Kohli, or Sourav Ganguly when he was around ... would never have happened. OLD ENEMY I get your point with Kohli. He’s…

The Sportscover Clubbies Awards, which is again showcasing the best of community-based sports, asked three high-flyers about their early experiences at the grassroots. For Luke Madill, it was three older brothers pushing him around – not bullying, but mentoring a future 12-time BMX national champion. Madill took up the sport at the tender age of three and says his appetite for competition was bigger than his legs. “The first couple of races I pretty much had to get pushed around the track by my brothers,” the 38-year-old says. “I had a little 12-inch bike and obviously it was pretty hard for me to pedal it around some of the jumps in the track.” By five, he had attended his first Australian Championships. But it was at Penrith BMX Club –…

We've heard you had an interesting introduction to the game of cricket. You went along to touch footy one night … then what happened? A girl who was also a netball team-mate of mine asked me to come and trial for the district schoolgirls cricket team; so I went along. I went home and told Mum and Dad. Dad asked me, “Do girls actually play cricket?” I said, “I don’t know; I’ve been told there are trials, so I’m going to go along.” This was back in 2007. I called my PE teacher to tell him I wouldn’t be at school tomorrow because of these trials and he said, “I didn’t know you were interested in that, but sure, go along.” I didn’t know he’d eventually be my A Grade…

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The Australian cricket fan’s grasp of history can be uneven at best: Bodyline, World Series and whatever Warnie did. Sure, but plenty is left obscured – just ask what happened pre-Bradman. The sense is unmistakable, however, that the game has been so integral to the culture that Australia sees itself as central to cricket. To read this history of Indian cricket, then, is to look into the funhouse mirror. We see another country where cricket is pre-eminent, and carries with it the force of commerce and celebrity. But what is reflected back is also shaped by a very different culture and world historical path. Indeed, why did Gandhi oppose the old communal Bombay tournaments? As has become evident during this latest tour of Virat Kohli’s team, India’s place at the…

“The hardest part about the whole affair was that it took me a month to get the fake tan off my hand.” – Simon Katich The quote in context As a last word in one of Australian cricket’s most notorious dust-ups – when Katich and Michael Clarke threw down in the SCG dressing room in 2009 – this was a gem. Amid victory celebrations after the Sydney Test, Clarke became incensed the players hadn’t sung the team song and let him kick on to an event at a bar, particularly Katich and team spirit leader Michael Hussey. After Clarke accused the pair of being “weak c---s”, Katich grabbed him by the throat. Katich later said these words at a Melbourne CC breakfast for women in cricket, and had the room…

The KFC Big Bash competition heats up in January, with all eight teams looking to secure a finals berth. With the competition as fierce as ever, let’s run our eyes over the key men who will hold their team’s fate in their hands. CHRIS LYNN One half of the Brisbane Heat’s Bash Brothers, Lynn has become a force to be reckoned with in the short form of the game. There are few players in the competition who can do what Lynn can do with a bat in hand. His raw power in the top six enables the Heat not only to set up games, but take them away from their opponent as well. The wicket in Brisbane suits Lynn down to a tee and the added responsibility of being captain…

JANUARY Soccer: Coach Graham Arnold vows to fix the Socceroos’ inability to score goals ahead of the Asian Cup finals in the UAE. Arnold unexpectedly picks Sam Kerr at striker to shore up the attack, claiming her as clearly the most in-form Australian player in that position after Kerr scores a hat-trick in the Matildas’ 4-0 win over Brazil. Tennis: Nick Kyrgios sees continued mental health benefits from his regular sessions with his psychologist. A newly motivated Kyrgios makes a number of other positive changes prior to the Australian Open, including a surprise choice of coach. Kyrgios appoints former chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani to the role and describes him on Twitter as “a proven motivator” and “one person who truly understands me”. FEBRUARY Olympics: Heralding a new era of peace,…

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If you want to be “polarising” in Australian cricket, it helps to be: an Australian captain, an all-time outstanding performer, nominated by Wisden as one of its top five players of the 20th Century, Dean Jones, or disliked by Shane Warne! Whatever the reason, divisions within the team have been a feature of Australian cricket for a long time. Politics, religion, power, ego, betrayal – the Australian dressing room seems just like the rest of the world! Apologies to Merv Hughes and Darren Berry, both of whom had their own noteworthy spats with Jones, but they were mainly at the state level, and this is about the national dressing room. Here are 11 notable Aussie cricket fallings-out. DON BRADMAN VS JACK FINGLETON/BILL O’REILLY Back in the 1930s, there was this…

If you happened to grab our December 2018 issue but didn’t quite get the opportunity to catch our Johnathan Thurston feature story within its pages, Finding Footy, go back and do so now. The story was actually one of the early chapters from The Autobiography. It was a great match for this magazine because it revealed the origins of one of the great Australian sporting careers. It can be hard for story-tellers to deliver a yarn about the humble beginnings of a superstar while somehow making it relatable to its mere-mortal audience, but Phelps did this in our offering last month. Thurston was just like you: ripped up back and front yards in massive street games of footy in suburbia. He was funny, naughty, ran running home to his mummy…