There are few things more hypnotic in sport than watching Australia play Test cricket. They bring a wonderful sense of aggression to cricket, more sophisticated with bat and ball than with their lips, their stadiums are pretty, TV is world class and the commentary team is the best there has ever been.
I watched the first day of the Test match in Sydney having promised myself that I would watch no more than a few overs and found myself happily breaking one resolve after another.
Fascinating as all this is, what I find even more interesting is the aggression they bring to the manner in which they run cricket. Australia rarely shy away from tough decisions and there is much to emulate there, especially in the selectorial dilemmas we create for ourselves.
Australia seem to show a great deal of freedom in the way they play their cricket though that probably is a function of the confidence that successive victories have brought them.
No wonder they are regarded as the best team in the world.