It’s not often that I compliment Australian cricketers, unless they are good looking of course. And it’s definitely not often that I compliment arrogant little pricks but Shane Watson has made it hard to help myself.
If there were cricket fairytales scripted, Watson would play the hero, the villain and the ugly step mother.
Originally as you might or might not know, Twatto wasn’t even close to the top order and he was a shitty bowler. Fast forward to 2009 and you have an annoying superstar. 30 July 2009 – Watto comes out as an opener against England in the Ashes and scores 62 in the first innings and 53 in the second innings. After that, he just seemed to keep on going and going from there.
His form in the Test matches translated into some of the ODIs recently played and then he started to take wickets. The really good stuff came during the Australian summer and, while the Aussies were playing we’re the schizos of the cricketing world Pakistan and my word we are crap and we shut up shop as soon as Gayle goes out West Indies, Watto was firing.
Here are his averages:
Tests: Played (from November 2009): 6, Scored: 609 runs, High score: 120*, Average: 60.90, Wickets: 13
ODIs (From September 2009): Played: 18, Scored: 817 runs, High Score: 136*, Average: 51.06, Wickets: 24
Twenty20s (from Feb2010): Played: 3, Scored: 107 runs, High Score: 62*, Average: 53.50, Wickets: 6
That is some pretty impressive stuff for a man who, just a few years back, wasn’t really anybody worth mentioning. Now he is screaming at Chris Gayle like a man possessed, winning Allan Border medals for ODI player of the year and runner up for Test player of the year all while pissing everyone off – even Australians. The thing that makes Watson quite great is the fact that he is a damn entertaining player to watch.
He oozes passion and does not think, not very often anyway. He was struggling to get make 100 because every time he got close he’d try to get there with style. It cost him his wicket a few times but when he got there, my god was it beautiful to watch.
It now remains to be seen if he can carry this form with him when Australia face some tougher opposition. And, of course, if his injuries can stay away. If it does, future Test captain Mr. Lara Bingle might have to watch his back.
On a different note: Corrie van Zyl is churning out the excuses for the ODI series the Saffers are about to lose (we care more about squad rotation, etc, etc) and David Warner scored the second fastest T20 half ton today. People were calling it all kinds of nice things but who really cares? The West Indies are crap and they pretty much gifted him that feat. Also, it’s T20…and while it is ok to like T20, nobody should really be getting aesthetic boners about silly things like bang bang half tons. It says a lot about you if you do…
With Michael Clarke being stripped of the captaincy gig and the Cute XI left in disarray, the latest Hottie Elect – Daniel Vettori was more than welcome to step up to the plate.
Paddlesweep came under fire recently for selecting Daniel Luca Vettori as its new captain but there are more than enough reasons why this is the man for the job. Vettori is the cool and calm kind. I don’t think I have ever seen him angry other than that time in England when the Predator (Ryan Sidebottom) collided with the South African (Grant Elliot). He likes to promote himself up the order and then deliver the goods.
It was surprising when he put himself up to number six that the New Zealanders weren’t actually told to throw their wickets just so that he can prove that he made the correct decision. Vetori is also part of one of the very elite cricket clubs, he has over 300 wickets and over 3000 runs, that’s apparently pretty cool.
The geeky look is pretty hot. Somebody on the old blog once got lead to a smilar post to this one because they wanted to know what kind or brand of glasses he wears. I didn’t know then and haven’t bothered to find out. All that matters is that he looks damn fine in them. And the scruffy beard well, that just says “I’m a little naughty but only when I use my computer game time to look at some porn.”
Yesterday I spoke about the dreaded DH. Today I shake my head in dismay. If Jacques Kallis can’t even score 200 on a flat pitch in India he really should just give it up.
I think administrators should just introduce a rule that he has to get out on 150 so that he can save himself the disappointment of getting oh so close every time. Give up.
Graeme Smith, for once, was being an absolute tit when it comes to declaration. He obviously didn’t want to give his record up so he declared before Hashim Amla could get there. How the Saffers are going to take 20 wickets on this pitch is beyond me. They have plenty of runs on the board but they forget who India have batting for them. I don’t need to mention names. You just say the words Indian batting line up to leave people quivering in their boots. It’s going to take something really, really special if they are to pull of a win here.
I have a feeling that this Test is going to end in a disappointing draw. There are no English players involved and only England are capable of epic draws. Could this be the most over-hyped Test of the year? No wonder India didn’t want Tests played here, this is so damn boring.
Meanwhile, on the otherside of the world, the West Indies were humiliated. I wrote a series preview for the West Indies Cricket News site and it seems my watch out for prediction has been spot on thus far. I didn’t manage to catch any of the game but judging by the reports, the Tweets and the scorecard the boys of the Caribbean were well shit.
Are they trying to lul Australia into a false sense of security? Get their guard down and pounce them in the next match? I don’t know. I hope so. I think I was Australian in an English life because I think I criticize the South African team more than most Australians.
Until tomorrow. xoxo
Ms. Pr1nt
….of the Cute XI.
The cricketing world was shocked on Wednesday morning when the news broke that Michael Clarke had been sacked as captain of the Cute XI.
The news came following poor grammar usage on the popular social networking site Twitter where Pup used the term “would of” instead of “would have”. It is believed that his poor grammar has been caused by the Bingle effect. Something which has plagued many sportsmen in recent years.
Owner of the Cute XI Ms. Pr1nt remained rather hushed about proceedings.
“It’s a sad thing to do, and he’ll obviously still be in the team but I just can’t keep him on as the captain,” Pr1nt said in an official interview with Paddlesweep.net.
“Poor grammar is really not acceptable – especially silly mistakes like the of instead of have,” Pr1nt added.
It was revealed that Daniel Vettori will replace him but no further details have been made available yet.
Ps. To regular reader Tifosiguy – I am not ignoring you. I am just pretending that Sunday did not happen.
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