Cricket no longer the only game in Australian towns

Cricket in Australia faces an unprecedented challenge to make itself heard this season, writes Peter Hanlon in the Age.

Interest in football's round-ball code is building, both towards next year's World Cup in South Africa and a domestic competition whose roots are deepening. And even the indigenous footy code won't back off its dominance of the back - and front - pages before taking a parting slap at the flannelled game; the AFL national draft will take place on November 26, day one of the first Test against West Indies. No prizes for guessing which will dominate the November 27 headlines.

Which brings us to cricket's other problem: after a hat-trick of home summers that offered up England, India and South Africa - the most marketable opponents in the modern game - the 2009-10 fixture groans with the prospect of three Tests each against the West Indies and Pakistan.