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Articles Written by Peter Roebuck

Peter Roebuck cricket journalist

Peter wrote about cricket like no other. Most say that his newspaper articles were the pinnacle of his writing, as he would just wing them off in his peerless prose, dissecting his subjects with his unique style.

Below is a collection of his articles written for the Melbourne newspaper The Age; the Sydney Morning Herald; and ESPN Cricinfo. Following this link you can find all the articles Peter Roebuck wrote for espncricinfo.com.

Sanath Jayasuriya

There’s Life in the ODI Yet

10 September 2009. No version of the game that has produced so many outstanding feats ought lightly to be tossed away in favour of a format that does not offer the possibility of greatness. For an endangered species 50-over cricket appears to be in remarkably good health. Cast as the saviour of a supposedly moribund […]

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Flintoff bowling in the 2009 Ashes

No Time for Back-slapping

26 August 2009. England have displayed fortitude, pride, skill and unity, but they need to confront some hard truths still. Andrew Strauss’s team deserved to win the Ashes. Only a churl could argue otherwise. Five matches lasting five days give every player and both sides an opportunity to prove their worth. Thanks to three stupendous […]

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Keiron Pollard

Pollard’s Fortunes will be Closely Followed

10 June 2011. Kieron Pollard is at once a struggling cricketer and hot property. It is a curious dichotomy born of T20. Suddenly money can be made not from the most demanding part of the game but from an amusing sideshow. In golfing terms the imposing West Indian is making his living not from the […]

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Anil Kumble

Role of Influential Seniors Crucial

15 May 2011. India and Australia have been especially lucky in their senior players. Never has the importance of senior players been more apparent. Teams can be undermined as much by jealousy and laziness as by incompetence. Captains are responsible for the performance of cricket teams but without proper backing from influential players, they walk […]

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Freddie Flintoff

The Flintoff Factor

12 August 2009. This article first appeared on the eve of Flintoff’s final match, against Australia at The Oval in 2009. England’s totemic allrounder has been more about competence, stout-hearted service and some irresistible performances, rather than out-and-out greatness. Somewhat to the amusement of observers, England seems to dwell upon and to equate The Battle […]

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Brad Haddin 2010

Johnson, Hughes and the Ordeal of Cricket

29 July 2009. Often the game becomes a curse, as two Australians struggling in the Ashes can testify. Every cricketer knows the feeling. The game has become impossible, a curse, a blight, a torment, a tease, a provocation, a creation of the devil; goodness only knows why it was ever invented, or why poets write […]

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The original Ashes urn

Ashes Ahoy

1st July 2009. The characters may lack in stature as compared to some of their predecessors, but the script promises to be tight. Suddenly hearts are thumping. After an eternity of speculation and enough opinions to impress an army of lawyers, the cricketing outfits representing England and Australia are busy putting the finishing touches to […]

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Uganda twenty20 cricket

The Short Format’s Big Role

17 June 2009. The purists may sneer at it, but Twenty20’s most vital role will be in making cricket popular in places where it isn’t. Twenty-over cricket is working wonders for the game. Forget about the greasy palms displayed by a handful of top players (the world is full of such types, and some of […]

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Peter Siddle

Australia must act fast to remedy crocked quicks issue

22 December 2009. Australia are enduring a devastating injury crisis. In a matter of weeks, the ranks of fast bowlers have been decimated. Almost an entire Ashes attack has been sidelined. Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, none of then were available for selection in Perth. State teams have been fielding second and […]

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Twenty20 cricket

Why Twenty20 Deserves its Success

4th June 2009. The 20-over version has caught the popular imagination, and the quality of the game hasn’t been bad either. It reminds us that cricket is meant to be fun – and that that is an important quality for a sport. Englishmen have been playing 20-over cricket for yonks. As a youth, a hundred […]

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Andrew Symonds

Australia Pick Pragmatically

21 May 2009. Symonds’ omission apart, the selectors have merely named their best players and left the rest to be sorted out on tour. Australia have chosen a pragmatic party for their defence of the Ashes. Disdaining clear-cut choices between the stuttering team fielded in India and retained for the home series against South Africa, […]

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Josh Hazlewood

Forward-thinking Attitude Typified by the Teenager from Tamworth

24 December 2009. Two splendid pieces of bowling by two fine prospects were the highlight of a hard-fought 50-over match between old rivals played on a helpful surface. Between them Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson took a stack of wickets and thereby gave heart to those worried that the pace bowling stocks are running low. […]

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Mark Taylor

Courageous Captain Sets Record Straight

17th October 1998. Mark Taylor has joined Sir Donald Bradman as the highest scorer in a Test in the 115-year history of Australian cricket. They sit beside each other in the lists, a mountainous score bringing together two men with little in common save an innate determination to keep going. No-one, not Warwick Armstrong or […]

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Shane Warne

The Most Beautiful Moment the Game has Known

July 2005. A book could be written about Shane Warne’s first ball in Ashes cricket. Famously, it was the ball of the century, delivered with a rip of the fingers and snap of the wrist that sent the ball burning through the air and made it curl to leg before bouncing and turning prodigiously past […]

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Kieron Pollard bowling

Visitors Sparked to Life, While Hosts get a Pass Mark

14 January 2010. Australian cricket has had another rewarding season. Certainly, the campaign has surpassed modest expectations. Everyone began with the sort of glum expression detected in lemon-tasters. Even marketeers with shiny faces were hard-pressed to muster any enthusiasm. Little was expected from visiting teams placed sixth and seventh in the rankings. Poor wretches, they […]

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Peter Siddle

Versatility Now Australia’s Major Weapon

Australia has continued its slow dismantling of a fitful visiting team. Pakistan put up a fight on the third day, forming notable alliances for the fifth and 10th wickets and only between times suffering the sort of hot-headedness that has been its undoing. Accordingly the Australians were forced to work harder than expected to reinforce […]

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Phillip Hughes in the nets

When Phillip Hughes Announced Himself as a Special Talent

Phillip Hughes emerged as a rare talent when he scored centuries against South Africa in both innings of his second Test in 2009. Durban: Phillip Hughes is a tough, pesky 20-year-old lefty from the sticks who bats and lives by his own lights. Australia’s new opening batsman scores an awful lot of runs in any […]

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Steve Waugh

The Many Faces of Steve Waugh

2002. In his most candid interview ever, ‘Ice Man’ Steve Waugh talks to Peter Roebuck about everything from backyard cricket and his parents to car-jacking. Steve, I first saw you play in Sydney for CHS… in ’83, I reckon. What type of person were you? Actually, you’d met me before that. You coached me during […]

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Chris Gayle

West Indies can Draw Inspiration from Test

9 December 2009. The West Indies can take considerable pride from their performance in Adelaide. Ordinarily, moral victories are little use to man or beast. A draw is a draw is a draw. Moreover, Australia has retained the Frank Worrell Trophy and flies to Perth one-up in the series. All things considered, though, it was […]

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Sachin Tendulkar

In Perth a Star is Born

3 February 1992. Sometimes it is a privilege simply to be there. Perth yesterday was one such occasion. To see Sachin Tendulkar batting was, for two hours, to be transported from our humdrum world and taken to a distant land, a land of magic, an impossible land in which a boy of 18 summers can […]

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Chris Gayle

Get a Grip – Lefties’ Success is a Right-handed Compliment

11 November 2006. Everyone has been batting the wrong way around. Right-handers ought to take guard as southpaws and vice versa. The reason is simple. Cricket is a top-handed game. Moreover, both hands have roles to play. Most racquet games are played one-handed. As far as batting is concerned, the dominant paw ought to take […]

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