AB v Murali

The first test pretty much went to plan as far as the aussies were concerned, although Cricket Aust. may not be as happy, with a very poor attendance across all days.

Obviously the rain didn't help, but i guess the cricket public don't think much of the chances of Sri Lanka even though they're ranked No. 3 of the test playing nations. Hopefully the good folks of Tassie will turn up in numbers.

In some ways I hope this helps C.A and the grounds that hold the fixtures rethink their heavy handed policies regarding crowd control and the consumption of alcohol, the cricket is supposed to be a good day out for all involved and if you were to put the number of people through the gates up against the number that are ejected from the ground for unruly behaviour, I think it would be quite a small percentage, even when the poms are here and known to enjoy a lager at the game. Yes we want it to be attractive to families, but come on banning the mexican wave and selling only lite beer are just ridiculous and all that achieves is making it less enjoyable for all and lets not even start about the puncturing of beach balls by security staff if the balls land on the playing surface, absurd!!!

I know about two seasons ago, I spent the whole first session at the pub knocking back a few cold ones watching on the tv before venturing into the ground, just so i could enjoy a cold full strenght beer!

This post was only supposed to be a short note about the 1st test and a little story told by Ian Healy (former Aust. keeper) about the first time that Murali bowled to the great Allan Border, a renown player of spin bowling, well AB faced up and played inside the first ball and looked back down the pitch at this unusual bowler, this continued for the whole over, Murali bowling AB playing and missing and looking a little bemused. At the end of the over Healy walks down the pitch for a chat with his captain and AB says "I'm really having trouble picking this young leg spinner"! to which Healy replies "that's because I'm pretty sure he's bowling off spin AB"!

till next time

Cricket

Get out your hat, grab some sunscreen and get settled in for another summer of cricket, there is nothing Sportsmouth enjoys more then a day or 5 at a test, watching Aust. put all opponents to the sword (I must admit, it was much more enjoyable when you could get a full strength beer!).

This new season brings us two opponents, who have traditionally struggled out here, being Sri Lanka and India, although at times have certainly put up the odd fight with the most memorable or should I say most boring, when India scored about 700 in the first innings a few seasons back at the SCG Test.

Lets start with the first opponents, Sri Lanka.

If memory serves me correctly have only beaten us once in a test and that was in Sri Lanka and I don't think they'll beat us here, but they do have some genuine test class cricketers, Sangakkara, Murali, Jayawardene and Jayasuriya and throw Chaminda Vaas in as well. But the core of this team still lies with Murali, Jayasuriya andVaas, who are well into their mid to late thirties, sure they may produce the odd moment of brilliance, but only Murali still produces on a regular basis and Aust. play him as well as any team. Jayawardene is a good captain and pretty handy with the bat, while Sangakkara is their best batsmen, but will have to produce probably after long stints in the field with the gloves on, as he's also the first choice keeper, so just imagine having to keep to Murali for 50 overs, then changing pads and having to bat!!

They will keep us honest, but don't think they can win a test here. Murali......okay I still don't agree with his action being legal, nor do i agree with the ICC bending over and changing the interpretation of the bowling laws, buts whats done is done and we just have to accept that he'll take a few wickets and will probably end up being the greatest wicket taker ever, I really do not believe that his record will ever be under threat.

Now, before I go a word on Twenty20 or however they write it, if you want to watch or play 20 overs per side, go down to your local oval and support your local under 12's I'm sure they'd appreciate it and that is where 20 over cricket should stay!

I'll get to India after we despose of Sri Lanka.

The team Sportsmouth would pick for the first test.

Hayden
Jacques
Ponting
Clarke
Hussey
Symonds
Gilchrist
Hogg
Lee
Clark
Hilfenhaus

Hogg is bowling well, better then MacGill and MacGill is not fit at the moment and the Gabba is not a spinners pitch (Warne excluded, it was one of his most successful Aust. grounds) so Hogg who bowls with more control and bounce then MacGill should get a start, let MacGill grind a few overs out in shield cricket until India arrive. Hilfenhaus I hear Qld's scream what about Johnson, well he bowls pretty good, but hasn't proved it in the long form of the game, yes he can bowl some unbelievable balls, but they seem to be split with some very erratic stuff of which he may get away with in one day cricket because he has boundary riders to cover, but in a test, just let him go until you get the ball you want, which you know is coming! Hilfenhaus is a genuine swing bowler who would enjoy the conditions at the Gabba on day one and I believe has the ability to become a Terry Alderman type of bowler for us. Even the very best are troubled by good swing bowling, an opening batsmans worst nightmare......take guard on leg, first ball......looks to be angled towards leg, make small adjustment to dispatch of first ball gift.....oh shit, is that swinging towards off.........try and get forward.....no try and go back (first and second slip rub their hands in waiting)......prod, yes prod outside off.........!!!!!

cheers

Rugby & The World Cup Final

It's over for another four years, the springboks outlasted the poms in a snooze fest kickathon, which as far as I'm concerned showed rugby at it's worst, when it was supposed to be the show piece of the sport!!!

Which brings me to something a friend said the other day, "I'm really not liking rugby at the moment, and I'm struggling to remain interested in the games as they are dull and full of kicking"!

I totally agree and would like to see the stellenbosch laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellenbosch_Laws given a real chance to free the game up, but it won't really solve the problem. For the main problem lies with the players, as far as sportsmouth is concerned, it looks like they are so scared of losing that they resort to these tactics for if they were to take a chance and mess it up they would not want to be known as the one to have "dropped the world cup"!!

The super rugby and club rugby formats have less pressure on the individual players, where one loss does not end your season until finals time, but by then the players are usually so used to playing their particular style of rugby that they actually play rugby to win. Playing to win and playing not to lose are very different mind sets.

With the sport being professional and the players only having a short time frame to make a living, being dropped from the national side because you took a chance or two and failed, doesn't exactly give you great bargaining power when it comes time for contract renogoiations.

I may be wrong.

Diving Police

Dear Sportsmouth,

I do enjoy the game of football (soccer) and am pleased to see the Australian A-League starting to get to a reasonably competitive level. John Aloisi's return is a great thing for the game here and the influx of Brazilian players makes the game even better to watch. The A-League needs to take one step in my opinion. It's one that FIFA don't have the balls to take at risk of offending the large powers in world football I'm guessing. The step involves the eradication of diving to time waste and procure free kicks and penalties.

It's the single biggest reason I also hate the game. The stakes in football are high. A goal is worth so much as is the game itself these days and players will do whatever they can in order to get a win. You can't blame them. Now of course one can recall the Australia v Italy game at the recent World Cup as an example but it happens in almost every game I watch. I watched bits and pieces of the Women's World Cup and was pleased to see none of it happening at all for some time until I watched Brazil play late in the tournament and the game nose dived for me once again. Quite disgraceful.

So as much as the A-League would like to stay in line with the FIFA rules ans regulations, they should go out on a limb here and introduce the only way of stamping this out of the game: video review. I'm not talking about mid-game video review which sees most traditional football fans jump out of there recliners and scream "sacrilege" (although I wouldn't mind seeing it, but that's another issue), I'm talking about post-game video review. Every game in the A-League is broadcast on Fox Sports and it would not take a lot to review each game and cite players who have taken a dive. If a player is found guilty of diving, a big penalty results. It has to be a big one. Perhaps 4 or 5 games as a base?

It would definitely stop most diving in the league here and would make big headlines in the world of football. Our little league down here doing something that no one else has the courage to do. We may still have a problem of diving in finals which can have a large bearing on the game but perhaps that's when mid-game reviews wouldn't go astray.

Michael

Moto GP

Moto GP is for any motorsport enthusiast, a weekend of bikes, bikes and beer!! The Phillip Island GP takes place a few km's from the town of Cowes, which becomes a hub for the whole event, with many of the stars regulars at the few restaurants that exist in town. As the photo shows, Moto GP star Colin Edwards couldn't wait to be in a photo with sportsmouth and friends at the best pizza joint in town and is a good indication of the relaxed atmosphere that exists around this event and also why the riders love to come to Australia for this round.

As for the results, well Casey Stoner (aussie) continued to dominate with a very popular win in the main category followed by his teammate Loris Capirossi and all time legend Valentino Rossi. The other two Aussies in the event performed well, but were probably dissapointed to not have finished higher at their home GP.

All in all this is an awesome weekend of bikes, bikes and beer and if you're one of those naysayers, who suggest these guys are overpaid for what they do, I suggest that you come and see for yourself, once you see them flying down the main straight at over 300km/h, you may change your mind while thinking to yourself, they couldn't pay me enough to do that!!

And about the only technical knowledge I have is that at anytime, the amount of contact the bike tyre has on the track, is about the same width as your credit card!! At 300km/h I'm sure it feels alot less!!

Big pay checks, yes, bigger balls, you bet!!!!!

A good reason to pick England

This was emailed to me by a friend, please read with all the sarcasm you can muster!!!

Actually I am picking England because:

Jonny Wilkinson is a god.

Mike Catt is one of the greatest players of all time

Brian Ashtons magnificent game plan against Australia was just pure genius – I mean who would have thought that England would play aggressive, forward driven 10 man rugby. I didn’t see it coming. Clive Woodward was knighted for his services to rugby, they will have to marry this guru to one of the Royal Family.

They beat us without the pace and grace of Andy Farrell. Really, when this amazing athlete is fit who will be able stop the English Juggernaut.

I cant stand Bernard Laporte. He looks like the evil German out of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The English management cleverly got Steve Harmisson to give the Wallabies a speech on how to perform in pressure situations in sport.

The fact that the English front row were able to just hold their own against the murderous Australian front row. Phil Vickery must have been having nightmares all week about facing Dunning.

They showed extreme composure and excellent sportsmanship by not falling about in laughter when Stephen Moore attempted to clear the ball from off the wallabies line.

So, time to pack away the Wallabies Jersey and pull out my old white rash vest and get behind the English.

Can someone e-mail we the words to God Save the Queen?

Brent Berrick

Mmm....whoops!

I think they may have been the words uttered by both the New Zealand and Australian coaching staff, after watching their respective teams go down in the quarter finals of the rugby world cup!

The Wallabies, to say they were terrible would be talking them up and I'm not saying that because I'm a one eyed (I really have two eyes!) Aussie, but their game plan seemed to consist of trying to make England believe they were playing against inept school boys and thus lull them into also making school boy errors like we did, then bam, smash 'em!!!

So our scrum got smashed, but we knew it would, but it just had to hold on long enough to get the ball in and out, but Gregan continually took an age to get the ball in, which didn't help. The forwards as a whole were disgraceful, never really competing in any area, all in all terrible. The back line struggled, as any backline will that doesn't have a reasonable forward platform, buth they also were well below par, kicking with no apparent purpose and when they did hit the line and look to offload.....nothing, not one support player!

I believe that the wallabies are the most overcoached team in the world, but in all the wrong areas, i'm sure they could all to a man tell you about an oppositon teams strengths and weaknesses and so forth, but I've yet to see a top tier nation produce so many basic errors with ball in hand and at the breakdown!!!

Try this for the first few sessions next year, catch and pass, catch and pass!!!

As for the All Blacks, as much as their supporters complain about a forward pass that went unnoticed, what also seems to have gone unnoticed is the fact that the so called best team in the world led twice, once by 13 points and again later by 5!! So they couldn't close it out and lost to the French again when it really counts!!

As for the other two matches, I cheered on Fiji and thought just maybe when they had fought back to 20 apiece, but they were done in the end, and Argentina have made their first semi final and a just reward for that first up win against France.

France to beat the Poms and Boks to beat Pumas!