cobl04
45:33
Ish Sodhi might have something to say about that.
Ish Sodhi might have something to say about that.
On another note, I'm absolutely baffled Guptill wasn't picked up in the IPL auction.
Hamilton is a city with literally almost nothing going for it. A few blocks at the centre of the town are kind of nice, sitting by the Waikato River, but beyond there ... it's generally just a disaster. The inner suburbs are the definition of mediocre, very boring mid 20th century Kiwi suburbia. The outer suburbs are pretty much a basic stereotype of sprawling, car-friendly, no-footpaths suburban USA, transplated to New Zealand; huge boxy outlet shops, lots of fast food, no individual character whatsoever, just completely soulless. One of those places where the roads are just traffic sewers. Worst of all, the university has a gorgeous and well-maintained campus ruined by the worst sixties (and more recent) university architecture I have ever seen. It's tragic.
Oh, and the distinctive stench of ne'er-do-well boganity is never far from your nose either.
its closish to Auckland
Notwithstanding the post above, NZ have been very good today to claw back into the game.
My thoughts about Australia's top order have been no secret - a faltering Bailey and Glen Maxwell as 4 and 5 is the weakest our ODI team has ever looked, and they will always get in trouble if they lose 2 early wickets. Sure, they will score 400 every now and then on roads when they get on top. But they can't beat good teams on evenly matched wickets with those two where they are.
Fuck, guys, it's just starting to really dawn on me that we won't see Brendon McCullum again at international level in the short forms of the game. I think I'm starting to feel a little emotional. He may not be my absolute favourite player - Daniel Vettori is my childhood hero and Kane is just about a deity already, but Vettori played for longer than I expected and I was prepared for his retirement, and obviously Kane has so long ahead of him. Baz... he's been in the team since I was a teenager, and it's weird to see him go when it felt like he surely had a season or two more ahead of him at the highest level. The fearless, uncompromising way he played was entirely his own, and his captaincy gave the New Zealand team the sort of confidence we've never had.
His career stats do not tell the full story of what he's done to turn a rabble into a team that has gone where no Kiwi cricket team has gone before, a team in which we can have as much - maybe even more - pride as we have in the All Blacks. Sometimes you just sit in disbelief when you consider how small New Zealand is and what we have achieved on the global sporting stage. There are many much larger wealthy countries that cannot claim our success. And so much of what we've done on the cricket field in the last couple of years has been driven by BMac's leadership. I don't want to see him go. It's become almost impossible to imagine our ODI side without him coming out and flaying the ball recklessly all around the park. Guppy may share BMac's entertaining strokeplay, but when will we again see somebody who so effortlessly combines showmanship and leadership?
Goodbye Brendon. It really won't be the same without you. May the last two Tests be something even more special.