Good luck Binga

Watching the last Test match against South Africa made me think... Brett Lee and Stuart Clark will have their work cut out for them getting back into this team.

Brett Lee has different ideas.

"I'm not embarrassed to say that I expect to lead the pace attack and take that brand new ball again for Australia," Lee told Cricinfo.

Sounds a bit too big for his boots. Like someone else we just managed to get rid of. It would be different if Australia had lost the first two Tests. But we didn't. Should a winning formula be changed? I don't think so. Does Mitchell Johnson secretly want to punch him? Perhaps.

Also, er, I bet Matt Hayden's feeling a bit small. Because if he had gone when he was supposed to (as decreed by me), well, let's just say there might not have been so much losing going on during the summer, eh?

A few things

I'm going to the one dayer on Friday. Yay! Just need to figure out how to skive off from work. Hmm. But I shall contain my anticipation and bask in the events of today.

New Zealand's defeat of England has been covered far more eloquently than I could ever be.

"fucking village..."

"England: useless like a dead monkey"

"spectacularly... pathetically... feeble"

et al

However I feel it was cricinfo who summed it up best with this headline...

Ryder and McCullum trounce England.

Yep, that's right. A two-man squad could defeat England, and even without the backyard cricket rules.

Sri Lanka beat India and this made me ever so happy, especially after they suggested we are scared of them. Fools! It was a good day in Canberra today.

Also it looks like the Australian tour of Pakistan won't go ahead. I'm pleased with this. Cricket is not an island, nor do I believe it should be (unless it was just up from Antigua, I'd go there in the winter).

The actions of cricketers and cricket boards reverberate, and I think touring countries that are governed by suspicious regimes is seen to endorse said suspicious regimes, whether they mean to or not is irrespective. Plus it's just so unstable with opposition forces as well in Pakistan. If it's not safe it is just not worth the risk.

I'd die if something terrible happened to my Andrew. Or any of them.

Anyway. I've decided to quit my job and play bass guitar in a Wolfmother cover band. Have fun, ya'll.

Lil Dodgeball, look at him go

Brad Hodge!

The tuxedo-wearing (mmm) ambassador for Wolf Blass has proven why he's worthy of this post by making a century in his one hundredth one dayer. Cricinfo are going with the following headline: Hodge rams into Bulls with match-winning century. Sounds pretty good to me.

In fact it was a career-best 119 not out from 134 balls, and he (and Cameron White) saved the game for Victoria. Aww! Good work D-ball. Just don't tell selectors how to do their job, and we may yet see your face in the national side more than just sporadically.

The thing is, if it is Victoria and Tassie in the final, who would I rather win? Captain Ponting hails from Tassie, but Hodgey is a Victorian. A Tassie-dweller egged the Sri Lankans, but the Bushrangers beat us in the Twenty20 final. Tasmania don't really do any other sport, and the Vics think they own the AFL.

Alright I think it'll be Tassie. But I hope the Hedgehog does well.

Oops

Ok so it's emerging that Shaun Tait is depressed, and has been for a while, and he's actually been courageous, not cowardly.

I'M SORRY SHAUN, I FEEL REALLY REALLY BAD.

But as I clarified in my last post, with the information that was available it was suspiciously reminiscent of Sally Robbins.

However that is not the case and I think it's commendable that he has put his health first (ala Geoff Gallop!). I wish him a 160 km/h recovery, and I hope we see him happy and healthy soon.

Before I crawl away into a creek to weep about what a horrible person I am, I learnt about an intriguing string of coincidences today.

I never realised it is ESPN who own the broadcasting rights for cricket on the subcontinent (and threatened to sue Cricket Australia for $60 million if the Indians pulled out of the tour). Interesting of course, because ESPN own cricinfo. I also learnt that one of my favourite wineries is owned by an American company. Both these things disappointed me.

Also, I just heard this on the news:

"...Justice Hansen, when handing down his full reasons for the decision in Adelaide on Wednesday, said he was not told that Harbhajan had three previous breaches of the ICC's code of conduct until after the sentence was imposed.

He said he was particularly concerned about a charge of attempting to intimidate an umpire, for which Harbhajan was given a suspended one-Test ban and also fined.

"Overnight I have given earnest consideration to the code of conduct to see if it empowers me to reopen the sentencing process," Justice Hansen said.

"Regrettably I have concluded that I cannot do so and the penalty imposed by me must stand. At the end of the day Mr Singh can feel himself fortunate.""

Bloody hell. See I'd been (reasonably) happy to accept the appeal decision as being one made by someone who knew more about the situation than I did. However now that I've heard this, I'm quite annoyed. This person who was supposed to know more about the situation than I did, didn't! It's not on.

Anyway, that injustice is something else for me to weep about in the creek (when I get there, I'm not done yet).

On a lighter note, I'm rapt that David Hussey is playing with the national side at the Twenty20 at the G on Friday. I've seen him play at state level and I'm thrilled he's been given a shot, even if it is "only" a Twenty20 match, and even if he does play for Victoria. Don't screw it up, Davo!

Finally, I was wondering why the balance in earth had shifted on Monday. Something wasn't quite right, it was like the planets had aligned strangely or something. It wasn't until Tuesday that I realised it was because the English cricket team flew into New Zealand. Michael Vaughan is closer.