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.

Perhaps you, like me, have spent the past couple of weeks watching the Olympic Games from Tokyo, and no matter what your thoughts going into were in regards to whether or not it should have gone ahead, I think most of us would agree that it has been an amazing success given the hardships that have occurred over the past 18 months to get it off the ground. On today’s episode, while discussing the pros and cons, the triumphs and the tragedies of the games itself, I want to also look into the future of sports coverage on television, and discuss the success of using a digital platform in the broadcast of this event, and how that initial success can be utilised going forward to enhance other sporting events in the same way. That’s the basis of today’s discussion on Thoughts from the Metal Cavern.

This week on THE CASUAL MANKADDER, we discuss Australia's collapse to a 4-1 defeat in the T20 series in Bangladesh and try to look forward  as to what this result will mean for the players and the team's chances in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Then we take a look at the washup - or washout - of the 1st Test between England and India and why Joe Root has gone from mediocre to sudden saviour in the course of four days. And finally we discuss how a slight change in dates for the first ever Test between Australia and Afghanistan would actually prove to be a greater benefit for Test cricket than what has already been put in place.

Everyone loves a superhero, right? I mean, when you were growing up, most of us out there wanted to be Superman or Batman, or possibly just Captain America or Iron Man. In many ways arguments could arise at the drop of a hat over which was the best superhero franchise – DC or Marvel. Hang on, that happened just yesterday with that 55-year-old nerdy geek down the street. Anyway... when it came to superhero shows in the 1970’s and 1980’s they were few and far between, and most of the time possibly took themselves too seriously. Well, when I was growing up, there was one TV show that grabbed my attention, and made me fall in love with the concept of becoming a ‘suburban’ superhero, and that show was The Greatest American Hero. Maybe you don’t all know the show, but you sure as hell know the intro music!

With just four rounds left until the final series starts, it's time to forget about the Olympics and start thinking about the NRL again. This week we'll discuss the latest round of the game that is bunkered down in south east Queensland, and also look at next week's fixtures. Today's Talking Point looks at the possibility of the Grand Final being located to New Zealand and whether that is a good look for the NRL. And we'll also take a stab at how the top eight will finish with The Almanack's Finals Tipping Blitz.

Australia’s tour of the West Indies has concluded with the completion of the three match ODI series this week. And given the squad that Australia had to choose from for those three matches, the opposition they had to play against, and the covid scare that could have thrown everything into chaos, we probably learned more about the direction Australia is heading than may have been expected. In today’s episode we’ll run the rule over the three matches and their results, and try to dissect just what it means for Australia as they head into the second half of 2021.