1. When you see your opening batsman stumped in the first session of a Test match - in the first game of the series - there is something unnerving about it. Ed Cowan deserves to be dropped. He scores great 25's and that is it. Warner was dropped about three times before he went. He bats like a bloke out of Underbelly. Care free.
Phil Hughes is arguably the worst player against spin in the team - and he is your No.3. To round it all off your No. 4 Watson, is the FOURTH opener selected in this team. His LBW showed no judgement and an unfamiliarity with the conditions. He is vulnerable. Lumbering against spin.
This batting team selected is a disgrace. They have not learned the lesson that picking blokes that you think can do a bit of everything generally do a lot of nothing. Matthew Wade at number six? Please. A Victorian at number six...they are better at eight, nine and ten.
There was a time that Tom Moody, Stuart Law, Jimmy Maher, Jamie Siddons, Dene Hills, Jamie Cox, Martin Love could not make a Test team. They would all be automatic selections these days.
Beneath the myriad of tattoos (goose stamps), Clarke is reaching greatness status (as reluctant as some of us may be to admit it). His first innings was again superb - and his propensity to score heavily in the first innings of a test even more impressive.
2. Has it ever rained in a test match in India? No seriously, can anyone ever recall putting the radio or tele on and watching Rod McCurdy bowling in a re-run of an old ODI.."sorry, match delayed due to weather"?
By the way, try to get a look at a Brett Geeves article on the current Indian Tour. Funny stuff.
3. How weak is the ICC? India say they do not want the DRS - referral system and they are allowed to dictate? Someone has to stand up to these fools and tell them it is happening. No one will in cricket as they are gutless. Kerry Packer would have fixed it.
They would be too busy getting their big guts around their next big meal and drawing up the oversized cheque out to the winners of the next tournament. Perhaps giving the umpire the power to punch the captain in the arm as hard as he wants if he gets a referral wrong is the way of the future! Or a few Indian officials noses.
4. Western Sydney Wanderers have powered on again. They could well come first! Tony Popovic will be national coach next...if not signed by an overseas club first. We can then have a washed up Scotsman or Pom who has more issues than Jana Pittman-Rawlinson the third. Sydney FC were awful after promising much.
5. Waratahs. New style of play, new coach, new hope...same result. A losing culture is hard to break...just ask Ricky Stuart.
10-10 v Penrith in a trial game and a try near the bell. Clearly Parramatta are still not fit enough as a club. Noticed they signed a bloke from Canberra for next year already. Young Papalli, Finally after Beau Scott, Israel Folau, Matt Scott, Thurston, Corey Norman and the rest all turned their backs on the club. He'll renige at some stage.
6. Melbourne Storm. Kings of the world. Great effort. Slater killed them again. We will not see the likes of him, Smth and Cronk in our lifetime again.
7. Footy Trials. The media seem to be so keen to start the season early, we could have mistaken the current nonsense for the real deal. We will soon see live coverage of training sessions!
8. How about that Corruption In Sport report from the Crime Commission? So far they have got one U/20's player from North Sydney Bears. Clearly Australian sport is riddled with evil.
9. Is the Australian Swimming Team findings of bad behaviour, bullying, abuse of prescription drugs...etc....a classic case of spoilt little rich kids who swim a lot and have no time to develop social skills? Noticed that Nick Darcy was not part of it all. Maybe he was on something else and asleep. That or at the accountant's working out his lay by terms for his bankruptcy recovery.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Wrap - Under The Blowtorch
1. Parramatta. I almost choked on my raw eel cornflakes this morning. New coach Ricky Stuart, who had trumpeted great things from a FULL STRENGTH Parramatta team in the Saturday evening National 9 News, was thumped by the Tigers. THUMPED by 40. He proceeded to tell us that he is not worried about the scoreline....what the hell worries you Ricky? A trial yes, but it might just be a familiar scoreline.
A second spoon beckons - especially granted that Ricky in recent weeks has also missed out on Tamou, Scott and Thurston. He keeps trying to sign blokes (Corey Norman from the Broncos?) who recognise the farce that is the Eels. Tim Mannah needs to step up. Tough off season with his family situation, but on pure football, 2013 needs to be a year where he shows what he has got. To date, we have seen very little. As for the rest....
2. Arsenal. Wenger. last time they won anything, Wegner had brown hair. This once mighty club is in free fall. Soft and getting softer.
3. Lucas Neill - Frank Farina. More inviting than Melbourne Heart who will fold before too long. Australian born coaches are certainly how the comp should progress and they are weeding the overseas mediocre kick backs out one by one.
4. A huge atmosphere at Sydney Wanderers games. This club is changing Australian football. The chanting and spirit is amazing! EPL stuff. Their defensive players are superb. Make sure you watch this mob. It could be one of the most impressive things in Australian sport in 2012-2013.
5. Have you seen that 7 foot Pakistan bowler, Irfan? A young Wasim Akram. Immense talent. Premature retirements, spats with the board, injuries, blacklistings, gunfire at opponents' buses, mystery deaths of coaches, imprisonments...and still Pakistan remains competitive. A schemozzle, but still unbelievably talented as a group. They need a new keeper however. Nawaz is hopeless.
6. Aaron Finch. This Victorian bloke talks up a good game but has been horrible at international level. He needs to talk to Brad Hodge. Victorian batsmen (Dean Jones and Matthew Elliot excepted) have been a major disappointment...Weiner, Whatmore, Moss, Laughlin, O'Donnell, Graf, Matthew Elliot (the dud), Chris Rogers, Cameron White and Rob Quiney. Dave Hussey dropped and now Maxwell struggling. The horrible form continues, despite the bullying of Shield bowlers. Merv Hughes has a better Test batting record than most of these blokes.
7. Australian cricket in India. We are kidding. Clarke will choose his mate Henriques who should not play Test cricket (like Steve Smith) on his 2012 form. Started well but has catastrophically crashed. Our spinners are laughable. Xavier Doherty is lucky Laxman, Dravid and Ganguly have retired, or he would need to bowl for the next two weeks to get them out. We could be looking at a lean, lean tour.
7. Black Caviar. Some sort of legend there. An incredible win - especially with the time it ran. It clearly is the best we have seen. Phar Lap won 37/50 or thereabouts with fourteen straight. 24 in a row may become 28. Twice as good.
A second spoon beckons - especially granted that Ricky in recent weeks has also missed out on Tamou, Scott and Thurston. He keeps trying to sign blokes (Corey Norman from the Broncos?) who recognise the farce that is the Eels. Tim Mannah needs to step up. Tough off season with his family situation, but on pure football, 2013 needs to be a year where he shows what he has got. To date, we have seen very little. As for the rest....
2. Arsenal. Wenger. last time they won anything, Wegner had brown hair. This once mighty club is in free fall. Soft and getting softer.
3. Lucas Neill - Frank Farina. More inviting than Melbourne Heart who will fold before too long. Australian born coaches are certainly how the comp should progress and they are weeding the overseas mediocre kick backs out one by one.
4. A huge atmosphere at Sydney Wanderers games. This club is changing Australian football. The chanting and spirit is amazing! EPL stuff. Their defensive players are superb. Make sure you watch this mob. It could be one of the most impressive things in Australian sport in 2012-2013.
5. Have you seen that 7 foot Pakistan bowler, Irfan? A young Wasim Akram. Immense talent. Premature retirements, spats with the board, injuries, blacklistings, gunfire at opponents' buses, mystery deaths of coaches, imprisonments...and still Pakistan remains competitive. A schemozzle, but still unbelievably talented as a group. They need a new keeper however. Nawaz is hopeless.
6. Aaron Finch. This Victorian bloke talks up a good game but has been horrible at international level. He needs to talk to Brad Hodge. Victorian batsmen (Dean Jones and Matthew Elliot excepted) have been a major disappointment...Weiner, Whatmore, Moss, Laughlin, O'Donnell, Graf, Matthew Elliot (the dud), Chris Rogers, Cameron White and Rob Quiney. Dave Hussey dropped and now Maxwell struggling. The horrible form continues, despite the bullying of Shield bowlers. Merv Hughes has a better Test batting record than most of these blokes.
7. Australian cricket in India. We are kidding. Clarke will choose his mate Henriques who should not play Test cricket (like Steve Smith) on his 2012 form. Started well but has catastrophically crashed. Our spinners are laughable. Xavier Doherty is lucky Laxman, Dravid and Ganguly have retired, or he would need to bowl for the next two weeks to get them out. We could be looking at a lean, lean tour.
7. Black Caviar. Some sort of legend there. An incredible win - especially with the time it ran. It clearly is the best we have seen. Phar Lap won 37/50 or thereabouts with fourteen straight. 24 in a row may become 28. Twice as good.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Wrap - The White Buffalo Hoax
1. The Australian cricket season is almost at an end with an unending number of mysteries by an increasingly strange selection committee. Surely Boof Lehmann has to be closer than ever to the main coaches job. A South African in charge of us? Surely not. Voges has stepped up (finally), Bailey has stepped up. Doherty is doing well. If you were a first class cricketer in Australia, it has never been easier to make the top Australian teams. Baggy greens and yellow ODI caps are being given out like presents at Eddie Obeid's place.
Aaron Finch has done a Brad Hodge. Scored nothing, dropped catches and batted like a millionaire on heat. Chopping block nears.
1A. Can't wait for the rest of Warnie's report. He must be distracted with Liz. He has been a bit slow with his homework. Did anyone notice how none of those named even spoke about it?
2. The Drugs in Australian Sport fiasco. Call a federal election and then try and create alarm and make people anxious...with the only saviour the friendly government. Joke. Weed out the criminal element and the idiots and let the show keep rolling on.
A self dob-in line? It reminds me of a maths test at school when the teacher has no idea who was cheating. They ask the class "if you were cheating in this test that we just finished, see me at the end of the period". Ten students do - and the teacher thinks that there were only one or two! The whole class did not cheat however. The ones who are truly guilty never admit it.
It appears there are no names - just the opportunity to dob yourself in. They are kidding. Get the evidence or go away. It could just result in the biggest election loss for the Australian Labor Party since Federation.
3. All Stars v Indigenous. The excuses made up by NRL All Star players to avoid this game was staggering. The Indigenous boys were outstanding. They have spirit and deserved their win. ALL Melbourne stars bailed out. Cronk, Smith and Slater. Maybe a broken arm or leg might still happen. A few others were equally pathetic.
4. EPL. This year the comp is dead. ManU would have to refuse to turn up to lose. Man City are falling over their shoelaces and have been a major disappointment this year. The race for the Champions League positions is entertaining enough, but when a comp is solely governed by a 'first past the post' concept, this can happen. Tottenham's Gareth Bale is on fire. Chelsea stuttering too. Their coach will be sacked in the coming week or two. No risk.
5. $SBW and Botha (The White Buffalo). What a farcical fight. 10 rounds (not the supposed 12) and now Botha has tested positive to banned drugs. Why the WBA would want anything to do with these blokes is another story. What did he win anyway? Nothing. Khoder Nasser seems to revel in any controversy. He leads a complicated life.
6. Do yourself no favours and watch a little of the Fed Cup from Czechoslovakia. The noise and shennanighans by the crowd is a joke. It is so irritating you could hardly watch more than one game. Unbelievable.
7. Has anyone noticed that the current crop of bike riders - including Cadel Evans - have been surprisingly silent on the drugs in bike riding (Armstrong) controversy? No one keen to put themselves in the limelight over the issue? Why?
Aaron Finch has done a Brad Hodge. Scored nothing, dropped catches and batted like a millionaire on heat. Chopping block nears.
1A. Can't wait for the rest of Warnie's report. He must be distracted with Liz. He has been a bit slow with his homework. Did anyone notice how none of those named even spoke about it?
2. The Drugs in Australian Sport fiasco. Call a federal election and then try and create alarm and make people anxious...with the only saviour the friendly government. Joke. Weed out the criminal element and the idiots and let the show keep rolling on.
A self dob-in line? It reminds me of a maths test at school when the teacher has no idea who was cheating. They ask the class "if you were cheating in this test that we just finished, see me at the end of the period". Ten students do - and the teacher thinks that there were only one or two! The whole class did not cheat however. The ones who are truly guilty never admit it.
It appears there are no names - just the opportunity to dob yourself in. They are kidding. Get the evidence or go away. It could just result in the biggest election loss for the Australian Labor Party since Federation.
3. All Stars v Indigenous. The excuses made up by NRL All Star players to avoid this game was staggering. The Indigenous boys were outstanding. They have spirit and deserved their win. ALL Melbourne stars bailed out. Cronk, Smith and Slater. Maybe a broken arm or leg might still happen. A few others were equally pathetic.
4. EPL. This year the comp is dead. ManU would have to refuse to turn up to lose. Man City are falling over their shoelaces and have been a major disappointment this year. The race for the Champions League positions is entertaining enough, but when a comp is solely governed by a 'first past the post' concept, this can happen. Tottenham's Gareth Bale is on fire. Chelsea stuttering too. Their coach will be sacked in the coming week or two. No risk.
5. $SBW and Botha (The White Buffalo). What a farcical fight. 10 rounds (not the supposed 12) and now Botha has tested positive to banned drugs. Why the WBA would want anything to do with these blokes is another story. What did he win anyway? Nothing. Khoder Nasser seems to revel in any controversy. He leads a complicated life.
6. Do yourself no favours and watch a little of the Fed Cup from Czechoslovakia. The noise and shennanighans by the crowd is a joke. It is so irritating you could hardly watch more than one game. Unbelievable.
7. Has anyone noticed that the current crop of bike riders - including Cadel Evans - have been surprisingly silent on the drugs in bike riding (Armstrong) controversy? No one keen to put themselves in the limelight over the issue? Why?
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Wrap - Manifesto Maniacs
1. Tim's Manifesto. Dolf: CA Chairman, Fugee: International Relations, Robbo: Head of Selectors, Dave: Head of Legal Matters, Jimmy: Hydration Manager ....whoops thought it was just a list of mates...Warnie has had a shocker. He is risking turning into 'The Man 2". Fancy making up a list of your mates to turn cricket around. We need programmes and ideas - not figure heads. All a bit rich coming from a bloke who throught the 'coach' was somewhere where the prodigious backside was planted on the way back to the hotel. We all love Warnie, but please...ideas Shane, not just the mouth. He missed some noteables. Disappointed not to see Darren Berry in there somewhere - and Cameron White. White could be the 'Low Performance Manager'. Berry, the Public Relations Strategist. Could anyone really see Ian Chappell doing that gig? Fantasy stuff. Who will play the game? Cricket has let other sports in under its guard this summer.
2. West Indies in Perth - Friday Fiasco. How do Channel 9 put up with it? Exhibition matches used to be played after a schemmozzle like that, but not a sign of it. You know you are in trouble when Funniest Home Videos is on the screen at home. The Aussies are brittle. Self centred batsmen who look for glory in every shot. The grind and the patience...old fashioned and out of date seemingly. Maxwell sums up everything wrong with the current system.
3. Saw a bit of the Paki's v Sth Africa and thought they were finally genuine. Actually playing to their ability. But then all out for 49 and the bookies had got their man again.
4. Reni Maitua. Floored by an 18 year old lower grader late last year at a King's Cross niteclub - and suddenly the next big thing for captain? By the way, Parramatta Rugby League Club are set for a big year, been training the house down, never looked sharper, team camps have bonded the boys, all injury free...and they beat a local Cessnock team by 40 odd. A great year ahead.
5. $BW. Mundine was smashed. Tough sure, but what a joke. Lives in the boxing bubble where those around him are petrified that if he retires so does their livelihood. Feed him crap and let him look the goose. Sadly young Anthony has never required an invitation to that show.
6. Imports in the BBL. Narine, Gayle and a few others were simply on a holiday camp. The comp started too early but it is good entertainment as it rotates across the New Year period. Get rid of the curator at Stadium Australia...his hopeless pitch killed off the Thunder.
7. Liking the A League, but Ange Postocoglou is the master. Started terribly but has the Melbourne Victory on song now. Does John Kosmina look like Rod Stewart after a hard night? Perhaps Rod should coach Adelaide now Kossie has thrown his toys out of the cot.
8. ManU. We may as well give them the premiership right now in the EPL. They are ten points ahead and no problems in sight.
9. Great to see Issy Folau doing some decent work in rugby. He is a talent and is always keen to do the right thing by Israel Folau. "What's good for Israel Folau is good for the game". What game was that? Ask Quayde Cooper perhaps.
10. If Michael Clarke wins the AB medal it will be because the rotation system now disqualifies any bowler and the number of blokes playing three forms of the game will soon become non-existent. Warner is the only one who can get near him. Maybe Siddle. Points need to be 'graded' across tests (5 points) to ODI (3 points) and T20 (2 points)...surely. In the end, what if your selector captain did not quite like you threatening his possible moment of glory? De-selected?
2. West Indies in Perth - Friday Fiasco. How do Channel 9 put up with it? Exhibition matches used to be played after a schemmozzle like that, but not a sign of it. You know you are in trouble when Funniest Home Videos is on the screen at home. The Aussies are brittle. Self centred batsmen who look for glory in every shot. The grind and the patience...old fashioned and out of date seemingly. Maxwell sums up everything wrong with the current system.
3. Saw a bit of the Paki's v Sth Africa and thought they were finally genuine. Actually playing to their ability. But then all out for 49 and the bookies had got their man again.
4. Reni Maitua. Floored by an 18 year old lower grader late last year at a King's Cross niteclub - and suddenly the next big thing for captain? By the way, Parramatta Rugby League Club are set for a big year, been training the house down, never looked sharper, team camps have bonded the boys, all injury free...and they beat a local Cessnock team by 40 odd. A great year ahead.
5. $BW. Mundine was smashed. Tough sure, but what a joke. Lives in the boxing bubble where those around him are petrified that if he retires so does their livelihood. Feed him crap and let him look the goose. Sadly young Anthony has never required an invitation to that show.
6. Imports in the BBL. Narine, Gayle and a few others were simply on a holiday camp. The comp started too early but it is good entertainment as it rotates across the New Year period. Get rid of the curator at Stadium Australia...his hopeless pitch killed off the Thunder.
7. Liking the A League, but Ange Postocoglou is the master. Started terribly but has the Melbourne Victory on song now. Does John Kosmina look like Rod Stewart after a hard night? Perhaps Rod should coach Adelaide now Kossie has thrown his toys out of the cot.
8. ManU. We may as well give them the premiership right now in the EPL. They are ten points ahead and no problems in sight.
9. Great to see Issy Folau doing some decent work in rugby. He is a talent and is always keen to do the right thing by Israel Folau. "What's good for Israel Folau is good for the game". What game was that? Ask Quayde Cooper perhaps.
10. If Michael Clarke wins the AB medal it will be because the rotation system now disqualifies any bowler and the number of blokes playing three forms of the game will soon become non-existent. Warner is the only one who can get near him. Maybe Siddle. Points need to be 'graded' across tests (5 points) to ODI (3 points) and T20 (2 points)...surely. In the end, what if your selector captain did not quite like you threatening his possible moment of glory? De-selected?
Wrap - Post Christmas Edition
Lads, this is Richie Benaud like you have never heard him before (post underarm incident). A classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvGHC7REkdM
1. The World Series Cricket Fastest Bowler Comp. Surely they were using a sun dial and protractor. Michael Hussey bowls quicker than Andy Roberts and Garth Le Roux! Now who would you like to face?
2. Can anyone explain why Nathan Lyon has not been rotated? He looks tired. I know we are all tiring of his lack of wickets. He is a number 8-11 dismissal expert. Under pressure.
3. Johnson. 200 Test wickets (now more than Jeff Thomson) and our next all rounder....is there someone who engenders less confidence? batting No.7. We are kidding.
4. Are we getting prematurely excited about Jackson Bird? Are Sri Lankan wickets worth that much? On animals:
Cricketing Animals.
1. Michael Slater
2. Graeme Fowler
3. Aaron Finch
4. Martin Crowe (Jeff not considered up to it)
5. Allan Lamb
6. Marlin Samuels
7. Dave Colley
8. Don Tallon
9. Graham Swann
10. Pigeon McGrath
11. Rodney Hogg
Rotation:
Jackson Bird
Kemar Roach
Umar Gul
Nathan Lyon (rotated with Jeff Crowe)
5. Leytton Hewitt. How much longer do we need to put up with "former World No. 1" talk? It happened in 1990. He bags Stosur for losing first round, then loses himself!!
6. How much work does Pat Howard put into high performance of running between the wickets? Watson is terrible, Cowan weak and Hughes abominable. Let's put Khawaja in the team too!
7. World darts is the only championship where spectators don't watch the action. It is tiny and gets in the way of drinking. Phil 'the Power' Taylor is more popular than a cafe where your average cyclist consumes more coffee than kilometres.
8. Sydney Thunder. This crew are playing on the worst deck in world cricket - at Stadium Australia. It is a terrible paced pitch. Gayle has played his last summer on our payroll. Chris Rogers is TERRIBLE. How did he play a Test? Dirk Nannes brilliant. The Thunder have been an incompetent lot all year and will need major surgery in 2013 or they will need to fold the franchise.
1. The World Series Cricket Fastest Bowler Comp. Surely they were using a sun dial and protractor. Michael Hussey bowls quicker than Andy Roberts and Garth Le Roux! Now who would you like to face?
2. Can anyone explain why Nathan Lyon has not been rotated? He looks tired. I know we are all tiring of his lack of wickets. He is a number 8-11 dismissal expert. Under pressure.
3. Johnson. 200 Test wickets (now more than Jeff Thomson) and our next all rounder....is there someone who engenders less confidence? batting No.7. We are kidding.
4. Are we getting prematurely excited about Jackson Bird? Are Sri Lankan wickets worth that much? On animals:
Cricketing Animals.
1. Michael Slater
2. Graeme Fowler
3. Aaron Finch
4. Martin Crowe (Jeff not considered up to it)
5. Allan Lamb
6. Marlin Samuels
7. Dave Colley
8. Don Tallon
9. Graham Swann
10. Pigeon McGrath
11. Rodney Hogg
Rotation:
Jackson Bird
Kemar Roach
Umar Gul
Nathan Lyon (rotated with Jeff Crowe)
5. Leytton Hewitt. How much longer do we need to put up with "former World No. 1" talk? It happened in 1990. He bags Stosur for losing first round, then loses himself!!
6. How much work does Pat Howard put into high performance of running between the wickets? Watson is terrible, Cowan weak and Hughes abominable. Let's put Khawaja in the team too!
7. World darts is the only championship where spectators don't watch the action. It is tiny and gets in the way of drinking. Phil 'the Power' Taylor is more popular than a cafe where your average cyclist consumes more coffee than kilometres.
8. Sydney Thunder. This crew are playing on the worst deck in world cricket - at Stadium Australia. It is a terrible paced pitch. Gayle has played his last summer on our payroll. Chris Rogers is TERRIBLE. How did he play a Test? Dirk Nannes brilliant. The Thunder have been an incompetent lot all year and will need major surgery in 2013 or they will need to fold the franchise.
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