It is only appropriate to write my first post after yesterday. There were four big games on, with one big event that will affect one of my favourite teams for the next few years.
Super 14
While I haven’t been following the Super 14 most of the year, last night was a triumph of scheduling. In a competition that desperately needs quarter-finals, the teams took it upon themselves to stage their own quarter-finals. Two sudden death games in the final round, to determine who gets to travel to South Africa.
The Crusaders were outstanding and clinical. Zac Guildford looks as dangerous as any player in world rugby. They were the team of old that rampaged all over the competition. Since the Bulls have indicated that they don’t care about their final game, it looks like Canterbury will drop to the fourth seed and win the right to travel to the fortress of Loftus Versfeld. But with their performance from two weeks ago against the Bulls, it looks like the Super 14 has had another bit of scheduling luck. Should be a good game, despite the huge win differential between the teams. Expect a kicking clinic, both from hand and from the tee.
The other game was less watchable from a New Zealand point of view. The Hurricanes took the lead early when it was just penalty swapping, but as soon as Kurtley Beale chipped over the top and regathered for a brilliant try to a roaring crowd (31,000 strong, but still the SFS looked empty) you got the sense the Hurricanes were done. The Waratahs' defence was all over the Hurricanes, who just couldn't score until it was too late.
Still, one of the most entertaining nights of rugby in a long time. For the first time in weeks, it had won out over the NRL for a night. The Waratahs game also featured the commentary call of the week "Shit, Rob Horne’s played well." (There was some dispute over this amongst my friends – one suggested he said ¨Gee¨, but multiple rewinds later we confirmed it was live-to-air swearing. Ma’a Nonu has changed the broadcasting world.)
NBA
Just as the NSW defence and the Wellington backs won the game for the Waratahs, the Boston defence and the Cleveland starters won the game for the Celtics. For the second game in a row, for some reason, the Cavs weren’t there. The Celtics rose to the occasion, but the Cavs didn't. One rumour floating round today is that Delonte West was sleeping with Lebron James' mother, Gloria - which ruined the team chemistry when Lebron found out before game 4. Probably not true, but if anyone is to be the villain in Lebron leaving, I'd hate for Delonte to steal the spotlight from Mike Brown or Mo Williams.
J.J. Hickson, who may now be the Cavs player of the future and probably would have guarded Kevin Garnett a lot better than Antawn Jamison or Shaq did, achieved the Trillion in one of the most important games in Cavs history. (Box score) Don’t watch if you already feel bad enough for Cleveland fans:
Cricket
Although I didn’t watch the second ICC World Twenty20 semi-final live, and New Zealand has long since gone to Florida, just reading about it in the morning warrants a chat. Mike Hussey scored 38 runs off the last ten balls, to rescue Australia from a hopeless situation. Cricinfo calls it the finest Twenty20 innings ever played, while Hussey called it the best feeling of his career. Hopefully it doesn’t end up catapulting Pakistan out of world cricket. Hussey is on top of the world at the moment, but it is still a short time ago in my books (2007) that he was the losing captain of the Chappell-Hadlee trophy. Just in case you forgot, Australia suffered a ten-wicket defeat, and then faced the second- and third-highest successful run chases in history (at the time). We won’t talk about what happened in the Chappell-Hadlee since then.
Go to 5:50 to see a sad Mike Hussey:
Shane Bond
Those were the four games, but they were insignificant alongside the event that rocked my world. One of the most endearing cricketers to support, the policeman turned hero turned rebel turned hero again, New Zealand’s best fast bowler since Richard Hadlee, Shane Bond, has retired from all forms of the game. Understandably, he says that his body can no longer handle the stress. His showing in the Caribbean was less than superb, but his injury-ravaged career is one for the ages. Is there anything better than a sports star who actually raises his game against Australia, time and time again?
In tests he took 87 wickets in only 32 innings, at 22.09. In ODIs it was 147 wickets in 80 matches, at 20.88. His economy rate in Twenty20 was 7.00, at 21.72.
In tests with Bond playing, New Zealand was 10-2-6. Without, we were 11-26-15.
In 17 ODIs against Australia, Bond took 44 wickets at 15.79, good for the best one-day record of any bowler against Australia. (He only played two tests and two T20s against Australia)
In 7 Chappell-Hadlee games, Bond took 15 wickets at 16.73, including this glorious hat-trick ("Got Him! Hat Trick slower ball!"):
In 16 World Cup ODIs, he took 30 wickets at 17.26, including, of course, this amazing performance:
Time and time again he rose to the occasion and was New Zealand’s great hope, our world class pace bowler, our legitimate superstar. And now he is gone. Thanks for the memories Bondy.
