Calypso Capers on Cross Street

Last November Footscray Edgewater Cricket Club announced they had acquired the services of Surrey County Cricket Club captain Rory Hamilton-Brown for the remainder of the 2010/11 Premier Cricket season. This was quite a coup for the Dogs. Hamilton-Brown debuted for Surrey in 2005. He was named captain of the England Under 19 team in 2006, [Read more]

Supercoach Rucks 2011

Choosing two good rucks for your Supercoach side is one of the most crucial things you’ll do when it comes to Fantasy Football. A ruckman’s job is to win the hitout around the ground, but in Supercoach, if you pick a ruckman that does that, and just that, then you won’t go far. You need [Read more]

Almanac Racing: Flemington

Hopefully the VRC’s free-day at Flemington will entice punters to the ring and families on to the lawns this Saturday. I reckon you can build a Quaddy bank by getting there early and backing CHATEAUNEUF DUPAPE (R1, No 5) all up WINGED CHARM (R2, No4). If that (somewhat predictable!) doesn’t salute, re-launch your endeavours with [Read more]

Know your tennis crowd

Melbourne is abuzz with the excitement of The Australian Open. Well. Sort of. Channel 7 tells us it is, and Channel 7 is abuzz with tennis, and hilariously funny gaffs which allow Todd Woodbridge to liken himself to S.K. Warne (Todd Woodbridge is like S.K. Warne the way Maggie Thatcher is like Juliet Binoche). Yes, [Read more]

The Almanac XI

Yes, folks, The Almanac XI is looking for players for the big challenge on Feb 20. Three things: One, if you’d like to play please nominate by comment here, using the time-honoured terminology of the ABC Cricket Book. RHB, ROS. Creativity insofar as explanations of strings in the bow are concerned may work favourably with [Read more]

Supercoach Midfields 2010

This is where a big chunk of your Supercoach weekly score will come from. The midfield is where some of the best and biggest scorers do their best work, and it is critical to pick some of the best players going around, but to also invest in some youngsters who’s value will rise as the [Read more]

Tennis Nations

There is an old saying that “Tennis brings out the crazy in us”. Okay. I’ll be honest it’s not a real saying. I just made it up. But it is true nevertheless. Tennis is such a fanatical and passionate sport. It is something about the Australian Open that makes the fans go crazy. It might [Read more]

Haigh unloads

Gideon Haigh could be speaking on behalf of many at the Almanac with this withering assessment of Cricket Australia’s performance this summer, from Cricinfo. His aim proves much more unerring than Australia’s bowlers. http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/497175.html

Call the cops?

A mistake obviously. But also a revelation of true opinions about the dominance of the Rog/Raffa show? Would a Federer loss to anyone else really loot the tournament? Picture courtesy of Dave Bruce    

When Dog Hopes Were High

Round 12 2010: Western Bulldogs vs. Brisbane Lions -Sunday 13tf of June -Etihad stadium By Cam Hargraves Living in the ACT, I’m usually limited to 2 to 3 (providing we can make the finals) live games a year in Melbourne. And on Friday the 11th of June my mother, father and I (all diehard dogs [Read more]

Federer Fever

For most of the class of 2010, the week leading up to the Australian Open was pretty stressful. Monday 17th of January meant two things. It was the day university offers came out and it was also the start of the 2011 Australian Open. Monday came and I didn’t watch any tennis, I got home [Read more]

Super DreamTeam Coach – 2011: Defence

by Josh Barnstable The countdown has started. In two weeks time, all Supercoaches and Dream Teamers will get their first look at the 2011 version of the fantasy side of AFL. People will pick mock squads; people will make their team during the first hour, making minor adjustments up until the eve of Round One.

Open Day at Flinders Park

by Rod Oaten One of my favourite days of the sporting calendar is day one of the Australian Open. No-one’s been beaten, and from the the player with the lowest ranking, who dreams of a major upset, to one of the top dogs, everyone is in with a chance. Unlike last year, when the weather was [Read more]

In A League of its Own – Week 23

Tom’s Weekly outlook on the A-League With the finals series approaching, many teams are now scrambling to get points to launch themselves up a few places on the table. Teams that have their position on the table wrapped up are Brisbane to finish top and North Queensland to finish last. Every other team can either [Read more]

GIGSTUFF – Edition #46: From Kew to Z

by Andrew Gigacz 17th January 2011 WHAT HO! WATTO And we begin this week’s “Stuff” with the not so unusual news that Shane Watson has scored another three 50s against England. What is unusual is that, this time, those three 50s were all part of the same innings. Watto’s unbeaten 161 at the MCG on [Read more]

Prepare to Scream

I went to the T20 match between Australia and England on Friday night at the MCG. On the train going in from Merri (where the MCG’s centre wicket once came from) I looked at the plastic card-ticket on the lanyard that hung around my neck. It had a barcode, and a clear warning that no [Read more]

Crio’s Q: Changes in Sport

We are being ambushed with old images. Hairy ODIs and sun-drenched Kooyong. Promoters love nostalgia. It can be interesting some times to reflect on what change has slipped by during your lifetime. Often it is quite difficult to recall where and when it came about. Who was last to “turn out the lights”? Who did [Read more]

On the Brisbane floods

Some interesting stuff on Brisbane and floods: Just in case you didn’t know that Queensland was a flood-province here is the Bureau of Meteorology’s history of flooding on the Bremer and the Brisbane Rivers. Have a look at how many floods and especially at the 1893 flood – and the extracts from the papers/journals/diaries. http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/qld/fld_history/brisbane_history.shtml [Read more]

Recent AFL Rookie Drafts

It must be a terrible feeling on the National Draft day, when your name doesn’t get called out by any of the officials representing the 16 (now 18) clubs. There is hope a month later though, in the form of the Pre-Season and Rookie drafts. The fact is, most players taken in the latter draft [Read more]

Cricket Losing Out In Schools

By Peter Hulthen In my last few years in education I could see the writing on the wall . One of the unsaid that is besetting our Australian Cricket is that it is not promoted in schools to anything like the extent it should be. Sports such as Rugby League, Basketball , AFL and some [Read more]