The World Of Jadeey

It's time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye



Nathan Astle. My second favourite NZ player ever. After work on the day I heard he was retiring I went home and put my "Nathan Astle Master Blaster" dvd in the machine and just watched it. That 222 of his was one of the most amazing moments in cricket I have ever witnessed. Unfortunately I didn't witness it in person, just on tv but I was still blown away. I couldn't tear myself away from the television. The fact that it came only days after Adam Gilchrist posted the fastest test double century ever wasn't bad either. I always like to topple the Aussies!

Nathan will be very missed by me and by virtually every other NZ cricket fan. It's been said many times by many people with far more expertise than me that he is quite probably our best ever ODI batsman. 16 ODI centuries puts him WAY above any other NZ'er in terms of stats. The thing he lacked that keeps players like Glenn Turner and Martin Crowe ahead of him in most people's minds is his lack of consistency. I watch every game I possibly can and I still feel that I only saw Nath at his best a few times. No matter how bad his form was though I was always sure big things were going to happen every time I watched him come out to bat. Had he been consistent I imagine he had the chance to be the best batsman the worlds ever seen.

He began his career for Canterbury as a bowler who could bat a bit. Batted at 10 in his first few games actually. But he went on to be a batsman who will go down in New Zealand, and world, cricket history.

My first memory of Nathan Astle is during the 1996 home cricket season. England were touring and it looked like we were going to crash to defeat in the first test, sad when our first innings had included Stephen Fleming's debut (I think) test century. Nath stayed in the middle as wickets tumbled all around him. He finally found a partner to stay with him in the most unlikely of candidates, Danny Morrison. While poor Danny was feeding him the strike at every opportunity and really just battling to stay out there, Nathan Astle calmly stroked his way to 102*. The test ended in a draw and my heart had been captured by Nathan Astle, this unassuming player I had never noticed before. (When I say heart I mean cricket heart, not actual heart - that was reserved for Stephen Fleming ;-) )

I've watched or listened to or read about a lot of other centuries from Nathan Astle since then. The moment that sticks out most for me, as I've already mentioned, was his 222. We didn't win the game that day but I don't think many Kiwi's remember the final result or even care.

Fond personal memories of Nathan Astle include the day I went to get his book signed. I was early and got to have a brief chat to him. Nothing exciting but I still remember how friendly he was.

The other was back when I was 16. I was in Napier with some friends doing a cricket tour. We'd already watched games in Wellington and Taupo and were just working our way up the country with the team. Wandering through a park the day before the game we happened upon the Black Caps practising. (It wasn't planned I swear!) We sat to watch a while and Matt Horne recognised us. He came over and gave us his cellphone number and the number of their hotel, telling us to give him a call tonight and we could join them for dinner. Nathan Astle had been standing near us and hurried to assure the four of us once Horne walked away that Matt Horne was just being friendly, not sleazy. He told us that the team knew we had been following them on the tour and that they were grateful for our support. He also commented that it was nice to have young, female fans who didn't go all silly and crazy. (ha little did he know how we were all feeling on the inside!)

I'm sad to see Nathan go, I've never felt this sad about a cricketer's retirement. I do admire him for making the decision now though. He said in his press release that he hasn't been feeling it for a while but had kept playing because he desperately wanted to play in one more world cup. He just realised that he didn't want to go into the world cup still not feeling it and let his mates down by failing there as well. That is an amazing attitude. To know your time has passed but that you will continue to be selected so, instead, walking away for the good of the team. That's totally the Nathan Astle I've always seen and admired.

We'll miss you Nath. Well played.


Nath's 222

From this day on
Now and forever more

Okay I'm feeling a little sad tonight. I'm moving to Auckland in 6 days (or maybe 7, I'm not actually sure when my flight is). I'm still looking forward to going but because it's now so close it has become real and I'm thinking about all the things I'm going to miss.

So here it is, a list of the things I'm going to miss most (in order I think, but I might change the order)

- Ingrid (she beats my parents only because I see her EVERY day whereas I only see them once a week at most)
- My parents
- All my other friends
- Little Felix the cat
- My other family members in Wellington (not trying to be mean putting them under my cat but I will probably see them just as often living in Auckland as I do living in Wellington!)
- My flatmate (who has been the best flatmate EVER, he is also included under friends but gets counted twice because he's been so fantastic)
- Sky sport (which I'll hopefully get eventually but not at first)
- My workmates
- My bed (not taking it with me, this might move further up the list if my bed up there is uncomfortable)
- My work
- My mac (not taking it)
- My car (not sure if I'm taking it or not yet)
- My shower (It's FANTASTIC, depending on the power of my shower up there this might also move up the list)
- My room (it's so nice and big!)
- My lovely, relaxing walk to work (it's one of my favourite parts of the day)


So there's my very materialistic list.

Seriously though, it's the people I'm going to miss most. The other stuff is sad but I don't really care all that much. If I did I'd be taking stuff like my mac and bed with me.

I wish I could take all the people with me. It's almost enough to stop me going. The only thing that's not letting me shout that I don't want to go after all is that I know I'd always regret not taking this opportunity. This is not what I want to do forever, not by any stretch of the imagination but it does seem to be what I'm going to be doing for the next little while so I might as well make the most of it.

I'm going up for 7 days to start with and then am back here ironing out the kinks at work for 10 days after that. It feels silly to be so upset when to start with I'm only going for 7 days. But it doesn't feel like I'm only going for 7 days. I'm going for good - it just so happens I'll be back for work 7 days after I leave. Nothing will be the same when i'm back though, I won't be the boss anymore (although I'm sure I'll still be treated that way), I won't live in my flat anymore, Felix won't be my cat anymore, this won't be the city I live in anymore.

Everything is changing and that is good. But damn I'm going to miss this place and these people.

Okay here is a post NOT about cricket just for Kat :) Although, my personal opinion is that anything I write about cricket is FAR more interesting than anything else I could possibly write about but perhaps I am alone in thinking this way. Well, probably not alone, I'm sure Sam will agree but he may be the only one.

I don't have a lot to write about really so I'm going to talk about something strange about myself. This is either going to make people think I am a total freak or maybe it's totally normal and I've just never realised other people do it too. Either way I think it illustrates how well suited I am to the idea of being a writer.

You see, I write stories in my head constantly. I do mean constantly and they're not stories I could write down on paper and sell for a tidy profit. In fact, fantasy might be a better way of describing them but that's not really right either. I'll try and explain better.

When I'm doing anything that doesn't require concentration - walking anywhere, lying in bed trying to sleep, sitting on the bus or train, showering, waiting for someone and anything else that might arise in my day that doesn't require concentration, I lose myself in daydreams, fantasies, stories, whatever the hell I should call them. These daydreams always follow a story-type format. They have a beginning, middle and end and they are LONG. They can take me anywhere from 2 days to a week to complete in my head.

I am (almost) always the star, which is neat since my life is far better in my head than it is in actuality. But it is actually like reading a book in my head about myself. Conversations are there as well as hugely long descriptions of what is going on around me. The way it is imagined for me can take on two formats depending on what I am doing. One is when it really is just words in my head and it will be exactly like reading a book, to the extent that there will even be the words "I said" or "and then I walked over to the mailbox and opened it."

If I really don't have to be concentrating at all, so if I'm on the bus or going to sleep it will play out more like a movie. The "I said"'s will disappear and instead I will just see myself saying it and I'll hear the words. (Wow, written like that it does make me seem like a freak.)

The subject matter varies. For example, for the last couple of days I was in a Harry Potter type world and because my family was pure-blooded I had to have an arranged marriage to keep our pure bloodline going. I didn't like the person my parents chose for me but couldn't argue because that would be disrespectful. It was a heap longer than that and a lot more happened but that was the basic gist of it.

Weird huh? I have no idea where it came from and to call it a fantasy would be completely wrong since, while I would love to be magic, I don't want an arranged marriage. Particularly to someone I don't even like. They are kind of like dreams in that they just come to me and play out in my head for no discernible reason. I don't sit there thinking "and this could happen next". It just happens as though it was already written and I'm just reading/watching it.

Some are a bit more normal than that too. Last week I moved to Scotland and spent 6 months doing nothing but writing. That one was more like a fantasy because it's something I've actually considered doing numerous times and something that is potentially going to happen at some point in the next couple of days.

This is also how the stories I write come to me. Suddenly the story will be in my head and I know exactly how I'm going to want it to go. I then just have to get it down on paper.

So, have I lost all of my friends because you all think I'm far too weird? Hopefully not! I've been doing it for as long as I can remember so it doesn't change who I am! :) (I'm wondering if I'm going to be bombarded with people telling me I'm not weird and that everyone does it. It'd be nice to not think I'm a freak for it but when, on occasion, I've asked people if they do it the reply has always been no not to that extent.)

To move onto a topic that doesn't potentially make me look like a freak... Something awkward happened today. A friend of mine texted me and said that now I'm back from Australia we should get together and exchange Christmas presents. The problem is I haven't bought her anything and had no plans to. I also can't imagine how much she spent on me so don't know how much I should go out and spend. I could have just told her I haven't bought her anything but politeness won out and I just replied that yeah we should. So now I've got to put her off as long as I can while I figure out what in the hell to get her. I thought I was all done with my Christmas shopping. What a pain in the bum!

One final note - it's my birthday in exactly 2 weeks. 31st of January people! Remember that date. I'll be 25 and I expect lots of happy birthday text messages!! I'm very excited (while also a little terrified about being old) I love my birthday, it is by far my favourite day of the year. So excited!!

The cricket is making me sad right now so here is a video that makes me very, very happy. It's Shane Bond's hat-trick against Australia from Sunday.

Enjoy.

The New Zealand squad for the world cup has been named.

Shit it makes me mad. For one simple reason I am annoyed and that reason is the lack of Jesse Ryder. Bracewell is crazy, I can't figure out why he is continuously overlooking Ryder.

I wouldn't be so annoyed if it wasn't for the fact that the squad named is a 30-man squad and includes 3 uncapped players and a few others who I can't believe have been named. If you're going to name 3 uncapped players then what is the harm in naming Jesse Ryder?

Gareth Hopkins - Has played 5 (I think) matches for NZ but has only batted once. In that one innings he scored exactly 0. This is not a bowler people. He's a wicket-keeper and, yes, he's a pretty decent one but I think Chris Nevan would have been a better option as back-up wicket keeper. Or even Tim McIntosh.

Michael Mason - Well, I'm just not a Michael Mason fan so don't want him in the team. Hopefully I'll be proved as wrong as I was when I used to rant about the uselessness of Kyle Mills.

Nathan McCullum (Brendon McCullum's older brother) - I'll admit right now that I haven't really been following our domestic season this year but I definitely haven't noticed him do anything special. Right now I'll reserve judgement on him since I've never seen him play but, usually, when a players nearing selection for New Zealand I hear about them a lot.

Peter McGlashan - I don't understand this one. Obviously Bracewell is thinking in terms of post-world cup and post-Brendon McCullum as wicket keeper but McGlashan wouldn't be my pick for McCullum's replacement. His FC batting average is pretty poor and, as far as I know, his keeping isn't stunning enough to make up for that. Tim McIntosh would be a better future prospect - get him working on his wicket keeping at domestic level rather than being back-up keeper for Auckland.

Iain O'Brien - His FC economy rate is good. Around 2.5 but he can't bat AT ALL. I think in FC matches he averages about 8. We just don't need another bunny with the bat who's just bowling medium pacers. We can find all-rounders with O'Brien's bowling skill.

Mark Orchard - An all-rounder and a fairly decent one by all accounts. Averages about 30 with the bat for Northern. A medium pacer with a bowling average in the low 30's and an economy rate of below 3.

It's particularly when I look at the selection of Mark Orchard that I get fucking angry that Jesse Ryder hasn't been selected. It's an unfortunate fact that I have learned to live with that New Zealand players don't generally have batting averages above the mid-30's, even at first class level. I think this fact alone highlights why we have always had such a problem with batting collapses at the highest level of the game.

So, why has an all-rounder with a batting average of around 30 been selected when we have an all-rounder (who also happens to specialise in opening the batting - an area we area we are in strife with at the moment) who averages in the mid to high 40's at first class level? His bowling average is in the mid 20's and his strike rate is about the same as Orchards. On paper I know which player I'd be picking and I can't see any reason for Ryder's exclusion. He's been absolutely brilliant for Wellington so far this season. Mark Orchard's quite a bit older I think but that's a stupid reason to pick him over Ryder. (Ryder's 22 so hardly too young).

Grrrr Bracewell makes me so angry I can't even stand it.

Sorry for any mistakes in stats I've made. I haven't got much time so haven't checked everything on cricinfo, just taken the stats out of my head so it's possible I've got them wrong. I might check them up later and get them accurate but don't hold your breath! (Oh and please, no-one be scared that I carry these sorts of stats around in my head. Cricket is my passion and I can't help it.)

I often get accused by my dad of being far too optimistic and supportive of the New Zealand cricket team. As I try to avoid jinxing them I will often speak very loudly about how they suck and how there is no way they can win. Anyone who knows me well knows that this is just for show and that inside I will be thinking they can win right up until they actually lose.

I'm not sure why my dad thinks that a secret part of me hoping maybe we can pull off a miracle even when we are 70/9 chasing 250 is a bad thing. Our team needs people to believe in them because a lot of the time they don't seem to believe in themselves.

We lost the game against Australia yesterday. Even with the result being so poor I'm actually very positive about the game.

Taylor again showed his class. He could be the next Martin Crowe. Yes, I know this was also said about Stephen Fleming and he's just never quite delivered but hopefully Taylor will succeed where Fleming failed.

Gillespie was, once again, troubling the batsmen and bowling nice and quick. Let's just hope he doesn't turn out to be as injury-prone as Shane Bond. I enjoy the thought of Gillespie and Bond bowling in tandem at the World Cup in March. It's not quite McGrath and Lee but, for New Zealand, it's pretty damn exciting.

Patel continued to impress me as a spin option. For many years I've liked Daniel Vettori but always said that I accept him only because he's the best we've got. Being the best we've got does not mean he's great. Some people tout him as our best ever, most brilliant spinner but in my opinion he's really rather average. To me Patel seems to be a much better option and would probably take Vettori's spot if it wasn't for two vital factors. Vettori is being groomed as our next captain so will have his place in the team assured for many years to come which is unfortunate if he's not the best spin option we have anymore. Unlike Australia, we continue to select the person who is our captain even when they are completely underperforming. (I adore Stephen Fleming but there have been many times he should have been dropped and sent back to Wellington to play domestic cricket and find his form again. Instead he is allowed to stay in the team purely because he's the captain) The other reason Patel will probably never take Vettori's spot is his batting. Vettori has proven himself to be pretty useful with the bat whereas Patel is very much a 10 or 11. (I'm not one of the MANY people who consider Vettori an allrounder. He is, most definitely, a bowler who can bat a bit in certain circumstances.)

Then of course there was Shane Bond. He is definitely not bowling at his best but he is getting back there. He's already said that he'll never again be bowling at the speeds he was before his injury but his speeds are looking pretty good. He was up in the high 140kmph's for a lot of his overs. Even his slower ball, which is so slow it bounced twice between the stumps and McCullum, is 131kmph! His hat-trick yesterday was bloody fantastic. Even better because it came after 22 runs being taken off his previous over. Yes, I know it would have been better if 22 runs hadn't been taken off his previous over but to come back with 3 wickets as your reply is excellent. It wasn't an easy hat-trick either. First was White then, because the batsmen crossed as the ball was in the air, Symonds. Now, that means he got both batsman who were on fire and had blasted him only one over before. The final wicket, that of Bracken, was by far his best ball and would have got a far better batsman than Bracken out. So, all in all, a stunning hat-trick.

So there's the good stuff. Now for the reasons we didn't win and what I think needs to be done.

Franklin. He's a good test bowler and has really been working on his batting recently. BUT he is not a ODI bowler and his batting is nowhere near good enough to justify his selection. He should be a definite for tests but should be kept out of the ODI side. The only thing continually selecting him is going to do, other than reducing our chances of winning, is destroy the poor man's confidence and reduce him to a pile of rubbish who isn't even useful at test level.

Our hideously long tail. As I've said before, one of New Zealand's strengths has always been our middle and lower batting order being able to dig us out of trouble. This was our batting order yesterday:

McCullum (previously batted at about 7)
Astle
Fleming (prefers 4)
Taylor (prefers 3)
Fulton
McMillan
Vettori (I think he is a genuine number 9, 8 at a stretch)
Franklin (Again, should be down at 9 or, preferably, 10)
Bond (should be 10 or 11)
Gillespie (without question a number 11)
Patel (absolute bunny)

I think that is probably one of the longest tails in world cricket at the moment. Just by taking Franklin out and replacing him with a batsman this problem would be on its way to being solved. Styris is the most obvious choice but he's injured at the moment so not actually an option.

I'm sick of this batting order stupidness as well. I can see why McCullum was trialled as an opener but it's time to give it up. I much prefer seeing him at 7 or 8. Preferably 7 so he has a chance to finish an innings for us without running out of partners. This leaves Vettori in the number 8 spot, not ideal but a hell of a lot better than what we've got now. Then there is the switching Fleming from his preferred spot (as he's said about a million times) of 4. There is no need to put him at 3 when Taylor is brilliant in that role and seems very stable there as well.

I feel Bracewell and the selectors made a vital error not blooding Ryder at the same time as Taylor (actually, I would have liked both of them to be selected this time last year). I don't approve of a young guy being blooded overseas, particularly against opposition like Australia but I think with Ryder we might not have a choice now. McCullum is not working as an opener so why not select Ryder who is a specialist opener and who looks to have all the talent and confidence in the world. Bring him in today and he can have his first match against England. England's bowling attack is so weak that it will still be a nice, gentle first match for him.

Arguments against bringing him over now are sound. We've ruined plenty of young guys before by bringing them into tours of Australia. Matthew Bell springs immediately to mind. I don't think he's ever been the same since his failures against Australia. BUT at this point, 2 months out from the world cup, with our team in total disarray we need to do something different, take some risks. This is something that should have actually been done a year or more ago and it fills me with anger that it wasn't.

Bringing in Ryder to open with Astle still leaves us with a slightly dodgy tail but it's acceptable. We don't really have a choice when our leading bowlers can't really bat to save their lives.

Ryder
Astle
Taylor
Fleming
Fulton
McMillan
McCullum
Vettori
Bond
Gillespie
Patel

Our bowling isn't even compromised with this since Franklin hasn't been bowling out his ten because he keeps getting blasted out of the attack. It still leaves us with 2 frontline fast bowlers and two spinners. So, 4 specialist bowlers. Now that McMillan is back in the team (for better or worse) when Styris and Oram come back I could happily accept replacing Patel with one of them if the it's not a wicket that's not going to produce much spin. Ryder can also bowl a little so our part-time options are looking pretty good. Bringing in Styris for Patel really fixes up our batting order as well and makes me a lot more confident.

The current Australian side seems unbeatable. They bat all the way down and have a bowling attack that can cause a batting order to completely collapse. They never take their foot of the throttle, never give other teams an inch. When this is the opposition's top/middle order you know, as a bowling side, you've got problems.

Gilchrist
Hayden
Ponting
Clarke
White
Symonds

What I wouldn't give for any one of those players in our side. However, they are still just a team and, while they seem unbeatable they're not. If we don't beat them even once on this tour then I'm going to be very disappointed. A very small part of me hopes we are completely destroyed now and again in the World Cup. That way Bracewell will be dumped as coach and hopefully we can get someone decent in who actually knows what they are doing. The flip-side to this is I'm very competitive so can't stand losing therefore will be depressed for ages if we do get crushed. Also, as it is probably Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle's last world cup I don't want it to be humiliating. I admire the two of them far too much to wish that upon them even if it did mean more success for the team in the long run.

After the game yesterday I got a text from my cousin in Australia. He thinks, and I find myself agreeing more and more, that I should move over there, call myself an Australian and start supporting the Australian team rather than the Black Caps. The trouble is, I don't think I could ever commit to that 100%. I could call myself an Australian and outwardly support the Aussies but inside I'd still be crying whenever NZ lost to them.

Face it, I'm a Kiwi through and through.

have absolutely no reflection on how I feel about you

Edit - the following is not true... It's purely imagination and, because it isn't actually a story cannot be published as such. Therefore I decided to put it here.

So I told a guy I loved him today. Always a scary thing to do but I was pretty confident about the response I was going to get. In fact, I wasn't really worried about it at all and it kind of just came out. There was a brief moment of anxiety when it first slipped out but then I felt relaxed. I had no question how he felt so I needn't be worried. It was a natural progression after all.

I got half the response I expected but the other half was anything but what I expected. In fact it came from so far left-field that I'm still not sure what I think about it.

He does love me too BUT he also got another girl pregnant while I was away. So that basically sucks.

I sure know how to pick 'em. From my very first mini-crush (a guy 5 years older than me who later turned out to be gay) I've been making the wrong choices. Someone once pointed out to me that this is quite normal. After all, all it takes is one. We can only get it right once. But what if I've already had that once?

As is always the case with me I spend the first few hours of a heart-break grieving, not for the one I have just lost but for the one I lost long ago. The grieving for the one I have just lost will come later. (Edit: It's been 3 days and I still don't actually care that I got cheated on. This makes me realise that I wasn't in love with him at all. I just wanted to be because it would be convenient. Fuck, I'm worse than he is.)

I'm pretty sure I met the love of my life when I was eleven years old. Maybe it's not true, maybe I just think that because he was taken from me. Maybe I'm just remembering him with rose-tinted glasses but I think he was perfect. I think our life together would have been perfect.

I can still remember times spent laughing, spent teasing each other, spent arguing, spent just sitting quietly together enjoying each others company. He was the best friend I ever had and I still miss him every single day. My memories of him have faded with time, as memories are wont to do. But they are not gone, they will never be gone. I can now no longer bring his image to mind in a general sense and haven't been able to in many years. I can picture him in memories, doing things he actually did do but the image of him is hazy now.

I remember the one night I spent with him. I was only eleven so, obviously, I mean that in a completely innocent way but it was magic. He held me all night and that was the night I fell in love with him I think. I was a fairly innocent eleven year old, I'd had my first kiss but hadn't thought much of it, so to me the idea of a boyfriend was holding hands. I didn't even think of him as a boyfriend, he was just my best friend. I was pretty sure I was going to marry him when I grew up but I didn't have the experience to think about what that meant in sexual terms. To me, to us, it was a pure, innocent kind of love.

I told him the next day, after that night together, that I loved him. He told me he loved me too and that we would get married someday. It didn't change anything in our friendship. Times were different back then I think. Nowadays eleven year olds seem to be hooking up with each other and even having sex, but for us that never even crossed our minds, it wasn't like that.

The day he was taken from me is still one of my worst memories. It's not something I'll ever be able to forget and not something I ever want to forget. Even if I can never know that sweet, sweet feeling of being loved again my life was better just for having him in it. I wouldn't give up my memories of him for anything.

I think my eleven year old self summed it up best in my diary.

"My best friend promised he'd call after he ran to the shops.
He never called.
I miss him."

What on earth? Okay so I know it's not what it looks like but that is mighty funny. Especially given Bracken's expression.

"At the Australian team's Full Contact Charades competition Nathan Bracken fell agonisingly short after correctly guessing 'Shane Warne' with the reach around but then failing to recognise 'Ricky Ponting's thumb'. His guess of 'Kevin Pietersen' did, however, have his teammates in hysterics."

Feel free to post caption ideas in the comments section. (I'll fall off my chair in shock if anyone actually does. I can't even remember the last time I got a comment. Hint hint!)

Since I'm already going crazy with my posts from YouTube I thought I would continue by hunting down and posting the most spectacular New Zealand cricket moments I've seen. This should make people (here's looking at you Sam since I'm not sure that anyone else who reads on here actually cares at all about cricket) remember why they love The Black Caps.

Matthew Sinclair makes a stunning catch to get Matthew Hayden out during the Chappell Hadlee series 2005/2006 season.


Nathan Astle proving once again why he should be an automatic selection into our ODI team



Nathan Astle again. The most unbelievable catch I've ever seen

The first video is great because it shows the shot and the umpires reaction but you don't really see the catch since the camera man was expecting a 6. The second video then shows the catch in slow-motion so both are worth a watch. Note that Nathan Astle is not a tall man.





Runout.

This video is a bit long but I think is worth a look, unfortunately I couldn't find just the runout itself in a short video.


Chris Cairns completely fools Chris Read with a slower ball

The delivery that almost ended Chris Read's career



Lance Cairns smashing 6 sixes
I think every New Zealand cricket fan has seen this footage at one stage or another but it's always worth another look


The delivery that Kiwi's will be talking about until the end of time
If we're watching moments that have gone down in history then it'd be a sin for me to leave this off. The first video is just the delivery itself. Personally I'd recommend giving that a miss and watching the second video. This is an 8 minute video but shows the entire over and the reaction immediately afterwards. I'd never seen this before and found it fascinating. Embarrassingly, even though I knew the result, I found myself getting excited when Smith was on strike.






Shane Bond!
This is not a fantastic moment in cricket as much as it is showing off the brilliance that is Shane Bond



Last over of the second ODI against Sri Lanka 06/07
Again, not the most spectacular moment but one that had every New Zealander's (and every Sri Lankan's) hearts in their mouth. Poor Michael Mason must have been almost pooing his pants. I remember when Chris Pringle bowled the last over of a match when the scores were levelled and he managed to bowl a maiden. I couldn't believe it at the time and watching this totally brought that back to my mind but this time we were on the receiving end



Wouldn't it be nice if the world was Hadlee
This just had to be included because it is HILARIOUS!



Okay well that's it. I might add more if I come across them. Hope you enjoyed them!

I remember when the following video first made it onto the news the day after the incident occurred. Everyone was going crazy and baying for Stephen Fleming's blood. Mark Richardson and The Cricket Company quickly admitted it was a hoax and released the full video to prove it. It was a stunt prepared for the show that week and was never meant to be released when it was.

The news never showed the rest of the video as far as I know. All die-hard cricket fans would have found out that it was a joke but those that just saw the initial video on the news and judged Stephen Fleming off that probably still don't know the truth.

The link to this video on Youtube got emailed to me yesterday by someone who knows that I love Stephen Fleming. He didn't know it was a joke. It amuses me that 6 months on the video is still making the rounds. Poor Stephen Fleming, he probably regrets agreeing to the joke more than he regrets smoking dope in South Africa all those years ago!

My favourite ad EVER!



It's funny how accurate the ad is. Away from the beach togs do just look like undies. Awesome.

Apparently they have it in Australia as well but with the word 'togs' replaced by the word 'bathers'. Not sure if that's true or not since I didn't see it myself but it just doesn't seem to have the same ring to it as togs does.

I watched Australia slaughter the English for my entire Perth trip. For the first time in my life I was fully, 100% on the side of the Aussie's. Maybe that's because I'm considering becoming one but I think it really has more to do with the fact that I just cannot begrudge a team that good when they win.

New Zealand have headed to Hobart and will be taking part in the Commonwealth Bank Tri-series with England and Australia. While it is going to hurt when the Aussie's slaughter us (which they will, they are a sure-fire bet to win almost every game they play right now they're so on top of their game) it's not going to hurt as much as it used to. Right now they are just playing too well to be worried about losing to them. And if we manage a victory or two? Well, it'll just be even sweeter than usual.

But if we lose to England? That's really gonna hurt. England are a team on the brink of collapse. They have had a completely demoralising tour so far. It can't all be blamed on how well Australia are playing either since England also did embarrassingly badly in the Champion's Trophy late last year. Their excuse then was that they were too focussed on the Ashes. This was proven to be a lie a few weeks later when they couldn't even post a decent total let alone hold Australia back.

In saying that, even a team who seems completely down and out often only needs one, small, good thing to happen for them and it can completely turn them around. A win against New Zealand could be that thing. Hell, a score of 300+, even if they didn't then go on to win, could be just the thing. For both England's and cricket's sake I hope they do begin to improve. For the sake of my team I hope they don't. Lets face it, the less teams we have to struggle against in the World Cup the better.

I'm not sure about what England can do to fix their probelms either. Watching them during the Ashes and then again last night in their opening match of the CB Tri-series (Australia made their total of 240 look like a walk in the park) it looks like their problems are not just psychological but also technical. A lot of their players just aren't up to it technically at the moment. Kevin Pietersen's been sent home after being hit in the ribs by McGrath and that is a real blow to the team. Pietersen was probably the most consistent batsman throughout the Ashes and was definitely their best batsman last night.

Andrew (Freddie) Flintoff's cricket is struggling a lot and that is a danger for England. Flintoff is usually the one they look to when they are in trouble. He has the ability to dig them out of trouble and put them back on top, both with the bat and the ball. Last night he led England's bowling attack and opened with 11 runs off the first over. None of these runs came from the bat either. The first ball was a wide, the next went for 5 wides and three balls later he sent another one down for 5 wides. Obviously Flintoff's problems are all psychological but England desperately need to get him out of this funk. (He hadn't even shaved and, really, it should be against the law for red-heads to grow beards. Comments from a forum I read on - Originally Posted by _Ed_
[Freddie Flintoff] Looked to be running pretty gingerly after that last Ponting boundary.
That might have something to do with his beard though.
*snort* so funny)

Their new wicket-keeper surprised me. It was his debut ODI yesterday. That's not odd in itself. It's the fact that he is 36 years old that's the kicker for me. Why pick a player who's only going to be around for a year or two. Wicket keepers don't generally play until their early 40's. Keeping's just too hard on the body for that. Maybe if he was absolutely, mind-blowingly, brilliant but he's not. Or, he wasn't last night. He got a duck when batting and his keeping certainly wasn't anything special. He didn't manage to stop those wides of Flintoff's for a start. Also his technique is a bit odd when standing at the stumps to collect the ball. Most wicket keepers stand with their gloves as close to the stumps as possible so as to collect the ball and hit it straight onto the stumps to affect a run-out. This position also allows them to judge whether or not the throw will be a direct hit. Instead, Nixon stands in front of the stumps. This means he catches the ball rather than allowing for any direct hits. Every cricketer knows that every millisecond counts when trying for a run out and taking direct hits out of play loses the fielding side valuable milliseconds. His positioning also means when he does take the ball he has to reach back quite a long way to get the ball onto the stumps. Again valuable milliseconds are wasted.

Problems like these annoy me. They are, without doubt, coaching deficiencies. If Nixon really is the best keeper England can find at the moment then their coach should have noticed this little idiosyncrasy of his and should have worked on it. The coach should also have noticed that Flintoff is really struggling with the mental side of his cricket. New Zealand employ a sports-psychologist who travels with the team at all times for exactly this reason. It surprises me that England don't do the same.

Because I have mentioned the word 'coach' in a post about cricket I'm now going to have to change tack and focus on New Zealand cricket. I HATE John Bracewell. I admired him as a cricketer. He was never the best but he was gritty and determined. As a coach I can't stand him. He is AWFUL.

Some examples of the idiotic things he has done since taking the reigns. (And these are only the things I can think of off the top of my head)

- Taking so much responsibility off Stephen Fleming. Everyone who's watched New Zealand play over the last few years knows that Fleming plays better the more responsibility he's given. Also, the team responds to him so well that the whole team as a unit seem to play better. Flem used to have a hand in selections, now that has been completely taken off him. He doesn't even get a say in batting order anymore. Bracewell is a dictator and I'm almost surprised he hasn't come up with a way to tell Fleming every fielding position he wants at every moment and which bowler to bowl when. If the 12th man suddenly starts trotting onto the field at the end of every single over we'll all know why.

- Trialling Hamish Marshall as an opener when it's a position he has never played in at domestic level and he was appallingly out of form anyway. Bracewell kept him in that position for an entire season and I don't think he ever scored more than about 10. He should have been dropped not persisted with (I still maintain Bracewell mixed Hamish up with his brother James who IS an opening batsman)

- I have no proof of this but I have heard that he has made the team practice their batting blindfolded. Blindfolded!! He told them that it was to make them trust in their processes. Ummmmm how the fuck can you bat if you can't see the bloody ball?

- Trialling new players 3 months out from the world cup. This should have been done a year or two ago. Our team for the world cup should now be set, barring injury, and they should be playing together to get match-play as a unit.

- This ridiculous rotation policy. I understand rotation policies and approve of them if they are done well. Bracewell's isn't. He dropped Fleming for the first half of the Sri Lanka tour to give Vettori a chance at leading the team. This is crazy, Fleming was a bit out of form anyway and could have used the time to get himself back in. He is one player we NEED in form if we are going to have any hope of making any impression in the World Cup. Then, when he brought Fleming back in it was at the expense of Astle who was just coming off a century. Fine, he's in form so he doesn't need the match play. But it was an important game for us to win so we should have been fielding our strongest side. Also, Bond was never rotated out. He's our most fragile player and should be wrapped in cotton wool since he seems to be able to injure himself tying his shoelaces! If there's anyone the fucking rotation policy should be used for it's Bond!

- Letting us go into an important-to-win game with a ridiculously long tail when our batting previously had already been woeful. It wasn't our bowling side that needed bolstering, it was our batting. Yet, he did the opposite and the team responded by posting their lowest (or it might have been second lowest) total in history.

- Selecting Craig McMillan again. Yes, he was the top scorer in the last game and yes he's been doing okay at domestic level but he is just so inconsistent. We already have enough problems with consistency in our batting line-up without bringing the king of inconsistency back into the team.

- Not selecting Jesse Ryder. He should have been given the chance against Sri Lanka if Bracewell was so determined to select an entirely new team for the World Cup. He's been performing fantastically at domestic level and could be the answer to partner Astle at the top of the order.

- Playing around with our batting order so much. He took Astle away from his favoured opening position and only put him back when Astle mentioned in the media that he prefers opening and feels he plays better there. (Something fans knew and the coach of the team bloody should have known). He's moved McCullum up the order to open when McCullum has done the job for us so many times lower down the order. He's moved Vettori around when, like McCullum, Vettori has performed so well in his usual position. Batsman are funny people. They get a position they like and they often just don't perform as well if taken out of that position. So why the fuck is Bracewell messing with what works?

- Comments in the media like the one he made on Wednesday. "[England is] a side we hope have taken a dreadful towelling and will be blown apart in terms of morale by the time we arrive" This is an AWFUL comment for a number of reasons. One, it basically sounds like he's saying that now maybe we'll have a chance of beating them because their morale is low, rather than because our cricket is better. Two, making comments like that about other teams come across as a bit un-sportsman like. Three, what the fuck is 73 all out against Sri Lanka, Bracewell? Seems to me we've taken a dreadful towelling ourselves and should be blown apart in terms of morale. At least England were beaten by a fucking awesome team.

That's all I can think of right now but I guarantee you there are more.

Our team completely lacks consistency. Our fielding is the only thing I can think of to be proud of at the moment. Ross Taylor is looking good but I can't help thinking it's only a matter of time before Bracewell mucks that up. Gillespie is the same, he's doing well now but for how long?

Bracewell can't be blamed totally. Even with a terrible coach the Australian's would be a good team. But they have all of that individual talent to rely upon. They have 11 guys in their team that can single-handedly win the match for them. We have none that can be relied upon to do that. Our strength has always been in the unit, working together as a team. The Kiwi's need to remember that and start performing as a team again. If the openers fail then the number 3 and 4 have to stand up and make themselves counted. Players can't keep failing and expect their positions to be safe for the next match.

We need to take up Australia's offer to let us play in their domestic competition. If we field a North Island and South Island team in their domestic competition it can only make our cricket stronger. Our guys will then constantly be playing against strong competition and on fast, good tracks. Until this happens and until we get a decent coach I fear we're going to keep going downhill and will be the laughing stock of the cricket world for a long time to come.

Just to move to one final point before I stop boring everyone with my rambling. How many 'chuckers' are the ICC going to allow in the Sri Lankan team? I like Murali and I can accept that, maybe, his bowling action is legal. I'm not certain that having an arm that won't straighten therefore having no choice but to have a chucking action is a good enough reason to let him get away with it. If he's chucking then he's chucking, no matter what the reason for it. His doosra in particular seems like it must be a chuck. However, I've heard the debate for years and am totally bored with it so don't really care anymore. But Malinga? Aka Malinga the Slinga? I don't see how ANYONE can think his action is acceptable. It's no wonder he's getting so much speed with an action like that. It's far more like a baseball throw than a cricket bowl. Why is he allowed to get away with it? Have umpires become so worried about being accused of being racist that they won't call someone for an obviously dodgy action anymore? Because if that's the case I think my days of loving cricket might be numbered. Admittedly, I think his arm is straight the whole time so 'technically' it's not a chuck, but I think only by the definition we currently have. There is no doubt in my mind that it's a dodgy and unfair action.



That just ain't cricket if you ask me.

I hate Myspace. It bugs me far too much so I decided not to put my Perth photos there. Instead they are on Flickr

Go check them out if you are at all interested. Although, like everyone's holiday photos they are probably quite boring for anyone who wasn't there.

I haven't got many up on there yet but will be adding more over the next little while. Oh, and I look terrible in ALL of them. Bad luck to me - it sucks.

would I wanna be anywhere else




Yeah, yeah. I know I've used this as the title before but no lyrics fit my trip to Perth more than this so it's getting used again.

I'm supposed to be at work right now but my parents asked me to babysit my nephew so I've ended up taking the afternoon off instead. I'm currently sitting in my lounge watching him play xbox and wondering if I'm ever going to be able to drag him away. However, this gives me time to update my blog.

I've got tons of photos from the trip. I'm gonna chuck quite a few of them up on my Myspace. The one above is the entire clan. (Well those of us that made it anyway). I would name everyone from left to right but that'll take too many words!

I'm so in love with that place. I'm thinking about changing my plans from America to Perth. I can't do quite the same stuff there as America but at least I have family there who will give me a place to live etc. All I can think about is going back. Our next reunion is not until 2010 which is ages away, I don't know how I'll wait. We're not having it in Perth though, we're going to Phuket instead. Me and SpaceMonkey (who was initiated into the family by being thrown in the pool so now has a standing invitation to every family gathering despite not being related) reckon we'll probably fly to Perth first and spend a week there before flying to Phuket. I'm excited already!

Lots has been happening in my life recently. Too much to write about here I think! Well, I could write it all but I'm a bit busy at the moment and can't be bothered. It's time for me to start trying to wrestle my nephew off the xbox so I better head off.

Or is this just fantasy

It’s boxing day evening and I’m currently sitting in my cousin’s lounge in Perth. Not sure if I’ll be able to get online to post this until after I get back but we’ll see.

Today the temperature was around 39 degrees (Celsius). It was BEAUTIFUL!! We spent all day around at one of my other cousin’s houses. They have a huge, deep, lovely pool which I spent most of they day in. In fact, that’s about all I’ve done for the 5 days we’ve been here – swim.

I’m seriously considering moving here. My cousins Brendan and Kerry have said I can live with them, they have a spare room and wouldn’t mind renting it out. It’s a great house, big tv, big dvd collection etc. Kerry’s son, Tyran, comes to visit on the weekends but he’s a great kid so that wouldn’t be a problem. The only issue, really, is whether or not I’d cramp their style. They are, after all, two bachelor boys pretty used to their boy living. (Not that I’m very girly so I’d probably do all the same boy things they do. Except for having girls sleep over of course. I’m not really one for picking up girls in bars. I’d much rather find myself a handsome lad! Heh)

Speaking of handsome lads. The boys here are HOT! So much hotter than back home. Me and Spacemonkey have decided it’s because they are all tan and lovely and not wearing many clothes. Whatever the reason, I like it! Oddly enough there are also far more redheads than in NZ. (yeah, those two statements are mutually exclusive. I haven’t seen any good-looking redheads here. But maybe I will before the trip is over.) There are also hardly any Asians. SpaceMonkey and I pointed these observations out to Brendan and he told us we weren’t looking right. Apparently there are tons of Asians. I think maybe he needs to take a trip to Auckland or Sydney to see that he’s wrong, Perth is very lacking in an Asian community.

Being that it’s boxing day I guess I better quickly discuss presents. From SpaceMonkey I received the book about Peter Jackson. I think that is going to serve me very well on the plane trip home! From my parents I received the promise of good-quality speakers for my iPod. We’ll see if it goes any further than a promise before I get too excited about that though.

The rest of the family agreed not to do presents since there are 45 of us here that would get a little too expensive!

Catching up with family has been amazingly awesome. I’ve never spent any time with Kerry before now so getting to know him in particular has been great. Brendan I already know because he’s done many trips to NZ and he looked after me when I was here last time. (I was 11, he was 17. Poor guy) Meeting all my cousins’ children has been great too. Last time I was here none of them had kids so I’ve had 11 kids to meet for the very first time.

Ty, Kerry’s son, is my favourite. He’s 10 but seems more like an adult in a kid’s body. SpaceMonkey has decided she’s going to marry him when he grows up. Jade, Vanessa’s son, is my other favourite. He’s 3 and is possibly the cutest kid in the entire world. (Don’t tell my nephew I said that!)

For the rest of the trip there isn’t a lot planned. On New Years we’re all going out to Tania’s to have a big party. I’m one of the designated drivers so I won’t be drinking but that’s okay. I think all that has been done since we arrived is drinking anyway so one night won’t kill me.

I’m having a lovely relaxing time being away from work. I knew I was a bit stressed back home but I now realise I was a LOT stressed. I don’t think I’ve felt this relaxed in about 3 years, maybe more. It’s very good for me to be here and to forget about work for a while. (Not that I’ve forgotten, I still think about it a lot. But I’m not using my usual cellphone so I’m not receiving any calls, which helps with the relaxation factor.)

Okay I’m going to end this here because I am currently being called to participate in our regular evening game. Tonight is uno. I’m sure I’ll kick ass!

Since it's a new year I thought I'd review my 2006 for your viewing pleasure. (Or boredom as the case may be.)

January
Started out great and continued that way. My cousin was living with me and, of course, on the 31st it was my birthday. I got some awesome presents for my birthday and had a lovely bbq with my friends. I can't think of anything else that happened so there was probably nothing significant.

February
Valentines day of course. Never a fun time when you're single. Me and SpaceMonkey went out to Hogs Breath to celebrate our 'anniversary'. (we became friends on Valentines day the year before as we both grumped about being single on valentines day.). Amusingly our waitress didn't assume we were together which I found a bit odd. That was about it for Feb.