WHAT IS GOING ON?
Caught an early morning flight to Brisbane for work, yes BRISBANE. I've afraid to go out tonight in case the rednecks get me. But that's why this is just going to be a quick post in which I try encompass everything I am feeling at the very moment.
AB's 79 off 55. Why, world, why? You'd think God was spiting me or something, which I believe he is.
Bryce McGain thinks he's still in with a chance, over at SMH. Freddie thinks England have to be "fearless without being reckless" in order to win the Ashes. Which brings me to...
Phil Hughes. Ah, you'll hear that name often. His batting is so endearingly ugly I can't help but like him. His fifty-over critics have been silenced by a hard hit 119 from 112 balls for Middlesex. There is seriously something about Hughes which indicates to me he's got the necessary skills to take over the world. If I were him, I'd be planning it already.
The thing about Phil is that his batting is so incredibly unorthodox and he is so bloody short that nobody can find any appropriate way to describe him. Journalists and commentators have taken to calling his style "swashbuckling". I laugh in their faces.
That's all from me. I won't be on too much in the next few days either so don't cry if you fail to get your daily fix of Amy. I'll try talking cricket whenever I can.
Showing posts with label Bryce McGain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bryce McGain. Show all posts
Monday, 18 May 2009
Friday, 10 April 2009
Bryce McGain: Top Bloke
The only reason I have waited this long is because it seemed like a given. Nobody needs to point out the fact that "Nice Bryce" was a genuine top bloke. If John Howard were still playing cricket badly, he'd even go so far as to say he's a "ruddy good bloke". Because he really is.
Bryce has had one of the most unorthodox cricketing careers of any Aussie cricketer. He spent over a decade of his life as an IT worker at ANZ Bank, playing club cricket on the side, before, at the age of 35, he quit his job and began playing cricket professionally. He has an eight year old son who's leg spinning is dodgy, but Bryce is already working on that. He played club cricket for 15 years - that's 15 years - before finding a place in the Victorian side.
When he was in, he spent a good few years disappearing from the side. But Bryce, that Bryce, he didn't give up. Experience and skill were his two strengths, not to mention his superpowers obtained from wearing glasses, and Bryce McGain found himself thrashing NSW in the 2007 Pura Cup. The next year, he worked more wonders and took 38 wickets at 34.15. He was the Sheffield Shield spinner.
So in January 2009, Bryce stepped out on the pitch for the Shield and took a five wicket haul which had Australian selectors shooing him onto the national team. Bryce delivered and he was pointed towards the airport terminal on a plane heading to South Africa.
He missed the plane, of course. Management had a good hard talk with him about it, and he was on the way to South Africa, full of heady optimism and a handy tip from Michael Clarke telling him to sing the goddamn victory song or risk death at Katich's hands. When he debuted, Bryce McGain had the worst 5 days of his life. I know they were, because I felt the pain and horror of those days. If I'd had to live through such an extended nightmare, I would have killed myself on the 2nd day. Not Bryce, however. He stuck it out and enduring the horrors of an over zealous South African batting order. Even Ashwell Prince got stuck into him. Ashwell Prince gets stuck into nobody; he just hits and occupies the crease to gradually build up a score.
In the end, Bryce McGain's one Test match resulted in him now having one of the top five worst Test bowling performances in history. I won't specify how many runs he went for, and where he stands, because this post is to focus on the good things about him, this top bloke.
Bryce is still optimistic, although how he can be so is beyond me. He has said that he "certainly doesn't intend [for] it to be over after just one game". Shane Warne is also backing him, reciprocating Bryce's own statement of:
Bryce has had one of the most unorthodox cricketing careers of any Aussie cricketer. He spent over a decade of his life as an IT worker at ANZ Bank, playing club cricket on the side, before, at the age of 35, he quit his job and began playing cricket professionally. He has an eight year old son who's leg spinning is dodgy, but Bryce is already working on that. He played club cricket for 15 years - that's 15 years - before finding a place in the Victorian side.
When he was in, he spent a good few years disappearing from the side. But Bryce, that Bryce, he didn't give up. Experience and skill were his two strengths, not to mention his superpowers obtained from wearing glasses, and Bryce McGain found himself thrashing NSW in the 2007 Pura Cup. The next year, he worked more wonders and took 38 wickets at 34.15. He was the Sheffield Shield spinner.
So in January 2009, Bryce stepped out on the pitch for the Shield and took a five wicket haul which had Australian selectors shooing him onto the national team. Bryce delivered and he was pointed towards the airport terminal on a plane heading to South Africa.
He missed the plane, of course. Management had a good hard talk with him about it, and he was on the way to South Africa, full of heady optimism and a handy tip from Michael Clarke telling him to sing the goddamn victory song or risk death at Katich's hands. When he debuted, Bryce McGain had the worst 5 days of his life. I know they were, because I felt the pain and horror of those days. If I'd had to live through such an extended nightmare, I would have killed myself on the 2nd day. Not Bryce, however. He stuck it out and enduring the horrors of an over zealous South African batting order. Even Ashwell Prince got stuck into him. Ashwell Prince gets stuck into nobody; he just hits and occupies the crease to gradually build up a score.
In the end, Bryce McGain's one Test match resulted in him now having one of the top five worst Test bowling performances in history. I won't specify how many runs he went for, and where he stands, because this post is to focus on the good things about him, this top bloke.
Bryce is still optimistic, although how he can be so is beyond me. He has said that he "certainly doesn't intend [for] it to be over after just one game". Shane Warne is also backing him, reciprocating Bryce's own statement of:
But it was a couple of days of bowling, that's all. It doesn't mean I can't bowl. As disappointing as it was, I haven't lost my confidence.The truth has never been so blindingly obvious, but it remains to be seen whether the Australian selectors are willing to look past one loss and invest in supporting Australia's most successful [current] leg spinner. In the meantime, Bryce is settling for knowing that he is a bloody good top bloke.
These Happy Days are yours and mine, Happy Days.
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