Round 9 of Premier Cricket is another Saturday/Sunday affair (Dec 10 & 11). Clubs may have access to their state representatives. Good for them. Rain is forecast for both days. Anyone surprised? Here’s a preview of this weekends games.
Crio’s Racing: A Crowded Weekend
December 9, 2011 by 5 Comments
We have a ridiculously cluttered metropolitan racing schedule this weekend and, it would be fair to say, the quality of the local fields could not be the lure for attendance. I guess the 3 meetings- Valley Nights on Friday, HQ Saturday and a twilight at MV Sunday- each have their particular focus and we need [Read more]
Hangies and Rugby
December 8, 2011 by 4 Comments
Hangies and Rugby. A few days of farm work and, somehow, cutting back from the coast and its relentless winds, I‘ve found myself in the back of a city, over a river and all the lights that frame it, drinking at a hangi with a group of Islanders. Most of them are from PNG [Read more]
Come back Bill!
December 8, 2011 by 2 Comments
There was one thing missing from Channel 9’s coverage of the First Test in Brisbane. Actually, many would argue that there were lots of things missing from Channel 9’s coverage and that there has been for a long time. But that’s a conversation for another time – or in the Comments section below if [Read more]
North Melbourne 2012 season preview
December 7, 2011 by 6 Comments
by Josh Barnstable “Close but no cigar” “Almost there” “Just not good enough” One word comes to mind. Two, in fact. North Melbourne. If North’s ’10 and ’11 AFL seasons were made into a novel, pick any of those three sayings above and you have a perfectly suitable title. That’s the reality of [Read more]
Premier Cricket – Round 8 review
December 7, 2011 by 4 Comments
by Mic Rees Round 8 of Premier Cricket was a Saturday/Sunday fixture completed last weekend (Dec 3 & 4). Bat dominated ball with 9 batsmen posting centuries. Amongst the three figure totals were two maiden tons, another coming off the bat a district stalwart, his first in senior company in over a decade. At [Read more]
Unavailable for Test Consideration
December 6, 2011 by 17 Comments
By Sean Curtain I’ve now officially made myself unavailable for consideration in the Australia Test team. I’m not sure how I let the Australian selectors know this though. I’m sure John Inverarity has a bit on at the minute coming up to speed with the team, his new work colleagues and those available in Shield [Read more]
Qualified Joy in Kiwi Clobbering
December 6, 2011 by 26 Comments
Two seasons ago Australia were undefeated in six test matches against the mediocre opposition put up by the West Indies and Pakistan. All that success served to achieve was to mask the deficiencies of an ordinary team, and set Australia up for last summer’s Ashes debacle. So an easy win over a New Zealand [Read more]
Queenstown
December 5, 2011 by 11 Comments
by Andrew Starkie In the late ’70s mum and dad took my sisters and I on a road trip around Tasmania. It was deep Winter and the roads were hilly, winding and wet. I was car sick for two weeks. I recall moments like framed snapshots. Slipping on snow and ice on Mount [Read more]
Victoria Park Knackers
December 5, 2011 by 7 Comments
Picture by Vin Maskell Some illustrious Knacker alumni are amongst the list of contributors to Duke Albada’s sound installation at Victoria Park.
Australia and Test cricket not done with yet
December 5, 2011 by 12 Comments
by Andrew Gigacz This was a day when everything went right – maybe not for Phil Hughes, but for me and the rest of the Australians. Knowing that I’d be doing the Day 4 report for the Almanac, I headed out for my morning coffee with the intention of returning home to catch the [Read more]
Crio’s Q: Models
December 4, 2011 by 5 Comments
I’d just reflex flicked on the car radio in transit from home to can’t remember. My guess is that it was a draftee being interviewed. The answer I was hearing intrigued me…here’s my recollection… “Bit like Dale Morris.” “Love how Josh Gibson goes about it.” “Hard at it like Campbell Brown.” Presumably he was [Read more]
Australia on top
December 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Australia V New Zealand – 1st Test – Woolloongabba Cricket Ground – Day 3 – 3 November, 2011 JJ Leahy New Zealand 295 & 10/1 Australia 427 First Session The grey leaden clouds of the first two days had been replaced white puffy ones barely moving against clear blue sky as Australia resumed at 145/3. [Read more]
Quietly, a line in the sand.
December 4, 2011 by 4 Comments
Quietly, A Line in the Sand. I went to Southport in Tasmania the southern-most town in the land, looking for the southern-most footy oval in the country, or, I dunno, unless they play Aussie Rules that far south in New Zealand, maybe the world. But when I left I saw the dirt road [Read more]
Another Go at GWS
December 4, 2011 by 23 Comments
A few weeks ago I complained that Greater WesternSydneywas using its privileged “out of contract” picks to poach players from lower clubs. Now that the main draft is completed a second question emerges about GWS. Will they have a viable team for their first season? Phantom pointed out that, unlike Gold Coast, GWS was [Read more]
Rantings of a reasonable man
December 4, 2011 by 5 Comments
By Sean Curtain I thought she said, “Celebrate”. That would have made some sense. After all, we were talking about what drew her to work for this worldwide company. They were an important global organisation, with a ubiquitous logo, thousands of places where their products could be bought and at this stage (later to be [Read more]
Giving thanks for the GFC
December 4, 2011 by 8 Comments
by John Mirisch Nov. 28, 2011: This is Thanksgiving time in the US. It’s one of our best holidays. Any holiday that centers around a meal can’t be all bad, I guess. In the best American tradition, we take stock of life’s blessings, among the pains and irritations, and we give thanks [Read more]
Umpires’ Day at the Gabba
December 3, 2011 by 4 Comments
The second day of the First Test between Australia and New Zealand will be remembered as a day when weirdness and officialdom took over the game. Actually, let me start again: the second day of the First Test between Australia and New Zealand will not be remembered.
The Smith report and the future of football
December 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
Roy Hay After seven months of deliberation the Chair of the Australian Sports Commission and former Liberal Sports Minister, Warwick Smith, has handed in his review of the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) and its custodianship of the world game. The review was instituted by the Federal Government because of its concerns about the sustainability [Read more]
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