Once you’ve had the $16 sushi you can’t go back

I’ve long enjoyed sushi. And I’ve eaten a great deal of varying quality. A business acquaintance of mine, Nicole (nobody you know) was relatively new to sushi and had started with the $7 lunch box from down the road. I paid Nicole a visit to find that she had just discovered the $16 lunch box from a more renowned sushi supplier. It was the same thing but much better. Nicole suggested that we have the $16 sushi for lunch but she warned me: “Once you’ve had the $16 sushi, you can’t go back to the $7 variety.” How true.

Having just witnessed a rather disappointing few days of Test cricket, I find my mind returning to Ashes 2005. Reminiscing. Yearning. How spoilt we were when you consider the $4 fish bait offered over the past 48 hours. From the time Warne went through the Windies tail early on day three, there was little resistance. Of course, we don’t get to choose our cricket diet. It’s chosen for us and Australia can’t play England in every series. I have hope that the West Indies can regroup. I have no particular reason to hope beyond pure optimism. Much depends on Lara. He did show some application in the second innings but is badly out of sorts.

I few things to comment on:

1. I had wondered how truly big Brett Lee’s sixes were in England. Most would recall those colossal blows at Trent Bridge when he twice put Harmison onto the road outside the ground. The grounds in Australia are far bigger than anywhere else in the world and while Trent Bridge is not small, I did wonder how big those hits were. Thus, I was impressed when Lee did the same thing (exactly the same shot, too) on day two at the Gabba. There was some debate as to whether the ball cleared the stand or went between. Either way, the result was the same: A mammoth strike and lost ball.

2. Australia need not get too excited about the batting. If numbers eight through ten on each side had performed equally, there would have been 100 runs difference rather than over 200.

3. Australia will have been very pleased with the second innings bowling performance. To route the opposition without McGrath or Warne taking a wicket will have been heartening. Much of the recent focus has been on life without those two. Even Watson had a bowl. And took a wicket. After the first innings, I rang Trevor and suggested that the team for the second Test should look something like this:

Hayden
Langer
Ponting
Hussey
Katich
Martyn
Clarke
Gilchrist
Hodge
Warne
McGrath

He obviously told Punter to give Watson and Bracks a go and to put the wind up Binga. Who said Ponting is not and inspirational captain.

4. If the umpires are going to make dodgy lbw decisions, I would like them to refrain from giving them against the West Indies, and especially their best batsmen!

Here’s hoping for more Testing times.