Tag Archives: queensland bulls

Harwood to Hartley

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Here’s one for AB DeVilliers, just to let him know we show our own batsmen the same compassion that he received after what JC describes as

[Tait's] third ball thwacked into AB de Villier’s midriff. Doubled over in pain, de Villiers’ bat crashed into the stumps. As he crumpled to the ground in agony, the Australians clustered next to his quivering body, high fiving and celebrating. I think I may have seen Cameron White kick de Villiers in the ribs a few times while noone was looking. It was a moment that would’ve brought a tear to Jeff Thomson’s eye.

For me the highlight was the Victorian keeper Adam Croswaithe running up to the stumps for the sole purpose of clapping the bowler right in front of the batsmen. The bowler returns to his runup without so much as checking the fallen batsmen for a pulse. Actually, the slo-mo Chewbacca sounds are pretty cool too.

At least Hartley had the forethought to keel over away from his stumps. Good boy.

Stars denied leave as Big Bash heats up

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Man Cry

Man Cry

This evening will see Victoria and Queensland fight it out at the Gabba in a high stakes elimination final T20 match. The winner will not only gain entry to the lucrative world club championship, but also the privilege of a Twenty20 lesson from the top dog in Australian domestic Twenty20 cricket at the SCG on Sunday.

The Victorians are píssed off, as having their top players unavailable due to national service is a new problem for them. Now they’ll have to go without the services of Cameron White and David Hussey, who have a ODI on Friday and need their beauty sleep. There is no factual basis to reports that Cameron White Cried, again, at hearing the news, though it does sound likely.

Ryan Harris has been dropped from the national squad so will be available for Queensland, however they’ve replaced him with Mitchell Johnson so that’s probably worse for the New Texas Bulls, who’ll also be missing James Hopes.

CA have also denied requests for the players to be available of for the final, so NSW will be missing David Warner, Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken, Brad Haddin and Nathan Hauritz.

This could well end up a good experience, as Michael Hussey is keen to explain IPL loyalties come before the state that bought you up, so depending on which IPL teams make the club championship any Australian side could be without their stars when the big bucks are on offer.

Victoria squad: Brad Hodge (capt), Aiden Blizzard, Rob Quiney, Aaron Finch, Andrew McDonald, Matthew Wade, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Damien Wright, Shane Harwood, Jon Holland, Bryce McGain, Dirk Nannes.

Queensland squad: Chris Simpson (capt), Wade Townsend, Ryan Broad, Lee Carseldine, Nathan Reardon, Glen Batticciotto, Craig Philipson, Chris Hartley (wk), Ryan Harris, Nathan Rimmington, Ben Cutting, Alister McDermott, Ben Laughlin.

Katto brings in triple ton, oh for one more day

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The recent ‘test match’ between the mighty NSW blues and some cane toads this weekend has showcased some fantastic cricket. 8 Australian players were featured, however none of the TV networks thought to broadcast the event so I had to rely on text updates from cricket.com.au . Still, I reckon I followed the scorecard closely enough to give an unbiased match report…

Day 1 – Good Areas and some bloke called Hayden
was a rain interrupted affair with Haydos bringing up a century as the Cane Toads plodded along at a mere 3 runs an over, due in main to some tight bowling and superb fielding from the mighty blues.

Day 2 – Bad Guys Out, Good Guys In
Haydos pushed on today to contribute 179 to the dark side’s tally, eventually falling to Stuart Clark. The norterners’ tail rallied hard before being shown the door for 467. The mighty blues sure had their work cut out for them at this point, and with Cowan and Jaques falling cheaply the blues were in need of a captains knock. Enter Simon Katich stage left. Michael Clarke was in superb touch before being run out by Katich off the last ball of the day. Allegations of Queenslanders cheating have proven completely unfounded, though somewhat comforting to Clarke.

Day 3 – Katich draws faded curtains on QLD hopes
The Queenslanders showed up an hour late for play today, unable to grasp the intricacies of Daylight Saving Time. Katich continued his domination of the northern attack eventually tonking up his triple century and declaring the blues innings at 606, and taking first innings points from the powers of darkness in the process. Katto’s score of 306 off 351 was the highest score at the SCG since Bradman’s 452 in 1930. Haydo’s again proved his worth by batting out the 12 overs to stumps.

Day 4 – Not enough overs in the Day
Day Four started off well for the Blues, with 2 quick wickets to Stuart Clark. Queenslanders rallied for the rest of the session and managed to make it to lunch without further loss. 3 quick wickets (2 to Clark) after lunch and the toads were again on the ropes, effectively 5/5 after taking off the first innings deficit. A heartbreaking stand from Simpson and Nofke of 105 really took the game away from the NSWelshman, the pivotal moment coming when we took the new ball only for Simpson to see Maroon and belt 22 off Bracken and quickly bring up his ton after that.

Day 5 – Please sir, can we have some more?
This match had all the hallmarks of a great test and tomorrow could have provided a fantastic conclusion, alas there is no Day 5. I remember when the 4 day tests came in and have never agreed with it. Personally I’d rather see additional bonus points for finishing in 4 days, but still have day 5 there for the much wanted result.

I guess it’s fair to give these 4 day tests some credit for the Aussie’s recent improvement in turning draws into wins, however I believe the extra bonus point would provide adequate incentive to finish them off in 4.