Category: Sport

I’m lovin’ it

(front)

Did I get a surprise yesterday?

We went down to the stadium to collect our actual printed tickets for the upcoming Eastern Province Kings matches and the friendly against Wales and the test against Scotland (it’s going to be a busy June!)

The young lady at the counter gave me 2 envelopes, one with my tickets and another with a McDonald’s key ring!

As a Season Ticket holder we got a R500 casino betting voucher (long gone!) A book of discounts for a variety of restaurants and clothing stores (which I’ll never use) and most importantly stadium parking for every match day, nobody ever mentioned a McDonald’s key ring!

Check out what’s on the back…  Continue reading “I’m lovin’ it”

Sa v Oz – The T20 series

And for a change it is a series!

Three games, the first here today (12.30 gmt), followed by games in …

Durban on Wednesday (16.00gmt)

… and up in Pretoria on Friday (16.00 gmt)

The T20 world cup starts next week (March 16) in Bangladesh, so the importance of this series is not to be underestimated. Form players have to be found, combinations (bowling & batting) established, team tactics planned and executed but more on that closer to the time.

This week is all about what is described as “The Fierce Rivalry”

For those enthralled by the recent Proteas / Aussie test series the Proteas side will look distinctly familiar. Of the selected 16 man squad 9 players represented South Africa in the recent 3 tests.

However, familiar faces are few and far between in the Aussie camp, of the 16 names I see on the squad published for this week I only recognise 3 from the test squad! Horses for courses I suppose?

I mentioned on the Newlands test post that I wasn’t sure if I would be going to watch this one, guess what? Continue reading “Sa v Oz – The T20 series”

Newlands – the 3rd test

During my early visits back in the ’80’s that huge stand you see on the right of picture didn’t exist, no, just the boundary rope, grass and another cricket field. The bar consisting of a rather large tent serving cans of beer out of galvanised bath tubs filled with ice took pride of place, other then that we just stood around and watched the cricket! Continue reading “Newlands – the 3rd test”

Talking about moustaches

There is apparently much laughter, hilarity and lots of ‘lol’s’ over on the Daily Mail’s page which describes this photograph of an unfortunate shadow induced moustache as having gone viral and possibly ‘one of the most awkward in history’ (Em, I don’t think so.) Continue reading “Talking about moustaches”

Premier League Predictor

Click picture for larger image

So there we were discussing the English Premier League and the current loss of form by perennial trophy winners Manchester United (being a life long Eastern Province supporter, I’m an expert on trophyless seasons.)

There was a lot of mirth among the group following the loss to Chelsea on the previous Sunday. I happened to mention that in the greater scheme of things, no planner would pencil in 3 points at the beginning of a season for a trip to Stamford Bridge, I further suggested that I doubt if visiting managers pencil in wins for visits to other title rivals, no, when planning a long campaign I assume points collected from these visits are considered a bonus.

I then laid down a challenge, put the managers hat on and predict how many points your team will gather from now ’till the end of the season, there are Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea fans in the circle, we’ve all stuck in R50 (£3) and there could well be 10 of us accepting the challenge  by next weekend.

A mate of mine met me on Tuesday and gave me my ‘scoresheet’, to be completed and handed in by end of January (he’s done one for every team! Is he keen or what?)

As you can see, I’ve got Manchester United, only the total after all 15 games matters, it matters not how I get to the total. It’s winner take all, 10 x R50 = a nice dinner out for me, I’ve got a figure of 32pts in my head for my submission (3,3,0,3,0,3,1,3,3,0,3,1,3,3,3,)

We will be getting weekly updates on the progress of all entrants, any suggestions / advice / help would be appreciated.

So you thought you were going to win at last?

Second ODI between England and Australia.

The ninth wicket fell at 244, leaving James Faulkner and Clint McKay to face the music for the last six overs, 57 runs behind the target of 301.   Now James is a recognised bowling all-rounder, but Clint is, let’s face it, a nice guy, a good fielder and a talented bowler, but he’s not quite sure what a bat is for.   His batting average is about 10.

Everyone – on-field spectators (35,000 or so), media commentators, yours truly and the entire England squad – was convinced that England were just a few balls away from their first win of the tour (no, the game against the Prime Minister’s XI doesn’t count).   The Barmy Army all had beautific anticipatory smiles on their faces.

Five and a half overs later, after the most enthralling demonstration of how to avoid being out by facing as few balls as possible, from Clint, and an incredible master-class on how to hit effortless fours and sixes when the chips are down, from Faulkie, we had won, with three balls to spare.

The most exciting and mind-blowing one-day-er I’ve ever watched. 😀