Tony Abbott has gone into bat for his former boss, defending the much-replayed delivery John Howard sent down while on a visit to Pakistan 10 years ago. Howard, a cricket tragic who is patron of Cricket NSW, just about yorked himself with the infamous ball in 2005, but his successor as a Coalition Prime Minister reckons he wouldn't have done any better. "It wasn't the most elegant delivery, but nevertheless it was poetry in motion compared to my bowling," Abbott said during a stint in the Channel Nine commentary box on Thursday. The PM noted last week when the Australian and Indian teams visited Kirribilli House that sledging was his only skill as a cricketer and on Thursday recalled his time playing the game socially while at Oxford University. "The only way to get a drink in England in those days during the middle of the day was to be playing sport because the pavilion bars could be open when the pubs had to shut," Abbott told the ABC's Jim Maxwell. "So the truth, Jim, is I was probably a drinker first and a cricketer second. The safest place to put your beer when I was playing was behind the stumps, particularly when I was bowling." There was no mention while he was on air of ABC budget cuts, which would have been an interesting discussion point given Maxwell's respected colleague Drew Morphett is calling his final Test as a full-time commentator for the national broadcaster. Morphett was in November axed as part of $254 million in cuts.
Taking the cake
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Abbott was a busy man at the cricket, also judging a cake competition during the McGrath Foundation High Tea, a fixture during the Pink Test each year. There were a few eyebrows raised with his selection - a cake with the word "boob" written in icing. Asked by the function's host Adam Spencer why he chose the winner he said he liked it because it was "suggestive".
Cheers for Bob
Speaking of former PMs, it wouldn't be a Sydney Test these days without Bob Hawke being spotted with a beer in his hand. On India's last trip here three years ago he was challenged to neck a beer by a spectator and obliged with a display that is still on Youtube, and he repeated the trick while watching Australia play England 12 months ago. On Thursday the broadcast cameras found the 85-year-old in the morning session and when his image was shot up on the big screens - with glass of beer in hand - it brought one of the biggest roars of the day.
Tributes continue
Australia's return to the SCG for the first time since Phillip Hughes' death has been handled expertly by organisers, with respectful tributes made to the late batsman and his family invited along to watch the fourth Test in a private box. In another nice touch Hughes' father Greg has been given honorary life membership by the SCG Trust.
The next big thing?
It's awards season in Hollywood and the same can be said of cricket, with the Allan Border Medal just around the corner. If AB Medal night is the Oscars then the Australian Cricket Media Association bash is the Golden Globes (well, to cricket journos anyway!). The annual affair, held on Thursday night in Sydney, always makes a presentation to the Australian cricketer judged the emerging player of the year and Thursday night's recipient was Josh Hazlewood. It was only 12 months ago that Steve Smith won the up-and-comers' prize and in a demonstration of how far he has come he was on Thursday awarded the McGilvray Medal as the ABC Test cricketer of the year. The other major presentation at the media shindig was made to bowtie-wearing former Cricket Australia public affairs chief Peter Young, for years the game's best spinner.
No fanfare for Poms
England's low-key arrival for the tri-series and then the World Cup could hardly have been in more contrast to how Kevin Pietersen and co. were received when they turned up here for the Ashes 14 months ago. The Poms' one-day squad snuck quietly into Canberra, where they have a couple of warm-up games against an ACT Invitational side and a Prime Minister's XI before taking on Australia at the SCG next Friday.
Lord's revisited
When Australia were last in England for the Ashes 18 months ago the black and gold striped blazer-wearing Sydney Cricket Ground XI played a match on the Nursery Ground at Lord's. This year, with the Ashes back on again, they're heading back to the home of cricket as part of their village cricket tour but this time will be on the main arena. They'll have to do it, though, without Simon Katich, who made a guest appearance at No.3 for them in 2013 in their match against a Marylebone Cricket Club selection on the Nursery Ground.
