The Eight Ball [8Ball]

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.

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.

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:

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?

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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!

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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:

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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?

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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!!

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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)

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Don’t know about you guys, but the ‘back to work dread™’ has just crept back in for me, not long now before the fun times are over and it’s back to the grind again.  *sigh*  No holiday is ever long enough…

 

Raglan, the first HRV Twenty20 Cricket match and the Casino tonight though, that should keep the blues away for a bit.  Check out the gay strip my team the Northern Knights are wearing this for Breast cancer fundraising this season, ewhh… hopefully they have pink cheerleaders.

P.S. Watched Max Payne last night, what a waste of my life, SUCK!

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The mercurial Dan Carter.  It’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have the most gifted rugby player in the world playing for us.  He’s been with us since his debut in 2003 and most of us can’t remember rugby without Dan.  But how good is he really?

Since Dan Carters debut in 2003 the All Blacks have played 87 Test matches.  The All Blacks have only lost 5 of those Test matches with Dan Carter in the team.  ONCE against Australia, ONCE against France and THREE times against South Africa.

That gives us around about a 95% chance of the All Blacks winning if Dan is playing.  That my friends, is impressive.  A professional rugby player has about a maximum of 10 years at Test level before their form dips considerably.  Dan has used up about 6 now.  I don’t envy being the person the next generation of All Black selectors deem as his sucessor.  Will anyone ever be able to measure up against our Champion Dan?

P.S.  How cool is that picture?!

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Sona Taumalolo’s injury time try was controversially disallowed as the touch judge ruled he went over the side line. Hawkes Bay could have salvaged a draw with a sideline conversion which could be the difference in getting them a home semi final spot. Canterbury won 27 – 20.  See the video below and make up your own mind whether you think it was a try. 

 

 

 

Why can’t they just look at the replay?
The NZRU removed the feature of having a TMO officiating in matches to rule on such decisions to save themselves approximately 300K per year but other cheap options that could have prevented these scenarios were overlooked.

The Ref
The referee in question, a Mr Bruce Dockary was abused and spat on by fans, his children bullied at school and egging damage to his house on the Friday night lifted the paint on his deck and damaged the paint work on his garage.

Solutions
I really feel for the guy even though I was angered at him getting it wrong.  Clearly the responsibility falls on the NZRU who made the rule to not have TMO’s officiate in the competition.  In the case where a decision could alter the outcome of the match, i.e. produce a draw or win for the other team, there really needs to be another as it is a huge oversight.  The most obvious to me are the following:

1. Allow the referee to watch the replay on the 500 inch video screen in the corner of the ground to make his decision like the refs in the NRL often do.
2. Have a monitor on each side of the field for the ref to review in such a circumstance (Like the Gridiron NFL in USA)
3. The Ref’s are mic’d up so get them to ask the commentator who has called the entire match for advice on his decision!

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When you’re at a cricket match and the ball gets hit to you in the form of a 6, try and catch it for the love of God, ESPECIALLY if you’re with your girlfriend otherwise THIS will happen, and she’ll never go to the cricket with you again!

Note: embedded YouTube Video below, you won’t see it if you’re at work slacking off and YouTube is blocked

And in other Cricket Highlights from the recent Champions Trophy tournament, Martin Guptil apparently was aiming for a distant fire engine outside the ground when he smashed THIS huge 6 as he exclaims, “It’s about Fire Engine!”

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