Category Archives: Sports

Friday musing – ashes cricket, Mitchell Johnson, Jacques Kallis……

Chris Barwin HillsAt this time of the year cricket is the most dominant sport with tennis just kicking off with a build up to the Aussie Open.

The Poms have finally won a toss and sent Australia in to bat. I remember the old ABC cricket books used to have a section devoted to captains who invited the opposition to bat. It is not all that unusual these days, with Michael Clark getting away with it in the Melbourne test. I went along on the first two days and up until the second session on day three, the Poms held the whip hand. From there Australia wrapped up the match over the next three sessions, a big surprise. The prevailing philosophy is still to win the toss and bat and I think that Alistair Cook should have done so in Sydney, but time will tell.

Mitchell Johnson was again awarded the Man of the Match award and that makes it three out of four tests this series, but Chris Rogers & Nathan Lyon must have been very close as well with Brad Haddin again performing well. I understand Johnson has the best percentage of Man of the Match awards to tests played of any Australian test player. Not a bad achievement for a sometimes maligned figure in Australian cricket. I think in the past he has produced herculean performances dispersed with poor performances, but in this series he has been very consistent and does not seem to be spraying the ball around as much.

Speaking of Man of the Match awards, the news that Jacques Kallis was retiring did not come as a great surprise, but you would have thought he would have seen out the summer with Australia due to tour there next month. Kallis is certainly one of the best all-rounders of all time and compares favourably with Sir Garfield Sobers who is regarded as the benchmark for all-rounders. Kallis has the record for the most Man of the Match awards in test cricket with 23 from 166 matches. A true great of the game.

I always thought that Shane Watson had the attributes to be a very good all-rounder and at times he has shown us what he is capable of, but a fragile physique has mitigated against him. Test wise I think his bowling and catching ability are up there with Kallis, but unfortunately his batting falls a long way short.

Fingers crossed for the 5-0 whitewash of the series.

Have a good weekend and happy New Year!

Gelding’s red hot tips for 28 December 2013

42The Gelding had mixed fortunes last week but the ladies from the Tennis club were the recipients of his best bets for the day bagging a double! No doubt their 2014 campaign is all cashed up after such a successful day.

Today the Gelding’s attention is on Moonee Valley and is looking to finish off 2013 in a blaze of glory.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Moonee Valley

Race 1 horse 5 – Chivalry
Race 2 horse 1 – Lucky Symbol (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 3 horse 1 – Kiss Me Ketut (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 4 horse 2 – Vintage Lad
Race 7 horse 9 – Fight to the Line

Good luck and good punting! See you in 2014!

The Gelding

Gelding’s red hotties for 21 December 2013

Feb 6 2011 005The festive season is upon us and the Gelding is all for giving some Christmas cheer in the form of some red hot tips for today’s racing at Flemington.  After an ordinary start last week, the Gelding is hopeful punters stuck with him for the last two races that would have seen a modest profit for punters.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Flemington

Race 2 Horse 1 – Esprit de Bullet (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 4 Horse 7 – Spending
Race 5 Horse 5 – Sistine Demon (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 6 Horse 10 – Mister John

Good luck, good punting and a Merry Christmas to all the Gelding’s followers!

The Gelding

Friday musing – cricket, the Ashes, soccer, Arsenal……..

Chris Barwin HillsWell what good timing for a Musing with the Aussies securing the Ashes on Tuesday! I thought Australia were a good chance in the series on the back of some pretty encouraging performances in England earlier in the year, but I did not think we would win the first three Tests in good style.

I mentioned last week about the toss playing a big part in teams winning and the last six results in Ashes test matches have seen the team winning the toss and batting coming out on top. You would think that the team batting second should have the best of the batting conditions, but England have not capitalised at all and have trailed in each of the first three tests. So much so that Australia have declared four of their six innings to date.

Mitchell Johnson seems to be most pundits pick for man of the series so far, but Warner, Haddin and Clarke are not far behind and when you factor in the performances of Siddle, Harris, Lyon and Smith, you can see why Australia are winning. That is not to down play the performances of Rogers and Watson who have also been solid contributors. Bailey has saved his spot because the team is winning and they can afford to give him time to settle. He certainly did his job on Monday morning.

I think the performance of Nathan Lyon needs a special mention. He has been much maligned and I have been guilty in that regard, however, you look at his scalps so far in the series and he has picked up crucial wickets. In the last test he got Cook in the first innings and Stokes in the second who were their teams highest scorers. He has earned his spot.

I can now go to the Boxing Day test and enjoy the cricket. Some would say it would be better to still have the series alive, but it is like being 10 goals up on Collingwood going into the last quarter just knowing you can enjoy the game.

Last week I lauded the Gunners for making the knockout phase of the Champions League for the 14th straight year and then they go out and lose to Manchester City 6-3. That is a tennis score isn’t it? Man City have been irrepressible at home this year and I suppose you could look on the positive side and say “well at least Arsenal got 3 goals”. I think the fixturing so close to the away game in Italy may have had an impact, but for the top team to concede 6 goals it is a bit of a worry.

Have a great weekend and a very Merry Christmas and we will muse up again in the New Year!

Gelding’s tips for 14 December 2013

Mar 6 2011 010The end of the year is almost here and the Gelding was heartened to hear during the week that the ladies at the Tennis club will be having their Christmas get together on Monday……and it is rumoured that a dividend will be declared thanks to the Gelding’s 2013 selections.

Ladies, time to start the 2014 Christmas club with today’s selections.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Flemington

Race 3 Horse 4 – Flamberge (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 4 Horse 8 – The New Boy
Race 5 Horse 7 – Stratigraphy
Race 6 Horse 8 – Decircles
Race 7 Horse 7 – Electric Fusion (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – the Ashes, Champions League, Arsenal……..

Chris Barwin HillsWith the result of the test in Adelaide and the results of the other tests recently it became very obvious that winning the toss goes a long way to winning a test match. This has always been the case, but it does seem more so now with the way pitches are prepared. Captains have always been preferred to bat first, but usually the pitch offered a fair bit of assistance to the quicks, particularly in the first session. The side batting second usually had the better of the conditions so you could still set up a win batting second.

It all seems to have changed with the “drop-in” pitches as they don’t seem to offer as much bounce early nor spin later. There has been some suggestion that there be a toss for the first test of a series and then it be rotated after that, but I would not agree with that suggestion. I think the better idea is for a return to the old style of pitch preparation which gives both sides an even chance.

Good to see the Gunners make it through to their 14th Champions League knock out phase in a row. Interesting how Napoli miss out with 12 points and yet St Petersburg get in with 6.

Have a great weekend!

Gelding’s hotties for 7 December 2013

MarkThe Gelding’s attention is on his home track at Caulfield today. After a minor setback last week, he has put more homework in on the tips this week and is confident that there are some nice priced winners in the selections.

He has even called on the Sydney Colt to provide a selection in this week’s tips!

Caulfield

Race 1 Horse 6 – West Africa – late scratching

Race 2 Horse 4 – Moroko – from the Sydney Colt (for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Race 5 Horse 4 – Love ya Madly (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Race 7 Horse 8 – Initiator

Race 8 Horse 12 – Winta Chiller

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – Essendon, James Hird, the Ashes….

Chris Barwin HillsI was disappointed to see the Essendon saga rear its head again this week, although it would seem that the major spotlight is on the AFL and not my club.  There is still a bit more to play out on this matter obviously and if the Herald-Sun sees fit to put it on the front page and then devote 4 pages at the front of the paper instead of the sports pages, then it still must sell papers.  I just want to put it all behind me and concentrate on football.

One of the issues seems to be James Hird getting paid.  From what I understand him not being paid was part of the original sanctions, but not part of the final deal.  Certainly not a Hird/Essendon problem, but certainly a problem for the AFL.  I know it is quite a different set of circumstances, but police that have been charged with serious criminal charges are suspended on full pay.  Hird has not been found guilty of any criminal charges and it is only governance issues so good luck to him.  Given that it appears the AFL fed most of the leaks to the papers perhaps they have been hoist by their own petard.

With regard to the cricket what a good toss for Australia to win, but the first day produced 4 players getting a start and not going on and getting a century.  At the time of writing Michael Clarke has made his second century of the series and Brad Haddin has just got his 3rd half century of the series and Australia look like batting their way into a position where they really could not lose the test.  It is amazing when you on the back foot in a series that the catches don’t stick  with the Poms dropping three on day one.

Great to see the Gunners season rolling on, their defence seems to be holding up pretty well this year and they haven’t forgotten how to score.

Gelding’s red hotties for 30 November 2013

Mar 13 2011 021The Gelding’s attention returns to his home track at Caulfield tomorrow and after an unfortunate run of bad luck last week, he is looking to turn the corner and ensure that all his followers get a nice little pre-Christmas winnings bonus.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Caulfield

Race 4 Horse 4 – The New Boy
Race 5 Horse 7 – Flying Hostess
Race 6 Horse 6 – She Can Skate (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 7 Horse 8 – Multilateral (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 8 Horse 5 – Backstedt

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – Ashes, sledging, Jason Day & more

Chris Barwin HillsWell I don’t think we can let an Aussie win in a Test match go without a bit of commentary, particularly as the Aussies were closing in on a record number of tests without a win.

Mitchell Johnson produced one of the great all-round performances in a test match in my time
following cricket. 103 runs for once out and 9/103 with the ball, so by my reckoning he is leading the averages with bat and ball at this stage. We all know one test doesn’t make a summer and in the last Ashes series in Australia he only produced one good performance, so I am not getting carried away, but it was a damn good start for a player that thrives on confidence.

Cricket is often identified as a ‘team sport for individuals’, but the contrary view to that is
that batting partnerships are intrinsic to winning matches. Australia produced three of the best partnerships of the test and won the game with Haddin/Johnson in the first innings and Warner/Clarke & Haddin/Johnson again in the second innings.

Speaking of Warner, we all like sportsmen that break the mould and speak their mind, however, I think he went a bit too far with his comments about Jonathan Trott.  He should’ve just left it as “a few of their batsmen looked a bit scared out there”.  Clearly Trott was showing signs of stress and perhaps Warner’s comments helped polarise his position and in turn prompted him to return to England and seek help.  It was interesting to read Greg Baum’s article in the Age during the week about cricketing suicides. It is clearly an issue and while we don’t like to see them make runs, I don’t think anyone gets any joy from the cricketers, or any sportsmen for that matter suffering mental
breakdowns.

Away from the cricket it was also good to see Jason Day salute in the Golf World Cup. I thought
given what happened in the Philippines he performed very well and it was a fine gesture to donate a portion of his winnings to the victims of the typhoon. Hopefully the headlines from that will raise the profile of the plight of the people from his mother’s homeland.  I have waxed about his performances before in the Majors and I don’t think it will be long before he finally snares one.

You also have to acknowledge the performance of Adam Scott. He wins the Aussie PGA,
Masters and shares the team result in the World Cup with Jason Day as well as finishing 3rd overall and is the overnight leader in the Aussie Open. I hope he becomes the 2nd golfer to take home the triple crown as he seems to be a very humble and likeable fellow.

Have a great weekend!