The Eight Ball [8Ball]

Let’s put this into perspective.  Italy are football GIANTS for those of you that know absolutely nothing about football and are wondering what all the fuss is about.  Here are some quick easily digestable facts to put it all into perspective for you:

• Italy are ranked #5 in the world, NZ are ranked #78
• Each Italian player earns on average NZ$3,000,000 per year.  Each All Whites player earns on average NZ$70,000 per year
• Italy has 132 fully professional football clubs, NZ has 1.
• Italy has over 3500 professional football players, NZ has 25
• Shane Smeltz has a better goals per match ratio than all but 3 Italian players of all time.

Italy failing to beat NZ is down right embarrassing really.  GO THE ALL WHITES!

Vodacom Stormers vs Pretoria Boys High School 1st XV

This weekends match between the Stormers and Bulls will feature the Pretoria Boys High School 1st XV instead of the regular Bulls run on XV.

One round left in the 2010 Super 14 and the Bulls are the only assured Semi Finalists, home semi-finalists in fact.  It would look from the leader board that a little bit of match fixing would guarantee two South African home semi finals this year.  At the very least the Bulls could for the first time in the season not field their full strength team, perhaps put the Pretoria High School First XV in there and give the Blue Bulls a well earned rest?

If the Stormers beat the Bulls this coming week it will guarantee that each side makes the Semi Finals and ensures they don’t have to play each other which would make an all South Africa final possible.

Of course it wouldn’t be ALL bad if it was an All South African final, surely it would provide a few season ending injuries for a few key players making life easier for the All Blacks and Wallabies in the Tri Nations!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or don’t care, Michael Clarke, vice captain of the Australian Cricket team recently dashed back to Australia during their tour of NZ to dump his fiancee Lara Bingle for allegedly ‘fidelity issues’.  He finally spoke to the press yesterday.  I know what he was really trying to say so I’ve corrected his statement under what he actually said.  Enjoy.

From Michael Clarke’s announcement to Media:

“It’s part of what we do,” Clarke said. “Being a professional athlete it’s not just about what you do on the field it’s what you do off the field as well. We have to accept that and for me it was important to do what I had to do in my personal life and it’s important for me now to be back with my team-mates and make sure I’m concentrating on playing a Test match for Australia.”

FIXED THAT BELOW!:

“It’s part of what we do,” Clarke said. “Being a professional athlete and having an extremely hot fiancée who is often in the media for being nude, it’s not just about what you do on the field it’s who you do off the field as well. We have to accept that and for me it was important to do what I had to do in my personal life and it’s important for me now to be back with my team-mates and make sure I’m banging every hot piece of Auckland ass I can so that I can concentrate on playing a Test match for Australia.”

What a wonderful spectacle it was on Feb 28th when NZ stuck it to the Aussies and became the first team to beat them in a cricket match this summer.  However, the 2nd T20 International cricket match ended with much controversy.

Thanks to an outstanding bowling display from Tim Southee in the 48th and 50th overs, NZ kept the Australians out but could only salvage a draw as the Australians scampered for 3 runs on the last ball and Michael Clarke was run out by Nathan McCullum by a brilliant piece of fielding after only 2 runs, effectively tying the match.

As is the custom in T20 Internationals, a Super Over was scheduled 5 minutes later to decide the winner of the match.  This has only occurred twice in the short history of T20 Internationals and this was the first time the result was to be accepted as official.  The first occasion also involved NZ, when they played the West Indies on Boxing Day, 26 December 2008.  The West Indies won the match and the experiment was widely considered a success and the ICC announced that this would officially be how a tie was to be decided in a T20 International from then on.

NZ won the Super Over and ultimately the match in spectacular fashion and claimed the victory.  The following day there was a lot of stirring in Australia with disgruntled Aussies claiming that the match was tied and that the Super Over did not count and therefore Australia still remained unbeaten for their season and had won the T20 series against us!

That didn’t seem right to me at all, nor did it seem right that cricinfo.com, arguably the best Cricket resource in the world for match coverage and statistics, also has the game down as a ‘tie’ in their record books.

Should this not be recognised as a Win to New Zealand?

I wrote a curt email to Cricinfo asking them why they’d recorded the result as a tie and begged the question, what the point in the Super Over was if the result was not official? Why do we bother with it at all if it does not count?  I have still had no response.

I did some further digging today and found that the ICC, the governing body for International cricket, who set all the rules and regulations for the International game, has actually published a detailed rule book for T20 Internationals.  I found the following details interesting.

So officially, the result of the Super Over determines the winner according to the ICC

The way to decide the winner of the match should the Super Over still result in a tie and an equal number of batsmen dismissed begins to border on the ridiculous.  See below:

The fine print of how to determine the winner of a match that has resulted in a tie, and the Super Over has also resulted in a tie, a bit convoluted and unnecessary perhaps but we cannot fault them for their meticulousness

Alright guys, I see what you're doing here and I appreciate it but if a match result EVER has to be determined this way, GOD help Cricket!

When you consider that in the albeit short lifetime of T20 International cricket, this has only occurred twice, and the probability of these other tie breaking scenarios occurring are well beyond the most remote you could imagine, it’s good to know the ICC has got this contentious area of the game well documented and surely there is no refuting that based on this, NZ won the game fair and square?

Campbell Live anyone?

Wellington Rugby Sevens Live Blog

Welcome to Day 2 of the 8 ball Wellington Rugby Sevens live blog!

Great Sevens Live Blog coverage from Baron and meanphil, keep it up lads. I imagine some tired sore heads won’t be emerging until 2pm, it’s a muggy disgusting day in the Tron, hopefully the sun burns through soon.  It’s finals day so should be some wicked Rugby Sevens match ups coming up!  Let Day 2 of the 8 ball Wellington Rugby Sevens Live Blog begin!

14.19 – A – monopoly pre feed and drinks are all go at Swains!

14.58 – Nez – We are playing Willie Losie Drinking Games. If Willie says any of either, ’strong, fast, long, hard, young x year old, cut out ball, big, athletic, ball in hand’ then EVERYONE must drink! Bit of cloud in the tr0n, burn thru!

15.20 – A – team coming together… slowly…

16:08 – Nez – Gamblord has not smiled on me lately, not making any cash today but the sun has finally burnt thru! Go the tr0n!

16:36 – Nez – This is NOT the 7s!

16:56 – J – Hi!

18:34 – Nez – Go New Zealand!! It was Ken Laban not Willie Losie, but many drinks were had from him hitting the right words while he commentated   Come on Wellington what you got?!

19.59 – Nez – Poor NZ.  Food is cheaper here though!

Wellington Rugby Sevens 2010 Day 1 Live Blog

Day 1 of the 8 ball Wellington Rugby Sevens Live Blog begins today!

Live Blog from “The Couch” courtesy of Sku, Nez and Jay and from the ACTUAL Rugby Sevens event courtesy of Baron and meanphil. Stay tuned all day long foolz!

1150 – J – first (free) beers of the day. Thanks Tui. Roll on the Rugby Sevens!

12.37pm – A – First beverage with a Greek goddess, two first aiders, Billy T, two Hulk Hogans, three Power Rangers at a bar in Upper Hutt.

12:42pm – meanphil – on the train in with a witch, a prisoner, scooby doo ( and the rest in f**** short skirts) and some Grid girls

13.41 – Nez – Dip is in the fridge, chicken nibbles have been marinated, Juginator filled, ready to watch some Rugby Sevens!

14:06 – J – Come on Cake tin time to pack it out and get your booze on

14:57 – Nez – It was hot, it was hot as balls…. so we took the Rugby Sevens action outside and set ourselves up for the afternoon.

15:52 – J – Ol south Africa… Getting your ‘ream the worst team’ in the Rugby Sevens on,  nice _b

16.13 – A – so so hot… shade bound… new awesome holding device for my beers… thanks Alvin outfit!

16.41: – Nez – The sun is quickly disappearing, busted out the cam timer, Sku, Jay and Nez, booya!

17:32 – J – So far I am still looking for a killer dress up, power rangers or perhaps the girls in short skirts with a small — re tiny — country flag logo are the go.

17:35 – J – And there is a lot of lovely looking females there!

18:18 – J – Looks like da kiwis have it in the bag… One more tonight and it’s all go for tomorrows finals ya’l

18.25 – A – Its packing out, I’m wasted… the kiwis won… streaker yeah!

Bonkers going OFF!!!

19.37 – A – Go USA!

11:47pm – meanhpil – had no 3g at the tincup thingy so here’s a photo essay

10.00 – A – Rise and shine for day two, found some photos on the phone:

and some of my prep work for today:

Don't Cry Richie

Richie McCaw has been nominated for NZ’s most pretigious sporting award, the Halberg.  He won’t be attending the ceremony as he helps his Crusaders prepare for a pre-season match.  McCaw is taking a break for the first 4 rounds of the tournament.  You’d think this would enable him to attend an awards ceremony where it’s likely he’ll receive an award, nothing worse than someone being given an award and not turning up to receive it in my opinion.  Committed to his team, award snubbed or just not interested in accumulating accolades?

Afridi skips breakfast and decides the ball looks mighty tasty.

When the chips are down, often sportsmen do stupid things.  Shahid Afridi wanted to win the 5th ODI against Australia badly, so badly that he figured he’d take a big bite out of the ball to help his bowlers.  Or was he really hungry?  Afridi has been banned for 2 T20 matches, a very soft penalty for a pretty serious crime.  I think they went soft on him because he so honestly admitted it in and they probably felt a wee bit sorry for him for being such a silly fool.  He was hardly subtle, he did this while walking with the bowler to his run up while the cameras were clearly on him!!

It’s a sad day in any NZ sport when we have to rely on the old fullas to get us through.  Surely we have enough young talent coming up the ranks that we should be nurturing and encouraging to start taking the responsibilities over from our 30+ generation.

The NZ Cricket selectors just recently announced the T20 and ODI squads to be playing Bangladesh next month and although it does look experimental rather than trying to field our strongest side, you can’t help but think, “Isn’t a series against Bangers the perfect scenario to give new guys a crack?”  I mean, this is the mentality the All Blacks use.  Trial the new guys against the easy beats of Italy and Scotland so they get used to the pressure and the environment of the international scene before you expose them to a Tri-Nations match for instance.

Next year we have one of the most prestigious occasions in World Cricket, the One Day International World Cup.  One Dayers have been around a long time now and so has this World Cup.  The 50 over match is less of a lottery than a T20 and for the non cricket purists, it’s a bit more palatable than a Test match but still allows teams to use some real tactics and strategies to win the game.  Building up to an occasion like this you could reasonably expect in the year leading up to it that most countries will try out a LOT of young players to see if they’re going to have what it takes to step up for such an occasion and go on to be influential players for their countries after the experience.

But no, not here in NZ, we’ve decided we’re going to try out some guys at the end of their careers who will be even older by the time next years World Cup rolls around.  We’re hoping our aging generation is going to win this one for us.  They’re injury prone and their fitness is questionable and they certainly can’t fly around the field like the young’ins can.

Let’s take a look at who we’ve got.

Shane Bond – Sure, even though he’s 34 you’d take him because frankly he’s still the best bowler we’ve got and if we don’t use him we’ll lose him as his career is almost over, fair call.

Darryl Tuffey – Played his first match for NZ last year in 5 years and is currently 31 years old.  Yes he’s good but there are a ton of great new young bowlers of his ilk on the scene at the moment, surely it’s time for Daz to step aside and let one of them have a turn.

Andrew McKay – Quite a surprise bowling selection.  The Wellingtonian has had a good domestic season and a better than average HRV Cup but really?  He’s 31 years old and we have a NZ contracted player in Brent Arnel who hasn’t been selected for the Black Caps yet, not to mention the likes of Bradley Scott who has been outstanding with the ball recently taking 8 wickets for 20 runs in his last two T20 matches.

Scott Styris – Here’s an old man I feel bad for.  The Black Caps need good all rounders and at the moment Styris is one of the best, putting on some massive performances with bat and ball to help the Auckland Aces make the final of the HRV Cup but he’s been overlooked, maybe the selectors did pull the age card on this one?

Peter Ingram – Amazing performances in all forms of the game in the domestic season.  This guy absolutely mothers the ball when he hits it, 31 years old and just made the squad.  Looks like a super player but certainly not a player for the future already at the end of his career.

Gareth Hopkins – Called in as Wicket Keeper back up, at 34 years old you have to wonder.  Peter McGlashan was the back up to McCullum last year but he has been shaky with the gloves, dropping a few and missing some stumpings here and there, it can be painful to watch and maybe he needs a little more time.  Hopkins gloves have been solid and he’s capable with the bat.  Let’s hope that Hopkins is just in there as a stop gap until McGlashan is ready.

WHAT ABOUT BJ?
You really have to feel for young BJ Watling, in my mind he should definitely be in the squad.  His performances opening the batting for the Knights in the HRV Cup were superb and he had a few good cracks against Pakistan late last year too, smart kid with a good head on his shoulders and massive future.  He should definitely have been selected in the hope that he may even be capable of taking on Australia after we put Bangers away.  And I’m sorry but I have to say it, Jacob Oram should no longer be an automatic selection, all players should be picked on form and this guy is NOT in form.  No runs and very few wickets in the HRV Cup, I don’t think he deserves his place at all.

Full squads named below:

Twenty20 squad

Brendon McCullum (Otago Volts)
Peter Ingram (Central Stags)
Martin Guptill (Auckland Aces)
Ross Taylor (Central Stags)
James Franklin (Wellington Firebirds)
Gareth Hopkins (Auckland Aces)
Jacob Oram (Central Stags)
Nathan McCullum (Otago Volts)
Daniel Vettori (Northern Knights)
Ian Butler (Otago Volts)
Daryl Tuffey (Auckland Aces)
Tim Southee (Northern Knights)

One-Day International squad

Brendon McCullum (Otago Volts)
Peter Ingram (Central Stags)
Martin Guptill (Auckland Aces)
Ross Taylor (Central Stags)
Neil Broom (Otago Volts)
James Franklin (Wellington Firebirds)
Daniel Vettori (Northern Knights)
Jacob Oram (Central Stags)
Ian Butler (Otago Volts)
Daryl  Tuffey (Auckland Aces)
Tim Southee (Northern Knights)
Andrew McKay (Wellington Firebirds)