Category: sport

All out

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Bit knackered after last night’s fun and games. So I’ve been moping around the house, avoiding the rain outside. Unusually for me, I watched a bit of cricket. And I would have watched more, but…

Yeah, that’s full time (or whatever they call it in cricket). I caught (no pun intended) the end of the Strikers’ innings, and then watched – along with everyone else – in disbelief, as the Thunder batting lineup comprehensively failed:

With the Australian way of writing the wickets before the runs, it was sometimes actually difficult to work out which was which throughout the 5.5 overs. The Thunder lost wickets for 2, 5, 5, 7, 9, 9, 10 and 10 before rallying with a decent fightback to get to… er…14. And then (briefly) 15. Incredible.
Big shout out (no pun intended) to Doggett, Rossouw and Extras for their top scoring exploits.

Sydney Thunder were dismissed for 15 – the lowest score in men’s Twenty20 history – as they were thrashed by Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League on Friday.

The previous lowest score was Turkey’s 21 against the Czech Republic in 2019.

Ha! Yes! I think we all remember where we were for that one.

Thoughts and prayers to the TV schedulers who suddenly had to fill an extra hour with stuff after being sold way short.

Away

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The Boy Wonder has arrived safely in Egypt, ready to represent his country and do battle with the best in the world. Although to be honest, he looks a bit knackered after a long day of travelling.

And I’m taking some time out for some daddy/daughter time in Cape Agulhas. So while daily posts will continue on here (obviously! duh!), they may be shorter and a bit more photoey* as I actively try to engage less with the frankly often terrible world outside our windows.

With a sales pitch like that, I wouldn’t really expect you to come back, but I’d still appreciate it if you did.

See you tomorrow, then. šŸ˜‰

* “a picture is worth a thousand words”, after all…

Frustrating

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Damage confirmed: ligaments and a tendon torn, plus a [swearword] broken rib from that completely unnecessary nastiness last weekend. Out of action (and sore) for the rest of the year and beyond. And also, at the age of [really quite old], my first official broken bone. I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re wondering.

Quite annoyed. Quite depressed. Quite frustrated.

Next time, we should probably tell the opposition that there is a rule about sliding tackles not being allowed.

Oh… wait.

Awww.

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Not much time today because of a plethora of things to do from now until way beyond sundown.

So I’ll just pop a quota photo onto the blog. Like this:

Yep. Ghana may also have ducked out of the World Cup last night, but it was delicious to see them “only” lose 2-0 to Uruguay, meaning that Luis Suarez and the South Americans are also headed home. Delicious, because you may remember that Suarez incident against Ghana at Soccer City in 2010.

To be fair, I wrote this back then:

Quite what people expected you to do when faced with opposition football teams in an international football tournament escapes me. I would have stopped that shot with my hand if Iā€™d have been on the line that night. So would David Beckham, so would Lionel Messi, neither would Robert Green.

…and I stand by that, because you’re there to win. But that doesn’t mean that it was the right thing to do.

It’s not nice to revel in other people’s misfortune, but in this case…? Well, since 2010, Luis Suarez has been involved in biting incident(s), racist incident(s) and clearly stands out as one of the whiniest, diviest, nastiest players to ever “grace” the beautiful game.

So yes, last night was actually rather enjoyable.

UPDATE: Incoming from The Guru, further evidence of what a genuinely pleasant bunch of lads the Uruguayan team really are.
Here’s Frederico Valverde taunting the ref(!) after Ghana missed that first half penalty. Ugh.

link

Sunday morning

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Nice way to spend a Sunday morning: a friendly 5-a-side under the mountain and by the sea.

It would have been even nicer if someone had told the opposition that it was a friendly. I have a messed up ankle and sore ribs from a bit of a naughty tackle.

But as you can see above, all’s well that ends well, and we had fun (and we won).

Drinks, prego rolls and Japan v Costa Rica followed, and then it was home to get some ice on my swollen leg.

Memorable morning out.