I’m right - I was wrong
January 31, 2009
I think I’d be right if I said I was wrong earlier this week when stating that Andrew Symonds had to be selected for the Australian team for the upcoming tour of South Africa.
That call was made in full knowledge of his radio comments about Kiwi all-rounder Brendan McCullum and pivoted on his cricket ability and the need for that talent to prop up the ailing Aussie team.
It even allowed for the fact that Symonds was not really firing too well with bat or ball in the Sheffield Shield matches this season.
Since then he has fronted up once more for Queensland against West Australia and to call his efforts dismal would be over-rating it.
Yesterday he struggled to make five runs before falling to an ordinary shot and now just minutes ago he failed again in Queenslands second dig.
It isn’t just that he failed twice, he played and missed several times and never really looked comfortable.
Added to his pain was the fact the Australian selector Andrew Hilditch was in the crowd watching and assessing his form.
If there is a selection criteria based on past performances, present form and potential the call must now be for Symonds to be left out.
Cool heads needed to make common sense decisions
January 28, 2009
This comes after talking some crap about measurements from “wet bulbs, humidity, temperature, etc.”
It follows yesterday’s debacle where the roof was left open until part-way through the first of the quarter-finals and only after the air temperature reached a scorching 41.6 C.
God knows what the radiated temperature from the court would have been.
Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova blamed the roof closure for her loss to Serena Williams, ignoring the fact that she had the chance to serve for the match and in the end lost to a better player.
The weather bureau had long beforehand predicted extreme conditions and it was already 40.7 C when that match started and nobody had the brains or the balls to order the roof closed earlier.
Apart from the players who had to suffer the horror heat, what about the ball-boys and linesmen not to mention the poor spectators who were melting into their seats.
No, it was only after the “wet bulb, humidity, etc.” reached a certain point.
One of the tournament officials said: “We can’t close the roof on weather predictions.”
Eh? Why not?
Today is the first round of the Victorian Open at the Spring Valley course and rules being rules - Players are not allowed to wear shorts.
Something to do with the image of the game.
I’ll pinch a line from today’s newspaper – It is 2009 not 1909.
Simple - Symonds should be to South Africa
January 27, 2009
SHOULD the Australian selectors pick Andrew Symonds for the upcoming tour of South Africa or should they leave him at home to consider the consequences of his at times erratic behaviour?
Well of course they should select him to go.
After all, they are not voting him into a Senate seat or for a place in the Australian debating team.
They are cricket selectors and he is bloody good at the game.
Sure his latest figures have been a bit below par but he would still be a good injection of talent into a team that is quickly slipping down the list of cricket rankings, maybe not officially but definitely in the world of reality.
That talent is not quite what it was but he is still one of a dwindling number of Australians capable of winning a match of his own bat.
His bowling, spin and medium pace, is just soso but is still good enough to give the main attack bowlers time to freshen up and of course he is an absolute gun in the field.
The only reasonable argument for leaving him out of the team would be his age.
At 33yo there may not be much left in the tank and considering the future it might pay to blood a younger player with some test experience before they head on to England for the Ashes series later this year.
As with every Australian test team that goes to England the Poms are sure to say: “this is the weakest ever Australian touring team” but this time they might just be right.
Thankfully the Poms are also struggling so this year’s battle for the Ashes might also be a contest between the third and fourth best teams in the world, maybe even fourth and fifth.
And about bloody time
January 26, 2009
WELL “hoo-bloody-ray,” at long last the TAB is finally going to offer the gambling public what they have been clamouring for with the return of the Straight Six.”
Okay, so they are now going to call it the Big6, but we all know what that is – You have to pick six winners for the chance of scoring a big jackpot.
But the question should be _ Where the hell has it been for the past 12 years.
The first straight six was on the Caulfield Cup meeting in October 1989 and through the early ‘90s, it was a huge success with punters chasing pools often climbing into the multi-millions of dollars.
It gave the mug punter the chance to snare a tattslotto sized jackpot for a mini outlay.
And of course the millions of hard stories that go with that.
None more so than Eddie Yap, a cook at a country Victorian pub.
In 1994 Eddie had a $32 crack at the straight six on Sandown Cup day and by the time the last leg came around he was the last man standing with two live units for a jackpot pool that had reached $1,026,562.
One of those live runners was the handy mare Centisle who hit the line together with Lady’s Way.
It came down to the judge who after two developed prints declared Lady’s Way the winner by a nose.
Poor old Eddie is surely the hard-luck story is the century but there are plenty of good ones too.
Like the punter on New Year’s Day in 1993 who collected a $403,184.50 straight six for an outlay of just $7.50 and then a day later one punter collected the start again pool of $32,166.50 for an outlay of just 50c.
That’s right _ he picked the six in a row.
The record straight six dividend was $844,027.50 shared by three people on Victoria Derby day in 1993, but the pool often climbed into the millions.
Of course the doomsayers claimed the big syndicates would step in and clean out the pool when it reached such huge amounts.
Tell that to people like Mark Read who in 1992 tossed in over $60,000 chasing a jackpot straight six and was knocked out the first leg.
And of course the small time punter can always join a syndicate like the punters’ club at Caulfield who that same day also invested $60,000 and were kayoed in round one.
When that straight six jackpotted they kicked in again a week later but to make sure they got past the first leg they took the field – you guessed it - the favourite got up and because they were so wide early they were skinny late and missed out again.
Eventually the pool reached over $5,000,000 but when all the favourites won at a Caulfield meeting the dividend was just over $12,000.
So any “big” syndicate investing huge amounts would still have lost their money
For reasons known best to themselves the TAB cancelled the straight six and for a decade there we suffered through the Mystery Six.
It proved a stinker before it was dumped and for several years the best jackpot we could chase was a quadrella.
There will be several variations with the Big6 including a consolation dividend for any five winners (Sorry, Eddie, too late).
There will also be variations where you might have the Big6 spread over say two races in Melbourne, two in Sydney and two in Brisbane and also spread across the three codes – thoroughbreds, harness and greyhounds.
The Big6 kicks off with this week’s Lightning Stakes meeting at Flemington and although the TAB has bucked at seeding the pool it should attract a pool of at least $100,000.
If you are like me where finding one winner is tough then finding six will take a miracle but I look forward to having a crack.
