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Why Australia’s Test series in South Africa is must-watch cricket

Reported by 7 outlets from 4 newsrooms. Every outlet’s headline, how the story developed, and how loaded the writing was in each report we could read in full.

How outlets headlined it

Each outlet's own headline.

How it developed · 33 steps
  1. WAtoday filed Cameron Green out of Durban Test, Connolly and Maddinson in duel for spot
  2. The Age filed
  3. Brisbane Times filed
  4. The Sydney Morning Herald filed
  5. WAtoday changed its headline ‘I want to be aggressive’: Connolly takes Travis Head approach as Cameron Green out of Durban Test, opportunity opensConnolly and Maddinson in duel for spot
  6. The Sydney Morning Herald changed its headline ‘I want to be aggressive’: Connolly takes Travis Head approach as Cameron Green out of Durban Test, opportunity opensConnolly and Maddinson in duel for spot
  7. Brisbane Times changed its headline ‘I want to be aggressive’: Connolly takes Travis Head approach as Cameron Green out of Durban Test, opportunity opensConnolly and Maddinson in duel for spot
  8. The Age changed its headline ‘I want to be aggressive’: Connolly takes Travis Head approach as Cameron Green out of Durban Test, opportunity opensConnolly and Maddinson in duel for spot
  9. The West Australian filed Why Australia’s Test series in South Africa is must-watch cricket
  10. The West Australian filed MITCHELL JOHNSON: Combined Australia-South Africa Test XI from players who played Test cricket from 1981
  11. The West Australian filed How Australia’s last Test series in South Africa became infamous
  12. ABC News (Sport) filed Everything you need to know as Australian Test cricket returns tonight
  13. ABC News (Sport) changed its headline South Africa vs Australia Test series, Everything you need to know as Australian Test cricket returns tonight
  14. The Guardian Australia (Sport) filed South Africa v Australia: first men’s cricket Test, day one – live
  15. Brisbane Times filed Australia vs South Africa cricket LIVE: Veteran Nic Maddinson gets Test shock recall as Australia bats first in Durban
  16. The Age filed Australia vs South Africa cricket LIVE: Maddinson goes for 33-ball duck, joins Head in sheds as Aussies in trouble
  17. The Sydney Morning Herald filed Australia vs South Africa cricket LIVE: Steve Smith, Aussie cricketers count down to Durban Test
  18. WAtoday filed Australia vs South Africa cricket LIVE: Veteran Nic Maddinson gets Test shock recall as Australia bats first in Durban
  19. The West Australian filed Maddinson returns as Australia bat first in Durban
  20. Brisbane Times changed its headline Australia vs South Africa cricket LIVE: Steve Smith, Aussie cricketers count down to Durban Veteran Nic Maddinson gets Test shock recall as Australia bats first in Durban
  21. An outlet changed its headline Live: Aussies make long-awaited return Double shock as veteran recalled to open in first South Africa for Testseries
  22. An outlet rewrote its report (385 words in, 10 out)
  23. The Age changed its headline Australia vs South Africa cricket LIVE: Steve Smith, Aussie cricketers count down Nic Maddinson to Durban Testopen batting as Aussies pull selection surprise
  24. An outlet changed its headline Live: Double shock as veteran recalled to open Huge slice of luck for Maddinson in first South Africa Test in 10 years
  25. An outlet rewrote its report (329 words in, 1 out)
  26. An outlet changed its headline Live: Huge Heads nicks off as Maddinson gets slice of luck for Maddinson in first Test in 10 yearsrecall
  27. An outlet rewrote its report (89 words in, 31 out)
  28. An outlet changed its headline Live: Heads nicks off as Maddinson gets can't cash in on huge slice of luck in Test recall
  29. An outlet rewrote its report (109 words in, 113 out)
  30. An outlet changed its headline Live: Maddinson can't cash in on huge slice of More agony for Aussie batters despite early luck in Test recallagainst South Africa
  31. An outlet rewrote its report (70 words in, 35 out)
  32. The Age changed its headline Australia vs South Africa cricket LIVE: Nic Maddinson to open batting goes for 33-ball duck, joins Head in sheds as Aussies pull selection surprisein trouble
  33. The Sydney Morning Herald changed its headline Australia vs South Africa cricket LIVE: Steve Smith, Aussie cricketers count down to Durban TestLabuschagne bat on after Aussies lose early wickets

The West Australian, WAtoday, Brisbane Times, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald filed reports we only receive a summary of, so those are not scored here.

Each row is the same event as one outlet told it, and the shaded row is ours: one of these reports in our plainer version, scored by the same engines, with the report it came from named. The bottom row is the spread between the outlets — our own row is excluded from it, because including it would let us widen the gap we are advertising.

Each cell shows what the outlet filed and, under it in green where it differs, what our version of that same report reads. Those are the numbers on the article page and in the extension: one article, one pair of readings, wherever you meet it.

OutletHeadline Language LoadAdjectivesper 100 wordsMood
The Guardian Australia (Sport) South Africa v Australia: first men’s cricket Test, day one – live 8.71.034.5
ABC News (Sport) Everything you need to know as Australian Test cricket returns tonight 171.759
Mundane Read our version of ABC News (Sport)’s report, which arrived with a Language Load of 17 Everything you need to know as Australian Test cricket returns tonight 171.759
Spread 8.30.724.5

A reading is a column only when it finds something in this story, the rule that lists it beside an article. What each one means.