In case you missed it
Greetings - thanks for having Sport Review back.
I hope you had a relaxing and stress free break, depending on how many Super Overs you caught. Here’s a sandy jandal saunter through the summer so far.
Well. The cricket’s not gone to plan. The Tests in Aus were disappointing (crowd aside). The T20’s have been agonising. The chat online and on the radio’s not been much better. I was trying to think of when we last had a set of losses like this, then I remembered this used to happen all the time. This would have counted as a dream run in the 90’s. Consistency of selection and approach has given us so much over the last few years, I don’t think it’s the time to throw the Powerade out with the chilly bin water now. I can understand the calls for doing things differently in T20’s, and if you’re going to do something radical, maybe keep it for a format that’s the most inconsequential. As we saw in Hamilton, it doesn’t take much to turn things around - Test matches at home are our sweet spot right now and we’ve got three coming up.
The Australian Open was tremendous. Those January weeks of sporting drama of the highest quality with world-class production is amazing. The added bonus is testing your own athleticism through the medium of sleep deprivation, as all matches start at 11.35pm and go through until 4am, tremendous stuff.
No-one’s excited about rugby. The Super Rugby build up reminds me of the guy in school talking about how many beers was going to torpedo at the party, then wasn’t allowed out by his mum. Plenty of decent players are out (you can see it on their Instagram!), there’s still a weird feeling about the All Black coach selection and it’s frickin early February. Besides, the most pressing rugby thing happening seems to be this Australian broadcast deal going south, which is extremely worrying. Chiefs v Crusaders will be good tomorrow night but I worry the highlights may be few and far between this year.
Thanks for bearing with the newsletter hiatus over the summer. We had a tremendous break full of ice cream, swims, camping, The Crown series three (recommended) and moving house from Tauranga back to Auckland. Glad to be back into it for 2020.
Thanks for reading - Richard
The week's best NZ sport content
Alex Braae went to Albany Stadium to see Auckland Tuatara and one of the most energised kiwi crowds going [Spinoff]
How do you solve a problem like Super Overs? Here are a few ideas [Cricket Geek]
Ignominious run through kiwi sports teams who’ve gone out of business - so many broken dreams, so many rubbish uniforms [Stuff]
Dana Johannsen looks into the research around kids sport, and shifting the win at all costs attitude that puts loads of children and their parents off [Stuff]
Alex and Simon of the surely-soon-to-return Offspin podcast run through ten games that defined the BLACKCAPS’ decade [Spinoff]
It turns out ultimate team man Tom Blundell is the ultimate club man also [Stuff]
Sportsfreak makes the case for three sporting heroes of 2019 [Sportsfreak]
Dave Leggat profiles Leigh Kasperek, the finger spinner who keeps breaking her fingers [LockerRoom]
It seems no-one’s excited about Super Rugby this year. Or just less so than normal. Mediawatch investigates [RNZ]
Video nasty
New Zealand 80’s basketball gold - watch for massive Sport Review fav John Dybvig.
Long read
Agonising story of a high school American Football team who lost The Big Game and how it’s affected their lives [nj.com]
Recommendation
If you’re ever traveling through the Bay Of Plenty you MUST MUST MUST visit Xanadu books in Papamoa. It’s simply the most amazing second hand bookshop I’ve ever been in, stocking all those books you’ve been unable to find forever, for only $5. And the owner knows where they all are.
Selected weekend fixtures
The second ODI v India happens Saturday afternoon / evening at Eden Park, let’s see if we can wrap up the series, it’s on SKY
Yip, rugby’s back - pick this week is Chiefs v Crusaders from Waikato Stadium, note that kicks offs are 7.05pm now. For some reason. There’s Sevens on from Sydney too, it’s all on SKY
The Breakers are away to Brisbane Bullets at 9.30pm tonight, segueing neatly into the Phoenix away to Perth Glory at 11.45pm (!!!!!), they’re on SKY
Bring back the gif
When your host appears with the cheeseboard.
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