Tuesday sports talk.

Well, I’ve had a little break and things happen. Not going to talk about the bombing, there is enough out there to inform and misinform people about it. I’m not going to add to it here.

Let’s start with what is currently in play, the Cricket! The woefuls are currently batting and sitting on 5 for, oh actually, that’s just changed to 6 for 93. The poms have just called for the “super-sub”. What the hell is that? The ICC has introduced some new rules to one day cricket. I’m not sure if it is across the board or just for this series of matches. I don’t recall them being used in the last set of matches that included Bangladesh, maybe someone out there knows. They also have power plays, where I think the fielding team can choose which 10 and 2x5 blocks of overs they would like to have the “2 fielders out of the circle rule” apply. So it looks like you now have to have 2 fielders out for 20 overs, not the original 15 which were always the first 15. Now they can mix it up and have the power play overs at the end of an innings. I don’t think that is a wise strategy but it does allow for an extra 5 overs of slogging. The game was becoming stale and uninteresting, especially with 20/20 games on the rise. Here is the full explanation from the ICC.

Well the Aussie rules seems to have settled down a bit, some big scores in the footy tipping suggests that expectations are starting to be met and that top teams are playing bottom teams. Soon though, there will be a flurry of activity on the ladder, there are 9 teams within 10 points of 2nd place. The West Coast Eagles are miles above the rest with a 4 game buffer and certainty to be playing home finals. The others are all in precarious positions, 2 bad games and you could be out of the 8, it is very tight. There are a couple of classic matches this weekend, most of which will reshape the 8 as well as West Coast v Brisbane which will be a great game. The Pies gave me no joy as the Lions mauled them to an inglorious death, damn their eyes!

Watched a bit of the Tour de France the other night, one of the mountain stages and the guy at the front was the Polka dot shirt owner, Rasmussen which was to be expected. Couldn’t watch all of it though as it was going to be a long stage and there is not much excitement in watching 2 guys race up a hill. But, Stuart O’Grady did finish 4th across the line which is pretty good for a non climber. This sport is so complex. The teams, the jerseys, the sprints, the mountain climbs, it’s just one huge tactical race. I noticed that the guy who had the Yellow jersey, David Zabriske, after the first day pulled out. He is strictly a flat track racer and that’s it for him. Lance is looking good and despite giving up the yellow jersey for now, he expects to get it back later in the race. I like the confidence.

The British Open starts this week at St Andrews, the home of golf. Not much more one can say until the hit off on Thursday.

By the way, Kev Pietersen has gone made and smacked the ball everywhere while I was writing this, but alas he is out - 7 for 186.