Australia's comprehensive thrashing of the West Indies inside three days at Hobart's Bellerive Oval ended on Saturday and provided a welcome early mark for Steve Smith's men on the back of the three-test series against New Zealand.
Several Australian players were given premission to return to their State teams to take part in the Big Bash League which starts this Thursday, but Smith himself is managing ongoing hip and knee niggles so won't be involved in the tournament.
The big question for the selectors now is whether Usman Khawaja will start the Boxing Day test at the MCG.
He's back in the squad after missing the third test against New Zealand with a hamstring injury, but as long as he convinces the selectors he's fit, it seems likely that Shaun Marsh, who shared in a record 4th wicket partnership of 449 runs with Adam Voges in Hobart, or opener Joe Burns will miss out.
Head coach Darren Lehmann says Khawaja's form in the first two tests against New Zealand gives him the edge for selection, but his fitness is the key.
"If he's fit, he's made two hundreds in his previous two test matches so you'd think he'd be in form to play. But we certainly need him playing and with the hamstring, we don't want him playing test match cricket if he's not fully fit."
In the A League this weekend the stand-out performance on the pitch was from the Western Sydney Wanderers who handed the reigning Premiers Melbourne Victory a two nil-defeat in front of 17,000 fans - a showing that proved the recent fan anger and subsequent boycotts of matches are over.
According to Wanderers coach Tony Popovic though, the episode has shown football has plenty of progress to be made.
"As a code, we can move forward whether its the FFA*, whether its the clubs, you know the fans. It was a fantastic atmosphere tonight, a great group of fans not just the RBB* but all over the stadium you know they suppport us wherever we go. "
Sydney FC was beaten with a last minute Adelaide United penalty on Friday night, while Brisbane Roar also left it late to beat Wellington Phoenix 2-1.
That match was held in Cairns in the first top flight football match ever to be held in the city.
Perth Glory downed Central Coast 2-1 in the other Saturday match while yesterday's clash between Newcastle Jets and Melbourne City at Hunter Stadium ended in a 4-nil win for the visitors which took City upto third on the ladder.
The draw for the Euro 2016 tournament being held in France was made over the weekend.
The host nation faces Romania, Albania and Switzerland in group A.
The toughest group though is Group E which pits the current world number one nation Belgium alongside Italy, the Republic of Ireland and Sweden.
Group D also also has claims on being labelled a "group of death" with Spain, Turkey, Croatia and the Czech Republic in line to meet.
The month-long tournament begins in June and has been expanded from 16 to 24 nations and will be staged accross 10 French cities.
The final will be held at the Stade de France in Paris on the 10th of July.
Many delegates spoke of concerns relating to last month's Islamic State attacks which left more than 130 people dead.
Before the draw itself, UEFA's General Secretary Gianni Infantino paid his respects to all those affected.
"We are in Paris, an iconic city which, just a few weeks ago, witnessed deeply tragic events. Before we start the draw proceedings, I would like to take this opportunity, in the name of UEFA, to express my solidarity to all French people during this difficult time. Our thoughts are with all those affected by the attacks of the 13th November."
To European club football now and Manchester United's bad week ended in the worst possible way.
After being kicked out of the European Champions League by German side Wolfsburg in midweek, the English Premier league giants slumped to a shock 2-1 win at newly promoted strugglers Bournemouth.
Australia's women's hockey team, meanwhile, has lost to the Netherlands to end their World League finals campaign on a bad note and a sixth placed finish overall.
The world number two Hockeyroos were defeated 1-0 by the top ranked Netherlands in a match delayed during the second half due to lightning in the Argentinian city of Rosario.
And finally in golf, American pair Jason Dufner and Brandt Snedeker scored a two-stroke victory at the three round Franklin Templeton Shootout in Florida, an event hosted by Australian legend Greg Norman.
They combined to shoot an 11-under round of 61 to finish the three days at 30-under, two strokes better than Matt Kuchar and his teammate Harris English.
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