Not On John Howard's Watch

I can't get over the fact that Australia has only the 10th best T20 side in international cricket. Out of 11 teams! This would never have been allowed to happen on John Howard's watch. Time to dig him up and get him ready for the next election.

Not on John Howard's watch

ODI Australia vs England Feb 6th 2011

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the ODI between Australia and England at the WACA on Sunday. It was the final match in the series and with Australia already leading 5-1 they rested a star (Shane Watson) and a non-star (Michael Clarke). I was hopeful that there would be some young talent on display due to the two vacancies. England had their own injury concerns and were down a few stars. Cricinfo has the result here.

Had a great spot in the Willow Lounge in the Prindiville Stand so the day was very well catered for. The view of the pitch was excellent also. I thought that the Aussies batted too slowly early on and were 15~20 runs short of par with their total of 279. David Hussey and Adam Voges, who must have told his wife that he was playing golf to allow him to play for his country, put on a great partnership and got Australia back into the game.

England started badly, with Shaun Tait bowling a beast of a delivery to Andrew Strauss second ball, and then lost another wicket in the following over. Just when it looked like Kevin Pietersen, whom I considered to be in imperious form, got out following my thought England began to struggle. Michael Yardy batted really well and even tonked Doug Bollinger for six which I captured on video.


Michael Yardy hits Doug Bollinger for six.

I had a great day which finished early in the evening. Australia won by 57 runs as England fell short. We'll see what the World Cup brings in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh though.

All afternoon we could see smoke coming from the hills around Perth. Latest count is some 72 houses destroyed and 32 damaged. All this started by a guy with an angle grinder. I'm glad no-one was killed but feel for the people who have lost their homes through no fault of their own.

ODI Australia vs England 6.2.2011 photo album on Facebook.

Australia's Saviour As Captain?

Australian cricket needs a new captain to save them. No, I'm not talking about the appointment of Cameron White to replace Michael Clarke who stepped down as T20 captain for Australia. That's a cop-out from someone who has been recognised as a leader and he walks away from one form of the game and he's not even 30 years old yet. Clarke's not leadership material IMHO.

I've got the answer. Australia should go after Andrew Strauss. Ok, he's South African who now calls England home. But he's married to an Australian girl. Surely we could rush through Australian citizenship before the next test match in August. If cricket-loving John Howard was still prime minister I'm sure he would support it.

Next problem would be getting Alistair Cook and Jimmy Anderson to become Aussies too.

Third Ashes Test Observations From Day One

A day of carnage for the Aussies on the opening day of the Third Ashes Test in Perth against England. Here a few observations made.

The Cancer Council's message has gotten through to the Aussie cricketers - stay out of the sun.

Including Beer in the team would have been akin to the Aussie selectors admitting that we had an ailing side. Terrible pun that.

There's no truth in the rumour that the Australian selectors were all lined up at the booth at the WACA near the entrance which was entitled "CHANGE".

Only Shane Warne is sticking it up the English.

Michael Clarke's Bat - Collector's Item

The Sunday Times has a competition whereby you could win Ashes tickets to the match in Perth and meet and greet Michael Clarke and grab his signed Slazenger bat.

Win Michael Clarke's signed bat

Okay, tickets to the match sound great. But will Michael Clarke be at the match as I, and many others, think that he should be dropped as his form with the bat is abysmal? He doesn't deserve to be in the team even if he is the vice captain. Assuming he does get picked for the starting 11 you won't have much time to meet him as he'll either be spending most of the time fielding as the Poms are rather difficult to dismiss currently. If the Aussies are batting you may miss your opportunity to meet him in the frenzied rush to and from the pitch.

At least his bat will be in mint condition. There shouldn't be any nicks or red marks on it as he's hardly put bat on ball this series. Should look just like a bought one.

Funny Cricket Scorecard

I thought that I saw a funny line in the cricket scorecard at the second Test match today in Adelaide.

WatSON c. PieterSEN b. AnderSON for 51.

Ok, not quite as funny as Lillee c. Willey b. Dilley for 19 which happened in a test match in Perth in 1985 if my sources are correct. Wikipedia says that it happened in 1979.

And what about the Patel match?

Cricket Masterchef - New Program

You've seen Masterchef Australia. You've watched, but not necessarily understood, Iron Chef. You've been amazed by Junior Masterchef Australia. Now prepare for the latest culinary and gastronomic tv series - Cricket Masterchef.

Cricket Masterchef stars the Australian Test Cricket team but you'd have to say that the variety of dishes is sadly lacking. There's very little spice and not much zest included in the ingredients. Let's have a look at some of the dishes forthcoming from the second Ashes test match being held in Adelaide.

Simon Katich - he's prepared a duck, the platinum (or diamond) version after being out without facing a ball.
Ricky Ponting - he's also prepared a duck, a golden duck, after departing first ball.
Michael Clarke - his speciality is goose, of which he's made himself out to be, after only making two runs. It could be said that his preparation was unassisted and that he has cooked his own goose.
Ryan Harris - another golden duck. So litte imagination in the kitchen these Aussies.
Doug Bollinger - he's a bunny.

I'd like to have seen a batsmen score zero and play at his best. That would be a Peking (peaking) duck. You'd have to say that it was a pressure cooker situation for the Australians in the middle at the Adelaide Oval today. And didn't they get a basting from the Poms? Mind you, the Poms aren't very imaginative when it comes to cooking either. They just had the Aussies on toast.

The Australians didn't get to enjoy their dishes today and the only cooking that they've tasted for a while is humble pie. Well Ricky, revenge is a dish best served cold and we can see that the Aussies are not cooking with gas. With the Aussies' cooking skills it will probably end up as Ashes anyway.

Who Wants To Bowl For Australia?

The Australian bowlers, with the exception of Peter Siddle in England's first innings, where he picked up a hat-trick, struggled to make any sort of impression in the first test match at the Gabba. So, who is going to be dropped and who will replace them?

Mitchell Johnson didn't have a great game. In fact, it was the first test match, his 39th, in which he failed to take a wicket. Coupled with his duck and a regulation dropped catch he didn't have a great match. By those figures Marcus North appears positively lethal with his score of one with the bat and all of the England wickets that fell in the second innings (one). North could even elevate himself to a frontline bowler with that effort.

I'm an admirer of Johnson. He's terrorised batsmen and performed very well for his country. On a wicket that offered nothing for the bowlers as the match went on I don't think that he can be singled out for his lack of penetration with the ball. Get rid of the moustache and the sleeve tattoo and he'll be back to his best.

Siddle will probably hold his place. Hilfenhaus, who bowled beautifully at times, is also under the pump. But the coach doesn't want to make wholesale changes. Let's see how much fortitude the selectors have.

Still, Dougie Bollinger looks a likely replacement and Ryan Harris, if he wasn't susceptible to injury, is also making a strong case for a call-up. I think that getting a match at the Adelaide Oval for a fast bowler is a bit of a poisoned chalice as it's usually a flat track and doesn't offer the quicks much. Look at England to post around 600 runs in an innings.

Ashes Prediction

In case you've been robbing a pub with a machete and been gunned down by the police (see previous post) or have just been living under a rock, there's going to be a huge cricket test series taking place called The Ashes. It starts in Brisbane on Thursday. Australia versus England (and Wales). Well, Australia versus England/Wales/Scotland/Ireland/South Africa/West Indies and any other cricket-playing nation that can provide them with decent cricketers. But enough of that.

The Teams:

Australia - Ponting, Clarke, Bollinger, Doherty, Ferguson, Haddin, Harris, Hauritz, Hussey, Hilfenhaus, Johnson, Katich, Khawaja, North, Siddle, Smith, Watson.

England (and decent players from Rest of the World) - Strauss, Cook, Anderson, Bell, Collingwood, Pietersen, Bresnan, Broad, Davies, Finn, Morgan, Panesar, Prior, Swann, Tremlett, Trott.

The Venues:

* 1st Test - The Gabba - 25th-29th November 2010
* 2nd Test - The Adelaide Oval - 3rd-7th December 2010
* 3rd Test - The WACA - 16th-20th December 2010
* 4th Test - The MCG - 26th-30th December 2010
* 5th Test - Sydney Cricket Ground - 3rd-7th January 2011

The Gabba. Brisbane. Usually steamy with the ball doing a great deal in the opening session. Nightmare for batsmen early on. If England were to bat and survive the first session without losing a wicket I'm afraid the Aussies are done for. If the Aussies were to have them 4 for then we're in with a shot.

Adelaide Oval. Adelaide (of course). Great batting pitch. I expect the Poms to bat better than the Aussies and this match could be a draw only because England decide to make 700 runs instead of 500 "just to be safe".

The WACA. Perth. Should be 38C. Every day. The heat should take it out of the Poms and I expect the Aussies to win this match. Extra bounce might be difficult for the Poms to get used to.

The MCG. Melbourne. One of the greatest sporting arenas in the world hosting a magnificent contest. That is if England isn't already 3-0 up and has won the series. Weather plays a bit part in Melbourne. Expect it to be dry, windy, cold, wet and then sunny. All before the first drinks break. Expect more of the same after the first drinks break. Should be just like playing in England. Except for the dry and sunny bits. England to triumph.

SCG. Sydney. Traditional turning pitch. Aussies having already lost the series will include Hauritz, Doherty, Smith, North and Clark as spinners desparate to win a match. Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar will show them how to bowl and England will still win. If the weather holds up.

betfair odds (23/11/2010):
Aust $2.06
Eng $2.86
Draw $5.70

Reasons that I think Australia will struggle to be competitive include;

Mitchell Johnson doesn't have enough support from the other bowlers to enable him to be the frontline bowler that we all know he can be. He'll try to hard to bowl England out and not concentrate on putting the ball in the right spot. Not enough discipline from the bowlers to keep the pressure on.

Michael Clark appears to just want to maintain a decent batting average and in no way attempts to push the scoring along when batting with the tail. Steve Waugh did this very effectively. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that he's injured and we might actually unearth someone who is a batsman.

Ricky Ponting is past his prime with regards to his batting and captaincy. Time for Brad Haddin to replace him. If we lose this series, as I expect, although the bookies don't, he'll lose the captaincy.

Hussey and North will be batting to retain their spots rather than batting with supremacy over England. Not going to be consistent enough.

Watson and Katich should be the best performing Aussies bats, followed by Johnson (at least in average) as the ball won't move around as much as the England bowlers are used to. But with Watson having injured himself in the last Shield match Australia will miss his bowling ability.

Collingwood will be a thorn as he is difficult to remove and a great fighter. Reminds me a great deal of Steve Waugh.

Broad is a great young bowler with some fire in the belly. Also a tad petulant but will give as good as he gets. Decent bat as well and with tired Aussie bowlers will score a fair amount of runs.

Pietersen could change a test match during one session. Expect to see this happen a couple of times during the series.

I’m tipping England 3-1. Hard to see any match not having a result.

Is Michael Clarke The John Hewson of Cricket?

Michael Clarke, as stand-in captain, has lost the unlosable one day international against Sri Lanka. The Boy turned the telly on when we got home from taekwondo training and Australia was clearly on top. Very soon the Sri Lankans were 8 for 107 chasing 240 for victory. Plenty of time but not many batsmen left and only one recognised batsman, Angelo Mathews, at that. Lasith Malinga came to the crease and started swinging. The Boy tried to make a $20 bet that Australia would win although I didn't take him up on in.

Unfortunately The Boy had to go to bed and missed out on seeing a world record partnership for the ninth wicket in ODIs, match 3065, of 132 runs to level the scores. Fantastic batting by Malinga and Mathews and they tore the Australian attack (yes, I said attack but you'd hardly call it that) apart and hit them to all parts of the ground. Only looked like being in trouble when running between the wickets but they didn't have to do too much of that with the boundaries that they were hitting. It was one of the most enthralling games of cricket I've had the pleasure of watching. Well done Sri Lanka for coming away with the win.

Michael Clarke appears to be the John Hewson of cricket. Dr John lost the unlosable election to Paul Keating in 1993 and Pup seems destined to go down the same path. There's no way as captain that he should have lost a match from the position that they worked themselves into. On their home ground too. What an embarrassment. But what great viewing from a Sri Lankan's, neutral observer's and cricket lover's position.

Queens Birthday Long Weekend - One Up On The Poms But One Down On The Canadians

This weekend is a big one. It's the Queens Birthday long weekend in Western Australia, the rest of the country celebrates it in June, even though Queen Elizabeth was born in April. We're actually celebrating Queen Victoria's birthday, as I explained to my fill-in chiropractor today when he asked if the AFL grand final was always held on the long weekend, and it's nothing to do with the current queen. The British don't even get a holiday to celebrate. And my chiropractor mentioned something that astounded me. Apparently Canada has left the Commonwealth (when did this happen?) and the main concern of its citizens was the loss of the public holiday should that eventuate. Their French descended prime minister at the time, Pierre Trudeau, calmed the situation down by stating that they would retain the holiday.

And here was me thinking that we had one up on the Poms for celebrating a birthday of their monarch which they didn't get when Canada has gone one better and celebrates the birthday of a monarch from an empire that they no longer belong to. Hats off to you Canadians. And I thought that Australia was the land of the long weekend.

Mistaken Identity In The Media

There's a test match being played in England at the moment between Pakistan, the home team, and Australia, the visitors. That's a funny story in itself being the first test match in England not to feature the home team in some 98 years or so. If you look at most of the English teams of late you'd be hard pressed to find any players that were born in England but that's another story.

What I found amusing was a report in The Telegraph, a respectable British newspaper, with a picture of left-handed Simon Katich. Or so they tell us. Make up your own mind. And they blame ACTION IMAGES as the source. I reckon it has more to do with poor editorial skills myself.

Left-handed Simon Katich?

What Is It With Italians, The Penalty Spot and Australia At The World Cup?A

What is it with Italians, the penalty spot and Australia at the World Cup? Last World Cup [Germany 2006], in case the bitter reality has been erased from your memory, Italy was awarded a penalty in the second round against Australia in the final minute of additional time. It didn't matter that Fabio Grosso had dived. Odds-on favourite to take out an Academy Award for his acting if the playing theatre had been a movie set and not a football pitch.

I knew from the outset of the match last night that it wouldn't end well for Australia. The referee and the linesmen were from Italy. I couldn't forsee that our hope up front, Harry Kewell, would be sent off for handball on the last line of defence. Kewell's lower arm moved slightly before the ball impacted upon it from a firmly struck kick but the top of his arm didn't move and that's where the ball struck. To the referee, in the heat of the moment, it probably appeared that Kewell had blocked the ball with his arm. Not actually the case, in my opinion, but unfortunately the ball struck the arm. The red card was unwarranted but would have looked pretty clear cut to the ref. Still, he's Italian and he pointed to the penalty spot. Understandably.

Pride has been restored to our football team, the Socceroos. To play for over an hour with only 10 men at the World Cup and not get beaten was a brilliant effort. Especially on those aging legs. Mind you, if the referee had sent one of the Ghana players off for a tackle from behind to Marco Bresciano, as he should have, that would have evened things up a bit. It was a straight red incident but he just issued a yellow card. If it had been in Ghana's penalty area he most probably would have booked the Aussie for diving.

Italians, the penalty spot and Australia at the World Cup don't mix. We were robbed. Again. As The Sunday Times put it- "RED-ICULOUS" and "ARMED ROBBERY". Couldn't have put it better myself.

After the 1998 World Cup match between Cameroon and Italy where Australian referee Eddie Lennie controversially sent off Cameroon defender Raymond Kalla FIFA was criticised in Cameroon for appointing officials from "non-footballing nations" [source - Wikipedia]. It's not as if the Italians should have a grudge against us.

Unfortunate as it was we Aussies will have another four years to whinge and lament. Gosh, we're the new England. Perenially disappointing at major tournaments and wanting to blame our bad luck on others. That would be sad if it wasn't so true.

Some Thoughts on Germany's Annihilation of Australia at 2010 World Cup

In case you missed it - Germany clinically disected the Aussies at the 2010 World Cup and won the match 4-0.

- At least Australia didn't throw away a win like England did against the USA.
- We can be grateful that Germany are reknowned for being slow starters. Imagine how much worse it could have been had they burst out of the blocks.
- Nice to see Australia deliver some much needed goals to liven up the World Cup. Pity they delivered them to the opposition on a platter.
- Australia's opponent in the 2nd round is likely to be New Zealand. There will be fierce competition for seats on the plane to return home when round two is underway.
- I thought that the German blitzkrieg tactic had been ruled illegal following Germany's unsuccessful World War II campaign.

ABC Online Headline - Wilkshire key to unlocking Germany - no need to open the floodgates though.

Book Review - Gallipoli by Les Carlyon

You might have noticed a bit of a theme in the books I've read recently. There's been a book or two about Don Bradman, the SAS, the Korean War, H. Norman Schwarzkopf's autobiography, Vietnam : The Australian War and Mein Kampf. Yes, war, is high on the reading list. C'mon, what do you mean Don Bradman has nothing to do with war? He was fighting the old enemy, England, on the pitch. That's close enough in my book. Geddit? Book. Ha!

Gallipoli by Les Carlyon

This is a fantastic book. It lays bare the truths about the campaign and why it failed. By the time you have read it you will understand The Ode - a few lines from it are below:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Let me attempt to sum up the story about an eight month campaign covered in 543 pages by Les Carlyon. The British wanted to remain friendly with Russia and Tsar Nicholas II by keeping the Dardanelles open so that Russian could continue exports. Winston Churchill and Lord Kitchener decided to hand over Turkey to Russia and a quick campaign at the Dardanelles would allow this to happen. By refusing to deliver two ships paid for by Turkey, or return the money, the British allowed Germany to gain an ally as the Germans were quick to offer a couple of warships in return for allegiance. [Why does allegiance look so similar to the French word for Germany - Allemagne?] The British bombed Turkey from warships for three months before landing any troops. Enough warning for anyone to realise that war was imminent.

Kitchener was, if you'll pardon the pun, a loose cannon. He made decisions on the go without consulting those that should be consulted, i.e. the War Cabinet, and Churchill believed so strongly in the campaign at Gallipoli that he convinced pretty much everyone to go along with the idea although it was never thought out properly. Ian Hamilton, one of the old boys, was charged with making the landing and taking over Turkey but without a real plan, ammunition, supplies or men. He was guilty of not reporting how the battle was really faring as it might upset the guys in charge back home. Let me take the last sentence from chapter 28:

"If there is one thing worse than a man who deals in half-truths, it is a man who decides things are so bad he needs to tell you the truth."

Young men - Australians, New Zealanders (of course - Anzacs), Britons, French, Senegalese, Indians and Gurkhas. Now I knew about the first three but who would have thought that the rest of them were there? Even the Turks didn't know too much about New Zealand and the Germans had to reassure them that it was a country. In fact, the British and French lost more soldiers than the Australians or Kiwis. Who'd have thought that either? These men were the best, youngest and fittest of their respective countries and thousands were sent needlessly to their deaths. Mind you, it was the way war was conducted back in those days. One other fact that made my blood boil was that when these men charged enemy trenches, more often than not, very well defended by machine guns, they had to charge with bayonets on their unloaded rifles. How absolutely ridiculous. Surely after the first charge someone in authority would have realised that this was a completely stupid and avoidable loss of life. Not so it seems. Make no mistake, the soldiers involved were immensely brave. Have another look at The Ode, the link is a good one, and you'll start to see what I mean.

Amazingly the Turks lost more men than the Allies. They had the high ground, literally, were better supported with artillery and knew the terrain. I hold the ground forces of the Allies in very high regard after reading that.

Hamilton didn't even have proper maps of Turkey. The terrain was vastly different to what they thought they knew. They landed miles down the beach from where they were supposed to, many attacks were conducted at night where they didn't know what they were facing, lots of plans didn't realistically take into account the unknown terrain, basic things such as supply of water and medical aid weren't thought out properly and they even brought in the Australian Light Horse (deployed without their horses) to fight on the cliffs at Gallipoli. Madness. Honestly. They even had a second landing with several new divisions in August and landed at the wrong place once more. Even Monash lead a charge up the wrong hill and poor maps can take much of the blame.

War correspondents had to maintain the army's propaganda so that recruitment numbers wouldn't fall. All correspondence to be published had to be approved. You must remember that this was not the time of the professional soldier and criticism or adverse reporting could significantly affect recruitment. And it seems that the generals didn't understand modern warfare. Charging men, without loaded rifles, were no match for machine guns. Even after bombardment of the area where the enemy was thought to be prior to the charge.

Carlyon goes into such detail about the major offensives that you almost feel like you are there and you may be forgiven for thinking that he was there. The landing, the Nek, Lone Pine, the August offensive - they're all so well covered, including the background happenings in Britain, that it isn't difficult to imagine yourself in the middle of it. And there would be something wrong with you if you didn't sympathise with the combatants.

I was constantly appalled by what I read but full of admiration for the men who carried out the orders of incompetent boys' club members, posing as generals. I would urge everybody to read this book if you want to understand Gallipoli. It doesn't glorify war but it exposes what we should know about this campaign. And to think that the Australian government didn't want to know what was really happening as we were seen to be doing our bit for Old Blighty [Ha! Blogger thinks that Blighty should be "Blighter" with its spellcheck] no matter how incompetently run the battle was. This book is the real history and the real story.

As Anzac Day approaches I have a much healthier respect for those that gave their lives in defending our ideals in far-flung places that they probably shouldn't have been in. Read this book and you will be left in doubt as to why that is. It is a wonderful piece of literature.

Book Review - Bradman's Invincibles by Roland Perry

After putting down The Don - A Biography by Roland Perry, I picked up Bradman's Invincibles by Roland Perry. This book, about one year old, was also purchased the University of Western Australia book fair for Save The Children Fund for $4. There's 461 pages, not including the index, and that's only nine more pages than The Don's highest first class score - 452 not out against Queensland.

Having read the book about the complete life story of Sir Donald Bradman which included a decent section on the 1948 tour of England in which his team remained unbeaten in 31 first class matches and two second class matches (against Scotland at the end of the tour) in a period from April to September 1948, not including the boat trips to Europe and back with only a squad of 16 men whereas England and the countries had unlimited choice - although there were 34 scheduled matches so possibly another second class match was played, I was concerned that this book would be a repeat of one of the final chapters of the previous book. Much of the writing is the same but so much more was written about The Don's fellow cricketers. It certainly expanded upon the contributions of the team members and didn't just concentrate on The Don's contributions.

Many of the games were played back-to-back after overnight train rides in between. Fatigue must have been a major concern. I never knew how devastating Miller and Lindwall were as batsmen and not just bowlers. The likes of this team of cricketers and their achievements on one tour will not be surpassed. Modern cricket doesn't allow for it anyway. The players partied hard, on occasion, and were punished in Bradman's way if they transgressed. His only rule was that players had to report fit when they were called upon to play. On one occasion a player returned to the hotel after a night of drinking and dancing and met Bradman as he was coming downstairs for breakfast. this was even though he had been chosen for the game and he ended up spending all day at fine leg. This meant having to go from one end of the ground to the other at the conclusion of each over. And these guys bowled about 120 overs in a day. Someone in the crowd said that he could borrow his bike and at the conclusion of the next over and he did so. What a sight it must have been to see a fielder changing position on the field by bicycle. Even Bradman had to laugh. His name was Keith Miller.

The last couple of chapters are dedicated to the cricket and life stories of The Invincibles (Australians) and The Vincibles (English). Almost biographies in their own right. I had no idea that Dennis Compton was a professional footballer (soccer player) concurrently with his professional cricketing.

This book was just as good to read as The Don - A Biography by Roland Perry and only took me two weeks to complete. Not a lot of television was viewed whilst reading this book as it was so interesting. I grabbed any time that was available. A great read.

Bradman's Invincibles by Roland Perry

Tri-Nations Rugby - Matt Giteau vs South Africa

Went to the rugby on Saturday night. A generous vendor supplied me with a ticket. It turned out to be the match between Matt Giteau and South Africa although it was supposed to be the Wallabies (Australia) vs the Springboks (South Africa). Giteau did all the scoring himself apart of the dying minutes try by Lachie Turner.

Match report.

I'd known about the game for weeks and was looking forward to it although I'm not a rugby fan and have never attended a match before. So what do you think happened? Take the boy to his sport, come home and rake the back lawn, cut some grass that was overgrowing and vacuum out the cars. Just as I'm finishing I realised that I was supposed to be somewhere. Looked at my watch and thought that I was supposed to be somewhere 10 minutes ago and it's going to take me about three quarters of an hour to get there. I rang a workmate who was also going but no response. Had a gander at the phone book and found the mobile number of the guys supplying the tickets. Called him to say I would be a bit late and that he could leave the ticket at the gate for me so that I didn't disturb him. Turned out that the place we were supposed to meet had shut the doors to non-members just before he arrived as he'd just missed a train and was slightly late also.

Actually didn't miss anything apart from the national anthems. As we were taking our seats the kickoff took place. The game of rugby union is quite fast. The Springboks completely outplayed the Wallabies and deserved their win. I was a little disappointed that the crowd didn't get into too much but the Aussies were too far behind to threaten really. And Subiaco Oval isn't conducive to large groups of people to get singing together. Well played to the Boks but our boys kept trying hard and made the scoreline look respectable in the end at 32-25. Gee, the game goes so quickly without time-on and only 40 minutes each half.

Afterwards we wandered down to the Subiaco Hotel for drinks and a chat session. So busy. Saw one guy who was a group member of "blokes punching above their weight". But he successfully pulled a bird. Got on quite well with the other match attendees. It was a great night. My clothes sure stank of cigarette smoke afterwards though.

Photos on Facebook.

ODI At The WACA - Australia vs New Zealand

Picked up a free ticket in a corporate box in the Prindiville Stand at the WACA for yesterday's one day international match between Australia and New Zealand. The view from the fifth level was fabulous. And so was the breeze. Especially as it was 35.8 degrees and the humidity was up there. We were half expecting a thunderstorm.

The Aussies batted first in the 50 overs-a-side match and they were fairly poor in their shot selection and running between wickets. At the moment they are a bit of a rabble and it showed. The Kiwis bowled and fielded with great discipline finally bowling the Aussies out for a paltry 181 runs. Considering that two nights before Australia had taken on the South Africans (288) at the WACA and made 249 it wasn't a great effort.

The Kiwis didn't bat any faster and made hard work of it but you always had the feeling that they were in control. And so it turned out to be. Requiring only a single off the last ball to win the match they scored a boundary. Still, it was a close match and a great day out. The cricket was a bit pedestrian though.

Gate No. 7 entrance at the WACA.

Australia and New Zealand line up for the national anthems.

The WACA is quite a picturesque ground.

Nathan Bracken bowling - he looks a bit bent out of shape.

Beer cup snake attempt. The match before they managed to encircle the ground with beer cups. This was about their best effort.

Guys on the upper level were getting a bit bored so attempted their own beer cup snake.

The lights are in full effect at the WACA.

The Dancing Kiwi.




In the video you see Daniel Vettori, the NZ captain, score the winning runs and celebrate. A guy near me, obviously an overjoyed Kiwi who'd placed a bet about winning approximately an hour and a half before the conclusion of the match, gave us his version of The Dancing Kiwi.

Vietnam: The Australian War by Paul Ham

I'm not much of a bookworm. I enjoy reading the news, sports, financials, gossip, etc but not so much the books. Especially not novels. Don't need any of that gushy stuff. There was a book sale on at Myer after Christmas and I bought a travel book for Hong Kong and Macau where we are planning to visit. Whilst browsing the book section one book in particular caught my eye. Vietnam: The Australian War by Paul Ham.

There were a few reasons that I was attracted to it:

1) Vietnam is both a blight on our history and a remarkable story.
2) The history in Australian schools teaches you nothing about the Vietnam War.
3) Vietnam veterans have received little recognition for their service and I wanted to know why.
4) The book was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2008.
5) It was written by Paul Ham. Perhaps I'm a little nepotistic.

I bought it even though its genre wasn't on sale.

There's some 665 pages to read but it only took me four weeks to finish as I used every opportunity walking to the bus and whilst on the bus to stick my nose into it. And it was a fabulous read. I learnt so much about the reasons for Australia going to war, what they did when they were there, the succession of blundering and interfering Australian governments, the protesters against Australia's involvement, the famous battles that I only knew by name (Tet Offensive, battle of Long Tan, etc), the atrocities and suffering, the guts and determination, the life of the soldier, poisons used, conscription, the return home and why the soldiers weren't welcomed back.

Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of life, or a battle or something happening in Australia. The book brought to life, at least for me, some of what these men were experiencing. It is about the war that the Australians fought and not so much about the Americans. The attitude of the Australian government and anti-war protesters absolutely disgusted me.

I would thoroughly recommend this book if you want a no nonsense report about the Vietnam war from an Australian perspective. And I can't wait to get my hands on another book by Paul Ham - Kokoda.

Vietnam: The Australian War by Paul Ham.

More Proof That Australia Is A Special Administrative Region Of China

I've said it before but Australia is the new Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. Well, I have more proof. In 2009 Chinese New Year falls on Australia Day.

Australians All. We have been realigned with the Motherland. Kevin Rudd is happy to allow our mining companies to be bought by the Chinese at bargain basement prices, due to the global credit crunch, but I'm wondering why. It is so obvious that we are the newest SAR of China that it isn't necessary to sell off the farm.

Ni hao.