My kids play a lot of games vs. sides stacked with kids with Indian and Sri Lankan backgrounds and the term "pushy parent" is very apt. I'd hate to be the coach of one of those kids, the parental interference would drive you dingbats.
Many parents want the other kids to well, just not as well as their kids! Pushy parents will be that way if the are not reined in quickly. Amazing what putting a #4 down to #11 does as a result of parental actions.
Kawaja is a bit polarising - says some good and some rubbish things. I think in the end a good career in some ordinary sides - a great lesson in perseverance. Fielding could still do with some work.
Swepdon, if you want a leggies, Rocciocelli (sp) WA is having an excellent shield session.
England batting properly except for their horrible get out shots when they ran out of patience looked much more threatening than the first two tests.
AUS team for boxing day - In: Smith, Neser, Murphy. Out: Inglis (for Smith), Cummins (rested), Lyon (inj). Green lucky - too many changes, Usman lucky - boys club means he survives instead of Ingliss. Unlucky again - Webster.
Cam Green is out of credits. Won't bowl, can't bat. He may be seen as "better" than Webster on potential but it's performance that counts. Can't understand what Webster did wrong, dropped for no obvious reason, while some can't get dropped no matter how badly they are playing.
Old boys network. They all salivate over him, yet the public can't see why - averages <34 after more than 50 innings.
Thanks for the Tom Waits lyrics, DJC - I haven't listened to that album for a long time.
I find a lot of comfort and peace as well in music - been listening to Nina Simone's You'll never walk alone, Gabriel's Oboe & Like a bridge over troubled water quite a bit. They all have sadness, strength and some peace in them.
I hope this brings a change to Australia - back to unity and respect. Unfortunately, I can't see it at the moment.
It seems that the gun laws need admin tweaks more than anything eg National digital registers, number of guns to own. Would changing guns laws prevent what happened if the perpetuator is determined enough?
I have a book about the global rise of anti-Semitism. I didn't get far - it is a hard read, but I think I need to get through it now.
Agree - as soon as we thought England were going to declare, went stupidly defensive, which gave them so many free and easy runs and zero pressure.
The notion of not even 25 overs a session is abhorrent to everyone but the players out there. Part of test cricket is that you need to manage bowlers in order to get through 90 overs in a day - taking into account DRS and time that the batting team wastes - they need to be accountable as well. The penalties could be runs - 10 runs for every late over.
Selection is a mess. It doesn't really seem as if they have batting plans - I'm certainly not convinced Head is an opener or that Ingliss is of the right quality! And they obviously don't know who they want to bowl - Starc, Neser, Boland, Doggett and Green - only slight variation. Lyon would have been handy to get through some overs and offer something different. Through the fixturing of domestic cricket, often there is little exposed red ball form leading into the test series - better this year, but there don't seem to be great standouts. Having said that, the only change to the team really needed to be a bat in for Khawaja.
Imagine playing a game where when it is your turn to do the thing that you are paid very well to do, you say 'No thanks. We'll wait until it's a bit easier and we'll slow the game down ridiculously in order to not do what I get paid to" How many more free runs will they get today...
Congratulations to Starc. His form has been pretty solid for a while now, and is getting rewards.
Didn't see a second of the game. But the women played some very compelling and infectious footy towards the end of the season that was quite enjoyable to watch - team spirit was also great.
Very ordinary by Khawaja. Only one not to play shield to get it right, can't field for 30 overs - no way could he be fit and it's not like he does a lot of work in the field - he would have known.
Earlier in the season, there seemed to be a narrative that Piastri was a calmer driver than Norris, and Norris didn't handle the pressure well. The last few weeks it does seem to have reversed a bit...
Obviously, a 76 year old is vulnerable, but shouldn't be the driver for outrage. Yes, she will be affected in several different ways which may make her life difficult (eg fear of going out, recurring flashbacks, general feeling of being unsafe in her own home etc).
We have gone through several times on the site about solutions - prevention and rehab programs, stronger initial penalties and stronger consequences for broken penalties eg bail.
Then it is about funding and real effectiveness of these solutions - jail can be school to become a less worse crook.
The new Chief seems to be strong on prevention - more police presence on the streets and education. Be interesting to see the effect of the new bail laws that have just come into operation - I don't know what they are.
This all takes time. It won't be solved tomorrow.
Will it make a difference? Dunno. Youth crime seems to be much more brazen now - offenders don't care if there are alarms or cameras, whether it is 3am or 3pm, who sees them, whether there is anyone home etc. It will take time to turn this around.
The Liberal policy seems to be Jack's law (greater search powers on the street), rehab (school, post offending programs, mentoring), and if bail is broken, a holiday courtesy of the King is awaiting. Cynical me thinks that this won't make much difference and is a long way in the future.
Curious as to what it actually was or is that lead to the current situation - knowing what it is can help lead to the solution.
We don't know what the opposition would do as the current mob have been in power for the last 12 years and its hard to find an area of the state they have improved under their leadership.
Any half decent opposition should have been a shoe in the last few elections and its a blight on the sad state of local government that despite doing such a poor job the same party keeps getting re-elected. The libs do little to instill confidence amongst the people but the current mob has had 12 years and look at where we are at - time is well and truly up and someone else should be given the chance to improve right the wrongs.
Isn't that the problem Shawny - that we don't know what the opposition will do, because they won't tell us? Great at highlighting issues, not so great at offering solutions.
Don't know if they want to fix anything - that would require them to be in in government and to actually do something. Much easier complaining from opposition. There have been three terms of Liberal/LNP government in Vic since 1982 - they have no idea how to win an election. When Bolte won in 1955, Libs were in power until 1982 - 27 years.
