Wrap - Waxing Lyrical

1. That Brendan McCullum can hit the ball. He is part of the rise of the wealthy, 'can't be bothered with Test cricket anymore' brigade. There are easier dollars to be made! AB DeVilliers is soon to join him, Watson, Sangakarra, Johnson et al. If you hit the ball as well as he does, perhaps this is all understandable. A test ton off 54 balls should just about win a test for a team. NZ though were wasteful, all trying to play like he did. Silliness as they could have built an unbeatable lead. The weather is surprisingly fine for this series. The big wet won't be far away.

2. Joe 'Carpet' Burns has bounced back nicely. Always impressive to get big first innings runs, in a different country...regardless of the opposition. A fine innings under considerable pressure. Dave Warner really struggles against the seaming ball (who doesn't?). England saw it too.

3. Nathan Lyon is fast gathering an impressive record. Like most good bowlers, he delights in getting batters 7-10 out...not one for the top order traditionally, but accumulates the wickets nonetheless. He is about to pass a few strong Aussie bowlers in the 200 wicket taking stakes - Thomson, Hughes, MacGill...not bad for a bloke who started out with no gloss. Great pair of hands as well.

4. Warnie. How many more times are we going to get the sledging of Steve Waugh dropping him before he gets eaten by an anaconda? Warnie needs to pull his head in. He is a clown. The Australian public know the difference between a 'clown' and a 'goose'. I think that happened 17 years ago now (1999). Last Century. Next it will be Buchanan is a terrible coach, you don't need a coach. I think the public would prefer to hear about his diuretic and that stupid 'mum' excuse, the resulting ban, the advice he gave to Indian bookmakers, the meeting with those London tabloid girls, the Madame Tassaud's wax museum dummy spit about his weight, his failed charity - and the recent cricket series in the USA. Yaawn. What is he doing in a 'jungle' of all places? Ridiculous.

5. Tim Cahill. Cahill always looks positive about playing for Australia and holds a great scoring record, but clearly he can also be dumb. This "victim" who is "hurt" by FFA comments...please. What is it about soccer players and their propensity to fall over and cry - on and off the pitch. What he should have said, is "the A League is not part of my plans at present. Full stop". No one would begrudge him that.

6. Footy Trials. Really impressed with the highlight of the weekend - Manly's 58-0 outing v the mighty Ipswich Jets. Who? Trials should be barred...do it how the NFL do it. Joke. And they want to get rid of the All Stars game?

7. Umpire Assad Rauf. He has been barred for match fixing. Terrible form for a bloke who umpired 49 tests. Sadly, he is right along side Steve Randell in the credibility stakes.

8. The Super Rugby draw sounds very confusing this year...they add teams every year...now Argentina and Japan. Both will be reasonable teams and it will assist their leagues a lot. The TV time zones won't be too bad, but hard to get the head around the structure.

9. I noticed that Nick Kyrgios is into the final in Marseilles Open. Some good wins. Looks like he might just be shutting his mouth too. But don't say anything too early. The final might just disturb that. He is likely to retire injured/ tank/ be code violated out of the game. Anything is possible.

10. A cruel co-worker said to me this week that the Auckland Nines confirmed everything he likes about Parramatta - "They are sensational for 18 minutes". Hopefully this is not true I n2016!