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Articles that Peter Roebuck wrote for the Melbourne newspaper, The Age.

Sachin Tendulkar

India Feast After they Send out for Some Steak

10 March 1998. Sometimes it is best simply to sit back and enjoy. Cricket doesn’t come any better than this – a warm and vast crowd, superb young batsmen of contrasting styles at the crease and spinners ripping their fingers and racking their brains in an attempt to dislodge them. Inevitably, all eyes were upon […]

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Xavier Doherty

Incumbents on Notice as Selectors Take New Approach

16 November 2010. At first sight it will seem that the selectors have lost the plot. Certainly they have invited ridicule. Over the years Australia has considered 16 players sufficient to cover an entire tour of England. Now 17 are required for a single match to be staged just up the road. But it’s not […]

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Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Chanderpaul a Master of Disguise

25 November 2009. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is the most astonishing batsmen around, and among the finest. From his first outing for the West Indies in Georgetown in 1994 to his forthcoming 389th appearance, at the Gabba, he has batted by his own lights and been effective and entertaining. Remove his wicket cheaply and the job is […]

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Chris Gayle

Windies Juniors Teach Elders all about Application

29 November 2009. Over the past three days Chris Gayle, Travis Dowlin and Adrian Barath, the hare, the tortoise and the colt, displayed the best and worst of West Indian cricket. Gayle once again betrayed his position and his talent with a craven and idle performance ill-befitting any Test batsman, let alone an opener and […]

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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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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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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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Bob Woolmer

Woolmer Lived for the Game until Stumps Were Called

Mar 3, 2007: Bob Woolmer was a softly spoken cricketing philosopher with an observant, probing mind that penetrated numerous layers of the game without ever quite reaching the core. No-one who met him could dislike him yet few knew him intimately. Throughout he was in love with the game of bat and ball, endlessly thinking […]

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John Duckett cricket career stats

An Aboriginal Champion

Feb 27, 2007: John Duckett was hoovering as the bell rang, His fourth child was sleeping peacefully, blissfully unaware of the arrival of guests at the family home in Maroubra. Having completed his garbo round, John was attending to his duties. He likes working as a garbo because it keeps him fit and he finishes […]

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