This has been a week when Australia could no longer deny the dark stain of anti-Semitism on our national soul. When our Prime Minister, faced with the horror of Bondi and Islamic jihadist fanatics, failed to rise to the crying need for genuine national leadership. When all Australians, not just our Jewish brothers and sisters, are lost, bewildered and angry.

But there has been something that has at least provided a modicum of comfort after the raw emotions: the Ashes cricket Test in Adelaide. As former England bowler and BBC commentator Phil ‘Tuffers’ Tufnell says, touring teams don’t just play an Australia XI; they play an entire country. If there is an Australian version  of Norman Tebbit’s cricket test, it’s not about what side you support when Australia is playing, it’s whether or not you follow cricket at all.

Tonight Australia celebrates, and England drowns its sorrows in a wake for Bazball

The summer game is our national sport. In the lead-up to a Test series in Australia, the ‘barbeque-stopper’ conversations are not about politics, religion, or international events. Instead, they’re about how the Test team will do this summer. We take our cricket extremely seriously in........

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