There's been a lot said about Australia's spin bowling department, or the lack of it. The focus has been on the veterans Maggers, Gainers and Hoggy, and the young'uns Bailey, Cullen and Heal. I'm wondering where the players aged 28-30 are, and this seems like a problem that doesn't only affect the spinners. The presence of players in this age bracket suggests a constant production of spinners, however that is plain and simply not the case. This probably says more about the art of spin bowling than anything. Bad spinners get hammered. Watching spinners gets hammered puts the idea in your head that if you bowl spin, you'll get hammered.
I realise I may have drawn that point out a bit, but it's important nonetheless. Shane Warne has single handedly destroyed spin bowling for the next couple of generations. He made it look sexy. But sometimes, ugly people can't pull off sexy, and only end up embarrassing themselves. So until someone really hot comes onto the scene, it's 4 fast bowlers for me.
I still believe Australia should've played the 4 quicks, purely from a spectator's perspective. Amazingly, Brad Hogg was actually the safe option. Hogg. A man who struggles in first class cricket. He was selected because Warne's presence convinced the general public a spinner is needed, his one day form and there is no one else. Those are all very bad reasons to pick someone.
A spinner is not always needed, ask a South African. You can have variety in your quicks, just like Australia would've had with (Po)Taito. His one day form, although impressive, means absolutely nothing. If one day form is anything to go by, Bracken should be in the team. But it means squat. It's a totally different game, different tactics and bowlers serve different roles. And that last one is just plain sad.
The one good thing about him though is that he is a rounded cricketer. It's a bit of a Duncan Fletcher thing to say but he's a much better fielder and batter than (Po)Taito. That's a bit of a funny thing about Tait. He bowls at 150 clicks but he's a bit of a rubbish throw. He gets to the ball marginally ok but he takes way too long to wind up and release.
Labels: cricket, hogg, rant, shopping, tait
Written by banh at 3:20 PM | Comments (0)
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It's Christmas and my secret goal to get employed before New Years is slipping fast. In fact, some would say it's over. There are many reasons to want a job. A new experience. Meeting new people. Growing up. Money. Money. And possibly money.
I'm not a big Christmas person. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I don't celebrate it. Well, my family doesn't celebrate it. Sometimes I wish I went to a big Christmas celebration where all the family comes to one poor relative's house and everyone gets stressed/drunk. It seems like so much fun on the television.
Speaking of television, I've failed to watch a midday Christmas movie this year. However to make up for that, I've managed to watch 30 Rock and Flight Of The Conchords twice in the space of 7 days. That speaks volumes about my social life. But absolutely great series those. Hilarious.
Liz from 30 Rock is a great character. There's an article in last week's Green Guide about the show, and the writer's crush on Liz. To be honest, I may share those feelings. Without writing an entire paragraph about how awesome she is, I think the best thing about her is that she suffers the problems of a normal person. She's also adequately hot. Which is not the most important thing, but it helps.
I just remembered this little pickle I had with some of the recent cricket media coverage. Shane Warne has been blabbing for the past month about his past team mates and this is really disgusting behaviour. He's turned his back on his country, and more importantly his state, to play for Hampshire. And now he's slagging off on his past team mates, people he's pretty much lived with for 15 years and he cannot wait to point out everything he hates about them. I'm surprised Adam Gilchrist hasn't come straight out and told him to shut up. It's even stupider since a large portion of Australia's bad press has originated from Warne.
Written by banh at 8:48 PM | Comments (0)
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VCE results came out yesterday. It was a big moment. Well, it was meant to be a big moment. I didn't really feel the excitement, but as luck would have it, life managed to spice it up. I couldn't log on for about 5 minutes because I forgot I was forced to change my pin because of stupid VTAC and the supposed guy with same name as me. When I did eventually get in, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a strange feeling. I got what I aimed for, which is much more than I needed for my first choice. But I couldn't shake the disappointment. I didn't need any more, but I wanted more. I ended up getting low 40s for chemistry and methods, much lower than I expected. I was feeling really good after the exams, especially for methods. Yet I still got the same raw score for spesh and methods. It really hurt, because I was expecting at least 45 raw for both. I want to find out what happened, but I'm too cheap. Very much too cheap.
Victoria play India on Thursday, at Junction Oval. There's a lot wrong with that. The main thing that annoys me is the fact that it's being held in St Kilda rather than at the MCG. The first Test starts about 3 days after the game finishes so this is the only time India get an opportunity to adjust, and apparently rain is forecast for all three days. Now Cricket Australia can't control the weather, but they definitely can control the number of opportunities a touring side has to be competitive. And the competitiveness of the touring side, more often than not, is linked directly with the crowd turnout at the games, which affects the amount of money they get. Also on the matter of money, there can be arguments that the cricket boards, actually the ICC, need all the tours so they can get the revenue to pay for... stuff. But it surely can't be to pay player wages. They get enough money from sponsors anyway. And if there is less international cricket being played, more time can be given to focus on the domestic game. The way they have it for soccer is amazing and would be ideal for cricket as well. However decades of endless internationals has all but killed interest in the domestic game, even though these are often much more competitive than internationals.
Apart from the factors about the cricket, being held at Junction Oval immediately cuts out a large number of spectators, namely me. It's a bitch to get to, if I find out how, and not being at the MCG I would have to pay. And if there is rain, then I don't think there's much you can do around Junction Oval. If it was in the MCG, then you could at least be in the city in 10 minutes.
So the main thing is, no cricket for me. Not for a while at least. Poosers.
Labels: cricket, mcg, results, VCE
Written by banh at 7:51 PM | Comments (0)
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I thought I should provide more reasons for loving the ABC radio commentators over the Channel 9 monkeys. One is that they call the action. I realise that this is more important on the radio because of the lack of vision but they do it well. The boys on the television don't. They work on the assumption that everyone's watching. However if they did call ball-by-ball, they'd be accused of stating the obvious. That doesn't stop me not liking them though. Also, it's just one of the ABC guys calling the actual action in the partnership, so there's the consistency. There are other reasons, I'm sure there are. Apart from the fact the ABC guys are more likeable.
Results come out tomorrow. Now is the time for all the insecurities to rise. If you're not seriously doubting your performances a month ago now, you never will. I haven't been intentionally ignoring Monday this past week, it actually slipped my mind. I was only reminded by Marcus on futsal the other night. And even then, my first thought was Gary's birthday, rather than revealing of future.
Been playing a lot of futsal recently. About once a week at Box Hill for the past month or so. It's been fun. Starting to lose it' new and fresh feeling though. The cool thing is we've played at night 3 times, and all 3 times we have caught the same trains home. I find that cool. I need to balance the futsal out with cricket. Unfortunately Nigel ran off to Singaporia again. Pfft. PFFT. I was actually comtemplating joining up with Vermont again, or just to go training once to see how far I've come. It'd be interesting, but if it does happen, I don't predict a happy ending.
Not a good post today, I know. It'll pick though.
Labels: cricket
Written by banh at 6:03 PM | Comments (0)
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I have to make more of an effort to have smaller, more frequent posts rather than long winded, rare ones. It's a better read that way.
Cricket started again today. Hoorahs. Although it's only one day cricket, any cricket is good cricket. And watching it on the television once again highlights the ineptness of the Channel 9 commentators. I won't say they're absolute rubbish, but, at the risk of a cliche, they're not far from it. It's a difficult sport to commentate, and they make a meal of it. The tricky thing is that, unlike other sports such as footy or soccer, there's not always something happening. So it's up to the man with the microphone to keep it interesting. I fancy that's why some people are able stay in the job for so long, they fill in those blank spaces with their quirky anecdotes from playing in the 60's. However someone like Michael Slater struggles hard. Now, I specifically singled out Slater mostly because he should have stayed in his role as a sub-par life style presenter. But he offers nothing during a slow period, and not much more during the exciting moments.
This is one of the main reasons as to why I love ABC radio so much. They have a high number of commentators always on rotation, which keeps things fresh. I actually struggle to pick who's commentating at any one moment in time. The only one I can pick is Kerry O'Keefe. Compared to channel 9, they have about 5 guys changing every hour throughout the summer, repeating the same things they say each and every year. One such example is Ian Chappell's love for batsmen, or batters as they are known now, who take singles.
There were more things, but I'll fill thee in tomorrow.
Labels: cricket
Written by banh at 9:52 PM | Comments (2)
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jimmy b, how's it goin'? still missing that train? hope that wound isn't infectious/doesn't leave a nasty scar.
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, at 10:08 PM
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