The anbaric journal of Dan Slevin, gentleman, of Newtown
It’s almost as if New Zealand Cricket want to make it hard to support the Black Caps. What with sudden, unexpected retirements and the loss of the Boxing Day Test, they now give us this fiasco:
Scotty Styris models the new Black Caps uniform despite the fact he probably won't get a game this summer.
[Hat tip to Hadyn at Public Address for the heads up and Richard Irvine at Sport Review for the pic]
But I ask the questions again - why remove the captaincy from the world’s best captain? Why truncate the career, in any way, of the highest run scorer in our history?
Hamish McDouall discusses the retirement of Stephen Fleming at Stuff
Before we get too far into this great Summer of 07-08 I want to express some concern at how easy young Vettori seems to be taking defeat. He’s taking it graciously, magnanimously and generously to be sure. But he doesn’t look like he hates losing, like it eats away at him, corroding his very soul.
In this he reminds me of another young captain who was supposedly “the chosen one”, annointed and appointed with the full support of the great minds at HQ. Taine Randell, we were told, had captained every New Zealand age group representative rugby side and was positively destined to be All Black captain. And so he became.
And with a win-draw-loss record of 12-1-9 we got pretty used to seeing Taine giving “full credit” to the opposition and after a while it looked like it didn’t even hurt.
Dan Vettori’s win-loss record in internationals before taking over the job permanently from Stephen Fleming was a very creditable 8 from 11. Since the Twenty20 World Cup, it has been P9 W2 L7.
Tomorrow we take on Australia again, this time in Sydney. And let’s hear no more about Tait’s suspect action. Of course, he chucks- but if we are going to worry about him then we should take a look at Kyle Mills and that is a bit too close to home.
Let me take a moment to salute one of the great entertainers of the modern game, Craig McMillan who has announced his retirement from all cricket.
McMillan launched himself on the international scene in 1997 by hitting Shane Warne back over his head in the first over of his first test innings and never took a backward step again during an international career that saw him score nearly 8,000 runs and take 77 wickets.
McMillan has cited health reasons as the primary cause of his retirement and he has always struggled with the debilitating effects of diabetes, often leaving the field for treatment and suffering cramps and strains. Keeping a constant blood sugar level in the tough environment of international cricket (incessant touring, hot weather, etc) must have been a challenge and his struggle to control his weight in recent years is testamant to those difficulties.
I think, also, that McMillan’s problems with concentration (the “rush of blood to the headâ€) that prevented him from achieving all that his talent and confidence allows can possibly be blamed on his medical condition.
In any case, his enthusiasm will be missed; his commitment to the cause no matter what state the game; and his genuine enjoyment at being out on the park. Tonight I’ll raise a cup of tea to McMillanus - bowler of bouncers and hitter of sixes.
"... deserves to be seen on a giant screen, as befitting the giant landscape and giant story."
0.3
"... It’s the lack of ambition that I find so disheartening ..."
0.3
"... Wilson really doesn’t have enough presence to carry the film but he’s likeable enough ..."
0.3
"... designed to appeal to cro-magnons who still believe that computers are inherently malevolent self-perpetuating pseudo-organisms and that the US Dept of Defence would invent an all-powerful, surveillance super-computer that you can’t switch off at the wall."
0.3
"... let down by poor direction and some odd post-production decisions ..."
0.3
"It was perhaps a little too long for the restless pre-schoolers I shared a screening with, but for anyone and everyone else I whole-heartedly recommend it."
0.3Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008)
2008-09-21 17:00
"I can’t understand why teenage girls would want to be portrayed as such shallow, tedious, screeching harpies."
0.3The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
2008-09-15 12:45
"It's what we used to call a romp and is so stuffed with 'stuff' that it’s hard to argue that you don't get your money's worth, even if it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans."
0.3
"There are plenty of secrets to choose from, and one of the pleasures of the film is trying to work out which one is the secret of the title."
0.3Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
2008-09-14 16:00
"... still more of a side-show stunt than a test of the artistic potential of the technology."
0.3
"... has some stylistic choices that I might not have made but the heart and intelligence of the filmmmakers shine through."
0.3
"I was quite moved by this film, but then maybe I'm just a big sook."
0.3
"The pressures on China from all directions are keenly felt in this film, which will tell you more about that part of the world than three weeks of Olympic Games.The pressures on China from all directions are keenly felt in this film, which will tell you more about that part of the world than three weeks of Olympic Games."
0.3
"A richly detailed screenplay supports the clever structure and the film ends on a perfectly satisfying note."
0.3
"I’m sure there is a lot in there to reward a patient and attentive viewer but, apart from watching one of the great modern screen actors at work, I couldn’t find it."
0.3Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
2008-08-04 18:00
"... needs more pacy direction and snappier cutting to really come to life ..."
0.3
"It is disappointing that Nolan’s vision of Gotham City from the first film seems to have faded. Instead of the hyper-modern city in disrepair we got last time, now it looks like plain old modern day New York crossed with Chicago crossed with Toronto, and I guess that was one of the sacrifices made in the decision to ditch digital but the city itself is well short on atmosphere."
0.3
"I'd need to see it again before making the call about 'masterpiece' or not, but it certainly felt like that, standing numb in the Wellington rain after the Film Festival screening."
0.3
"Only the cutest animals and most colourful plants got through the auditions and Patrick Stewart plays the Morgan Freeman part as narrator."
0.3
"All the ABBA hits are performed with considerable karaoke-style energy from the mostly non-singers and Streep provides a lesson for the likes of Robert De Niro that when you take on a frothy commercial comedy you don’t have to leave your talent in your trailer."
0.3
"It's a classic good guy/bad guy set-up and you'll be as manipulated as any 8-bit Mario, but it's a lot of fun."
0.34 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (2007)
2008-03-22 19:15
"As close to perfect as makes no difference."
0.3