The Big Bashers

I haven't changed my mind.

T20 cricket remains chewing gum and potato chips on my cricketing menu. A bit of instant interest but I have had enough pretty quickly.

One thing that has maintained my interest in the Big Bash is the chance to see a whole range of new cricketers, both mediocre and promising. There is so much international cricket that the faces do become a little familiar.

The next cricket growth area could be the exposure of the next tier down on a more regular international  basis. So keep your eye out for more of Patrick Cummin's tongue.

Not So Subtle

Couldn't resist this as Collingwood just looks as if he is a split second from the big impact.

In Aussie the possum is a protected species, lucky for Paul he is not in NZ.

Hot To Trott

First Law of Sports Momentum - when you are hot you are hot.

You know the momentum gods are with you when a guy like Trott starts taking wickets.

Perhaps the next ODI should be a man on man encounter between Trott and Watson, while the rest just watch and think about what the haven't done.

Not Unremarkable

Some places just don't make cricket sense.

Queenstown is a great tourist location, wonderful in both summer and winter, but there is something about the look of the place that is incongruous with a game of cricket.

The game the suits bucolic pastures or open plains - the Alps or the Andes are just not a cricket backdrop.

And they tend to attract rain - it is called the orographic effect.

Blast From The Past

I have been playing with a bit of vector graphics and offer up this very basic Craig McDermott as an initial offering. In fairness, McDermott was always a fairly straight forward character any way.

The Blue Bash

Yusuf Pathan hit the ball so hard in his rapid fire hundred it must have seemed like time and space were distorted.

In the end, the laws of reality asserted themselves and his efforts went unrewarded, but for a while the Saffer boys must have wondered what universe they were in.

Another New Attack

Oh please, please, please let these two be the start of something new and effective for the Black Caps. If nothing else they at least have some youthful enthusiasm to balance the middle aged sense of entitlement we have grown used to.

Watching Closely

Johan Botha keeps and eye on proceedings against those tricky Indians.

Stock Photo

Mohammad Hafeez has every right to be a little down after being dismissed but I offer this image as a stock photo which can be used for so many different situations in Pakistan cricket.

Next time there is some sort of colossal Pakistan cock up just roll this pic out and share their pain.

It could be worse, they could be NZ and relying on the durable  Jacob Oram as their key all rounder.

Say Hi To The New Boy

John Hastings - new star on the horizon, or proof that the selectors are prepared to look outside the aging square? Only time and vitriolic cricket commentators will decide. Poor bugger.

Serious Stuff

Tim Southee is the picture of serious concentration as he prepares to deliver yet another ball in what has become a very pedestrian affair at the Basin. A degrading tropical cyclone should liven things up tomorrow and mean that all the serious endeavour ends in a tame draw. Which should save the umpires from making any more mistakes for a day or two.

Deep In Ponder

Now what might, or more importantly, what should Brendan McCullum be thinking as he contemplates his early dismissal? All thoughts on the back of an envelope in 45 words or less - or just leave a comment!

Head Shot

One thing about T20, you get a lot of strange looks in a short space of time.

Ajmal Shahzad is only fielding a return ball in this shot but some one with an active imagination could invent all sorts of possible scenario's.

Stickability

"Just occupy the crease" is the mantra the Black Collapse are chanting as they enter the second test at the Basin Reserve. In John Wright and Glen Turner they have two zen masters when it came to not playing a loose shot. I can't help thinking however, that something might get lost in the translation between generations and we may see batsman channeling the shot happy Turner of the early eighties.

If we have really reached a point where James Franklin is considered the answer at Number 3, Wright and/or Turner might be better off to just put the pads on themselves.

England 1 Watson 0

It's a bugger when you do all the effective batting and bowling, suffer through gear failure and still lose in the last over.

Perhaps someone else will give Shane Watson a hand in the next game.

Tea Break

Even major cricketing deities are entitled to a quiet cuppa from time to time.

No numbers on the Little Master's hat just initials, which I assume stands for S.T. Sachin.

Big Balls

Douglas Hondo gives it plenty in the warm ups, and wearing that outfit you can't help but be warm.

Yesterday I had a dig at the sports psyhcos but today's target are the trainers. In the modern days of specialist hangers on each person has got to be constantly reinventing themselves and their techniques to stay "on top". Little wonder that cricketers, simple souls at best, become confused about what the key elements to success are.

The England have shown a large troupe of support staff can be successful, but I suspect a lot of the credit goes to the guy pulling it all together. Flower seems to have a good grasp of what is important and what is distracting fluff.

Head Cases

The Black Collapse have just illustrated, yet again, one of the great mysteries of modern sport - why any one would employ a sports psychologist!?.

If these pussy willows are a product of a coordinated programme of coaching and mental preparation I can't help thinking that someone, perhaps the poor sods who turn up to watch in Hamilton, deserves a considerable refund on their investment. The only investment that seems dodgier is some one prepared to pay a million US dollars for Ross Taylor - good luck with that.

You Little Beauty

Success is, as they say, it's own reward.

A Genuine Contest

Isn't it great to see two evenly matched sides thumping away at each other? Well, if they are matched and skilled that is.

Walk On

My timing might be as rusty as Ricky's but having done this image I can't be bothered waiting to see what happens. If Ponting is gone from Test cricket, then I am a little overdue, but if he has a bit more in him I can only hope he keeps "doing his own thing".

It hasn't helped Ponting that while he has struggled, the other grand old men of world cricket, Kallis and Tendulkar, have been playing like men possessed. To be fair, both those guys have had some support from their mates, something that has not been there for the Tasmanian Tantrum.

No Steyn On The Game

I can't help thinking I am missing something.  While I survive on a diet of meaningless domestic T20 and one sided Ashes tests, cricket fans in SA are witnessing a heavy weight title fight of epic proportions.

It must be a great series as it has cricket writers such as Firdose Moonda writing stuff that reads like Neville Cardus and Denzil Batchelor on very strong speed.

Dale Steyn being compared to Claude Monet! So who would be Tendulkar's artist equivalent?

MS Stripped

For no other reason than that I like the pose which seems to sum up the power and control that is Dhoni.

Nobody Said It Was Going To Be Easy

If John Wright thought years of on field sunshine had an aging effect, he is about to find out that coaching the Black Caps can add years in a very short space of time.