1. NRL - Vegas. Looks like the hoopla and profile has made all teams want to head across there over the next five years. Quite a spectacular standard of league to be honest. All four teams on show look semi-final bound. Manly were really impressive. Spencer Leniu needs to pull his head in. Racial accusations in the USA are fifty times worse than in Australia. This can undermine the whole show.
You now have all the club CEOs queuing up wanting the sponsorship profile and the gaming dollar. Sad that the game is seeking gaming revenue for its future, when there are so many talented athletic blokes who could endorse products with an Aussie twang and make the game great. However, that is modern sport. In the end, it is a small game in a massive pond. Better than the Veterans Stadium experiment, but hopefully of the 41,000 crowd, there were at least a few Americans watching.
The Funky Miller advice that you don't get more attractive after midnight in Vegas will be tested tonight and in the coming days.
2. Test Cricket. A strong win v New Zealand in the end, but our shabby batting order was on display again. It is starting to impact. We saw it v England, Pakistan and the West Indies and now in New Zealand...and their bowling attacks are not that great! We lost 1-2 to India, we drew the Ashes 2-2, we beat Pakistan 3-0 and drew with the West Indies 1-1, so a win v New Zealand is welcomed! A series win will be crucial for the World ICC Test Championship standings.
2a. Test Cricket Batting Inconsistency. Travis Head is wasteful and to get Green (great innings), Marsh and Carey scoring runs at the same time is a miracle. So inconsistent. Carey is on the thinnest of ice for mine. Greg Dyer was a great gloveman, so was Peter Nevill, Roger Woolley, Steve Rixon and the greatest of all - Darren Berry. However, they all had what Carey risks...poor batting records. Gilchrist set a new standard.
Nathan Lyon continues to accumulate the wickets, sneaking along to 527 Test wickets now, and in doing so in this Test (10 wickets for the match), he passed the great Courtney Walsh on 519 (in fewer Tests). His trajectory with approx. 4 wickets per Test would mean that he will take another 10 Tests to overtake McGrath (563) and another 45 Tests or so to beat Warne (708). That would require him to play the most ever Tests for Australia to beat Warnie.
Lyon has played 128 Tests (same as Mark Waugh) and Ponting and Steve Waugh both played 168 Tests. If he played the same number as Ponting and Steve Waugh, in 40 Tests at 4 wickets per Test, Lyon would finish on approx. 685 Test wickets. Superb.
For all his recent heroics, Kane Williamson continues his struggles against top line attacks - India, England and Australia. (Robbo was onto this!).
Marnus surely needs to be dropped on his head. When a player makes the same mistake time and time again, he is a huge risk. I would push Daniel Hughes (NSW) into the opener's role and let Smith bat at number 3. Nic Maddinson has scored three tons in a row for Victoria as an opener since Jan 1 2024. Nice form. Has anyone noticed the cocky and loud "no run" with the exaggerated waving of the bat when leaving a ball seems to have deserted both Smith and Marnus as the runs have dried up? Smith needs to learn to leave balls as an opener.
Poor old Will Pucovski is absolutely spooked. He almost fell into the latest short one from Riley Meredith today while batting in the Shield. He is gone unfortunately. Ollie Davies is clearly an avid reader of The Wrap. He scored a fine ton today for NSW, converting his starts into substance.
3. Grade Cricket. Nice to see cricket in First Grade Sydney is still full of the goose element. Chris Green is threatened by a player or two from Penrith and then invites them to punch on after the game. This etiquette is not in 'Calling All Cricketers'.
Please note the last paragraph which has undone many a cricketing career.
4. Shield Cricket 2023-2024. Our man Beau Webster smashed them again on the weekend. He now has hit 840 runs for the year. Webster, Wakim and Jewell (all Tassie) are the most solid performers averages wise. Interestingly, Bancroft still struggles to average over 40 in first class cricket, hence his omission from the Australin team. Notice Harris and Renshaw down lower. How Renshaw is in the reckoning is beyond everyone's belief.
Batting:
Shield Bowling. Surprising to see the NSW warhorse, Chris Tremain at the top! Impressive. Beau Webster has 19 wickets as well. Handy.
5. Ange - Tottenham. A big 3-1 win over Crystal Palace who are a middling team. They needed to beat them. Ange needs to get serious about winning over the name teams. They seem unable to do this and are running short on excuses now. Injuries are with everyone and all players are back on deck. They are playing an expansive and exciting brand of football.
6. EPL Dopes. The EPL fools who deducted 10 points from Everton for a financial misdemeanour (while not addressing some of the biggest clubs' indiscretions) have reduced it to 6 points, allowing Everton some breathing space around relegation. They will need every point possible based on their work of late.
Nice to see Erling Haaland hit 5 goals in a FA Cup match v Luton Town again. This is the best striker in world football. Despite missing a million games in the EPL through injury this year, he is still perched on top of the EPL goal scorer list this season with 17 goals! (27 in all forms this season). He hit an awesome 36 EPL goals last season (52 overall in all competitions) to set the record.
7. Tahs-Crusaders. Fancy that! NSW beat the Crusaders. Surely a misprint! Great effort from the depths of despair. Ireland won their first cricket Test match (v Afghanistan) this weekend too! Anything is possible.
8. Tennis. Is there a worse sight in world sport than a tennis player screaming at their box (? go figure) or at a match official. They should be defaulted as Andrey Rublev was as well. Spoilt brat sport. Bring back Ash Barty!
9. Sporting Word Companions. Daniel Ricciardo and 'disappointment'. How often? The media do ride him hard, but a high profile world sport brings that pressure, amidst the yachts and glamour.
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