I don’t have time to preview it, but I can link to this little summary.

I’m following Kolkata again. They’re hilarious.

A very nice start, a very nice end, and a big hole in the middle.

In any series that New Zealand does well in, the wins are hard fought, such as the 1st ODI, and some of the losses will be hard fought too, such as the 2nd ODI, but some of the other matches will be busts, such as ODIs 3 and 4. So here’s expecting that 3 and 4 were just a dip and that 5 in Wellington will be another hard fought match.

However, despite this monumental effort, the world’s attention remains on Michael Clarke’s private life. The sorry fact is, no amount of Pakistani self-mutilation surprises us any more.

Thank goodness for Pup and Bingle causing a sensation and giving Australasian cricket something to talk about. And what a scandal. Nude photos, boofhead footballer, tell-all magazine exclusives, urgent flights across the Tasman, journalists getting the finger, careers under threat. As good as a close run chase.

The Chappell–Hadlee is the best one-day trophy competition. No question.

The tally of series wins currently stands at 2 Aus wins, 1 NZ win and 2 ties (the second of which should have been an NZ win but for that pesky Queensland rain), with a total of 8 games apiece. It is a very closely fought trophy.

A look at the individual results shows just how close. Apart from a few exceptions (such as the whole of the 07/08 series), victory comes down to the last 20 or so runs or the last 10 or so balls. And the results summary just doesn’t do justice to the drama and record breaking feats that have gone into those victories.

Cricinfo’s statisticians have found out why the trophy is so good – New Zealand seriously lifts for Chappell–Hadlee matches. Compared with non-C–H matches against Australia since the beginning of 2004 (the year the C–H trophy kicked off), NZ batsmen’s averages have been about 7 runs higher. Whereas the Australian averages are down by about the same amount, largely accounted for by the improvement in the NZ bowlers’ averages.

There is something special about this trophy.

(The Cricinfo article also reveals a sorry fact, that apart from the 8 against 8 wins in the C–H, NZ has had no further wins against Aus since the start of 2004.)

Vettori hails most realistic video game ever

John Howard for President

The Knife:

The “not” for “nod” is only a typo of course, but I would like to believe it represents some kind of subconscious unwillingness by New Zealand Cricket to accept that they are colluding with Australia to subject the cricket world to John Howard.

I also took some childish delight in selectively reading extra, unintended meaning in the press release, such as how “Australia and New Zealand considered a number of distinguished candidates of global stature” but decided to go with Howard rather than a distinguished candidate.

Peter Roebuck has made the case expertly, but John Howard is quite clearly a poor selection as ICC president, a joke almost. He knows little about cricket, his only contribution being to dissuade Murali to tour. And there was an eminently qualified alternative in New Zealand’s suggestion John Anderson. Furthermore, he is a divisive figure and is not going to be liked in the subcontinent.

Personally I despise Howard for being a nasty little racist, war-mongering conservative. His objections over the apology to the Stolen Generation is particularly offensive. So I am naturally unhappy to have him heading world cricket. I must admit though that I don’t expect him as ICC president to turn any boat people back to the sea or drag cricket into any illegal wars. Peter Roebuck is also trying to be philosophical about the selection, suggesting that Cricket Australia nominated Howard because the ICC needs a strong, uncompromising, bull-headed leader to give it some clout, for Australia’s benefit.

When you’ve tanked the bowlers around the park on your way to an unbeaten 20-20 century, getting the finger from one of those bowlers is the highest form of flattery. Tait is presenting to McCullum here in a frustrated acknowledgement that McCullum was fricken’ awesome the other night.

In contrast, despite what others might think, the Lancaster Park crowd was jeering Shane Watson because he is a dick, not because we respect his abilities with bat and ball. We openly hate him, we don’t secretly rate him.