It's March 5, 1988 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Tasmania loses a Sheffield Shield match to New South Wales by eight wickets. Never mind the fact that the NSW team included nine past, present or future Australian internationals, take a look at the Tasmanian lineup, and you'll see why the Apple Isle was the hotbed of off-field cricketing talent for the 21st century.

MAXINE McKEW: Are you getting complaints from parents or have you talked to, say, history teachers?

JOHN HOWARD: It is self-apparent. It is obvious to me that there's -

MAXINE McKEW: Why so?

JOHN HOWARD: From talking to people. The increasing number of people I talk to, younger people, who don't have a full understanding of some of these things.

[and later in the same interview]

MAXINE McKEW: Has this come to your attention because there are, say, younger people in your office or other ministers' offices that are ignorant of these issues?

Sorry guys, but I have been finding the Australian Open far more interesting than the blandness of the VB Series thus far. I'm really enjoying watching Marcos Baghdatis in action. He's just won a rain-interrupted (and what a time for that to happen) semi against David Nalbandian for the right to be hammered by Roger Federer on Sunday night (or Nicolas Kiefer if he's very, very lucky). The Guardian did an over-by-over of the tennis if you don't know what I'm talking about.

The gentlemen in the above photo are:
(a) Turning the first sod at the Shanghai Inflatable Doll Trade Fair;
(b) Gravediggers of the Central Committee of the Communist Party heroically exceeding their quotas at the funeral of the last member of the Gang of Four;

For the second year running I am doing a preview of the Australian of the Year award, which will be announced by John Winston Howard later today. Please refer to my 2005 preview for some facts, figures and background on past winners.

The eight state and territory nominees, as announced in November:

http://www.pm.gov.au/news/media_releases/media_Release1752.html

I wonder what's the point really. We know that ministers aren't responsible for the actions of their departments and are always given wrong information by them anyway. So who cares who has what portfolio?

Momentous steps forward in the merging of women's and men's cricket administration in India were taken on Monday, when the BCCI's Working Committee met in New Delhi. The title of this post says it all. Today's The Hindu reports.

Zimbabwe Cricket's announcement last Wednesday that they were withdrawing from Test cricket for the rest of 2006 was greeted variously with sighs of relief, pats on the back, and gales of laughter. I belonged to that last category.

It's election day in Canada today. The following press release from the Green Party of Canada hit my inbox overnight on Friday. The principles basically hold true elsewhere, including Australia:

1. I want to feel good about my vote. I want to vote for someone, not against someone.