Welcome to 2022 and good riddance to 2021: what an armpit of a year!!!
There was an Ashes cricket series played here in Oz between The Poms and our Galahs. It didn’t start well with our captain Tim Payne having a sordid text message (that he stupidly sent to a young lady several years ago) catch up with him and before we knew what was shaping up, he was gorn! I’ve regularly joked it’s easier to get into The Galahs than it is to get out but Tim put paid to that theory: he must have just about got whiplash with the speed of his exit! And just as suddenly we had a new captain: fast bowler Pat Cummins! A fast bowler? Captain? What is the world coming too?
Then there was a lot of oxygen wasted on the WA COVID requirements for teams as the 5th Test was scheduled for Perth. In the end they wouldn’t budge so the Test was shifted to Hobart. The series started with a bang as Starc let rip with the very first ball around the opener’s legs and knocked over his leg stump! The Galahs won the match easily but Pat got caught up in a COVID scare in Adelaide and was sidelined for the second Test. And who took the reins? Steve Smith that’s who. We won that match as well and it was off to the MCG for the 3rd. We also won that or perhaps I should say Scott Boland won it with his Second innings stats reading 4-1-7-6 and for those of you who don’t pay attention, that means he bowled 4 overs, 1 of which they didn’t score off, they scored just 7 runs off his other three overs and he took 6 wickets! It’s the stuff dreams are made of! Then it was off to Sydney and that match went right down to the last ball with The Poms hanging on grimly for a draw. And finally down to Hobart for the last, a Pink Ball day/nighter.
The Child Bride and I were a bit bored watching The Poms bat in their second innings as it looked like they were finally getting their act together: they were 2 down for 72, looked comfortable, needed around 250 to win and there were a couple of days to go. So we switched over to the ABC to watchVera. You can imagine our surprise when we switched back an hour later to see Gilley in the middle of the post match presentations! WHAT THE HECK WENT ON WHILE WE WERE AWAY?? We don’t know the details but know we missed the fall of 8 wickets for few runs and the demise of The Poms dreams of winning a match. Even Lord Botham (is he really a Lord?) was disgusted saying the whole series was a disgrace! I fear there might be some bloodletting on the way for The Poms.
Catamaran Races
Back in December there was a series of races on Sydney Harbour of the AC72 class catamarans. They’re billed as the F1s of sailing and when the wind is right, they go like the clappers! A couple of the boats got up to 90 kph! It makes the old VJ and VS yachts we used to watch on the Manning River yonks back, look positively pedestrian. The hulls weigh some 6 tonnes, the mast is 40 metres high and they cost a motza. They rose out of the water onto their foils and – on a knife edge balancing between ecstasy and lunacy – raced around the course as if the hounds of hell were after them! This is the same class of yacht that sails in The America’s Cup so do yourself a favour and watch some of the races. It’s incredible sailing.
At the Australian Open in Melbourne Djokovic became the first player to be knocked out of a Major after missing only two shots! French President Macron said (in terms I won’t repeat here) unvaccinated people wouldn’t be allowed into France to compete in their Open so NoVax no doubt will be wondering about his playing in Wimbledon and the US Open? As he gets most of his income from endorsements, how long will it be before some of the companies, who pay him big bucks to say nice things about their products, drop him? How long do you think he’ll maintain his “principles” in light of a dwindling income?
Of course we watched Ash Barty take apart Danielle Collins’ game in straight sets 6-3 7-6. What made it even more memorable was Ash was down 1-5 in the last set before storming back to win the tiebreak 7-2. And she did it without any grunting, yelling or abusing the umpire! In short she is a credit to the game and our country and that can’t be said for some others in the Open.
It’s a sad reality these days that the antics seem to be more important than ability. I learnt my tennis on the clay courts in Nabiac and the old regulars would’ve banned me if I carried on like some now do. On top of that my mother would’ve been told and very quickly, my racquet would’ve been wrapped around a tree! I think several players need a bit of tough love like that right now!
Talk at you next month.
The Hillside Critic