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People who don’t live in Australia often think that Australia is cricket mad.

But as I have said before, cricket is only the number one sport here because Victorians and NSWelshman like different codes of football.

Plus we like sports we are good at, how else could swimming be so popular here.

In New Zealand, rugby union is king. This is a sport where people with large necks throw a ball backwards and run into each other.

Even in England, Soccer or as the purists call it, Association football, is far more popular than Cricket. I don't think Freddy Flintoff gets more media than Becks, even though he is more talented.

In the western world, cricket is having a renaissance of sorts, but it will always struggle against football codes.

To prove my point I will use the current SCG storm in a tea cup as proof.

The game finished on the 6th.

The front page nonsense started on the 7th.

But on the 10th, front page of Melbourne’s biggest Murdoch paper has an Aussie Rules football story about Collingwood, my mob, who have lost their sponsorship agreement with the transport accident commission.

One of their players, a guy called Sharrod, blew three times the illegal limit of blood in his alcohol, and since Collingwood's job was to promote safe driving, they lost their sponsorship deals.

Mind you, I think its his parents fault for calling him Sharrod.

Cricket Australia is at war with India, Peter Roebuck, and retired Australian sporting stars, but Sharrod gets front page.

India is at war with Australia, the West Indies, and just bent the ICC over, but Sharrod gets front page.

Dale Steyn is at war with a cripple, but still Sharrod gets front page.

It's not even that interesting a news item.

Right now cricket is big here, but any time a story about a footballer p1ssing on a bar or flashing himself at a bunch of schoolgirls comes out, it can relegate cricket back a few pages.

Mind you i think its a good thing, if too many people thought of cricket as their favourite sport i wouldn't get good seats when the Vics play.www.cricketwithballs.com "the hooking & pulling specialists"