It is finally here, what you have all been waiting for...
Thats Gould returns in another hilarious episode. We witness Gus 'Wow' home a Tigers try (Which mind you, was clearly no try) as Rabs and Joey giggle their heads off in the background.
Including a benefit of brilliance from special guest Mark Geyer.
Wow? BenjiWow.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Selectors Mad to Drop Clark
Well, they were mad to wait for the 4th test to bring him back.
But to drop him for the 5th test would be the final straw in showing the stupidity of the Australian selectors.
They have been left with a dilemma ahead of the Ashes deciding test match at The Oval. Hauritz will be brought in for a paceman to accommodate the conditions at The Oval or the side will be left as is on a form policy, depending on Clarke, North and Katich to play the spin role.
If the first option is taken, the selectors will have the headache of deciding which paceman to drop. Leading wicket taker Ben Hilfenhaus is an automatic selection as the bowler of the series so far. They wont drop Johnson just when he has returned to form considering they held onto him after an ordinary first 3 tests. So it appears to be between Siddle and Clark. Siddle has bowled pretty well in the Ashes series, but unfortunately for him Stuart Clark is simply a better and more experienced bowler. Siddle may have got a 5 for in the first innings at Headingley but it was Clark who was the bowler of that innings, his crucial early wickets and tight bowling set up England to be rolled. Then don't be fooled by Clark's poor figures in the second innings, Hilfenhaus and Johnson had already done the damage and Clark was just unlucky in that some tail enders threw caution to the wind against him.
The Australian pace attack is simply not good enough to have a quality bowler like Stuart Clark running the drinks. He could have won us an earlier test match, we could have had the Ashes wrapped up by now, but the selectors chose to leave out our best and most experienced bowler. Now I am confident they wont make that mistake again by dropping him for the final test but if they do... That'll do me.
But to drop him for the 5th test would be the final straw in showing the stupidity of the Australian selectors.
They have been left with a dilemma ahead of the Ashes deciding test match at The Oval. Hauritz will be brought in for a paceman to accommodate the conditions at The Oval or the side will be left as is on a form policy, depending on Clarke, North and Katich to play the spin role.
If the first option is taken, the selectors will have the headache of deciding which paceman to drop. Leading wicket taker Ben Hilfenhaus is an automatic selection as the bowler of the series so far. They wont drop Johnson just when he has returned to form considering they held onto him after an ordinary first 3 tests. So it appears to be between Siddle and Clark. Siddle has bowled pretty well in the Ashes series, but unfortunately for him Stuart Clark is simply a better and more experienced bowler. Siddle may have got a 5 for in the first innings at Headingley but it was Clark who was the bowler of that innings, his crucial early wickets and tight bowling set up England to be rolled. Then don't be fooled by Clark's poor figures in the second innings, Hilfenhaus and Johnson had already done the damage and Clark was just unlucky in that some tail enders threw caution to the wind against him.
The Australian pace attack is simply not good enough to have a quality bowler like Stuart Clark running the drinks. He could have won us an earlier test match, we could have had the Ashes wrapped up by now, but the selectors chose to leave out our best and most experienced bowler. Now I am confident they wont make that mistake again by dropping him for the final test but if they do... That'll do me.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Strange Things can Happen in a Month
What the hell. You leave the country for a month then all of a sudden all hell breaks lose. I come back to learn that Karmichael Hunt is switching codes - to AFL - and that my beloved Triple 8 Race Engineering, better known as Team Vodafone, is doing the unthinkable by switching to Holden.
Both moves will see less success enjoyed by each. AFL is a very different game to Rugby League and regardless of whether he has played before or has the right skills to join the code, there is no way Hunt will be a top player for the new Gold Coast club. He can't just expect to jump raw into another sport and expect to compete with the professionals that have been sharpening their skills for years. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he disappeared from the top team quite quickly (if starting there at all). 2011 is a long way away anyway.
Now to my biggest surprise on return to Australia. Triple 8 have gone to Holden. The team I have supported through their rise to what they are now are gone. 1 (morally 2) championships and 3 consecutive Bathurst victories in a Ford and now they are throwing it away. Now, don't think I'm ripping on Holden here and saying that they are going to fail from now simply because they are apart of the side I don't support. I just don't think they can jump straight into a Commodore and be successful straight away - definitely not to the extent of where they are now. In my opinion HRT are being handed next years championship on a platter. Honestly, Triple 8 are not going to be competitive with Holden's top team straight away.
But gee, don't Ford have egg on their face currently. They choose not to elect Triple 8 as one of their factory teams and it has caused them to bail out. The teams they did choose have their drivers sitting in 7th, 16th, 17th and 18th spot. Whatever happened to SBR (Stone Brothers Racing)? So successful with drivers like Ambrose and Bright but now they settle for (with all due respect to them) Van Gisbergen, who seems to only come alight when it rains, and Alex Davison, who, lets face it, will never be championship material. There are plenty of better young drivers floating around, SBR need to lift their recruitment game if they are going to step up next year.
So Ford, tell us the fans, who will be stepping up next year? Will this SBR/FPR hybrid engine lift them to the top? Will DJR keep improving and show up the factory teams?
Back to Triple 8. Lets have a think about fans. They are the 2nd most supported team behind HRT at the moment but this is going to change. Yes there are those non-manufacturer based fans that will follow them across. But mostly their fans would be Ford fans, and they will move on. Holden already have a pretty solid supporter base to their various teams and there are also a lot of fans who despise Craig Lowndes for walking out on Holden years back. Especially when they don't turn up and win, Triple 8's supporter base will decline significantly.
Maybe this is what the sport needs. To be honest watching Triple 8 dominate has become a bit boring. Perhaps the field will be really evened up for next year. I just hope it doesn't mean that HRT will dominate.
Perhaps my views are corrupted by a bit of bias, but this is way I see it. Only time will tell.
Both moves will see less success enjoyed by each. AFL is a very different game to Rugby League and regardless of whether he has played before or has the right skills to join the code, there is no way Hunt will be a top player for the new Gold Coast club. He can't just expect to jump raw into another sport and expect to compete with the professionals that have been sharpening their skills for years. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he disappeared from the top team quite quickly (if starting there at all). 2011 is a long way away anyway.
Now to my biggest surprise on return to Australia. Triple 8 have gone to Holden. The team I have supported through their rise to what they are now are gone. 1 (morally 2) championships and 3 consecutive Bathurst victories in a Ford and now they are throwing it away. Now, don't think I'm ripping on Holden here and saying that they are going to fail from now simply because they are apart of the side I don't support. I just don't think they can jump straight into a Commodore and be successful straight away - definitely not to the extent of where they are now. In my opinion HRT are being handed next years championship on a platter. Honestly, Triple 8 are not going to be competitive with Holden's top team straight away.
But gee, don't Ford have egg on their face currently. They choose not to elect Triple 8 as one of their factory teams and it has caused them to bail out. The teams they did choose have their drivers sitting in 7th, 16th, 17th and 18th spot. Whatever happened to SBR (Stone Brothers Racing)? So successful with drivers like Ambrose and Bright but now they settle for (with all due respect to them) Van Gisbergen, who seems to only come alight when it rains, and Alex Davison, who, lets face it, will never be championship material. There are plenty of better young drivers floating around, SBR need to lift their recruitment game if they are going to step up next year.
So Ford, tell us the fans, who will be stepping up next year? Will this SBR/FPR hybrid engine lift them to the top? Will DJR keep improving and show up the factory teams?
Back to Triple 8. Lets have a think about fans. They are the 2nd most supported team behind HRT at the moment but this is going to change. Yes there are those non-manufacturer based fans that will follow them across. But mostly their fans would be Ford fans, and they will move on. Holden already have a pretty solid supporter base to their various teams and there are also a lot of fans who despise Craig Lowndes for walking out on Holden years back. Especially when they don't turn up and win, Triple 8's supporter base will decline significantly.
Maybe this is what the sport needs. To be honest watching Triple 8 dominate has become a bit boring. Perhaps the field will be really evened up for next year. I just hope it doesn't mean that HRT will dominate.
Perhaps my views are corrupted by a bit of bias, but this is way I see it. Only time will tell.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Cricket in England
England. The country where the Government and local councils actually care about all cricket clubs. While here on the beautiful Northern Beaches of Sydney we are lucky to get a ground without an annoying problem, the English sit in their clubhouses drinking tap beer as they look out over their perfectly grassed outfields and classy turf wickets.
Their system may not produce a world leading cricket side, but to play in England, as many people stated on my recent tour, is cricket heaven. Every village club has their own home ground, usually owned or leased by the actual club. If a club doesn't have a ground, councils do their best to sort one out for them and then often builds them a clubhouse. Out of the 17 clubs we played on tour 17 had their own turf wicket, 17 had a clubhouse and 16 had tap beer.
What a contrast to cricket hell on the Northern Beaches. Terrible astro pitches, dead and/or weedy outfields (or perhaps just dirt) and what is this clubhouse thing you speak of? Here we have to fight for the council for the upkeep of facilities. In England they would laugh at us. Our local authorities have no time for sport.
But here's where they lose out over there. Here if you want to play cricket, you sign up and get put into a team. Their clubs have 2, sometimes 3 teams at most plus junior sides. If you aren't good enough to make a team, you don't play. Then their whole system in getting through levels of cricket is much different. From village cricket you go straight to county and you need to be scooped up young or you miss out. In Sydney there is the grade competition in between and your age is not a restricting factor in moving up.
Could our method of bringing players up be far superior to England's? I'm guessing this plays a big role. Players who could be the next superstar could develop late, but if they didn't get noticed early they are lost. They also don't play a lot of the longer form of the game. Club games are one dayers, 40 over each. This doesn't provide a good breading ground for quality test players.
Their system may not produce a world leading cricket side, but to play in England, as many people stated on my recent tour, is cricket heaven. Every village club has their own home ground, usually owned or leased by the actual club. If a club doesn't have a ground, councils do their best to sort one out for them and then often builds them a clubhouse. Out of the 17 clubs we played on tour 17 had their own turf wicket, 17 had a clubhouse and 16 had tap beer.
What a contrast to cricket hell on the Northern Beaches. Terrible astro pitches, dead and/or weedy outfields (or perhaps just dirt) and what is this clubhouse thing you speak of? Here we have to fight for the council for the upkeep of facilities. In England they would laugh at us. Our local authorities have no time for sport.
But here's where they lose out over there. Here if you want to play cricket, you sign up and get put into a team. Their clubs have 2, sometimes 3 teams at most plus junior sides. If you aren't good enough to make a team, you don't play. Then their whole system in getting through levels of cricket is much different. From village cricket you go straight to county and you need to be scooped up young or you miss out. In Sydney there is the grade competition in between and your age is not a restricting factor in moving up.
Could our method of bringing players up be far superior to England's? I'm guessing this plays a big role. Players who could be the next superstar could develop late, but if they didn't get noticed early they are lost. They also don't play a lot of the longer form of the game. Club games are one dayers, 40 over each. This doesn't provide a good breading ground for quality test players.
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