Tag: Australia

Whither Australia? (And New Zealand, the UK and, indeed, the rest of the world!)

I recently came across this bit of prose.

“The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.”

It is from a very short story called “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The full text, which seems to be in the public domain, can be found here.

https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cabarrus.k12.nc.us%2Fcms%2Flib09%2FNC01910456%2FCentricity%2FDomain%2F4127%2F2081%2520SS%2520Harrison%2520Bergeron.doc&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK

A little more research took me to this film, here: https://youtu.be/XBcpuBRUdNs I think it is worth watching.

Having followed some of what has been going on in Australia and, to be fair, France as well as one or two other countries, I cannot help feeling that our antipodean friends are well down the road to a Vonnegutian dystopia. By contrast, Zimbabwe, for now at least, seems the be the epitome of sanity and adherence to human rights.

What say others?

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”

Cannon fodder

Picture espncricinfo.com

They say that there’s a first time for everything, today is certainly the first time that I’ve sat down and watched a complete innings of test cricket over breakfast and 2 cups of coffee!

Reminiscent of that famous demolition of Australia back in 2011 (also at Newlands, 47 all out, 18 overs, 95 minutes, Philander also bagged 5!) scorecard here. The Kiwis lasted 8 balls and 5 minutes longer!

Continue reading “Cannon fodder”

Oz v S.A – Brisbane

I love waking up to 179/2 🙂

The Proteas won the toss and despite all the hype preceding the game of the wicket being a ‘greentop’ and what appeared like a fair amount of cloudcover Graeme Smith elected to bat.

As is customary I awoke for the toss and first ball, (play starts at midnight GMT that’s 2am our time.)

I saw Smith go out early (LBW to Pattinson after an Oz DRS review) and then crashed! (Not my car…. to my bed ;))

Petersen (that’s Alvero not KP) our other opener was out for a fine 64 leaving Amla and Kallis to carry the innings. They’re both still in @ tea 🙂

Game on!

Picture ESPN cricinfo

Hours of play 00.00 – 07.00 gmt

S.A. v Aus, The Wanderers, Jhb

This was my preferred position when watching cricket at The Wanderers, the stand wouldn’t have been so high back in those days and the seats (well, we didn’t have seats but rows and rows of wooden railway sleeper benches, complete with splinters) wouldn’t have been as comfortable,

The Wanderers, affectionately known as The Bullring, prior to the construction of the new stands it actually resembled a bullring, is the venue for today’s test match.

And am I looking forward to it. Continue reading “S.A. v Aus, The Wanderers, Jhb”