🗞 "I can't get if off"

AUSSIE SPORTS
Gabba Snub

🏏 Australia plan to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first-ever Test match by playing England at the same venue in March 2027.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) played host to a single-innings match from 15 to 19 March 1877, with Australia winning by 45 runs, before England won the second match at the same venue to tie the series 1-1.

The 100-year anniversary of the inaugural Test was also marked with a Test between Australia and England at the MCG in 1977, with Australia again winning by 45 runs.

The MCG will continue to host the traditional Boxing Day Test while the New Year's Test will remain at the Sydney Cricket Ground - both through to 2030-31.

Cricket Australia (CA) also confirmed that the Adelaide Oval will host the December 'Christmas Test' in either day-night or day format and the 'West Test' in Perth, Western Australia, will be Australia's opener for the next three years.

That means the next men's Ashes in 2025-26 will begin at a venue other than the Gabba in Brisbane for the first time in more than four decades, and it will be the first Ashes Test played at Perth's Optus Stadium. (cricket.com.au)

🐴 icymi: Champion racehorse Black Caviar has died a day before her 18th birthday.

A statement on Saturday on behalf of Black Caviar's owners announced the death.

The Australian star captivated the nation and retired in 2013 with 25 wins from 25 starts, taking $7,953,936 in prize money.

"She was a remarkable horse who gave us all the ride of a lifetime and wonderful memories," trainer Peter Moody said in the statement.

🍿 Do yourself a favour & watch Black Caviar's 25 wins from 25 starts (Twitter)

👊🏼 UFC middleweight champ Dricus du Plessis says Australia’s Robert Whittaker is the man most deserving to face him next, but has been “done over” by the company.

It comes as Australia endured a mixed night at UFC 305, with five of eight Aussies all suffering losses – among them fan favourites Steve Erceg, Tai Tuivasa and Junior Tafa.

Australia’s No.1 female fighter Casey O’Neill won before a sold out RAC Arena crowd – and both lightweight Tom Nolan and featherweight Jack Jenkins announced themselves as undeniable rising stars.

🚴🏻‍♂️ Australian rider Kaden Groves won stage two of the Vuelta a Espana with a sprint finish as Belgian Wout van Aert took the overall lead.

Alpecin-Deceuninck's Groves finished Sunday's 194km stage from Cascais to Ourem ahead of Van Aert in second and Corbin Strong in third.

"It's been a tough year for myself without a win yet," Groves, 25, said. "I have come here super motivated to change that. I have to thank my team for a really strong ride today.

NRL NEWS
Burgess en route

📄 Match: It was third time lucky for Sharks five-eighth Daniel Atkinson, who kicked the winning field goal in his third attempt to see his side claim a 19-18 win over the Knights. 

📄 Match: The Dragons have climbed back into the top eight on the NRL ladder after posting a 32-16 win against the Titans. 

🙋🏼‍♀️ Titans playmaker Lauren Brown has the lead in the race for the 2024 Dally M Medal as voting goes behind closed doors for the remainder of the season.

Brown did not poll a vote in Saturday's 11-10 loss to the Cowboys but still has a two-point advantage over Eels fullback Abbi Church, Sharks lock Brooke Anderson and Raiders lock Simaima Taufa.

✈️ Sam Burgess will fly back to Australia in order to be inducted into the NRL's Hall of Fame in person. Burgess becomes the first England international to take his place among some of the game's greats.

AFL NEWS
Houston Sweats

📄 Sam Darcy kicked a career-best seven goals as the Western Bulldogs all but secured a finals berth with a 96-point hammering of North Melbourne.

Darcy was under pressure after kicking a wayward 1.5 in the previous round but responded superbly in the 20.18 (138) to 6.6 (42) victory at Marvel Stadiu.

📄 Hawthorn will head to Launceston next weekend with its destiny in its own hands after a clinical run of nine consecutive goals ended Sunday's game against Richmond 131 (19.17) 68 (10.8).

But the Hawks might return to September without reigning Peter Crimmins Medallist Will Day after the South Australian was sent to hospital early in the game with a suspected broken collarbone.

Carlton turned to a small forward line and its captain marvel Patrick Cripps to conjure a famous road win and keep control of its finals destiny, beating West Coast by 65 points at Optus Stadium.

The Blues all but ended the premiership defence of Collingwood in the process and replaced Fremantle in the top eight, winning 14.15 (99) to 4.10 (34) despite a mammoth injury list that had them as underdogs for the trip west.

🤕 icymi: on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval, the Power’s Dan Houston laid out Crows superstar Izak Rankine with a monster bump in the third term, leading to a wild fracas between both teams, with umpire Ray Chamberlain in the thick of trying to break it up.

Rankine was knocked out cold for some time and in the hands of trainers in worrying scenes, eventually coming conscious and putting a thumbs up while stretchered off the ground.

The severity of the incident has seen Houston referred directly to the Tribunal by the Match Review Officer, facing a four-plus match ban.

It comes just a week out from a finals campaign and means his season is potentially over — and thus his career at Port Adelaide, amid reports he’s set to request a trade back to Victoria at season’s end.

WORLD NEWS

⚽️ Erling Haaland scored on his 100th Manchester City appearance as the Premier League champions began their title defence with a 2-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Ex-Chelsea Kovacic casually jogged past Chelsea's AU$440m midfield of Enzo and Caicedo to score a brilliant goal.

⚽️ Brentford started their season with a narrow 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, despite leaving out striker Ivan Toney over "transfer interest". 

🏏 The latest ‘T20 with a twist’ cricket comp kicks off this week - The MAX60 (25 games over 8 days) - starting in the Caribbean. Apparently, it is “the next big thing in franchise cricket taking the game to different corners of the world. Basically the innings of each team comprises 60 balls each so expect a lot of fireworks from some world-renowned players in the competition. There will be three overs of powerplay.”

Some well known short-form specialists will take part in the inaugural comp consisting of 5 teams, in the Cayman Islands - David Warner (BOca Raton Trailblazers), Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Lynn (Caribbean Tigers), Andrew Tye, Ben Dunk & Alex Hales, to name a few.

🏏 Adam Zampa’s Oval Invincibles won The Hundred for the second year running after a convincing 17-run victory over Southern Brave in the final at Lord’s.

🏈 Keep ‘em guessing: Patrick Mahomes hinted during the week that he wanted to throw a behind-the-back pass during a game. He delivered during Saturday's preseason game against the Detroit Lions at Arrowhead Stadium.

🏍️ Francesco Bagnaia extended his slim MotoGP championship lead by continuing his golden run at the Austrian Grand Prix, Ducati’s reigning world champion winning in Spielberg for the third year in succession to take his seventh victory of the season. 

Australia’s Jack Miller looked on course for his strongest weekend of the season before crashing from sixth place on lap 11.

🚴🏼‍♀️ Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma claimed her first Tour de France Femmes title after holding off last year's winner Demi Vollering, who won a dramatic final stage.

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