Cricket, lovely cricket

[Steven Russell]

The so-called best team of all time was a joke. No Garfied Sobers! This was voted for by the public worldwide and had the bias towards subcontinental and current players one would expect from such a poll. No one likes England except the English probably for historical reasons i.e. The Empire.

Richie Benaud is a proud Aussie but one who can look at things with more objectivity than most koala shaggers. His all time best team does contain England players.

The ICC team was selected from current players by an international panel of experts.

As usual, when England are doing well, you resort to cricket history, which is where all the best Aussie players can now be found. Either that or, "Wait till 2013". With the Aussies having been on top for what seemed like an eternity until quite recently, it's wonderful as an England supporter to live happily in the present for a change. If and when we stop winning, I'll probably do the same as you and hit the nostalgia button. But at the moment, now is a very good time to be an England supporter.

Best wishes,
Steve.

PS Ribbing aside, good luck, Warney. His name was one of the first to get into my all time XI.

[Adam Went]

Steven:

Ah. Well if it's upper class then of course we wouldn't have heard of it - nobody likes a snob, Steven.

As for the ICC Awards, there may have been 5 Soap Dodgers in it and no Aussies, but then there was 5 Aussies and no Bath Avoiders in the best team of all time announced just recently, was there not? I know which of the two i'd be talking up more.

Cheers,
Adam.

P.S. Warney was on TV down here last night, looking very fit....says he's going to play a few games of T20 in our new franchise starting soon for a Melbourne based team. Excellent.

[Steven Russell]

Adam,
Pimm's is an alcoholic drink with an image closely associated with the British upper classes.

I saw the ICC awards 2011 yesterday. Yery gratifying to see no fewer than five England players in their test team of the year. And no Aussies.

Best wishes,
Steve.

[Adam Went]

Pimms, Steven? Please explain?

Or perhaps "Pimms" is a codeword for Mike Hussey? In which case, ya can't 'ave 'im. He's done it all in the current test match.....taken a catch that makes Jonty Rhodes' highlight reel look amateurish, taken a wicket of a top order batsman in both innings (including that of Kumar Sangakkara), and something else....hmm, what was it....oh yes, scored 142 with the bat in the first innings.

Can't blame you for wishing he was yours, Steven, but the only condolence I can give you is that you'll get to see him weave his magic in person in 2013.

Meanwhile, Sam Stosur just took out the final of the women's tennis at the US Open.....Australian sport is rising back to its peak of brilliance. Now for the Wallabies to destroy Old Man Wilkinson and his crew at the next WC and it's all done....

Cheers,
Adam.

[Steven Russell]

Hmm....very quiet in here all of a sudden!

Cheers,
Adam.

Too busy basking, dear boy. Pass the Pimms would you?

[Adam Went]

Hmm....very quiet in here all of a sudden!

Cheers,
Adam.

[Adam Went]

Incidentally, Owais Shah is coming down here to play in our new T20 franchise, the Hobart Hurricanes....so likewise, I will be barracking for a Pom.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Adam Went]

Macdonald has been a solid all-rounder for Victoria for years and has played a handful of games at national level, just never really cemented his place in the side....

Is that something resembling praise for an Australian I hear from you, Monty?

Cheers,
Adam.

[Monty]

MacDonald was this years leading run scorer. We are trying to retaining him for the Champions League.

Monty

[Adam Went]

Monty & Steven:

Got to see part of the replay of that match on TV last night, your blokes did well Monty, beating Stresscothick's mob I see....

As for Paul Nixon, I've got memories of his playing ODI's for England down here against us at one stage a few years back....everybody thought he was a bit of a surprise call up because of his age even then. 36 or so at the time. Don't remember much of how he actually performed but I DO clearly remember that he was an absolute competitor, never say die attitude, always chirping with something from behind the stumps. Bad case of white line fever, that fellow.

Pleased to see that an Aussie was involved in your victory too Monty (naturally), in "Ronny" MacDonald....

Cheers,
Adam.

[Monty]

Adam,

That was supposed to be his last game, but as we are in the champions league he will play there.

Was his last in England.

There was a beautiful moment when, just before MacDonald bowled the last ball, the camera cut to a close up of Nico. And there was an obvious sign of a tear in his eye.

And his catch, ****in amazin take. Go watch it if you can.

He is staying on at the club as a coach which I'm real pleased with. A real good old pro which, I suspect, will be in the England coaching set up at some stage.

Monty

[Steven Russell]

Like the flasher - he was going to retire but decided to stick it out for another year.

[Adam Went]

Paul Nixon still plays!?

Cheers,
Adam.

[Monty]

My team, lowly lil Leicestershire, the team no one backs, no one mentions and is always written off, has just won the T20 for the third time. Meaning they keep the trophy and qualify for the Worlds.

Well done lads, and my buddy Paul Nixon.

Proud of every damn one of you.

Monty

[Adam Went]

Phil:

Actually, truth be told, I think a lot of international players retire too early these days. They just think "Oh crap, i'm 35 now, have to retire" - when they've still got 2-3 good years of cricket still left in them. We need look no further than Rahul Dravid of late, 38 years old and quite possibly the player of the series in a team which has been walloped and otherwise woeful.

Sachin has also been in the form of his career, arguably, in the last year or 2 as well. Personally if I got the chance to represent my country in the sport I loved then I would be doing so until I couldn't see the damned ball anymore, or twanged a hammy every time I walked onto the field.

As for Strauss, saw a "highlights" package the other day of the series against India where he scratched around for an hour, scoring 2 solitary runs, then nicked one.

England are a boring team, horrible to watch. Especially Cook. Ugh.

Monty:

We are both talking about Sri Lanka, aren't we? You know, the team which boasts names such as Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene?

Doherty isn't a Test bowler, definitely not, but he's a good limited overs bowler.

However, against England? We laughed so hard at him a lil bit of wee came out.

Another sign of your advanced years.

Nimrod:

Not related to any mentalists, just that Monty told me all about you, even the stuff I really didn't want to know.

Nope, an ordinary mic/headset will do the trick - or, if you're on a laptop, yo don't need anything at all!

Cheers,
Adam.