Where the Hell is Stuey?

In my last post I rattled off a list of quicks who could potentially join the Aussie squad. I realised last night as the Indians took apart our attack that I had completely forgotten about someone I have campaigned for in the past.

For some reason I just thought he was already over there, perhaps the idea that he is not in the Aussie squad just seems ridiculous to me. In fact it is ridiculous, with Lee injured Clark should be the next in line to make the Aussie squad. I feel like I am on repeat, I am sure I've said this before, but having someone with a record like Stuart Clark not even sitting on the sidelines, but in fact in a different country, is a joke.

I'd like to think that we would want to win every ODI we play in, but some times it seems as though its more about giving guys experience, like Hilfenhaus (who will probably never make it in ODI's, especially in India) and Bollinger (who's career is probably being hurt by being part of a squad and not playing rather than being at home playing domestic matches).

Get Stuey back in there!

Selectors at it Again, Decisions made on T20 Form

Johnson, Lee and Hopes have all hit the deck and rightfully so the Aussies have shipped over a backup to bolster to the injury hit squad.

2 specialist bowlers down, you would think that the selectors would bring over another to cover, perhaps a Brett Geeves, a Dirk Nannes or a Shane Harwood. All of them have good records for the respective states in Domestic One Dayers.

But instead the selectors have decided to pull the wild card and 22 year old Moises Henriques has found himself on a plane back to India after just returning.

So perhaps some of the reasons the selectors chose Henriques are: he's young and promising and time with the Aussie squad could do him wonders and he's an all rounder to cover for Hopes.

Now if they don't expect him to play, that sits fine with me. But what gets me, is when they say that he was picked off the back of a successful Champions League Twenty20. Domestic Twenty20 matches count NOTHING towards being picked for your country to play ODIs.

What matters is that Moises' One Day record isn't that good. He's never hit a 50 and his average is under 20. His bowling average is approaching 40 and his economy is 5 and a half. He may be a young player with potential, but he has done nothing to warrant getting selected for Australia.

Andrew McDonald must be a bit confused at the moment. Selectors stuck with him last summer despite heavy criticism and now the team needs to call up an all rounder and he's forgotten. And on a side note, his Champions League Twenty20 stats were better than Henriques'! (Not that it should matter anyway).

So my message to the selectors is simple. Do not ever pick players on Twenty20 form unless it is actually for a Twenty20 side, and if Henriques is over there simply to get experience amongst the Aussie squad, then they so!

Oh wait I just figured out the real reason he got picked... Guess which state he's from.

Covell Award '09 Finale

What you have all been waiting for has arrived, you chance to elect this years Covell Award recipient!

Will it be the best kicker in the world? Could it be a young star? Or perhaps it will be the man himself!

If you need a recap, here is a video of all the nominees!



So now, get voting! Who will be the Covell Award winner for 2009???

NRL Remove TC Ink Video From YouTube

Yesterday morning we received an e-mail from YouTube entitled "Video Removed: Copyright Infringement‏". Great, I thought, it could be any of my videos, pretty much all of them rip off channel 9 or Fox coverage.

But rather than ridding the video world of Gus Gould's voice or entertaining bad kicks they decided to ping me on the serious video backing up the article on the stupid kick into the ref rule.

Why, I thought, did the get that one. After I thought about it, it could have been because of a few reasons. Notably that video had over 5k views and also, I think the main reason, was because it had "NRL" in the title.

There are THAT many clips on YouTube stealing Channel 9 or Fox coverage of footy, some have tonnes of views and have been around for ages. It seems weird that they got rid of ours.

Anyway, perhaps it was because it was making obvious a, well, obvious flaw in the League rule book. We can only hope that when they noticed that video that they took notice, and read the comments supporting the changing of such a stupid rule.

So I've been taught a lesson here at least, don't put NRL in the video name. And everyone can rest easy, the Covell award will have a finale!