Sport is a delicate balance. Leaning one way you win and achieve glory and accolade. Leaning the other way you lose and gather scorn and disdain. The draw is one of those rare instances where all forces are equal and opposite, like Robocop on a unicorn vs the Terminator on Battle Cat. Yet, a test cricket draw is not that awesome.
After five days (two of which featured the good version of the Black Caps) the Napier test limped to a draw, which is a strange thing considering that one team scored more than the other team.
Already there are comments being thought out that tell me it's not about the final score but the overall game and that a draw is as valid an outcome as a win-loss scenario. But let me put this out there: No it fucking isn't.
An anticlimax is what it is. A flat elongated raspberry at the end of what looked like it was going to be an interesting match. I felt especially deflated as I was quite interested in this game (even going so far as to get the cricinfo app for my phone).
A test match that ends in a draw is like listening to a 12 minute Peter Frampton track and then not getting the talking guitar bit at the end. And no, I am not just making that analogy because Frampton Comes Alive! is playing on iTunes at the moment.
You know who enjoyed the game? Garth George. How can you defend that test cricket fans?
Well there's one more chance this season to sway me. I'm going to the Test at the Basin Reserve on Saturday. I may, as the whim takes me, live-blog sections of it, but more likely I will be conversing with folks like Richard Irvine and any others who will be attending.
There may also be drinking and socialising after the game at a nice bar in town (location TBA) after the game for all PA readers who just want to get together for a beer or wine or cocktail.
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In other sport March Madness has finally made it April in the form of the Final Four. Villanova's Wildcats will take on North Carolina's Tarheels while UConn's Huskies battle Michigan State's Spartans. Needless to say my bracket broke down in the Elite Eight because I picked Kansas and Pitt to make it through. Still my overall pick of UConn (that's Connecticut by the way) is still on track.
Of course what this means is that there will be roughly four minutes of amazing, tense, close college basketball on Sunday stretched out (via time-outs and fouls) over half an hour. [On ESPN, Sunday from 10am]
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To look out for in November: New Zealand's greatest ever rugby team will take on the English in two tests.
The three-time world champion Black Ferns will take on their closest rivals will clash at a venue to be determined in their build-up to the 2010 World Cup. Should be bloody good.
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Speaking of World Cups (I'm all about the segueways today) Afghanistan is close to becoming the lowest ranked team to make it to the Cricket World Cup. Bloody good on them (until they beat us).
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And before I forget, Big Shots is the sporting cousin of the Boston Globe's Big Picture photo blog. Well worth a look.