One-day Warm-up a Walkover

So Australia has warmed up perfectly for the five-ODI series against England, with victories over Ireland and Middlesex. Do we care? What does it mean if we win 5-0? It is all very well thumping England in meaningless matches, but what I want to know is whether, when England raises its game at big moments, we can go with them. On the evidence of the last Ashes series, we cannot. The T20 World Championship final in May was the same. So, it would be nice to think that Australia could use this series against England to lay down a marker for the 2010-11 Ashes series. The ODI format is the last in which Australia retains world champion status, and a 6-1 ODI series scoreline against England in 2009 would indicate that Australia goes into the series as favourites, but I am getting sick of beating England when it does not matter. Middlesex batsman Owais Shah (who made 92, but has not been chosen in England's squad for the series) claims Australia's attack "lacks the X-factor" it had when Johnson and Lee led it. Australia has certainly forfeited the aura that once made England tremble, in fact it is England that now feels it has the upper hand mentally. Bollinger, Harris and McKay don't carry the same weight. From this series I will mainly be looking closely at Steve Smith's progress, and I can't wait to get a glimpse of Josh Hazlewood if he is tried. The 19-year-old from the tiny New South Wales town of Bendemeer has been likened to another tall right-arm quick from the backblocks of NSW: no pressure, Josh, but we really need you to show that you are indeed Glenn McGrath Mark II - because just quietly, we could do with one.

It's nearly over - and it's our fault

I'm not a big fan of whinging about umpires: not only for its pointlessness, but because it's a crutch - it absolves the players for their responsibility to control what they can control. Like everyone, I had thought that if the ball played the player, instead of the other way around, the ref would apply the context. And any organisation whose operatives can (a) fail to penalise Thierry Henry for the most blatant handballs ever seen and (b) ping Harry in the way that he was, clearly has a problem with consistency and public confidence - if it is not structurally rotten. But we have to get a grip here: we have one foot on the plane because we could not take the opportunity to win the game. Roberto Rosetti is not the villain here: sadly, Luke Wilkshire is. Football is a game in which a team can work for 90 minutes to prise open one tiny chink of opportunity: it simply must be taken. Forget about it being ten on eleven, to get a man in space in the penalty area, one-on-one with the goalkeeper - and not a very good one at that - only for the shot to be limply prodded straight at that goalkeeper, well, it would not be enough to win a standard A-League fixture, let alone a World Cup finals game. The moment comes and it must be grabbed. In fact we were presented with several such moments: ditto the fact that Josh Kennedy couldn't pounce on the crumbs from Wilkshire's miss, and ditto the fact that Scott Chipperfield got a free header in the box in the 66th minute. Apart from Kewell and Cahill, this last-touch weakness in the area has bedevilled Australia for years, and yet again has cost us hugely. But the furore over other things hides it, just as it did, for example, on that awful Melbourne night in 1997: who remembers the flurry of early Australian misses - in situations that were harder to miss than to score - as opposed to the ill-timed pitch invasion, the offside trap being sprung and Bosnich being beaten? Those misses were the reason we did not qualify then and the reason we're probably heading home early this time. Whoever takes the Socceroo reins after the World Cup must make it a priority to find clinical finishers. Because that's what kills us - not referees.

Kiwis Crowing

I can't help but contrast Australia's efforts with the way that New Zealand has approached its work in the World Cup. It should not surprise us at all, because the team from the Inhabited Reef was highly impressive against Australia in the friendly at the MCG in May: more so, actually, than their hosts and victors. While Slovakia are not the sharpest knife in the European drawer, and being World Cup debutants, were at least as nervous as the Kiwis in their opening match, but New Zealand worked hard to contain their better-credentialed opponents and thoroughly deserved their last-minute (literally) equaliser. Then, against Italy overnight, they went ahead deservedly - again, we have to compare Shane Smeltz's nerveless strike with Luke Wilkshire's miss, although Smeltz had less time to think about it, which helps - and only gave up the equaliser to the kind of penalty call that is more honoured in the breach than the observance. The kind of resolute defence the Kiwis employed against a far superior team made Australia's abject effort against Germany look even worse than it did. In short, the Kiwis are the feel-good story of the 2010 World Cup so far: which Australia was at the same stage in 2006, after a wonderfully brave effort against Brazil. They have deservedly usurped us - and that hurts.

Jonny be Good to be Back in Sydney

Everyone has environments in which they just naturally feel more comfortable. For Jonny Wilkinson, it is Sydney, and specifically, deep within the Australian half, in Sydney. Forget about the injuries; forget about four years out of the international game; forget about the distance from the home comforts of Toulon: just rely on the field position and the certainty that the Australians will offend. As duly occurred, and Wilkinson potted the match-winning penalty goal. But it would not have been the match-winner if Matt Giteau had slotted an easy penalty - as easy as it can get in rugby - with 10 minutes to play. It is not one that Giteau will enjoy reviewing on tape, and it was uncomfortably similar to the inexplicable miss that lost Australia the Test against Scotland in Edinburgh in November. It is very hard to quibble with a player that scores 20 points, but Giteau's miss means that Wallabies fans will never, ever be able to bank categorically on three points from his boot again. (To be fair, the metronomic Wilkinson also missed a relatively easy one, late in the match - and sympathised with Giteau, saying that it was a tough gig to get right every time.) I suppose it adds to the glorious uncertainty of sport.

It's Just Another Town Along the Road

Maybe Jackson Browne was right. At this stage of the season the AFL ladder has a distinctly Victorian-heavy feel to it, with the Lions' rapid fall from grace and the deteriorating composure of Port Adelaide adding to the poor starts to the year made by West Coast and Adelaide. Central to all of these is the loss of home-ground advantage, as early defeats have leached the confidence and the intensity from the home sides. Although Essendon can still be practically banked as a home win, because of its lamentable record on the road, interstate trips have been highly rewarding for Victorian clubs this year, with Richmond's impressive effort at Woolloongabba on Saturday backing-up its successful foray to Adelaide to take on Port three weeks ago. What would worry Michael Voss most about the puncturing of the "fortress Gabba" mentality is that Saturday saw the bottom side on the ladder treat the cauldron with contempt - that and the body language of his players, although they are of course elements of the same thing. Maybe there is something to the "Paddle Pop Lion" theory.