My Top Eight for 2011

Just putting it out there before the season even starts. My top eight come the end of the regular season looks like this.

1. Dragons – they’re the new Melbourne Storm. Professional. They’ll be there but I don’t think they’ll make the grand final this year.

2. Tigers – provided Benji isn’t in jail for bringing eschatological judgment from the not yet into the now, they’ll switch it up another notch again.

3. Storm – they’ll be back, it’s just the way they roll!

4. Roosters – I can’t see them failing to stand out after last year’s showing. They are again looking solid.

5. Raiders – seem to be on the up for the last 3 years and I’m picking that will continue in 2011. Got some great players, some great journeymen, and some rising stars!

6. Rabbits – on paper they have everyone they need to deliver they just haven’t been showing up on the field. This is the year of the rabbit though. Look out!

7. Warriors – we seem to be able to continually scrap our way into the eight. Again I think it will be a roller coaster ride for Warriors fans, especially in the last few weeks of the regular season. If we can come out firing and win 4 or 5 of our first 6 though, things could shape up really well... or just go back to same old. It is the Warriors after all!

8. Sea Eagles – their roster is looking good and it’s exciting to have Stewart back in jersey number 1. One of my favourite full backs in the comp.

It’s going to be as tight as ever and I can’t wait.

Who do you think will make the eight? Comment below and we’ll come back late in the season to review.

Cricket World Cup 2011

2011 will an exciting year of sport. Along with the NRL which is outstanding every year, we've also got both the cricket and the rugby world cups. I'm really looking forward to both.

In regards to the cricket world cup my New Zealand 11 would line up as follows...

Martin Guptil
Jessie Ryder
Ross Taylor
Kane Williamson
Scott Styris
James Franklin
Brendon McCullum
Daniel Vettori (c)
Nathan McCullum
Kyle Mills
Tim Southee

Forget statistics for selecting the team. New Zealand cricket will never amount to anything based on statistics. Team is based on passion / power / potential. With this line up we bat through to 8 but even 9, 10 and 11 know how to hit the ball. Bowling lacks the quick and really Adam Milne should be there instead of Mills. Forget experience here; it’s worth having one player who can hit the 140km plus mark. Oh well. The reality is as Twenty20 cricket proves; pace isn’t everything in limited over cricket. In fact taking all the pace off the ball seems to be the way to go. No place for How or Oram in this line up. How’s just not quite there. Oram is past it, sorry to say.

Keys in the world cup...

Fielding - will be to field with 100% commitment 100% of the time. Stop as many boundaries as possible with full commitment in the outfield, restrict the quick singles in close, pouncing on everything and threatening with run outs by hitting the stumps again and again. Catching is going to need to be sublime. See Sinclair for sublime!

Bowling – our slow bowlers are going to be key in building pressure. Vettori will and obviously has to lead the way. N McCullum, Styris and Guptill/Williamson at times need to be on fire and need to bowl smart. It would be nice to see Ryder roll the arm over every now and then as well. We’re going to need to mix things up. Open with McCullum on occasion. Don’t let batters get settled and bowl smart. No the opposition and set fields accordingly. Smart slow bowling will be the key though. Of course Franklin, Southee, Mills need to back up as well.

Batting – There is a lot of potential here. All our batters have fired before we just need a few of them to fire all at once. The key will be to read what’s happening in the game and ignore at times the proposed line up. Bring B McCullum in early if required. Hold Taylor back if the openers have set a solid platform and let Williamson or Styris craft it around. Over all the batters are going to have to bat aggressively. This is risky but I think it’s where we could find an edge. Ryder, Taylor, B McCullum and even Guptill have the ability to really go for it; go for it is what they are going to have to do.

My prediction - We’ll make the quarter finals as we always do. Then, as long as we don’t get India we’ll make it through to the semis, this will be a big upset! Here though we’ll go down. Most likely to India.

Well Done Moss

Well done Moss Burmester on an outstanding 200m Butterfly final! Moss was neck and neck with Phelps for 150m before slipping back to 4th place. It was an outstanding race and he did New Zealand proud. Well done Moss and well done Michael Phelps!

The Olympics - More Coverage Than We Need

James MacPherson recently posted a short video clip advertising the benefits of radio coverage rather than TV coverage when it comes to the Olympics. It's quite clever. You can view it on his blog.

Top 5 Olympic Events I’d Like to Watch This Year

28 different sports will be on show at the Beijing Olympics this year, with 302 different events within the sports. What are the chances of the top 5 I’d like to watch being covered on TVNZ… in full… at a decent hour? Slim to none? We’ll wait and see.

My top 5 to watch…

5 – BMX; cool sport to watch at the Olympics.
4 – Taekwondo; this is full contact kicks to the head, even with safety helmets, knockouts are expected.
3 – Men’s Indoor Volleyball; awesome sport to watch, way better than beach volleyball
2 – Basketball; Hard to go past watching the Dream Team carve it up.
1 – Gymnastics; Individual All-Around Men, these guys have the most impressive shoulders in the world!!!

What would be your top 5?

Rotorua Marathon

Well I completed the Rotorua Marathon. My first marathon and at least as I was running it, defiantly my last. Now I am not so sure. Maybe I'll have another crack sometime. My knees gave out after 36 minutes (6km), that left me 36km (4 hours 22 minutes) of extreme pain! My overall time was 4 hours 58 minutes. I was happy enough with that, especially considering the pain in my knees. 5 voltaren and 2 panadol were helpful but I would like to have a another go without the knee issues. I think I could do 4:12 and maybe even 3:59. I'll try to get some more thoughts posted about the marathon, why everyone needs to do one, what I learnt through the process etc and some photos as well. That'll have to wait though until I get back from LIFE 08 conference that I am at this week.

NRL Top Eight

Well we are 5 rounds into the NRL now. Enough time to see what the teams for 2008 look like and thus make predictions regarding who will make the top eight. Here are my predictions for the 2008 season.

My Top Eight NRL 2008

Sydney Roosters
Melbourne Storm
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Brisbane Broncos
Gold Coast Titans
Cronulla Sharks
Bulldogs
New Zealand Warriors

It'll be a tough battle for the last 3 spots with the Parramatta Eels and the North Queensland Cowboys just missing out, they'll be close but no cigar.

Sorry to the Canberra Raiders, Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, St George Illawarra Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Wests Tigers; this just isn't going to be your year.

Hope you are loving each round as much as I am and 'go the mighty Vodafone Warriors!'

32 KM and Still Felling Strong

On Sunday I completed my longest run ever in training for the Rotorua Marathon. 32km in a time of 3 hours and 18 minutes. My previous longest ever run was 25 km and I felt like I was going to die. 32 km was all good though and I felt strong. 2 big runs to go now and then it's time to taper off before the marathon on the 3rd of May.

Write Up In Paper

If you read the Bay of Plenty Times then have a look at today's (01/04/2008) sport section. My blog post on Southee was printed as a 'sports letter to the editor.' That'll be a cross between my brillance and the fact that the sports editor for the times is a friend of mine. My next goal is to write something on the NRL and get it printed as a freelance article. Will keep you posted.

Fastest Test Match 100 Ever ???

Well done Tim Southee on a great debut in Test Cricket for New Zealand. Test cricket is the true, pure and greatest form of the game and Southee proved to be an exciting assist to the Black Caps. Southee took 5 wickets in the first innings and in the second innings hit an incredible 77 not out from only 40 balls. All the stats are here.

By my calculations Tim Southee was on target to hit the fastest hundred in test cricket ever; by anyone. The current world record is held by Viv Richards who hit 100 off 56 balls at St John's verses England in 1985-86.

Tim Southee was 77 off 40 balls at a strike rate of 192. At 192 (the rate he was going) he would have needed 12 more balls to get the 23 runs he needed for 100. He would have had 100 off 52 balls. 4 balls better than the world record, at 19 yrs, and in his first ever test. Pretty impressive.

It will be exciting to watch his career as it unfolds in the years to come.

Well Done Stephen Fleming

While Stephen Fleming didn't manage to finish his final test ever with a 100 and while it looks like NZ will lose this match and the series; Fleming did manage to tack his average up over the 40 mark.

Well done Stephen Fleming and thank you for your incredible contribution to the game over the years.

Here are some of Fleming's most memorable knocks.

Here are Fleming's reflections on his final innings.

While many have said that, himself included, that he was a great player who underachieved, his statistics are still impressive and there is no doubt that he is arguably the greatest cricket captain ever.

Goodbye to the General

In the words of Mark Richardson...

He has the most Test runs of any New Zealander, but it is Stephen Fleming's contributions as a master strategist that he will be remembered for.

My words…

Stephen Fleming will likely take to the field to bat today in his last cricket match for New Zealand. Fleming is an incredible sportsmen, batter, fielder etc. He is also a remarkable leader. I look forward to seeing how he goes today, am hoping he can get 100, take his average to 40+ and go out in victory and in style.

For more have a read of Mark Richardson's comments here.

NRL Season 2008

The NRL season for 2008 kicked of last night with two local derbies; the Rabbits(20) vs the Roosters(34) and the Titians(36) vs the Cowboys(18). I didn't pick either result which won't help my in my tipping comp. It's going to be an exciting season and it will be interesting to see how the Warriors go. Not having Sky Sport anymore I organised to have the two games taped and then picked them up to watch first thing this morning. Something went wrong though and the tape only had the first half of Rabbits game. Gutted. Thanks for trying though Sam.

Sky with the additional sports package works out at $817 for 12 months. I thought long and hard about it but Lisa convinced me that Annamari and baby 2 need food and clothes before we even think about Sky. So, if you have Sky Sport don't be shy about recording the NRL, i'll pick the tapes up and be more than happy to watch them.

If you are a keen NRL follower and would like to join a tipping comp you can do join mine here. First register as a tipper and then join the comp called 'Tauranga NRL Tippers.' Password is 'itip' Good luck for the season and...

Go the mighty Vodafone Warriors!!!