Smashing centuries, a first World Cup victory, an all-Kiwi win on the mountain, a bad miss, and a shoddy 40 minutes are all on the list as I once again delve into the depths of the good, bad and ugly of sport.
GOOD
Top of the list is the Black Caps’ nine-wicket hammering of England in the opening match of the Cricket World Cup. Devon Conway [152*] and Rachin Ravindra [123*] led the way, regularly dispatching the English bowlers to all corners of the sparsely populated Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, in their unbeaten 273-run partnership. The Kiwis made it a perfect two from two with a 99-run stroll over the Netherlands yesterday.
Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway took the top step of the podium for the first all-Kiwi win at Bathurst since Greg Murphy and Steven Richards in 1999. SvG will now try his luck in the high-octane world of Nascar next year.
Portugal’s last-minute converted try for a 24–23 win over Fiji at the Rugby World Cup made their fans delirious. Although I was rooting for Fiji to make the quarterfinals because I have them in the office sweepstake, I love the underdog, and the ‘Kava boys’ still made the last eight and sent the woeful Wallabies home, so most people were happy unless, of course, you’re an Ocker.
Staying with RWC, the All Blacks did what they had to in smashing Uruguay 73–0, but next up, it’s the irrepressible Irish, who were mighty impressive in sucking the wind out of the Scottish bagpipes 36–14 and sending their Celtic cousins home with a cold wind blowing up their kilts.
Copthorne Wairarapa Bush just fell short of pulling off a stunning second-half revival after trailing 28–3 at halftime in their Lochore Cup semifinal with West Coast, but in the end, the Coasters were too good and held on 33–27.
I’m unsure if this is good or just simply unbelievable. In only his third start in a marathon, Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum set a new world record of two hours 35 seconds in the Chicago Marathon, shaving 34 seconds off the previous record. To put it into perspective, for us, five to six minutes per km plodders, that is a rate of 2:52 for each km or 4:36 per mile. At only 23, Kiptum looks odds-on to better that two-hour barrier sooner rather than later.
Giants Blue batted their way to a 9–2 win over Wainuiomata to get their Intercity Softball Premier Two championship defence off to the best start.
How good is Simone Biles, who won her fourth gold medal at the World Gymnastics Championships in Belgium and her 23rd world title? To underline her class, Biles became the first female to nail a Yurchenko double pike, the most difficult routine on the vault, which has now been renamed the Biles II in her honour.
BAD
Oh no, here we go again, Giants Red winning their opening round Intercity Premier Three match by default. When will the softball boffins in the capital finally come down hard on these teams, some of which are recidivist defaulters who simply don’t fancy the trip over the hill to enjoy some of Giants’ noted hospitality? The club isn’t holding its breath!
At crucial times, officials need to stand up and make big calls, and referee Will Johnson missed a big one with five minutes left in the Lochore Cup semifinal when West Coast prop Tyler Kearns took out Tafa Tafa with an off–the–ball no-arms charge. Whether it would have made a difference to the final outcome, who knows, but it was a bad miss at a vital time and a call that needed to be made.
The Wai Bush player who threw away a West Coast boot which had disengaged from its foot. Childish and bad sportsmanship – nothing else needs to be said.
On a sad, rather than bad, note, the passing of nine-time timber sports world champion Jason Wynyard, who succumbed to an aggressive form of lymphoma at the age of 49. From a famous woodchopping family, Wynyard was probably better known in North America, where he won the prestigious Stihl Timbersports Series 14 times. A Kiwi sporting great taken too young.
UGLY
I was tossing up whether this fitted into the previous category, but shipping 28 points through four converted tries was enough to push Wai Bush’s first-half effort against West Coast to the basement level. Despite the tremendous fightback, the damage was done in a woeful opening 40 minutes when the Coasters punished the ‘green and reds’ for their slow start.
It hasn’t happened yet, but there’s a high probability of it. The RWC becoming ugly, with teams continually slowing down the game at every stoppage, officials going over every little discretion with a microscope, and games lasting well past the 80 minutes. Please give us open, running rugby, but I’m more hopeful than realistic.
