It has been just over a week now since the 5th Test between England and India was 'abandoned' due to a positive covid outbreak in the Indian backroom staff. Since then, the back and forth between what the result of that match should be, and what the real reason for the 'abandonment' occurring was, has been a source of discussion. Which is just what we'll do here today on this episode of The Casual Mankadder.

If the inaugural Test between Australia and Afghanistan, set down for late November in Hobart, is cancelled due to the Taliban’s stance on women playing sport, which seems increasingly likely, then we can only hope that someone at Cricket Australia already has their thinking cap on and is ready to run with the best way to prepare our Test team for the upcoming Ashes series. Well as it turns out, that man with a plan is me, and on today's episode I'll run through what I think Cricket Australia should be doing. Also, India has won the 4th Test to take a 2-1 series lead against England, and we'll discuss just where the differences in the two teams lie.

It's been on hiatus for awhile, but with the finals upon us, it's time to ramble on endlessly about the footy, and see just how many people I can disagree with on the subject at hand. We take a look at the final round shenanigans, discuss the pros and cons of the teams in the bottom eight, and then look ahead to this weekend's first finals - all here on In League With the NRL.

After the amazing success of the introduction of the Chip Challenge - mainly from the members of the family that got to consume the chips - we've decided to take it a step further, and introduce... the Choc Challenge! Here then is the first round of the Choc Challenge, where hungry and sugar starved family members grab a cup of tea and charge in on five different chocolate bars to decide which one will progress to the next round.

How bored are you getting with the Australian East Coast Lockdown? No doubt, after ten weeks of it, you, like us, are starting to get to a point where you need to find new ways of keeping yourself amused. So what do we do? We decide that what we need to do is start a competition that involves eating salty flavourful snacks, and then record it for posterity. So that’s how this came about – the Chip Challenge to decide, once and for all, what is the greatest chip every invented! Intrigued? Interested? Got nothing to do for 20 minutes? Then why don’t you join us for the first round of the Chip Challenge – brought to you, on Thoughts from the Metal Cavern.

Over the past couple of weeks there has been a very public and brutal bringing down of the Australia head cricket coach, not only from leaks to the media from within the playing group and the back room staff employed by the national team, but from further stories being aired every day from many news organisations. Exactly what the supposed problems within the closed walls of the Australian cricket team are is difficult to nail down as the information that is being aired seems incomplete and sketchy at best, just that there are disagreements with the coach and his methods. As the team heads towards an attempt to annex the T20 World Cup and then look to retain the Ashes, these ructions all look to be coming at a fairly inconvenient time for Australian cricket. So let’s have a discussion, purely analytical, and without any real evidence, as to what may be driving this malcontent in the several groups of the Australian cricket team, and what it all means both in who REALLY has the power in the Australian cricket setup and how that could impact the coming months.

Three playing squads from two different countries for several different forms of the game for three different series were announced last week, and while all contained their surprises the men’s squads went in a similar direction – back to the future, consolidating experience against those that in recent times have been asked to cover for their absence. Australia’s squad for the T20 World Cup is looking to acquire the one major international crown they have been unable to win, while England are searching for a way to halt their batting woes. As well as this, Australia’s squad for the Women’s series against India had some big names missing and some exciting names added into the mix. Today we will discuss the selection issues facing both countries, and how that will affect each of their separate series that they are approaching. All of that lies ahead on this episode of The Casual Mankadder.

In the space of 24 hours we have seen the conclusion of two fantastic Test matches, games that have once again provided all the proof you need that Test cricket is the ultimate form of the game, and must continue to be allowed to be the number one spectacle when it comes to cricket, and defy any attempts to tinker with its format. Today on The Casual Mankadder we will have a look at two different games of cricket, how they have both revitalised what has been a lull in the schedule due to the over abundance of short form white ball matches being played, and what is yet to come on the back of this.