The result could go either way with the future of sport, politics and justice hanging in the balance.

Most contests hang in the balance before they are decided and from the point of view of a participant, there are two possible results: a win or a loss.

“Boston Cricket Club’s top-flight future may hang in the balance . . . but if the Mayflower men are going down, then they’ll go down fighting.” (Boston Standard, Lincolnshire, September 14)

“While a decision about (boxer Mike) Tyson’s visa is yet to be made, the event hangs in the balance.” (New Zealand Herald, September 14)

“With no end in sight to the Nagri land acquisition row, the fate of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ranchi, and National Law University hangs in the balance.” (The Times of India, September 12)

“Judith Gibson Fynney, who has begun a Facebook campaign seeking justice for the vulnerable teenager, said his life hangs in the balance.” (The Irish News, September 11)

“A stable peace is preserved only if diplomacy works, and the entire project of nuclear non-proliferation hangs in the balance. If Obama fails, the world will have turned a disastrous corner back toward war.” (The Boston Globe, September 10)

Cliché of the Week appears in The Australian newspaper Mondays. Clichés in the media are tracked across the world using Factiva and Dow Jones Insight.

Chris Pash’s book, The Last Whale , a true story set in the 1970s, was published by Fremantle Press in 2008.