The gravel in your sporting ice cream.
Hits
– We played better than against Sri Lanka – not that hard to do, but after being bowled out for 73, I’ll take it
– Oram topped the NZ averages for the series with 87, and strikes fear into Australian hearts like a closed betting shop. He’ll be huge in the Windies
– Bond, save one scare, is still injury free, and posted some great figures at last last night. Cotton wool, NOW
– The rotation policy seems to have been binned, and we’ve got a top order again
– We’ve got bowlers to help Dan and Shane out. With Gillespie, Patel and Franklin we have a bowling ATTACK instead of batsmen bowling slow mediums to bore sides out
– We still get to play Australia three times which will provide more sledging opportunities, and it never hurts to play the best. Just ask the Wallabies
Misses
– We catch and field like we’re drunk. This is usually one of our big strengths, I hope they have a lot of training scheduled between now and the WC
– We don’t have Nathan Astle now – with the form he was in, and the freshness of Vincent, Oram and Styris we didn’t notice so much, but there should have been a place for an experienced campaigner like him to go to the WC as backup at least
– Fleming’s form – yes he got a century, but he’s still not at his best – he needs to pull finger and quick
Moment of the Series – Oram’s century in Perth. Following Vincent’s return to the side, this was the turning point and when the chaps remembered they CAN bat after all. It pissed McGrath off too so yeah, I enjoyed it a lot
Most painful moment – this one. Concentration is the key, Kevin
What is it with dressing up, though? Watching Hurricanes matches from the Cake Tin, you always see a couple of muppets in the crowd in costume braving the pissing rain, make you wonder if you were there for the rugby or what. The Sevens, though, takes away all that bother about watching a game so you can fully concentrate on your get-up, and people go to huge efforts to outfit themselves and their mates in elaborate costumes. For the ladies, it was all about cleavage, with saucy policewomen, saucy taxi drivers, and saucy air stewardesses to the fore. But for the lads, it’s all about lycra. Jesus, the lycra, there were super heroes, wrestlers, aerobic instructors, if it was slinky and it stretched, it was there, with everyone being obsessively photographed on cameras and phones. There were at least 40 Crocodile Hunters, some going with the controversial Sting Ray wound option. Star of the weekend was The Borat, a guy brave / foolish enough to wear that Lime green over the shoulder G-string down Lampton Quay to the match – he wound up on the front page of the Dominion Post with a follow up story on Waitangi day. Most impressive was the Gimp sitting in front of us on Saturday, promoting much speculation on logistics every time he nipped to the loo.
As for the rugby, well, most people don’t bother to even start watching matches until late Saturday. In keeping with the spirit of the weekend, there was huge support for the under dogs, like Kenya and Portugal, who walked off with some trophy or other after beating Scotland. New Zealand looked like what they were – guys not good enough to be included in the Super 14 thrown together at the last minute, despite the best efforts of Titch and Eric Rush. The final was a huge boil-over, Fiji were looking skillful and very strong until they met the hard tacking Samoans, who gave them no space to work their magic at all.
The IRB sees Sevens as a way to promote the game without all that pesky rucking, mauling and having to watch Rugby for an hour and a half. While Sevens has more tradition than say, 20/20 cricket, in NZ the tournament is an excuse for a party, and for two days 30,000 odd people had a bloody good time, without a hint of trouble that I saw, and you can’t say fairer than that. The Cake Tin is a superbly appointed and located venue – we were out of the stadium and having a drink on the waterfront about half an hour after the final whistle. If you’re not bothered about watching Rugby, the Sevens is a highly recommended experience, in New Zealand’s best city for a weekend away.
Bring out the Gimp.
Borats. Note the traumatised child bottom right.
I got ‘interviewed’ by the One Network News team, who were quite a larf. They don’t like Judy Bailey, though.
Here’s a ham-fisted attempt at ‘live-blogging’ on my shiny new Nokia 6275 phone. I think the pics came out nice, but I’m disturbed that my phone’s megapixel count is fast catching up on my three year old ‘actual camera’!
