The Australian Tax Office saved $700,000 by changing the printing of tax returns to a new paper supplier. Today's Sun-Herald explains the consequences for ATO staff.

Dropped catches don't help. Yasir Hameed is 54 and Salman Butt 34. MacGill got belted for two overs before lunch.

Shane Watson, who is 5-2-9-0 at lunch, is the third Australian from the 2000 U19 World Cup in Sri Lanka to make his Australian Test debut, following Michael Clarke and Nathan Hauritz. (Another member of that squad, Ed Cowan, makes his NSW one-day debut at the WACA later today.)

Payneham CC, from the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association, won Grandstand's Cricket Club of the Year award.

ABC Grandstand has selected five finalists for its "Cricket Club of the Year" competition. With the announcement to be made a lunchtime today, the five nominees are (in no particular order):

(i): East Coburg Cricket Club (Vic)
(ii): Randwick-Petersham Cricket Club (NSW)
(iii): Poowong/Loch Cricket Club (Vic)
(iv): Payneham Cricket Club (SA)
(v): AKA Sports Cricket Club (NSW)

A steady first hour, Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed opening for Pakistan. Shane Watson, 2005's first Test debutant, has bowled already, one over for one run.

Today must officially be a sellout. Channel 9 broke into "The Prince and the Showgirl" at 10.45am to start live coverage in Sydney 15 minutes late. There must be plenty of pissed-off Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier or Terence Rattigan fans out there!

The Sydney Test starts in a few minutes. The game is not a sellout, therefore channel 9 in Sydney is currently showing The Prince and the Showgirl starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier.

Gates opened for the members at 7am this morning. SCG webcam at 7.27am showed the members stand already starting to fill. I wonder what they had for breakfast.

The "top 10 news stories of 2004" lists from around the world tell more about the quality of media these days than they chronicle the year's major events. But bear in mind that most were announced before the tsunami struck on December 26.

The Associated Press named their top 10 world news stories of 2004. Make of them what you will:

A quick summary of my New Year:

I'm starting up a page on Cricketwoman with the intention of listing fund-raising activities within the cricketing fraternity (games, auctions, collections etc) being conducted in aid of the tsunami relief effort. Please see the item at http://www.cricketwoman.net/portal/Article1222.html.

News today of snow in the United Arab Emirates, for possibly the first time in recorded history. It happened in the al-Jiys mountain range of Ras al-Khayma.

Reports from the Khaleej Times, and an agency report with photo from Al-Jazeera.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are among the hardest hit locations as a result of Sunday's earthquake and tsunami, being close to the epicentre of some of the quakes. There are fears that some or all of the races indigenous to the archipelago, namely the Great Andamanese, Onges, Jarawas, Sentinelese and Shompens, may have been wiped out entirely.