Perth’s drought of being cut off from international music acts during the pandemic is well and truly over with the announcement that 10 massive hip hop and RNB stars are set to hit the city for a one-night-only gig.
After a two-year hiatus RNB Friday’s are back with a brand new name, Fridayz Live, and will be touring around the country later this year.
Macklemore. Credit: Supplied/Supplied
But even more epic is the news of the event’s bumper line-up, which includes Macklemore, TLC, Akon, Craig David, Ashanti, Shaggy, Jay Sean, Dru Hill, Lumidee, Havana Brown and Resident DJ Yo! Mafia, who are all set to light up HBF Park on Saturday November 5.
Get ready to jump back in time and dance along to party hits from way back in the 90s to now, as everyone’s favorite Gemini Abbie Chatfield teams up with Fatman Scoop to host.
Fridayz Live organizers have promised to “continue our legacy for presenting the sleekest production, insatiable visual candy, and pyro for days”.
So whatever your Flava, don’t be Foolish and be the one left saying It Wasn’t Me when your friends ask why you all missed out on tickets because you forgot to book.
Pre-sale begins on Monday morning, before general public tickets go on sale next Friday, August 12. Tickets will be available from frontiertouring.com/fridayzlive
The owner of a restaurant that charged newlyweds a staggering $850 for a quick snack has hit back at the couple, branding them “liars”.
Alex and Lindsay Breen ordered just one beer, one cocktail and a dozen oysters — and were then hit with the eyewatering bill by the DK Oyster bar on the Greek island of Mykonos.
Lindsay said she asked for a drinks menu but was repeatedly fobbed off before finally giving in and ordering an Aperol spritz.
When the couple were ready to leave, they asked for the bill — but rather than giving it to them at the table, Alex was taken to a back room to pay.
On being shown the massive bill, Alex was shocked and asked for a breakdown, which they gave him in Greek.
Feeling under pressure and getting a “sketchy vibe”, Alex paid the bill.
But DK Oyster owner Dimitrios Kalamaras said the honeymooners were out of their minds.
“This person who is trying to get famous through Instagram posts under the name of Lyndsay Breen, starts with a lie,” he told Kennedy News.
“She claims that she ‘repeatedly asked for a cocktail menu’ and adds that ‘the server didn’t seem to want to provide one’.
“Despite that, she placed an order. An experienced well traveled person … she did what most adults in the right mind would not do — she ordered drinks and food from a waiter who refused to present a menu.
“This false claim has been used so much against our restaurant by dozens of anonymous users in TripAdvisor that we decided to place three huge blackboards by the entrance of the restaurant displaying the menu and the prices.”
While the restaurant does have prices on blackboards, tourists say it is misleading with prices based on per 100g rather than the usual 1kg as is the norm at most eateries in Greece.
Mr Kalamaras added that if someone was unhappy with the service before they ordered, they could “leave or request to talk to the manager”.
“The manager can help before ordering and consuming, not at the time they are requested to pay the charged amounts,” he said.
DK Oyster’s rates poorly on TripAdvisor, getting just 2.5 out of five stars.
Many reviewers give it a measly one star, labeling it “terrible”, a “rip off” and “a complete con”.
Even the Greek media have taken to calling the restaurant “notorious” and “infamous”, reporting on accusations of bullying tactics, a lack of menus and inflated bills.
But Mr Kalamaras insisted most of the complaints were from influencers who had failed to get a free meal.
Newlyweds Lindsay and Alex Breen with their expensive drinks and oysters. Credit: The West Australian
“Unfortunately, all of us who work in the hospitality sector have been approached by notorious influencers who, instead of making their living by advertising products and services to their audience, they put pressure on certain businesses for exorbitant fees and free meals,” he said .
Mr Kalamaras said his restaurant offered high quality food and service.
“I understand that some people may find our prices beyond their budget and I totally respect their opinion even if they do not appreciate the value of our services, cuisine, concept and experience,” he said.
“We believe that the value of the offered experience is high and we have no intention to explain why we charge more than a supermarket or a traditional taverna.”
David Warner is unlikely to play in the UAE’s inaugural International League T20 (ILT20) in January, and looks set to remain in Australia with ongoing negotiations to have him play in the Big Bash League (BBL) for the first time since 2013.
Warner, who is contracted to Cricket Australia but doesn’t hold a BBL deal, is set to be available to play franchise cricket in January 2023 after the three-match ODI series with South Africa was canceled and there was significant interest for him to play in the UAE, particularly given his IPL franchise Delhi Capitals own the Dubai Capitals franchise as well.
But ESPNcricinfo understands that a potential deal to sign Warner to the ILT20 is almost certainly off and Warner’s manager James Erskine confirmed to the Sydney Morning Herald that they were in negotiations with CA and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) to have Warner play in the BBL.
CA has found itself in a bind over the prospect of Australian contracted players, who are not contracted in the BBL, potentially being offered $US450,000 to play in the UAE.
The last Test of a three-match series between Australia and South Africa concludes in Sydney on January 8, 2023, with Australia’s next international commitment not until mid-February when they are due to tour India for a four-Test series. This means that Warner, Steven Smith, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, among other Test players, will be available to play franchise cricket in that period. CA had hoped that all would play in the BBL given it runs from December 13 to February 4, while the ILT20 is scheduled to run from January 6 to February 12.
The CA-contracted players are not obliged to play in the BBL under their contracts and Warner and Starc haven’t played since 2013 and 2014 respectively, while Smith, Cummins and Hazlewood also don’t have BBL contracts. Starc has already confirmed he won’t make himself available in order to rest while Warner is the only one publicly linked to the UAE so far, although Cummins and Hazlewood have been sought-after recruits in the IPL in recent years and would attract a lot of interest.
Australia’s high-profile T20 players like Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa, Aaron Finch and Tim David all have BBL deals. The big restriction for the players’ potential earnings in the BBL is the $AUD1.9 million ($US1.32 million approx.) salary cap with top contracts in the BBL for Australian players maxing out at roughly $AUD190,000 ($US132 ,000 approx.). There are significant marketing bonuses available on top of that but the total a player can earn in the BBL is still dwarfed by the top contract in the UAE for a shorter tournament.
There has been disquiet among the players about the BBL’s decision to offer $AUD340,000 ($US236,000 approx.) to top overseas players who have been nominated in the draft. A significant portion of that contract will be topped up by CA outside of the club’s salary cap. There is further disillusionment at the fact that a number of those overseas players are likely to only be available for the December portion of the BBL and will then head to the UAE to play the full ILT20 in January for nearly twice the money.
It is written into CA, Australian domestic and BBL contracts that players need “written approval” in the form of no-objection certificates (NOCs) to play in overseas leagues but it is understood that a restraint of trade argument could be mounted under Australian common law should a player wish to go down that route. That contract clause has warded off players from making any decisive moves to the UAE this year but the ILT20 has given Warner the ability to bargain with CA and command a similar sized and structured BBL contract to what the “platinum” overseas players will get this season .
There has been speculation that Chris Lynn would also require an NOC despite not being contracted to a BBL club due to an ICC player-release regulation stipulating players still need NOCs for two years after holding a contract in Australia. But ESPNcricinfo understands that it would be unenforceable as an unreasonable restraint of trade under Australian law. Shane Watson, the current ACA president, previously played in the Bangladesh Premier League in 2019-20 without an NOC having retired from the BBL earlier in the year. It is unlikely, however, that Lynn could play in both the BBL and the ILT20.
Ricky Ponting and Usman Khawaja forecasted these issues last month highlighting the potential earnings gap between the BBL and the South Africa and UAE T20 leagues for both Australian and overseas players.
All of this is taking place as CA and the ACA prepare to start negotiations in the coming months on a new long-term MoU for the players to come into effect in 2023. One of CA’s major broadcast partners Channel Seven has also filed a Federal Court action against CA to terminate their current deal that expires in 2024 over perceived quality breaches in regards to the BBL specifically.
A ‘disgusted’ Australian restaurant owner has gone ballistic over the cost of meat and vegetables, fuming that claims of floods still causing price hikes are ‘BS’.
In a passionate video, Rashays founder Rami Ykour argued that ongoing labor shortages are ‘the real reason’ for price rises.
‘I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here. I am disgusted. I’m really disappointed with what’s going out there,’ he said.
Mr Ykmour angrily claimed he would lose customers if he passed on the high costs of lettuce and beef to customers in his 34 stores.
‘Just to get the lettuce out to our restaurant is costing so much money, and there’s no way customers will come back if we spend on that cost.
He told Daily Mail Australia that passing on the higher costs could add up to a third to the cost of meals. ‘We don’t follow the giants like that here,’ he said.
Vegetables, fruit, breakfast cereals, bread, eggs, oils, butter and margarine have all jumped sharply in price in the last year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
A ‘disgusted’ Australian restaurant owner, Rami Ykour of Rashays, has gone ballistic over the cost of meat and vegetables, fuming that claims of floods still causing price hikes are ‘BS
The ABS released its quarterly Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures – the key measure of inflation – on Wednesday morning, showing a 6.1 per cent jump over the last year.
The biggest jump in an everyday grocery item was the cost of vegetables, up 7.3 per cent in the last year, due to many accounts of the continued flooding in southeast Queensland and New South Wales.
In July Mr Ykmour paid $144 for a box of 18 iceberg lettuces, at $8 a head.
‘The beef prices have also gone through the roof, too.
‘You know what they tell us, “let’s blame the floods”. You know what, I call that? BS!’
Consumers have been hit hard by rising prices and one restaurant owner says he will lose too many customers if he passes the higher prices on
In a passionate video Rashays founder Mr Ykour argued that ongoing labor shortages are ‘the real reason’ for price rises
‘The real problem is we’re short labour… there’s no-one out there to pick cos lettuce. There’s no-one to pick an iceberg.
‘There’s no-one to work in our farms. There’s no-one to work in our country abbatoirs, that’s why the prices have gone up.’
Mr Ykmour claimed governments need to do more to bring in more labor to ‘help small business’.
‘It’s time the government stepped in and said listen “we’re going to open the gates, we’re going to let people in to work here and we’re going to make it easy for small business”, guys this is getting ridiculous.
‘Now I ask for something to be done.’
National Farmer’s Federation president Fiona Simson said farmers are ‘crying out for workers’, partly driven by a lack of backpackers.
‘Even now the borders are open there are only about 40,000 working holiday makers in Australia compared to 141,142 in December 2019,’ Ms Simson said.
She said the labor issue was only one of several affecting prices, but it is one that the federal government can act on to bring in more overseas workers.
‘The workforce crisis is hampering farmers’ ability to plant and harvest produce, so fruit and veg aren’t being planted and picked when they need to be, compounded by freight and logistics being more expensive and unreliable – again due to labor shortages and things like increases in fuel costs.’
Guy Gaeta, from the NSW Farmers Association, told Daily Mail Australia that labor shortages are a factor but not the best factor impacting prices.
‘With lettuces at $5 a head do you think they’ll leave them in the ground? At those prices they’ll be finding someone to pick them.’
He said labor shortages typically hit agriculture between November and April when more crops need harvesting, but at present with less food needing picking farmers are able to spread the available workforce out.
According to the NSW Farmers Association the floods in south-east Queensland did have a major impact on fruit and vegetables prices because so many crops were destroyed.
Guy Gaeta, from the NSW Farmers Association, told Daily Mail Australia that labor shortages are a factor but not the best factor impacting prices impacting higher producing prices
According to the Department of Home Affairs more than 23,000 Pacific and Timorese employees are in Australia to work in primary industries, including farms, as of April under existing programs.
Another 9,000 were due to arrive by October and a further 52,000 workers were awaiting placements.
In April, the Federal government introduced a new Australian Agriculture Visa program to address workforce shortages in farming by allowing employers to sponsor workers from Vietnam and other pacific neighbours.
The new Labor government is expected to address all workforce shortages under an expanded Pacific Australia Labor Mobility (PALM) scheme.
Under the PALM program farmers can recruit workers for seasonal jobs for up to 4 years in unskilled, low-skilled or skilled jobs.
The PALM scheme is currently open to residents of 10 pacific island nations.
Floods, destructive winds and thunderstorms are expected to smash large areas across Australia’s south east as wild weather moves across the country from Western Australia on Thursday.
Wild conditions have already lashed much of southern Australia, uprooting trees and sending thousands of homes into darkness as the destructive conditions caused blackouts.
Watch more storm damage in the video above
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But the Bureau of Meteorology says little relief is on the way, with severe conditions expected to smash the country’s south east again as a second cold front moves in, with WA, SA, NSW, Victoria, and Tasmania in the firing line.
“Flooding rain, thunderstorms and dangerous winds will spread over southern and southeastern Australia during the next two days, with warnings in place for several states,” Weatherzone Meteorologist Ben Domensino said on Wednesday.
“A series of cold fronts and low pressure troughs are sweeping across southern and southeastern Australia this week as a large and complex low pressure system passes to the south of the country.”
The destructive conditions forced Perth Airport to use a back-up generator on Tuesday evening, after a high-voltage transmission pole was damaged.
The chaos plunged the airport into darkness as flights were delayed and canceled and frustrated travelers were left stranded.
Wild weather caused the ceiling of this Perth home to collapse. Credit: 7NEWSTrees were leveled across much of southern Australia as wild winds continued. Credit: 7NEWS
The damaging winds were felt across the country, with VIC SES receiving 399 calls for assistance in the 24 hours to midday Wednesday, mainly over fallen trees.
Meanwhile, emergency services in WA answered more than 440 calls for help since Tuesday afternoon and another 51 in the 24 hours to Tuesday night and 10 on Wednesday morning for SA SES.
Wind gusts hit a whopping 120km/h in WA on Wednesday morning at Cape Leeuwin, meanwhile SA’s Neptune Island recorded the state’s peak of 104km/h.
Mount William in Victoria was smashed by winds of up to 122km/h and NSW experienced its highest gusts of up to 107km/h at the snow mountains.
Wild weather to come
Looking ahead, BOM is warning damaging winds and dangerous surf are likely to hit SA, VIC, TAS, NSW and the ACT, as windy conditions finally ease in WA.
A second in a series of cold fronts will move through southern Australia on Thursday and is expected to bring heavy rainfall and potential flooding for northeast Victoria and south-east NSW, meteorologist Dean Narramore warned.
“Last night we saw a very strong cold front move through South Australia and Victoria and that brought damaging winds to numerous locations,” he said.
“But it is this next cold front that has got a link to tropical moisture that is really going to bring our heavy rainfall threat as we move into tomorrow.”
Trees down in Victoria. Credit: 7NEWS
Winds were expected to temporarily ease in SA on Wednesday night before re-intensifying on Thursday, with a severe weather warning in place for damaging winds across most districts.
Locations which may be affected include Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Mount Gambier, Ceduna, Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Clare, Maitland, Murray Bridge, Kingscote and Naracoorte.
Damaging winds are set to re-develop over the eastern ranges in VIC on Wednesday night, with heavy rainfall expected on Thursday.
A severe weather warning is in place for parts of East Gippsland, North East and West and South Gippsland Forecast Districts, and a flood watch has been issued for parts of the state’s northeast.
In NSW, damaging winds will continue over the south east, with gusts stronger than 125km/h likely to continue for alpine areas.
Lashings of rain which may lead to flash flooding could develop across the Snowy Mountains and the South West Slopes from early Thursday morning and the northern parts of the Central Tablelands from Thursday afternoon.
A flood watch is current for inland NSW central and southwest catchments.
Winds of up to 90km/h are expected in TAS, as VIC expects dangerous likes of 110 to 130km/h.
Allegations that biased FBI agents shielded first are Hunter Biden from criminal investigations are “deeply troubling,” FBI Director Christopher Wray was forced to admit Thursday under grilling from Republican senators — before cutting the Q&A short by claiming he needed to catch a flight.
The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) noted that Wray wasn’t flying commercial and pleaded in vain for the FBI chief to reschedule the departure of his government jet.
But before leaving, Wray was pressed by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) about whistleblower claims against Tim Thibault, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s DC field office, and FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten.
Kennedy confronted Wray with allegations against the two FBI workers that Grassley revealed last month.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill Aug. 4, 2022.Getty Images
“Isn’t it true that Mr. Thibault — Agent Thibault, excuse me — and [Auten] covered up derogatory information about Mr. Hunter Biden while working for the FBI?” Kennedy asked Wray point-blank Thursday.
“I want to be very careful not to interfere with ongoing personnel matters,” Wray replied. “I should say that when I read the letter that describes the kinds of things that you’re talking about, I found it deeply troubling.”
Wray was questioned about alleged bias in agents’ probing of Hunter Biden.
Kennedy also cited to Wray a variety of Thibault’s social media barbs against Republicans, which resembled the anti-GOP attacks by FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page during the bureau’s investigation of possible Russian collusion with Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Grassley’s July letter to Wray said Auten and Thibault allegedly were involved in “a scheme” to “undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation.”
Auten “opened an assessment which was used by an FBI Headquarters (‘FBI HQ’) team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease,” Grassley wrote.
“[V]erified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation,” Grassley wrote, citing unnamed whistleblowers.
Thibault, meanwhile, allegedly tried to kill off a valid avenue of investigation of possible Hunter Biden criminality.
GOP Sen. John Kennedy questioned Wray during the hearing at the Capitol Thursday.AP
“In October 2020, an avenue of additional derogatory Hunter Biden reporting was ordered closed at the direction of ASAC Thibault… [when] all of the reporting was either verified or verifiable via criminal search warrants,” Grassley wrote.
“Thibault allegedly ordered the matter closed without providing a valid reason as required by FBI guidelines…. [and] subsequently attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future.”
Kennedy on Thursday cited some of Thibault’s social media messages and asked the FBI director, “Do you know how this looks to the American people?”
“I will tell you that what you’re describing is not representative of the FBI … where I see patriots working their tails off with tremendous integrity and objectivity,” Wray said.
Kennedy asked Wray to confirm whether or not Thibault was involved in the ongoing investigation of Hunter Biden for possible tax fraud, unregistered foreign lobbying and money laundering — but Wray wouldn’t directly answer.
“Did he or does he work on the FBI investigation of Mr. Hunter Biden?” Kennedy asked.
“The investigation that you’re referring to is going to — and I need to be a little bit careful because we’re talking about an ongoing investigation — is being run out of our Baltimore field office, working with the Delaware US attorney who’s a holdover from the prior administration,” Wray tried to deflect.
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s letter to Wray last month concerning conduct by FBI agents was discussed during the Thursday hearing. AP
Kennedy followed up, “So I’m confused, Chris, with your answer. Did he work, or does he work on the Hunter Biden investigation?”
Wray again avoided a direct answer, saying, “As I said, that the Hunter Biden investigation is being run out of the Baltimore field office.”
Thibault’s alleged social media activity included a retweet of a Lincoln Project message that called Donald Trump a “psychologically broken, embittered and deeply unhappy man” and tweet saying that he wanted to “give Kentucky to the Russian Federation.”
Hunter Biden recently cut the IRS to check for about $2 million in an acknowledgment that he failed to pay taxes on a windfall of foreign income. The funds reportedly were provided by Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, but it’s unclear what strings are attached and the repayment doesn’t prevent prosecution.
The first son’s overseas dealings gained significant attention this year when the Washington Post and New York Times in March belatedly verified documents from a former Hunter Biden laptop that were first reported by The Post in October 2020.
Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, was discussed during the Senate Judiciary hearing Thursday. AP
Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s business deals generally is murky and they continue to present conflicts of interest for the president.
Emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop indicate that his father, then vice president, attended a 2015 DC dinner with a group of his son’s associates from Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. A photo depicts Joe Biden posing with the Kazakhstani group and one day after dinner, Vadym Pozharskyi, an executive at Ukrainian gas company Burisma, emailed the then-second son to thank him for the opportunity to meet his father. Hunter Biden earned a reported $1 million per year to serve on Burisma’s board while his father led the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.
Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina, an alleged attendee of the 2015 dinner and the widow of a former mayor of Moscow, has not faced US sanctions this year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite Biden sanctioning many other members of Russia’s elite.
In China, Joe Biden allegedly was involved with his son’s dealings with CEFC China Energy, which the Washington Post reported paid Hunter Biden and his uncle Jim Biden $4.8 million in 2017 and 2018. Former Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski says that he spoke with Joe Biden in May 2017 about the deal and a May 13, 2017, email says that the “big guy” would get a 10 percent equity stake in a corporate entity established with CEFC. Bobulinski alleges that the president was the “big guy.”
Also in China, Hunter Biden cofounded an investment firm called BHR Partners in 2013 less than two weeks after flying with his father to Beijing aboard Air Force Two. Hunter introduced Joe Biden to BHR CEO Jonathan Li in the lobby of a hotel in China’s capital. The fund is controlled in part by state-owned entities. Hunter Biden’s attorney Chris Clark said less than a week after President Biden’s November summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping that the first son divested his 10% stake in BHR Partners, but Hunter Biden and the White House provided no further details and online business records indicate that Hunter Biden still owns the 10% stake.
Glenn Maxwell has revealed he was “shattered” to miss out on selection for Australia’s most recent Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, but it has only reignited his desire to play Test cricket again with a tour of India on the horizon early next year.
Maxwell was close to playing in the first Test in Galle, but Head passed a fitness test and retained his place. He was even closer to playing in the second Test when it was revealed by skipper Pat Cummins that Maxwell was in line to play at No.8 in place of Mitchell Starc if the Galle pitch was going to be a duplicate of the surface used in the firstTest.
But conditions changed significantly with a much more placid batting surface presented, and Maxwell missed out.
“I was shattered when I got told,” Maxwell said about his exclusion from the second Test. “It wasn’t that I thought they made the wrong call, I was just genuinely disappointed.
“I really wanted to play. I loved being a part of it [Test cricket]and I loved the thought of playing again.
“Even not thinking about Test cricket for a couple of years, I felt like I was ready again. I loved working with the coaches and coming up with new tactics to deal with difficult spin bowling and balls exploding.
“I’m glad Heady got through his fitness test because I’d have hated to be in because of an injury to one of your players. Unfortunately, they changed the conditions. If it was the same conditions for both Tests, I probably would have played.But they made a slightly better wicket, and the selectors made the right call.
“I tried not to get too excited or get my hopes up too much because I know, having been in that situation so many times and been on the wrong side of it, the ups and downs of selection and the 50-50 calls … but yeah, I allowed myself to get a little bit too excited.”
Maxwell also revealed that he felt a lot more love and positivity around his possible Test recall than he had done in the past, even if he did regret that his batting style wasn’t more accepted when he was around the Test team between 2014 and 2017 .
“It’s certainly nice to have support, where I feel like I probably didn’t have that in the early days of my Test career,” Maxwell said. “It was probably the other way around, where it was just like, no, you can’t have this guy in the team. So it’s sort of nice to see it change. When I came back into the side in 2017, it felt like there was a real shift of positivity coming my way, which was rare.
“For so long, whenever I played a reverse sweep, it was frowned upon and it’s become a staple of Test cricket wherever you play in the world. Everyone plays it.
“So it’s like, where was this six years ago? It would have been nice when I was playing, if people would have looked at me and gone, oh, visionary [laughs]. uzzie [Usman Khawaja] plays 300 of them, and he’s a superstar, [he] get 150 and like, [we] bow down to him.”
Maxwell is now firmly in line to play in the four-Test tour of India next year, particularly after Head’s lean tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka where his highest score was 26 in five Tests. Head now averages just 21.30 in Asia from seven Tests and has passed 50 only eleven. Maxwell has played all seven of his Tests in Asia and averages just 26.07 there. He has also passed 50 just eleven, but he made a superb century in Ranchi on Australia’s last Test tour of India in 2017.
“Last year I had a preseason at Junction Oval, where we would use the same pitches, maybe four or five net sessions in a row and by the fifth net session they were basically India”
Glenn Maxwell on his preparations for the India tour
The balance of right and left-handers in Australia’s top seven will be important against the left-arm orthodox of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, and the right-arm offspin of R Ashwin.
Maxwell’s experience facing all three in India, across red and white-ball cricket, will no doubt give him an advantage from a selection standpoint. He revealed the Australia selectors have spoken to him about what specific preparation would be best for him ahead of the India tour and he stressed, as he has previously, that playing Sheffield Shield cricket on Australian pitches will not help.
“They sort of just asked what do you need to get ready and would Shield cricket make a difference? I said no, it won’t,” Maxwell said. “Because the conditions are just so different over there. It’s certainly hard to prepare for spinning tracks in Australia during our first-class games.
“I think we’re able to still get nets up in Melbourne that can spin and do some different things. Last year I had a pre-season at Junction Oval, where we would use the same pitches, maybe four or five net sessions in a row and by the fifth net session they were basically India. And it was awesome. They were the best net sessions I had. Because I was going away, I think at that stage, the next subcontinent tour, it might have been the IPL and it was awesome. It was the perfect prep, and I had no excuses, I suppose, going into the next series.”
Alex Malcolm is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo
The SUV carrying US Rep Jackie Walorski crossed the centerline of an Indiana highway on Wednesday, sparking the head-on collision that killed the representative and three others, according to new information from the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.
The law enforcement agency had initially told reporters that the second vehicle, driven by Edith Schmucker, 56, of Nappanee, Indiana, had crossed the centerline and caused the collision.
“The information from the preliminary investigation at the scene, as to the direction of travel of the vehicles, was not correct,” the Sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday.
Walorski, 58, was riding in a Toyota Rav 4 driven by St. Joseph County Republican Party chairman Zachery Potts, 27, when the SUV “crossed the centerline for reasons that are unknown,” the Sheriff’s office said.
House Rep. Jackie Walorski was one of four people who died on the Indiana highway collision. J. Scott Applewhite – Pool via CThe head-on collision involving two cars killed everyone involved, including US House Rep. Jackie Walorski.WSBT-TVWalorski’s press secretary Emma Thomson, on the left, and St. Joseph County Republican Party chairman Zachery Potts were also in the car with Walorski when it crashed. Emma Thomson/Linkedin; ZacheryPo
The representative’s press secretary, Emma Thomson, 28, was also a passenger in the SUV.
The Toyota hit Schmucker’s Buick LeSabre head-on.
Walorski, Schmucker, Potts and Thomson all died as a result of the crash.
All four were wearing their seatbelts, and airbags deployed in both vehicles, police said.
