Blues!!!

New South Wales’ mighty victory in the 2005 Pura Cup final represents one of the great comebacks of shield cricket.

They were gone for all money against Tasmania a few weeks ago before Stuey MacGill ripped through the Tigers’ batting. That kept them alive in the finals race. Last week they knocked off Victoria and Queensland beat WA, boosting NSW from third place to second.

On Sunday, the Queensland hoodoo continued. They have never beaten New South Wales in a shield final. This time, the Blues won at the Gabba by one wicket with two days to spare.

Great work, guys. Savour the scorecard and check out the Blues website.

Let’s hear it for: Doug Bollinger, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Ed Cowan, Brad Haddin, Phil Jaques, Simon Katich, Jason Krejza, Grant Lambert, Stuart MacGill, Greg Mail, Matthew Nicholson, Aaron O’Brien, James Packman, Matthew Phelps, Dominic Thornely. Amazingly, they did it without a single appearance from Michael Clarke, Glenn McGrath or Brett Lee!

Too hot for whom?

After the outstanding success at staging the first ICC v ACC tsunami relief match at very short notice in Melbourne in January, I was disappointed to read of the cancellation of the return game, originally planned for February 13, then pushed out to April. However the reason given by [insert the cap he’s wearing today] Jagmohan Dalmiya on Sunday is totally pitiful. Continue reading “Too hot for whom?”