Sunday, November 24, 2024

The Wrap - EXXTRA Effort

1. Test Cricket. One Test loss is not the end of the earth in a five Test series, but this will be a significant thumping. Yashasvi Jaiswal is the next Indian legend. Such quick wrists and feet! He can bat a long time. It is hard to imagine a loss of this magnitude on Australian soil. Maybe back in the World Series days with Tony Mann, Gary Cosier, Paul Hibbert, Jeff Moss, Wayne Clark and Sam Gannon.

Our bowling was solid early, but our batting... awful. No chance of holding on for five days with the pitch seaming and playing tricks now.

The Australian public are completely out of love with the national team and sadly, the game. Are the multi-million contracts and the spoilt antics... with a useless governing body...taking their toll?  The withdrawal of players from the Pakistan ODI series has proven to be another nail in the coffin of Australian cricket. Lucky we withdrew our players, otherwise we could have been caught short and under prepared and possibly lost the first test!

The IPL auction is later tonight, so this will be another opportunity for the general public to judge the playing group and their priorities. Smith has himself at top freight but has not been picked up for two years. It would be a surprise if he is signed.

Our batting has been suspect for a number of years. Smith looks terrible and Marnus... he is nearing the 'getting dropped' phase of his career. 50 balls for two runs? Please. Head is a duck or a hundred man and Carey scores Shield runs, but too often looks handcuffed on the international stage. It has been coming for a long time. 

Greg Chappell has been warning about this weakening of Australian batting techniques and mindsets for a long time. Greg sure writes a top article, but can't coach.

2. Sheffield Shield. Back in Sheffield Shield today, Bancroft got another duck...Harris 2, which gives no joy to selectors. No one is scoring runs consistently. Oh for the days of Barsby, Siddons, Maher, Hills, Cox, Lehmann, Law who all reeled off ton after ton week after week. Poor buggers couldn't get a look in at the national level. These days they would be automatic picks and captain!

3. Wallabies. Yet another six changes... how can this be? Honestly, what sort of crazy crap is this? Too many blokes in the squad. A win against Scotland would be a surprise, but a showdown with Ireland would be a top result from the tour. Scotland can play...so hopefully we are ready!

Interested to see if Harry Potter can provide that extra magic out wide. Cruel parents.

4. NRL. Ben Hunt. Sign him and move on... please. Is he that good? There is a hint of the Adam Reynolds here. Flashes of brilliance, but an imminent decline. Not sure of his mindset at that age.

Jason Ryles seems to be a walking headline. Poor bloke. Some good signings with much needed pace. The media will be gunning for him. 

The spoon race will be interesting in 2025. Surely it can't be the Tigers, so then who? Auckland Warriors loom large. Eels? Broncos? Titans seem better than previously.

5. EPL. Tottenham played Man City... close to an impossible ask with so many injuries, but Ange delivered. A 4-0 thumping of Man City at home - to hand Pep his worst loss ever. Their 'goals for' is second best in the EPL now. Plenty of attack, but what of defence? Sixth on the table is solid, but I am not hearing the Robbie Williams  "I'm loving Ange instead" song too often.

6. Australian PGA Golf. Cam Smith and young Elvis Smylie really served it up for the Joe Kirkwood Cup at Royal Queensland. Mother Liz was smiling through her chewing gum. Exxtra! Impressive work by a 22 year old! A great achievement. Greyhound build, but a tremendous future in the game.

7. A League. Alen Stajcic the Western Sydney Wanderers coach seems to enjoy the headlines. He did it on the Central Coast and now he is refusing to start/ play his marquee signing - Juan Mata, the Spanish midfield legend... despite the string of three losses from five games. Alen may need to change tactics before he is shown the exit door.

8. Davis Cup Tennis v Italy. Not a fan of the new structure, but de Minaur is no match for the top 10 players. Hopefully he can improve further, but as it stands, we are solid, but not spectacular. Sinner dominated him.

9. F1 - Champion. Max Verstappen is now the four time consecutive F1 drivers champion (replacing Lewis Hamilton who was a four successive winner from 2017-2020 and now joining Man City and the Penrith Panthers as 'four-peat' achievers). The WA Shield team and the Wests Tigers are on track too! So are the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL (four Super Bowls for three wins in the past five years).

Sunday, November 17, 2024

The Wrap - A Careless Bunch (ACB)

1. Wallabies. On the cusp of turning things around the dreaded "Rugby Coach Curse" has struck. Pick a squad of a 100 for a tour and change your team every second day. How Aukuso-Suaalli can be put on the bench defies logic. Joe Schmidt's tenure is going to end soon if he does silly things like this. Honestly. 

New Zealand All Blacks have a bad loss v France by a point and England lose again v South Africa.

2. T20 Cricket. No one really cares about Australian short form cricket anymore. mainly because the ACB don't care. What a pack of wombats. They schedule international games and rest half of the team. All about the money, but has anyone seen a cricket promo on TV in the last five years? The tickets and food prices are ridiculous. You could get a very big dinner at home for that price.

By the way, Australia won on Saturday night and lead 2-0 in the best of three games somehow.

They have lost the hearts and minds - and the car park. Maybe a jingle or two from Mojo could help!

3. Football - Socceroos. A draw v Saudi Arabia was a good result this week just gone. Popovic has had two draws now...v Japan and v Saudi Arabia. The Socceroos sit in second spot after a recovery of sorts. They need a few goals though... Japan have almost wrapped up one of the spots. The loss v Bahrain will be costly, however they have a chance to avenge this on Wednesday night.


4. Mike Tyson. Nearly died and came back, but it was all a bit embarrassing. He looked overweight, but will always be remembered as a tough hombre, amid other things.

5. Shield Cricket. Renshaw has finally hit a ton. Sirens please as some one like Greg Chappell will now recommend him. Cameron Bancroft has fallen in a hole sadly. None of our bowlers are dominating... Jackson Bird took ten wickets, but we are in a weak era all of a sudden. India will be ready for us.

6. NRL. So many loose signings at present, but a brutal game now. Produce or be ended. Parramatta's pace improvement is long overdue. Both Joash Papalii and Jordan Samrami are inexperienced but blistering...with the Fox, Lomax and Isaiah Longi, the likely new fullback. Pace wins with Brown and Moses as well. It turns games. Hunt and others better get cracking with the BIC biro or England beckons.

Soni Luke is a top hooker who should be targeted by a lot of clubs. He has played 20 games in three seasons for the Panthers... surely a good option for clubs like Parramatta.

7. NSW Open. Lucas Herbert (67 final round) winning by 3 strokes was pretty smart. Cam Smith (74 final round) gave it away a little sadly. He needs to consolidate over the bigger four round distance. Does LIV golf affect them that much? Trump should have that PGA-LIV divide cured any day now...

Sunday, November 10, 2024

The Wrap - A Bad Week for the Harris Family.

1. Pacific Rugby League Championships - Australia v Tonga. The Tongan crowd was awesome - and their singing... amazing. A 20-14 win to Australia sees international rugby league almost having a completely different balance of power now.

We should get used to overseas nations supporting their team more than what the general public in Australia will. We have been so conditioned to watch it all on TV - in all sports. Sparing the parking thieves, the hot food price hikes and the nonsense, Australians are less inclined than most nations to watch their national teams in any sport. The decline of the Wallabies in recent years, the Australian cricket team being on the nose... women's team support is growing at the same time.

The Jillaroos had a resounding victory. The women's game is a great game to watch for the spectators too. Lively, no nonsense and played in the right spirit.

2. Australian Test Cricket Team. South Australian captain, Nathan McSweeney has been deservedly rewarded. Marcus Harris is far too inconsistent. He like his namesake Kamala have been rolled this week! Interested to see Inglis included. Carey might need to watch his Test form.

3. ODIs - Pakistan v Australia. Jason Gillespie was foisted into the ODI coaching role when Kirsten got the usual Pakistan marching orders. A 2-1 series win is a handy start to his coaching resume. Pakistan's Test series victory over England sees him rising through the world coaching ranks. Andrew McDonald has been extended for another five years so he needs to bide his time.

Zampa is now quite a liability in the field. Honestly, he is dropping catches you should take in the park. Our batting was terrible... Maxwell, Stoinis. These guys are under achieving big time at present and really are at the end of their ODI careers. The hype around Fraser-McGurk is getting a little out of control. He needs to show more discipline and discernment in his shot making.

It should come as no surprise that our players have been snubbed by the IPL. We are inconsistent and overestimate our own value.

How ridiculous is the current scheduling of an ODI series v Pakistan ahead of the Tests? A Monday night game and then resting nearly every top line player is a concession that they got it wrong. Who would go and support that? Cricket Australia are a laughing stock these days. This current debacle has not changed anything on that front.

4. LIV-PGA Golf Reconciliation. Donald J will be on this just before solving the Ukraine and Israel-Palestine conflicts. Good luck!

5. Wallabies. A stunning win v England at Twickenham (first since 2015). Aukuso-Sua'ali'i answered the critics (how could they be so accusatory when Australian rugby is on its knees?). He is a super talent and shone. MOTM. England mind you are nearly as bad as us! Not a lot of defence, but highly entertaining with a scintillating win after the siren.

New Zealand crushed Ireland too...the Scott Robertson wheels are starting to turn. 

6. A League. Western Sydney Wanderers are going to need a big turn around. They are struggling big time after four rounds. Four points only after much pre season hype. The champions of last year, the Central Coast Mariners are winless!

7. Man City. Another EPL loss v Brighton (who are now in third spot). Not sure what is going on outside of injuries, but that is the fourth straight loss (the first time in Pep Guardiola's career as manager). Work to do, but the competition is closer now. Tottenham have a great chance to leap into third tonight.

8. Women's BBL. Some excellent play. Lots of women playing the game now and doing it in fine style. How long will it take before it is more popular than the men's game? The arrogance of the modern male cricketer is killing the game. The public are not convinced.

9. NFL. Chiefs, Bills and Steelers in the AFC are dominating. Lions, Commanders and Falcons in the NFC too. It is a hard run to turn a NFL franchise around. Maybe taking five years! A little like the NRL too. The New England Patriots have hit rock bottom at 2-7. 

10. Womens Fast5 Netball. A great win by the Australians with Amy Sligar in the front row (next to coach on right hand side). Congrats to the Sligars!


11. James McDonald - 'JMac'. How good is he? Punters should simply back his horses to clean up! Winning 11 races in the one Melbourne Cup carnival is pretty amazing. Onto 104 Group 1 wins in a twinkling of a eye!

Sunday, November 3, 2024

The Wrap - The Quick Fox Eaten by the Lazy Dog

1. NRL -Tonga. A dominant start and almost a late choke, but well done to them. Through to the Pacific Championships Final v Australia. The second time they have beaten New Zealand, but they will be hard to toss in the final. Their halves are sharp. Plenty of Katoas in the team... Eli, Isaiya and Sione. Like Smith in Tonga! Not sure that the Australian forwards are that dominant.

This is the same Pacific Championships where Samoa are not involved, instead playing in England. That is a strange one indeed.

Great time of year for sackings and new homes... Gutho, Hunt, The Fox. Unfortunately the quick fox tried to jump over the lazy dogs and failed. He is looking for a new club. Parramatta?

2. F1 - Oscar Piastri and McLaren. Half a chance for Lando Norris to win the drivers championship, but McLaren are right on top in the constructor's championship. Verstappen is looking for his straight F1 win. Piastri has had a great year coming foruth at present, but being a team man he will gift Norris the priority position to get valuable points.

3. Test Cricket. New Zealand Test Cricket has really risen on the back of this Indian tour after some pretty poor results leading in. Drawing with Bangladesh, losing to Australia and losing to Sri Lanka...

They pushed India really hard at 6/92 at lunch when only defending a low total. Pant continues to prove himself as a match winner. After lunch 4/55 was needed by New Zealand for a whitewash. Too many run outs by India at present. They had another two this Test.

NZ were extraordinary in getting 3-0 result. That is unheard of in India and at Mumbai. First time ever for an Indian whitewash! Ever! No Santer. No Williamson. Incredible! India actually look a bit unfit and their batting was not good enough. Heads will no doubt roll!

4. Nathan McSweeney. What a tremendous effort v India A when all the other hopefuls crashed and burned. Bancroft has been terrible (10 runs in five inns in 2024) and Harris and Konstas, just mild efforts. McSweeney could open. He would be as good as any others. The interesting news is that Renshaw has disappeared from contention. Thank goodness for that.

Beau Wester also had a ripping game. Hilton Cartwright a 150 for WA in the Shield too.

5. Rugby. NZ beat England in a slashing Test overnight. Some costly goal kicking misses, but NZ are amazing. Scott Robertson has not had an easy start, but he is starting to fire!

6. EPL. Man City beaten by Bournemouth and Notts Forest now coming third! Arsenal are fading. Man U have sacked their coach and Liverpool are on top!

7. James McDonald. Two new Group 1s on the weekend. On great terms with his bank manager, but no Melbourne Cup ride... what? Owners should be scrambling! Flemington was glorious on the weekend. A stunning course and huge Derby Day crowd.