A man overseeing several unfinished DIY projects answers your cricket world cup questions
Have the BLACKCAPS made the semi finals?
We're all but home on 11 points and need to win against either Australia (augh!) or England to make sure, or for some weird results to go against us. Weird stuff happens though eh, you see that hole where the sink should be? Not actually my fault. I don't see the issue with washing dishes in a bucket for three weeks, people do that on boats hey.
Who's been the stand out player?
Kane Williamson, no doubt. Two centuries when it counts, he's dragged the team along so far. Player of the tournament so far, NOT like Stu, Ken and Rasher who turned up for Sunday's working bee too hungover to do anything and just ate oven chips all day. I did too to be fair, but still.
Who are the form teams?
The old firm of India and Australia have hit form at the right time. Anyone wanting to win will have to beat one or both of these teams. They're ticking all the boxes, not like me apparently after I came home from Bunnings with a great deal on AAA batteries and four more multi boxes but not the replacement front door. Two out of three ain't bad! Hah!
Are there any issues with the team?
Some people are calling for change at the top of the order with Colin Munro still to convince people he's the man for the job. With Henry Nicholls sat on the sideline there's a good argument for his inclusion, not like arguments around here, where it's all 'half job Harry', 'bone idle' and 'emotionally unavailable'. Jeez.
Has the tournament been a success overall?
It's been a real celebration of cricket, with big loud crowds from England's cultural melting pot. The pitches have played their part to make a decent contest between bat and ball - heaps of NZ fans are struggling with sleep deprivation, but I'm fine in the tent, no SKY out here! By the time I'm let back in the house it'll all be over! Winning!
Thanks for reading - Richard
The week's best NZ sport writing
Suzanne McFadden checks in with Team New Zealand and the America's Cup event two years after we won it in Bermuda [Newsroom]
Trevor McEwan revisits his 1992 testosterone-packed book Real Men Wear Black and find it's a time capsule of an era and culture we're leaving far behind [The Spinoff]
Dylan Cleaver gets to the bottom of the BLACKCAPS success so far - dot balls [NZ Herald]
Steve Deane meets Liz Dawson and Andrea Nelson, chair and CEO of the 2021 women's cricket world cup, which is being held here in New Zealand [Newsroom]
I'm thoroughly enjoying The Offspin, Simon Day and Alex Braae's cricket world cup podcast, that's featured Grant Elliott, Suzie Bates, Mark Craig Ali Ikram (and his Dad) and loads more. The questions are refreshing and the players seem to open up a lot more than usual. It's evergreen stuff, I recommend listening to them all [The Spinoff]
Chris Keall examines more encouraging noises out of SKY, from shutting down the weird Android puck thing to giving FanPass a long-overdue upgrade, bring it on. See also: Spark's Simon Moutter exit interview [NZ Herald]
NZ Super Rugby exit interviews for the Blues by Ryan Nixon, Highlanders by Mark Currie and the Chiefs by yours truly [Sportsfreak]
Video nasty
To ten goals of the 21st century - couple I'd forgotten and not seen here, a great compilation.
Long read
Meet Rich Paul, LeBron James' agent who's pulling plenty of strings to help shape the NBA [Sports Illustrated]
Selected weekend fixtures
Squeaky bum time in the cricket world cup - we play Australia at Lord's at 12.30 Sunday morning, while England v India starts 9.30pm Sunday night. There's something on all of them from here in...
Super rugby semi finals are Jaguares v Brumbies at 11.05 Saturday morning, then Crusaders v Hurricanes at 7.30 Sunday night
Bring back the gif
When the world cup sleep patterns start to catch up on you.
