🏀 World Cup Countdown

Howdy, it's Wednesday, 21 September. Before you get stuck into today's excellent newsletter, a bit of housekeeping. There will be no newsletter tomorrow. Sorry, but we're taking the public holiday off to ready ourselves for the AFL Grand Final (and mourn the Queen), but we'll be back on Friday with a special edition. Can't say anymore so don't ask, but what we can say is we're gonna try to cover some stuff that's happening tomorrow to keep you ahead of the game. It's our catchphrase after all.

⏱ 1,470 words = 7 minutes

👀 The AFL is doing it for the kids...

THE MAIN GAME

🏀 I'm sorry Mrs Jackson, the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup Australia's for reeeeeeeal

You can tell what we're going for here. It's not quite an air ball, more like a 3-pointer rimming out. Anyway, the Women's Basketball World Cup starts tomorrow night and Australia, aka the Opals, have a mountain to climb.

Golden points: From 22 September to 1 October, the Women's Basketball World Cup will be going down in Sydney town where 12 of the best teams will compete for global dominance. Argh, shoulda rhymed 'global' with 'Opal' for the headline. It is an air ball, dammit.

• The 12 teams are split into 2 groups. In Group A we've got USA, Belgium, China, South Korea, Puerto Rico and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Group B, it's Australia, France, Japan, Canada, Serbia and Mali.

• The teams play everybody in their group once and the top 4 teams advance to the quarter-finals. Then we have the semis and the final - you know how it goes. Oh, there is a bronze medal match too on the last day.

• Without question, the USA are the team to beat. They've won 10 of the 18 titles and 22 World Cup games in a row, which includes 3 undefeated campaigns. They're really good.

• Australia is ranked #3 in the world but they're in the 'Group of Death'. Every major sports tournament has one and Australia are in it this time because 5 of the top 10 nations reside in Group B.

• Making matters that little bit tougher is Australia's schedule - if they make the gold medal match it'll be their 8th game in 10 days. That's a lot of basketball in a short time.

• It's why you probably won't see returning legend Lauren Jackson play lots of minutes or perhaps not even every game. She's 41 and hasn't played for the Opals in 9 years, so a conservative approach feels in order.

• Tess Madgen will captain the Opals. Try not to tear up watching how she found out she was skipper. The Aussies have picked a tall squad even without Liz Cambage. Keep an eye out for rising star Ezi Magbegor - she's 23, won silver with the Aussies at the last World Cup in 2018 and plays for the Seattle Storm in the WNBA.

The stat: Only 4 nations have won the World Cup - the US (10 times), Soviet Union/Russia (6), Brazil and Australia in 2006!

Watch it: Australia's 1st match is against France tomorrow night at 8:30pm AEST at Qudos Bank Arena. Watch all the Women's Basketball World Cup games on ESPN via Foxtel and Kayo

QUICK SINGLES:

🏏 Cricket: Cameron Green and Matthew Wade starred in Australia's 4-wicket T20I win over India overnight. Green bowled the last over of the 1st innings and got hit for 3 sixes in a row from his final 3 balls. Ouch. It meant India scored 6-208 - their highest T20 score against Australia - but Green got his payback pretty much right away. He opened the batting and hit his first 4 balls to the boundary and also hit 4 sixes in his 61 from 30 deliveries. The Aussies suffered a mini-collapse when Green got out but Wade hit 45 from 21 balls to record Australia's 2nd-highest successful T20 run chase.

🏉 AFL: What's better than AFL? More AFL! AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan says the 18 club presidents are open to playing an extra round, which would be held in one city - kinda like the NRL's Magic Round. McLachlan says given the clubs treated the final pre-season match like a regular-season game, why not just make it official? He says 3 states have already put their hand up to host it, most likely around the Easter school holidays, and we could see it as early as next year.

🏏 Cricket: The Mankad is a legit, fair dismissal after the latest changes to cricket's playing conditions. The Mankad, named after India's Vinoo Mankad, is the unofficial name for when a bowler runs out a batter at the non-striker's end for backing up too much (Vinoo was the 1st to do it back in 1948). It's a divisive rule, but it's been moved from the Unfair Play category to the Run Out category in the latest update by the International Cricket Council. It means it's considered fair play now, so batters might think twice about getting a head start for a run.

⚽️ Football: The Socceroos are all set for their final hit-outs before jetting off to Qatar for the World Cup. Tomorrow night at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, the Socceroos play New Zealand for the 1st time since 2011. It's a night of celebration that marks 100 years of the Socceroos, but it will also be a fact-finding mission for coach Graham Arnold. He's gonna use as much of his 31-man squad as possible to get a look at the players pushing for a World Cup spot. He'll have some help because his former mentor Guus Hiddink will be there as a special assistant coach! The 2 teams play again on Sunday in Auckland.

♟Chess: The biggest feud in modern chess has gone to another level. Earlier this month, 5-time world champion Magnus Carlsen lost to American teenage prodigy Hans Niemann and Carlsen didn't take it real well - he kinda-sorta insinuated Niemann cheated. Niemann admitted he has cheated in the past when he was a kid, and is willing to play naked to prove he ain't no cheater, but is adamant he did not cheat in that match. The pair met in an online match this week and after just one move, Carlsen resigned. It's being called a protest move by experts. Who woulda thought chess could be this spicy?!

LEFT OF FIELD

🏉AFL: If rumours are believed to be true, Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue could be reuniting for the pre-game show at the AFL grand final. Let's join the dots: Williams called out Minogue to join him on Saturday and team up to perform their 2000 mega-hit Kids; he also said he'll be performing a song that isn't his (Minogue has custody of Kids); AFL big dog Gil McLachlan said there's gonna be a surprise; and he said Williams won be singing alone. Add all those up and it's gotta be Kylie, right? We'll find out on Saturday but if there's one way to cap off one of the best seasons of the AFL ever then bringing Robbie and Kylie back together feels fitting.

📽 Highlight reel: Aussie NFL punter Arryn Siposs delivered one of the plays of the day in Philadelphia's win over Minnesota yesterday. He stopped a certain touchdown with a scrambling tackle and has been hailed as the fastest punter in NFL history.

THE POLLING BOOTH

Tuesday's result: 32.50% believe a rational conversation with a magpie is the best way to avoid being swooped.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

• ⚾️ 9:40am Wednesday - MLB - Brewers v Mets - Miller Park, Milwaukee - Foxtel, Kayo

• 🏉 5:10pm Thursday - AFLW - Geelong v St Kilda - GMHBA Stadium, Geelong - Foxtel, Kayo

• ⚽️ 8:00pm Thursday - International football - Australia v New Zealand - Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane - Channel 10

• 🏀 8:30pm Thursday - Women's Basketball World Cup - Australia v France - Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney - Foxtel, Kayo

All times AEST

THE MANAGER'S OFFICE

Just another reminder from us that there'll be no newsletter tomorrow but we'll be back on Friday, so until then chuck on a few Kylie classics and have a great couple of days without us. Absence makes the heart grow stronger, apparently.