Inside Sport February 2020

Chances are this issue has ended up in your hands in the days or weeks following your return to the rat race for another year; likely you’re fired up for another 12 months of highs and lows, tears, laughter, wins and losses. You know, much like the roller-coaster ride we know our favourite elite sportspeople are about to go through ... Being our February issue, technically this is our second edition for the year, but our first on-sale title for 2020. So we thought we would deliver to you a guide to the top 20 sporting events to look forward to. Once again it’s a packed calendar, with all the usual suspects – like State of Origin and the footy grand finals – joined this year by the Tokyo Olympics…

Passage In India The Aussie one-day cricket side? They still do that? Sure ... just not in Australia anymore. The boys are in India, because the Indians said so, and people are kinda happy with Big Bash for all their cricketing needs after the New Year. But for the nuÿes, there are 50-over contests in Australia vs India (Jan 17) in Rajkot and another (Jan 19) in Bengaluru, which could be fun because these two batting orders will score a sick amount of runs. When the Aussies last toured in March 2019, Aaron Finch’s (pictured right) side rallied from 2-0 down to win the five-match series, including a record chase against India of 359. Does it mean anything? Well, no; the ICC’s new ODI league concept hasn’t started yet. But…

This season marks 25 years of Super Rugby; a quarter-century of long-haul flights, format changes and even a few times that the Crusaders didn’t win. In keeping with the restless spirit of the hemisphere’s provincial union confab, the big change this year is an earlier start – how does football from January 31 work for you? – and a straight run through the schedule, as the international window slides a month back to July. We also have the Sunwolves for one more year, before our conference-mates from Japan go the way of the Western Force and we’re back to a super 14 teams in 2021. Crusaders $3.75 They won again, because that’s what Christchurch’s splendid rugby machine does: third championship in a row, tenth overall, in the finals 20 times.…

Nothing can break the bonds of friendship forged within the ranks of the Girlfriendz masters softball team. Certainly not a measly 3000-plus kilometres, anyway. With 2020 shaping up as a big year for the far-flung team, the players are clocking up the hours on the pitch, and that means some serious travel time. Forget resting on past performances. The 2019 Sportscover Clubbies winners are eyeing November’s Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast, where just getting your name on the schedule can be a dog fight. This time more than 150 softball outfits will be vying for a piece of the action. “A lot of teams end up on waiting lists, it’s that popular,” says 45-year-old pitcher Kristin Garsheen. “We’ve just got to be on the ball and ready…

It may not be immediately apparent why Sportscover Australia would commit to sponsoring the Clubbies Awards. Good governance, the management of risk, operational integrity and performance are relevant concepts in our business and central considerations in insurance on a daily basis. Sportscover is visibly investing in the success of sport in this country. We don’t follow the path of sponsors seeking high-visibility brand placements on the front of football jerseys, for instance. We support the industry where it will have meaningful impact. This might be in the form of athlete scholarships, a women in sport initiative, the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, an Indigenous marathon project or, in this case, a national club awards program. The Clubbies Awards were conceptualised with the intent of becoming the preeminent vehicle to recognise,…

ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 1 Bigger than the Bash? Who says T20 should be strictly domestic leagues? Cricket’s shortest format (for now) goes in for international competition with the Women’s T20 World Cup, with ten countries playing 23 matches across six venues in Sydney, Perth, Canberra and Melbourne. The tournament begins on February 21 with Australia playing India at the Showground in Homebush. 2 This will be the seventh instalment of the Women’s T20, which dates back to 2009, and the first to be held in Australia. As with many things in women’s cricket, the Aussies have enjoyed great success in the event, winning on four occasions including the last one in 2018 in the Caribbean. England won the inaugural event on home soil, while the only other nation…