When Tait begins to bowl the batsman trembles at the knees,
The ball comes humming down the pitch just like a hive of bees,
The other day the bails went flying right out to the gate,
The batsman smiled a sickly smile and whispered "Tait á Tait".

- Jack Lumsdaine, "So This Is Cricket", 1932
(OK, so he was actually talking about Maurice Tate)

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is on the pork barrel trail in the lead-up to the November 8 city elections.

Bloomberg kicked off a busy meet-the-people Saturday with a photo op at St Alban's Park, Queens, which he announced would receive $1.5 million of city funding for the building of a dedicated cricket ground. It will only be the second specialist cricket venue in contemporary New York.

The astounding cricket played by England and Australia has not only rejuvenated the 123 year old Ashes competition, it’s also demonstrated that the five Test series is one of the supreme forms of spectator sport available on earth today.

New column by Mike Marqusee in Wednesday's Guardian, and reproduced on his own blog, praising the current Ashes series.

Belford Parrott has an outstanding record of achievement as a man of letters. From his days as speechwriter to Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, to his current role as breakfast DJ on Sydney AM radio (that's AM the waveband, not AM the gong after his name), Parrott has regaled the nation's 55-plus demogaphic with his eloquence, his compassion and his Liberalism.

Parrott posts his daily op-eds to the Radio 2GB website every day, and indeed they are even podcast now. But who writes his transcripts? Presumably the text that appears on the website is taken directly from Belford's own notes...