Episode 6: Five Points of Play - January 5, 2024

On today's edition of Five Points of Play: From the City of Lost Cricket, we discuss Day 3 of the Australia vs Pakistan Test match, and how the game has once again ebbed and flowed on the backs of half hour patches of brilliance from both teams. Given the amount of time that is still being lost in Test cricket, we talk about the pure ridiculousness of ten minutes being scythed out of the match because a Test class batter can't face up while a piece of black tape sits 90 metres away. We also muse over the inability of some batters to simply walk to the dressing rooms once dismissed, and that they must linger where they are no longer required. Michael Gough has a reputation of rarely giving a dismissal out, but what happens when he finally does so, and it seems to go against everything he usually does? We discuss the ramifications. The Test in South Africa against India was completed in just 97 overs, the shortest ever Test match in balls bowled. We give our eulogy on the match. The national Under 17 Male Championships have begun in Ballarat, and we are following two local products Blake Mackrell from Kiama and Kasey Barton from Albion Park in their escapades with NSW Country. The second game and their performances are reviewed. That's all on today's episode of Five Points of Play, here on the cricket tragics podcast, The Casual Mankadder.