Cricket World Cup hot / not index
A week into this cricket world cup and you can't take your eyes off it, despite the brutal viewing times. Here's a guide to who's smacking it over cover and who's got deep heat mixed up with toothpaste so far:
Hot
Tilda Swinton - star of Michael Clayton, Snow Piercer, We Need To Talk About Kevin and loads more was out supporting Bangaldesh - becuase of course. Unfortunately that means she was barracking against the BLACKCAPS - but we won, so we now assume her powers.
West Indies fast bowlers pitching it short - everyone's been desperate for them to get it together after years of being rubbish, and they've done it by going back to basics. They beat up Pakistan and gave Australia a terrible fright with bowling more terrifying than a six hour third world bus journey sat next to Gareth Morgan. More please.
BLACKCAPS top of the table - two out of two, one comfortable and one by the seat of the pants. Sure, there are sterner tests to come and with a top batsman and top bowler carrying niggles there's still debate about our first XI, but we have runs on the board.
Twitter Nostradamuses - Herald scribe Winston Aldworth tweeted predictions from Grant Bradley, talking up low totals, english conditions, Taylor and Williamson and Trent Boult, before covering Spark's rugby world cup thingo and Jacinda. It's magnificent, go read it.
Helpful pitches - There's been green seamers, pitches with ridges and a bit of swing and reverse about when conditions are helpful. Sure, someone's going to go over 400 at some stage, but the batsmen aren't having it all their own way. Super stuff.
The cricket bat guitar - matchday entertainment at its best, with some geezer belting out dad rock tunes between overs at the grounds. Kane even got to have a go:
Not
South Africa - Dear oh dear. Played three, lost three, looked rubbish and recently-retired great AB de Villiers chucked in a needless and unhelpful PR distraction just for larfs.
Weird content alert - loathe as I am to monday morning quarterback other people's work, these tweets, from the ICC (official governing body) and Cricket World Cup (offical tournament host)'s accounts seem off-brand, cheap attempts to latch on to Virat's star power and weirder than kombucha.
Australia - just in general. Culturally, etc.
And.... that's it for nots. I've loved it so far, the cricket's been entertaining and the crowds are large and seem to be having a magnificent time.
We haven't forgotten that the associate nations have missed out, but we're left with a great tournament format with all the big guns getting to play each other.
No-one's gone near 400 yet and the bowlers are getting a chance to show what they can do. It's great cricket, don't go anywhere.
Thanks for reading - Richard
The week's best NZ sport writing
With Steve Hansen, Kieran Read and now Steve Tew all packing it in at the end of the year, Trevor McEwen asks if now's the time to walk the inclusion talk with a bold new CEO appointment [The Spinoff]
Phil Gifford on rugby's drinking culture and its evolution from the soaked good old days to the modern era, where performance is painstakingly measured and reputations can be ruined by anyone with a phone [NZ Herald]
The Bangladesh cricket team missed being caught up in the Al Noor mosque atrocity by minutes. Here's Andrew Alderson on how they've coped since [NZ Herald]
Sonny Bill Williams is a master in confounding your expectations, and has gone from money-grubbing mercenary to community leader in front of our eyes. Steve Deane celebrates the great man and hopes he gets to cap it with a decent run at the World Cup [Newsroom]
Not just for e-sports - Ben Stanley on what cannabis decriminalisation could mean for NZ athletes [NZ Herald]
LockerRoom has teamed up with the Guardian to cover the Women's FIFA World Cup, with Football Ferns previews from Maia Jackman and Steve Deane and heaps more [LockerRoom]
Video nasty
The second in The Spinoff's Scratched series on Aotearoa's lost athletes is about runner Anne Audain.
Long read
A classic - A day in the life of an air traffic controller [New York Times]
Selected weekend fixtures
The BLACKCAPS play Afghanistan Saturday morning at 12.30am, and Australia play India at 9.30pm Sunday night, they're on SKY
The Football Ferns' first world cup match is at 1am on Wednesday morning, it's on SKY
In the rugger, the Highlanders play the Bulls at 7.30pm tonight in Dunners, then the Blues are away to the Reds at 9.45pm. Tomorrow, the Crusaders will beat up the Rebels at 7.30pm before the Hurricanes play away to the Lions at 1am Sunday
Bring back the gif
When you are South Africa at the World Cup.
