1. Ashes. Has it ever started on a Wednesday before? It is becoming painful in the media. Friday starts at the Gabba is the tradition. Surely Usman needed to open for Harris. I will be stunned (happily) if Harris gets double figures. Jimmy Anderson will make mince meat of him. About time Nathan Lyon picked up wickets - and Starc (255 test wickets). However Lyon has 399 test scalps and has gotten as many 10 wickets in a match as the great Glen McGrath.
Pat Cummins (167 test wickets) too for that matter, but at 21.59, he is taking them at a rate better than McGrath! It's been a while since we saw any Australian Test Cricket. Get ready for the controversy.
2. Bathurst 1000. The crowds were not as large as back in the day, but a great event. Is the Safety Car an interest gathering device? Surely times should determine distance between the cars when they resume. Chaz Mostert the victor. Skaife was serving it up to Scott Morrison too! Plenty of cliches all day long. Liked the pits man on the coverage as well...lively and insightful!
Ian Moss struggled with the anthem. Back to the Bridge Hotel for him.
3. Brandon Smith. This merry-go-round nonsense seems largely to be a product of the bored NRL media wanting something! Scandals and drunken behaviour have not yet occurred en masse (wait till New Year's Eve at least), so this has taken pride of place. Not sure podcasts are where you want to launch your media career. Brandon is a young kid with plenty to learn there. He has been caught out a few times (post GF celebrations, F-bombs live on TV, white powder shots), but this is starting to wear thin. He needs to get this under control and excel on the field.
4. Ajaz Patel. A fantastic achievement by a New Zealander to take 10 wickets in an innings, especially v India inside India. That is an EPL contract right there! Rare gold. 14 wickets for the match is handy, but well short of the best ever efforts of Jim Laker (19 wickets for the match).
Ajaz is following in the great tradition of Patels to play the game - Sandeep, Dipak, Jeethan, Parthiv, Axar and the famous Rashid Patel. Rashid Patel excelled at chasing down opponents with stumps while unhappy! Samit Patel also struggled in a run out decision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w03QKcN4EDs
Ravi Ashwin may rival him with 4/8 in the first innings and three already in the second innings.
Where are the NZ stars? They are a nation that struggles to keep the same players on the field for any consistent time period!
5. F1 - Max Verstappen's effort on the last lap of qualifying was woeful for a driver of his class. Gives up pole to Lewis Hamilton who is eight points behind him for the championship. A win and he is uncatchable by Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton needs to finish top six to rival him! Exciting stuff!
6. Junior Paulo. Suddenly he is going to command top bucks. He is such a talent with ball and as an enforcer. The trouble now is that he is going to blow someone's salary cap... Parramatta are trying not to make it theirs. He is largely uninjured every year and is a regular State of Origin player now. He is someone to build your club around. Gus Gould knows it.
7. EPL. Hard to see one of Man City, Chelsea or Liverpool not winning it, but West Ham are serving it up too! Always gold to see a new club beat some of the bigger ones.
8. Sydney FC. Troubling form early on in the world's longest comp... the good news? They have time to catch up...
9. Big Bash. Entertaining to a degree, but where are the stars? There are so many no names it is ridiculous. Has the concept tired already? Probably COVID impacted, but they are like ODIs. No one can remember the result two days later.
10. Boxing. Liking this George Kambosos, the new lightweight boxing star for Australia - IBF, WBO, WBA belt owner. He can put on a show and is a respectful guy. He has a future in media as well. He is looking for 80,000 to support him live in Australia. He may go close! Ex Cronulla Sharks junior out of Gymea.
No comments:
Post a Comment