I love Daniel Vettori

Even though he had a baby with someone else.

It's Miss Field, bitch

Ok ok so my comeback was worse that Britney's MTV effort, apparently. But in case you wondered -- I fell. Through fire. And water. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak. Until at last, I threw down my enemy and some his ruin upon the mountainside. Darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as the life age of the earth. But it was not the end, I felt light in me again.

I've been sent back until my task is done.

And if you've emailed me or requested anything in the last few weeks, I know there have been a couple, link swaps and all, please re-request. I didn't mean to forget but I did.

September was a shit month for cricket. But who'd have thought it would take an email from New Zealand Cricket to get me motivated. Especially one that looks like this.

I mean please, who's going to take that seriously? Nonetheless, BLACKCAPS.com is back too. Contain that excitement, at once! I bet Dan Vettori was thrilled that they used that photo. In fact, with such exciting CAPITALISATION, you'd think they'd have an EXCLAMATION MARK. Oh, wait...

In an in-depth analysis of this new look with a friend from across the ditch, it was suggested that maybe New Zealand Cricket are trying to make him seem a little bit, well, tougher.

I'm not convinced. I think he looks more like he won $200 on Deal or No Deal than got Ricky Ponting out for a golden duck.

ANYWAY, cricket.

Australia in India. Look. We're gonna lose.

But the thing is, the most important thing of all, is not until next year. We can lose all the matches between now and then - though I'd prefer we didn't - and if it meant we retain the Ashes five-nil, it would be well worth it.

However, my goodness India shit me off. There's Ganguly ranting about how they'll clean sweep the series for sure (prove me wrong boys, I beseech thee).

There's some other prick accusing us of cheating. Sehwag. How dare he. What's that expression about stones and glass houses... or kettles and black pots. Eh? EH? Like we lower our standards to your standards.

Then there's Kumble pressing his hands over his ears and pretending he can't hear, instead of leading from the front and saying "OY VIRENDER, AT LEAST WAIT UNTIL THE MATCH HAS STARTED." Or maybe he's just a little embarassed to hear his own comments echoed months down the track, mmm?

Did I mention I'm going to India in November?

And they "dropped" Andrew Symonds, yeah very likely. I think "attitude problem" might be code for "protect him from deranged Indians", which I'm all for. Anyway it's worked out quite well really, he's had a fishing lure named after him. Seriously, what more could he want from life?

Finally, let's hope someone has had the foresight to tape Harbhajan Singh's mouth shut.

It's not the Ashes. But damn it would be good to kick butt.


Oh. And if you're an Irish engineer who's a 'follower' of this page, can I have your number?

Twenty20 fun on the hallowed turf

I do love it when we win. I'm so proud to be Australian, for more reasons than just cricket, but cricket is one reason.

Imagine being at the MCG with that crowd! I went to a football game there last year and was in awe of the atmosphere, and it wasn't even my team playing. To have been there tonight, to see us demolish the Indians, and give Gilly a send-off, would have been something else. I didn't see any back-turning, although I doubt it would have been aired if it happened. But from what I saw the crowd seemed well behaved. And no cheerleaders (that I could see), praise the lord.

India played terribly and it was very disappointing. However, I would like to mention Virender Sehwag, who chatted to the commentary team, ala Gilchrist and Symonds. I think it's great that this happens, it's fun and adds a significant dimension of camaraderie for the television audience. Although, they were talking to Gilly just before he got out, so it could be very distracting, but it's his choice to do it. Anyway, when we played England, none of their players talked and it was quite disappointing (especially as Twenty20 is their creation). Balance is a good thing, and it makes things more interesting too. But not only did Sehwag join in, he said really nice things about Adam Gilchrist, and talked about his team's poor performance, and I imagine that must be quite a difficult thing to do when you're out in the middle of it all. Hurrah for Sehwag.

I also wonder why the other teams don't have their nicknames on the back of their shirts. I think it's good, although I did have a memory lapse trying to remember who Catfish is. A bit disappointing that David Hussey didn't get a bat, but he still did well. (Loved Mark Nicholas' comment "One of the Hussey boys is human! And it's... Michael!") Kudos to Adam Voges and Mr Wolf Blass, Brad Hodge, who is creeping up on my list of favourites.

A solid performance from Clarke and his boys. (First time I've said that. Feels funny). I know it's only Twenty20, but after the events of the last few weeks, especially the circus that was the appeal hearing, the best way to exact vengeance is by performing well, and we have done just that. You're only as good as your last game, and considering India are the Twenty20 world champions, I am quite impressed with our effort tonight.

Finally, on Sunday night I thought I'd look into getting tickets for the Aust/Sri Lanka ODI in Perth, and logged on and there were tickets available. When I went to work on Monday it said there were none left! Horrified at my poor timing, I rang TicketMaster and they said more might be released and to keep an eye out. Although he did say if it happened it would be closer to the day, at about 3:30 that afternoon I had an inkling, and logged on, and there were some available. It was my lucky day. I'm going to the game!

EDIT: My best mate Ruth has pointed out to me that Michael Vaughan actually did speak to the commentators during an Australia/England Twenty20. My mistake.