On Saturday, a mate took his girlfriend out for birthday brunch at the same time David Warner and Joe Burns walked to the middle in Hobart. By the time they returned home, Australia had been bowled out for 85.On Tuesday, two former Australian Test players checked the scores to see the team were still two wickets down on the fourth morning before heading into work meetings. By the time the pair broke for lunch, the Test match was over.These are but two examples of how far the batting cancer in Australias Test team has spread. A collapse of 10 for 83 in the third Test of the series in Sri Lanka was noticed by some, being the third defeat in a row. But those of 10 for 86, 10 for 85 and 8 for 32 so far against South Africa are disturbing the rhythm of Australian life at a time when vast swathes of the community expect to be sitting down to watch the cricket. It is, quite literally, beyond a joke.A problem of this magnitude stretches beyond the players immediately concerned to affect the rest of the team, the support staff, coaches, selectors, management, the Cricket Australia board and the sporting public at large. Right now, Australias batting is driving down the value of the game in this country - a rude shock to those administrators who have at times made the teams performance subservient to the bigger picture of growing the game.There was nothing particularly unusual about the way Australias batsmen folded at Bellerive Oval. A poor choice of shot by Usman Khawaja ended a partnership with Steven Smith, the new man Adam Voges was placed under immediate pressure, and once he was out the rest fell apart like a slow-cooked lamb leg off the bone.The only salient differences from other days were the fact that the short ball did as much damage as deliveries probing a length around off stump, as South Africas pacemen recognised the best way to utilise the indentations left in the Hobart pitch by their spells on day one when the surface was still fresh. Voges and Callum Ferguson both fell when trying to leave shortish deliveries, while Peter Nevill was out fending at a Kagiso Rabada throat ball, in a dismissal that could have been from any number of West Indian victories in the 1980s.It is beyond doubt that the South Africa seam and swing attack has been of the highest quality, as demonstrated by the present career averages of Vernon Philander (21.67), Kyle Abbott (21.83) and Rabada (22.75). But it is equally true that when other highly skilled pace ensembles have charged in at Australian batsmen in the past, whether it be the West Indians, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, or Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock, they have found the baggy greens harder to shift.Thats what Smith referred to in an impassioned address after the match. I need players who are willing to get into the contest and get into the battle and pride in playing for Australia and pride in the baggy green - thats what I need, he said. At the moment its not good enough. Im quite tired of saying it, to be honest with you. Its happened five Tests in a row now, for an Australian cricket team thats humiliating.Something that has clouded Australias batsmen over the past five matches is a state of conflict between the philosophy that informs their approach and the match scenario in which they find themselves. Notions of driving the game forward, being proactive and entertaining are second nature to the team and the coach Darren Lehmann, but as one former player has put it, you have to earn the right to play that way.Intriguingly, there was little identification among some members of the team for the way JP Duminy and Dean Elgar dug in on day three of the Perth Test. They did not score at a rate deemed attractive to the public, but did as much as anyone, in their understated way, to decide the outcome of the series.Yet the overwhelming body of evidence now before everyone connected to Australian cricket is that this team is not good enough to attack at all costs, as much as they would like to do so. Basics, and stubborn application, must be rediscovered. Were only driving a game if were in a position, to be perfectly honest and we havent been for a while now, Lehmann said. Weve got to stay in long enough to create those chances and put pressure on the opposition and we havent been able to do that.South Africa have been driving the game barring day one of the Perth game and we had an opportunity there and we didnt take it. Thats probably happened in the past few Test matches - even in Sri Lanka we had a couple of opportunities to grab the game and didnt. Its about these young guys getting better about grabbing the game and taking it from there.Unquestionably, Australian cricket must refocus on the defensive basics of batting, and also on ensuring players are as focused, prepared and energised as possible when the time comes to pull on the national team kit. South Africas cricketers did something similar earlier this year, following an 18-month lull that followed the 2015 World Cup won by Australia at home. What they have now achieved is a strength in depth that Smith, Lehmann and the selectors can only dream about, without anything like the same budgets.After play, the Australians met with the chief executive James Sutherland, the team performance chief Pat Howard, and a quintet of former playing luminaries in Mark Taylor, Shane Warne, Ian Healy, Michael Slater and Tom Moody. That too, provided a reminder of how far this batting cancer has spread, for continued problems will affect the jobs of the administrators and also the salaries of the commentators - a new round of broadcast deals is to be decided over the next year. Chronic batting troubles could reduce the money available to the game.A third example of how Hobarts events are spiralling ever outwards could be found on the boundarys edge at Bellerive an hour or so after the final wicket fell. A man had picked up his primary school-aged grandson from school to take him to see the cricket, but there was none to see. Instead they were left to wander around an empty stadium, as South Africas winning players caroused in the middle of the ground. Cheap Air Max 90 All White .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Cheap Air Max 90 2018 . The Browns coaching search remains incomplete. http://www.cheapairmax90fromchina.com/ . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Cheap Air Max 90 Green .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. Cheap Air Max 90 Womens .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have placed centre Cody Hodgson on injured reserve and recalled two players from their AHL affiliate in Rochester. CHICAGO -- Yu Darvish was pleased with his first start since June 8 after recovering from shoulder discomfort, even though his pitch count quickly rose and he fell short of pitching five innings.Darvish returned from the disabled list to strike out nine but was inefficient and wild at times, and Anthony Rizzos two-run double helped lead the Chicago Cubs past the Texas Rangers 3-1 on Saturday.Darvish (2-1) reached 98 mph and allowed only two runs and two hits, but the Japanese right-hander lasted just 4 1/3 innings thanks to four walks and shoddy defense.My shoulder felt fine, Darvish said through an interpreter.Jason Hammel (8-5) struck out seven in six innings for the Cubs, who won their second straight in the interleague matchup of division leaders.Hector Rondon pitched a perfect ninth to complete the three-hitter for his 15th save.Darvish, a three-time All-Star, was making his fourth start since missing all of 2015 following Tommy John surgery. A dominant slider dipping out of the strike zone accounted for seven of his strikeouts.I was throwing the ball well, Darvish said. It was a little different feeling from the last rehab outing in a good way.But he was lifted after 90 pitches when second baseman Rougned Odor dropped what could have been an inning-ending double play.We would have liked to got him the complete five, Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. I felt like he pitched well enough to handle that. We saw what we needed to see from him. The secondary stuff was exceptional, the fastball control, command, felt like (that) was there.Cubs manager Joe Maddon said he wanted his players to be patient at the plate, knowing Darvish faced a pitch count. Darvish got Kris Bryant looking on a 98 mph fastball in the first, but his velocity dipped as the game wore on.A guy like that, if you just let him have his way, hell be sitting on 70 (pitches) in the sixth inning, hes going to beat you up, Maddon said. His stuff is that good. KB has really not been in chase mode, and when hes chasing the slider you know how good it actually is.Darvish walked Miguel Montero, who entered hitting .201, to lead off the third. Then Rizzos two-out double to right extended hiis hitting streak to 11 games and put the Cubs ahead to stay.ddddddddddddI threw that slider where I wanted it to be, and I struck him out on the previous at-bat, Darvish said. I threw it where I wanted. Got to tip my hat to him.Hammel allowed three hits in his first victory since June 4. Matt Szczur pinch-hit for the right-hander in the sixth and hit a two-run single off Shawn Tolleson. It was Szczurs 10th pinch hit and second for an RBI in as many days.Texas lone run in the game -- and the series -- came in odd fashion in the second.Ryan Rua singled and scored from second on Elvis Andrus infield single after the first baseman Rizzo threw wildly to the plate.Texas has dropped a season high-tying four straight and nine of 11.Weve got to find a way of putting a good combination of a solid start and some solid offense on the board and play good defense, Banister said.TRAINERS ROOMRangers: RF Shin-Soo Choo (back) was out of the lineup for a second straight day, but an MRI showed no major issues. . RHP Kyle Lohse (oblique) threw a bullpen session before the game. Hes scheduled to start Tuesday against the Angels. . RHP Jose Leclerc was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to make room for Darvish.DARVISH AT THE DISHDarvish batted for the first time since 2014 and went up left-handed. He didnt swing while striking out on three pitches in the third. Darvish batted right-handed in the past. Banister said Darvish has been hitting left-handed during batting practice.I thought it was easier hitting left-handed, and hitting right-handed put more stress on my right shoulder, right elbow, and I kind of didnt want to do it, Darvish said.KELA RETURNSRangers RHP Keone Kela struck out the side and walked one in a hitless seventh in his first appearance since April following elbow surgery.UP NEXTTexas LHP Cole Hamels (9-2, 3.21 ERA) on Sunday makes his first start at Wrigley Field since throwing a no-hitter against the Cubs last July. It came in his final start for Philadelphia. Cubs RHP John Lackey (7-5, 3.70) is winless in his last four starts. ' ' '