Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - the tune’s a bit slow for me. It’s no Wagon Wheel. But. It calls to mind Martin Guptill. A great, great servant of New Zealand Cricket, on his knees on the Lords turf. Having come up short in the World Cup Final. What a moment. Brought to you by Nissan.
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - 92 World Cup. All day. This would have gone well in the dressing room. But to be honest, when reflecting on that great campaign in the sheds afterwards. We were more interested in the Export Golds. And probably had a Dragon tape on or something.
Back To The Old House - Fantastic stuff. Takes me right into my home SENZ broadcasting booth / office / laundry.
Hand in Glove - As a former international wicketkeeper. Who could bat a bit! This a great song. And appropriate. There are a lot of gloves in our great summer game.
Unloveable - To be Honest. I could have had this on the Falcon’s stereo driving out of SKY for the last time. Reflecting on all that experience and international caps driving out the gate. Having become persona non grata. Shame. Let’s get SKY Back On Track.
This Charming Man - In my cricket and broadcasting career. I’ve shared booths with some of the greats. Richie. Ian. Ian. But Mark Nicholas. He is a smooth operator, let me tell you. The man can fill a rain delay with loving tributes to the Australian cricket team and his Channel 9 colleagues like no one else. True pro.
Thanks for reading - Richard
This week's best NZ sport content
Michael Burgess speaks to AKLFootball24 owner and CEO about Auckland’s incoming professional football team, teasing 20k seat waterfront stadiums and championships [NZ Herald]
I could read about that misty Wellington morning when Brendon McCullum sealed his triple century all day, so luckily Dylan Cleaver has an extract from his new book with exactly that [The Bounce]
Carlos Spencer in the Blues retro jersey was the big winner on Super Rugby jersery reveal day (yes this exists now). Jamie Wall is excited about teams finally putting out retro jerseys (I only saw one?), while Will Toogood goes in-depth to review every new jersey, and asks for a plain well-lit picture of each one to go with the moody dark ones please [RNZ, NZ Herald]
If you thought recent world cups dragged on and on (especially the one where it only happened at the weekends, bogged down with sponsors, endless punditry and sometimes a game or two, this is for you [Guardian]
Video nasty
A very timely watch.
Long read
Toby Manhire got a rare long interview with the GOAT Kim Hill, who finishes up on Saturday morning [The Spinoff]
Recommendation
A massive rabbit hole - the 100 greatest music performances broadcast on BBC radio and tv. Watch out for Futureheads covering Kate Bush, Joni and James and (spoilers) an iconic number one [Guardian]