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Matt Hayden and Layne Beachley’s Beach cricket

Posted on March 1, 2009
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They’re skilled, smart, sassy and with the help of the Layne Beachley Aim For The Stars Foundation, a new breed of female sports heroes will have their names on the lips of the nation this season. In a show of camaraderie for women in sport, Australia’s top female cricket and surfing champions battled it out in a beach cricket match to celebrate the ICC Women’s World Cup which kicks off in March as well as surfing’s ASP Women’s World Tour at the LG Mobile Roxy Pro, at Snapper Rocks, Gold Coast this weekend.

The event was designed to celebrate up-and-coming Australian female sports stars and inspire girls and women across the country to dream and achieve. Teams included representatives from the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars and the ASP Women’s World Tour with world surfing veteran Matt Hoy as umpire.

Promoting women in sport and supporting the dreams of Australian girls is a cause close to the heart of seven time ASP Women’s World Champion Layne Beachley. In 2003, Beachley established the Aim for the Stars Foundation, “encompassing academic, sport, cultural and community pursuits, my foundation offers ambitious and dedicated females an opportunity to receive financial and moral support to help them achieve their goals,” said Beachley, ” it is important that women sports support one another and what better way than to play some beach cricket, look out Southern Stars!”

Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars Cricketers

  • Matthew Hayden
  • Ellyse Perry
  • Alex Blackwell
  • Delissa Kimmince
  • Sarah Andrews

ASP Women’s World Tour Surfers

  • Layne Beachley
  • Steph Gilmore
  • Jessi Miley-Dyer
  • Sally Fitzgibbons
  • Sam Cornish

Delissa Kimmince, Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars cricketer and Female Development Officer at Queensland Cricket knows first-hand how inspiration and determination can see young women achieve great things.

“I grew up in a country town near Brisbane and at 12 …

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North shines bright to lead Australia fight back

Posted on February 27, 2009
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Despite losing two very quick wickets on day one of the first Test at the New Wanderers Ground yesterday, Australia somehow dug deep and recovered to post a very respectable 466 all out.

Ponting (83) and Clarke(68) led the way yesterday with half centuries and it was left to Haddin and debutant Marcus North to continue the fight back today. North outlasted the more experienced wicket keeper (63) to put on a huge partnership with number nine Mitchell Johnson.

North continued to play positively and carried on the Australian tradition of trusting the tail – a trust that has been bountiful in recent times with Australia batting to number 10 comfortably. He marked his debut game with a wonderful 117 before he was stumped by Mark Boucher for 117.

Johnson then decided to hit out and within an over had despatched the spinner (Harris) for 26 off one over, an over that included three sixes.

Unfortunately for the number nine, the final two batsmen couldn’t stay in long enough to see Johnson reach his maiden Test century as he remained four runs short at 96 not out at the innings close. It really was a shame he didn’t reach the magical three figures, despite an unconventional batting style he certainly deserved to mark the innings with a century.

North became the 18th Australian to hit a century on debut. In reply South Africa lost two early wickets namely Smith (0) and Amla (1). The home team currently stand on 3 for 85 with a long way to go in this Test match.

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Jeff Crowe admits error in Cricket World Cup Final

Posted on April 30, 2007
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Jeff Crowe, the match referee has come out and accepted he made a mistake in the final and despite Rudi Koertzen suggesting the teams come back the very next day to finish the game with 3 overs to bowl, Crowe stepped up to the plate.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few days and whether he wil be forced to resign on the back of a error strewn series. The thing that concerns me is that Crowe will be made a scapegoat for the rest of the administration and the ICC chiefs who have to be accountable for a farce of a tournament.

I’m sure we will all be glued to the web abd news bulletins to find out what happens next !!!

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The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup – Farce !

Posted on April 29, 2007
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Australia Win 3rd Consecutive TitleThe Cricket World Cup has finished and Australia have deservedly won a third straight championship following the victory against Sri Lanka in Barbados yesterday. Let’s face it, no one even took Australia close and probably won’t for a while yet !

The great thing about Australia is the ability to switch on when it’s required. Sure they were defeated before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand but as the fat lady sung, Adam Gilchrist guided Australia home (with a torch !) to a comprehensive win.

What really annoyed me was the fiasco of the final. The umpires seemed to have no idea what to do and were hell bent on confusing matters further. Was it the administrators who obviously couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery to blame ? I guess only time will tell but one thing is clear, they shouldn’t be allowed to organise another competition in the West Indies – leave it to someone else !

The tournament was far too long and talk about over priced – why on earth would you charge $100 for a ticket when you now only too well the locals cannot afford the entry fee? Crazy and stinks of money grabbing. I hope they don’t make enormous amounts of profit from this, they’ve been far too greedy stopping the regular fan from watching a game they love.

I could be wrong but if it wasn’t for Mahela Jayawardene walking onto the pitch late in the day to talk with Ponting I really think the umpires would have brought the teams back to play 3 final overs today !!! If that’s the case then why on earth didn’t they play a full 50 over game spread over the two days ? Diabolical ! Agnew at the BBC sums it …

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A bad week for Cricket

Posted on August 27, 2006
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It certainly has been a bad week for cricket and despite a great win by Sussex in the C7G Trophy, Lancashire losing by 15 runs in a low scoring final. James Kirtley took 5 wickets for just 27 runs, amazingly all by LBW, Darrell Hair was still very much in the news.

The ICC Chief, Malcolm Speed, re-iterated that Hair was still very much in the ICC’s plans despite asking for a pay off to leave cricket last Sunday. He dismissed suggestions that his fellow Australian would be “hung out to dry” and said: Darrell Hair is one of our best umpires – he’s one of the best two or three in the world. He’s a very dedicated man, he’s devoted to umpiring – that’s been his life’s passion.

“We need to let some water flow under the bridge. We have a meeting of the ICC Board in Dubai next Saturday, we’ll have had some further legal advice about all of these issues by then and hopefully we’ll be able to move forward some othese difficult questions.”

However despite Speed’s support, Pakistan will no doubt go all out to get the umpire removed from the Elite panel. Only time will tell but I certainly cannot see Hair officiating in another Pakistan game of any description. The hearing of ball-tampering and disrepute charges faced by Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq will not take place until next month.

<a href=”http://www.technorati.com/claim/zndfeuvauf” rel=”me”>Technorati Profile</a>

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Darrell Hair seeks $500,000 to quit

Posted on August 25, 2006
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Oh dear, Darrell Hair just can’t keep out of the headlines can he. Following his controversial decision last week to award the Oval Test to England after he accused Pakistan of cheating (ball tampering) it has emerged that he offered to resign from Test cricket. Ok nothing wrong with that I hear you say, but it’s not as simple as that! He offered to hang up his white coat for a price, $500,000 in fact or £266,000.

Many will see this as a sordid attempt to extract the urine/money but he insists that he was looking for a way out that would re balance the cricketing world following the decision last Sunday. Darrell Hair now 53 sent an email to the ICC, Malcom Speed, its Chairman has confirmed the Australian umpire has been under an enormous amount of stress but following legal advice had no option but to make this matter public.

And he said he was satisfied Hair had not made the offer with any “dishonest, underhand or malicious intent”.

“He was seeking to find a solution that was in the interests of the game.”

The ICC’s lawyers advised the organisation to disclose the contents of Hair’s message to the Pakistan Cricket Board as they were relevant to the disciplinary case brought against captain Inzamam-ul-Haq. Having informed the PCB, Speed then felt compelled to make the documents public in case they were leaked anyway.

Darrell Hair has since revoked the email citing it was sent after a stressful time in the spotlight. Hair doesn’t strike me as someone who bows to either pressure or stress and is certainly no stranger to controversy in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe or India. Hair knew exactly what he was doing on Sunday and in his email to the ICC. It’s about time …

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Play Suspended following cheating allegations

Posted on August 20, 2006
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Oh Dear, Oh Dear, it just isn’t cricket ! No, really it isn’t ! The Oval Test has been turned on its head following ball-tampering allegations by Australian umpire Darrell Hair. England were awarded five runs and the ball was replaced after the umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove decided the ball had been altered artificially.

Hair is no stranger to controversy and Pakistan have publicly complained to the ICC that he is not the right umpire to officiate between the two countries. As it stands right now, the umpires have awarded the game to England and as far as they are concerned the game is over !

This is really crazy and all I hope is that Hair has seen ball-tampering and has proof because if he hasn’t and all he has done is suspect that something wrong has happened then we could be in for some serious ramifications. We probably are anyway but this is very interesting. No further play will happen today, only time will tell if it resumes tomorrow morning.

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Dean Jones Sacked for Racial Slur

Posted on August 11, 2006
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Dean JonesI’m not sure how I missed this a few days ago but the news isn’t good;  Australian legend Dean Jones was sacked by Sri Lanka television station after a controversial remark was heard by viewers live on air.  Jones apparently called South Africa batsman Hashim Amla “the terrorist” when he took a catch during the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.  Despite being a huge Dean Jones fan and admirer of what the guy has done on and off the field, there is no way I can condone this remark at any level. There is no room in any walk of life for comments like this let alone on the cricket field.

“It was a completely insensitive thing to say and obviously never supposed to be heard over the air,” he said.

“It does not represent who I am, how I think or what I believe.”

South African officials immediately demanded he should be dismissed by Ten Sports, the host broadcaster with Gerald Majola, chief executive commenting “We take the strongest exception to this comment”

Dean Jones played in 52 Tests between 1984-92 for Australia and was a sublime cricketer.

“I’m gone, I’m on the 1am flight,” he told reporters in Colombo.

“I will be the first person to apologise to Hashim as soon as I get the chance, and I will assure him that prejudice against anybody, on any basis, is unacceptable and not something I will ever condone.”

I just can’t see this as being part of the Jones make-up and whatever caused him to say these remarks will have to be addressed. It is a sad day in cricket and one not dissimilar to a remark Big Ron Atkinson made live on ITV. Thinking his microphone was switched off he said of Chelsea player Marcus …

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Sri Lanka pile on the runs

Posted on July 29, 2006
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After restricting South Africa for just 169 in their first innings, Sri Lanka, courtesy of captain Mahela Jaywardene and Kumar Sangakkara scored 6 for 756 declared. The pair broke the previous best partnership (set in 1997 by Mahanama and Jayasuriya (576) ironically at the same ground in Colombo with a stunning partnership of 624.

Jaywardene was also unlucky falling just 26 runs short of Brian Lara’s world record 400 and six runs behind Australian Hayden (380). The total of 756 is the sixth highest score in Test history.

The 374 scored took 11 hours to score and included 43 4′s and a solitary six, Mahela had faced 572 in his long innings before falling to paceman Andre Nel. Nicky Boje was the most expensive bowler conceding 221 runs off 65 overs.

At the other side of the world, England continued to dominate at Old Trafford taking two early wickets as Pakistan try to salvage something from what really is a lost cause. On a decent batting strip Pakistan failed in their first innings and are surely facing certain defeat.

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All Out Without Scoring … Oh dear !!!

Posted on July 27, 2006
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I’ve certainly never seen this before and as the report at the BBC says, statisticians are checking the record books to see if this is the worst innings ever !!! Goldsborough Seconds who were playing against local side Dishforth in North Yorkshire, scored just five runs, yes 5 runs all out. However and here’s the amazing fact ….. not one of the batsmen scored a single run, they came courtesy of Extras (or Sundries), all 5 of them !!!

You can find the scorecard here

Now we all have a laugh when an international side scores under a 100 and the top player is extras but this really is a remarkable scoreline !! Goldsborough chairman Henry Webster defended his team, saying the wicket was terrible and pointing out that the league-topping opposition also struggled.

There’s plenty of comments from Mr Webster about how good the opposition are but come on, all out without scoring ? I wonder how bad the wicket was and has the pitch been reported to the ECB ?? !!!! Better luck next week guys, I’ll report back here when they play this weekend to see if they can get at least one batsman in to double figures !!! The game lasted just 57 minutes !!!

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Zimmer Men – Marcus Berkmann

Posted on July 25, 2006
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It’s been 10 years since Marcus Berkmann brought us his highly acclaimed comical Rain Men, a book I hasten to add I haven’t yet read ! Please don’t ask me where I was when it come out or how the hell did I miss it, I simply can’t remember! However, given the standard of his latest offering “Zimmer Men”, a humorous look at old age and village cricket, I’ll have to get hold of a copy and see what I’ve been missing all these years!

Buy Rain Men Paper Back Edition | Buy Hard Back Edition Now

Due for release in the first week in July, I urge you to reserve yourself a copy of the funniest cricket book I’ve ever read, so funny in parts it hurts! Both the hard cover and paperback editions are released within days of each other, unusual these days but at least you have the choice.

The book could well have been written with thousands of village cricketers in mind as we all know countless of examples taken from the book. There will always be a player who thinks age hasn’t had any affect on his or her ability to perform week in week out, a player who thinks he’s a Steve Waugh but in reality not even in the class of Phil Tufnell.

Zimmer Men is an ideal summer reading book, something you can pick up and sit in the garden while whiling away the hours in the summer sun. Berkmann tells us how he started off in cricket, despite never being any good at it, the emphasis was always on taking part not actually being able to score runs or take wickets! How things changed in the Captain Scott XI and why he left to find himself another team.

Berkmann takes a …

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Arthur’s Ashes

Posted on July 23, 2006
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Now and then I stumble across a great book. However, seldom do I find a highly entertaining first effort from an author that I simply can’t put the book down. In Arthur’s Ashes, I found such a book – written by Australian Elliot McGarva. The book centers around an eccentric old man (Arthur) who is sick and tired of Australia winning the Ashes against England every time the teams meet. Arthur is certain that his crazy idea to put together a rare group of men (they are all at least 7 foot tall !) will regain the Ashes.

Not all of the players have played cricket before let alone international cricket and the book follows the training, romance and drama surrounding his efforts. One thing I was impressed by was that you don’t have to love cricket to enjoy the book. A number of friends have bought the book who do not watch cricket and they loved it – each asking when Elliot would be writing his next book !!!

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Flintoff a major doubt for Ashes

Posted on July 23, 2006
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It will be very interesting to see what will happen now that Freddie is a huge doubt for the Ashes later this year in Australia. With the news earlier in July that England will be without captain Michael Vaughan, England look rather depleted. A lot will depend on the fitness of Hoggard (looks in good form at the moment), Harmison and anyone else England can find !

Dalrymple has been called up for the second Pakistan Test next week and does look a promising spinner what with Giles unlikely to play a part in November’s games.

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