Wrap - When The Whips Are Cracking

1. BBL. Dan Christian has been amazing for the Renegades in their semi and again in the final today. Melbourne Stars were 0/80 chasing 146 and had one hand on the trophy, then suddenly both hands over their eyes! (Great 2UE commentator quote). Brain explosions by Handscombe, Maxwell, Dunk, Maddison and Bravo... from 0/80 to 5/106 and then 7/132 at the end. A huge choke.

Dan Christian is composed in the key moments and might be the secret weapon in the T20 World Cup. Bowls, hits hard and has a great set of mitts too. His work under pressure for me has been exemplary.

 

2. Sri Lankan Test Victory v South Africa. Test cricket at its best. Chasing with resolve, young Perera hits a 150 no when the whips are cracking against one of the best attacks in recent memory. Perhaps we did better as a national cricket team than we thought in winning 2-0 recently!

 

3. Super Rugby. Rugby at Brookvale seems to be a success in the rugby heartland. Big crowd. However, such a bad surfaced and slow old oval. It will be awful by the end of winter. Low scores loom ahead. A shame Foley missed the last kick. He has usually been ice cool in those circumstances.

 

4. NRL. Stand down players charged by the police with serious offences and defer to the law as the reason. Reinstate if cleared. They need to take the lead from smart and 'clean' players who explain this to other players in the interests of the game. Unfortunately it is the price of disrepute. The whole rugby league brand is on the nose badly and the likelihood of sponsors fleeing en masse is imminent. The NRL would be better setting up their own niteclub and hotel rooms for players to attend. At least that way they would have the CCTV to dismiss them.

 

5. NBL. Andrew Bogut looms as the MVP for the competition, but this sport is going gangbusters in Australia. When codes like rugby league are handing other codes sponsors and crowds, why not?

6. Winx. 30 wins straight. Happy Clapper pinned the ears back until the Ferrari of Winx motored by easily. Incredible. We will never see anything like it again.

7. World Club Challenge. The Roosters v Wigan tomorrow morning. The Roosters have always performed well in this game so they are a big chance to win four and lead the way here with the most wins (equal with Wigan) too. A great club, no matter what people think.

8. On the other hand... Parramatta lose a trial (sure, it is only a trial) after leading by 20 and Blake Ferguson is already doing backflips. Go figure. They are spoon favourites and the most incredible thing is Tim Mannah is still on their roster. He is a top bloke, but the most "losing-est" captain ever to have played the game I suspect.