Friday Forecast

 

1. Sailing – Volvo Ocean Race – Leg 3 – With the leader now less than 1000 nautical miles from Sanya, China, it’s a good time to look at how the third leg is panning out. Boats have rounded Singapore, exiting the restrictions of the shipping channels, and are now in the final stretch of a technical leg that has been dominated by Dongfeng Race Team. But the last few days have seen their gap reduced and while it remains unlikely that Dongfeng will be caught anything can happen. Behind is a fascinating battle, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Team Alvimedica, Team Brunel and MAPFRE (current running order) separated by ten nautical miles. These four have remained in close proximity throughout the leg, closely watching and marking each other’s moves. The all-female Team SCA is currently in last and will be looking to capitalise on any games between those in front.

Tip – Dongfeng to lead them home with MAPFRE winning the tactical battle for second.

SUQ – 6 – Followed from afar but a race that captivates the imagination.

 

2.  Cricket – Big Bash League – Semi-finals – Adelaide Strikers versus Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers versus Melbourne Stars (home team’s first, final to be held in Canberra on Wednesday 28^th January) – The Strikers and Scorchers have set the benchmarks all season and surpassed the standard. The Sixers and Stars sure showed sensational success from seemingly insurmountable situations in their season-summarising fixture and will be slam-packed full of self-assurance subsequently. All four sides are spoiled for match successes and superior ball strikers, which makes selecting a star somewhat sticky.

Tip – The Sydney Sixers to play the Perth Scorchers in the final, with the Scorchers securing back-to-back triumphs.

SUQ – 9 – The end of a great competition where nothing seems impossible. The beauty of T20 cricket is that it so often comes down to the final over or ball.

 

3. Tennis – Australian Open – With the middle weekend approaching the action should start to heat up in Melbourne. Conditions have been kind to players, with the searing heat that characterised last year’s open staying away so far. The upsets have also been fewer this year. But that’s not to say the top seeds have had it all their own way. Maria Sharapova has been forced to save match points while Rafael Nadal was pushed all the way by little known American Tim Smyczek. Gael Monfils and young Frenchman Lucas Pouille played arguably the match of the tournament thus far with Monfils fighting back from two sets behind to win a match that had a bit of everything. And who doesn’t love a bit of Henri Leconte commentary! Monfils didn’t last much longer, recently knocked out by Jerzy Janowicz. Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams remain the clear favourites but behind are a long list of potential challengers. Milos Raonic and Simona Halep lead a band of the next generation who seem ready to take the next step and have both been very impressive in their outings so far this week. Australia’s hopes rest with Bernard Tomic, Sam Groth and Nick Krygios. Groth and Tomic play each other in the third round and the late-blooming Groth will be confident after two fine performances so far.

Tips – Djokovic to win another Australian Open crown, Halep to win her first grand slam.

SUQ – 9 – Some young Australians have spruiked local interest and the action should get better from here.

 

And an update on the World Handball Championship’s, which featured on this page recently. Teams have now played four of their five group games, with one remaining before the knock-out stage starts. Six teams remain undefeated – Spain, Croatia, Sweden, France, Germany and Denmark, with the last four on that list having all drawn a game. As for my tip, Iceland have blown hot and cold. A draw with tournament favourites France was impressive and a win against Algeria expected. But losses in their other two games mean they must beat Egypt in their final group game to stay alive.

Monday Musings

Yesterday afternoon I was relaxing on the couch reflecting on the weekends sporting action while watching India versus Australia in the second of the tri series games. Over the course of the first two games Eoin Morgan, David Warner and Rohit Sharma had all scored big hundreds worthy of praise and discussion. Mitchell Starc had backed up an impressive four wicket haul against England with an even better six wicket bag against India. Both performances had earned him man of the match awards, a rarity for a bowler at a time when wickets are increasingly batsmen friendly and the recognition more often than not goes to those who score the runs. In other sports Chelsea had put Swansea to the sword with an emphatic 5-0 thumping while Manchester United had laboured to yet another unconvincing win, this time 2-0 over QPR. And that was before Arsenal finally delivered on their undoubted promise and beat a title chasing side with their 2-0 win over Manchester City.

In the Volvo Ocean race the boats were almost across the Bay of Bengal and into the Malacca Straight. Dongfeng Race Team, heading toward home (China) for many of its sailors, has opened a commanding 60 nautical mile lead but behind was a fascinating battle between MAPFRE, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Team Brunel and Team Alvimedica, with the four boats separated by a mere 10 nautical miles. In tennis, the finals of various lead up tournaments had reached their conclusion and the world’s best players were converging on Melbourne for the first grand slam of the year, which started earlier today. My mind was also wandering to cycling and the ‘People’s Choice Classic’ in Adelaide. Excluding national races the first race of the year was an opportunity to see some of the sports star names in action. Would Marcel Kittel start 2015 the same way he started 2014? The answer to that would be yes by the way.

And while all those could have formed the focus of today’s musings sometimes a sporting event takes place that defies belief and demands attention. The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, may not be a big ground. It is home to the highest one day score (the 443 scored by South Africa against Australia a few years back) and three of the highest Twenty20 scores ever. But there is little that can be said or written to explain AB de Villiers astonishing innings in yesterday’s one day international against the West Indies.

For 38.3 overs it was the Hashim Amla and Rile Rossouw (he scored his maiden century) show, with the two combining for an opening partnership of 247. It was a decent platform and one from which South Africa would have expected to push on from too well past 300. But in less than an hour AB de Villiers rewrote cricket conventions and records. When he was dismissed off the third last ball of the innings he had faced 44 balls and scored 149 runs. At a strike rate of 338.63. His innings included sixteen sixes and nine fours. His partnership with Hashim Amla, who finished unbeaten on 153, was worth 192 and came off 67 balls. They scored at a quite ludicrous 17.12 an over. Amla contributed 33 off 30. De Villiers 50 came off only 16 balls, his hundred off only 31 balls. Corey Anderson’s previous world record 36 ball hundred had been well and truly beaten. De Villiers took 30 off one over, and 45 off the nine deliveries he faced from Jason Holder. He has a repertoire of shots that most international batsmen can only dream of and on this occasion he pulled out as many as he could find time for.

AB was typically modest afterwards, even suggesting that he had wanted to promote David Miller up the order. He probably won’t consider that idea again. Afterwards past players and commentators were showering him with adulation. He is much loved around the world and this performance will only strengthen that. He is a superstar of the game who delivered a performance that will stand the test of time.

West Indian wicket keeper Danesh Ramdin had one of the best views in the house. With de Villiers in such imposing form there was little chance that the ball was going to pass the bat, so Ramdin could really just relax and take it in. Speaking afterwards he admiringly observed that it was “one of the best ODI innings I have ever seen; in the history of cricket.”

In the end the innings is probably best summed up by the man himself. Below are some of the things he had to say when asked about the innings and his approach.

“My thinking was just to be aggressive. I had no pressure on me. I could free up nicely, knowing that if I get out, there are quite a few guys to come who could hit the ball. You don’t very often just come in and get momentum behind you right away. More often than not, you’ve got to work for it. Today was an exception. Out of nowhere, you hit a couple in the middle and then start going. Sometimes you’ve got to work harder to get that sniff, or get that click. Today it just happened from the word go. You have to sort of read the game a little bit to see what the bowler is trying to do. You can’t just let him bowl at you, you have to try and take the initiative and put him under a bit of pressure. I don’t know how many balls I faced, I premeditated but you’ve got to take the initiative and take the attack to the bowler, instead of him bowling to you.”

Premeditated or not de Villiers treated all who witnessed it to a show of undeniable quality. It’s all well and good to say that some days things feel right and it all works. But it is another entirely to have the skill, courage, strength and audacity to pull off what AB did at the Wanderers.

Friday Forecast

1. Handball – Men’s World Championships – Qatar – The world handball championships kicked off in Qatar yesterday, with the final to be held on 1 February 2015. It is the 24^th edition of the finals. France are the tournament favourites, a tag not even they themselves have tried to dispute. Other teams to watch include Spain (reigning world champions), Croatia and Denmark in a sport that has traditionally been dominated by the Europeans. 24 teams will be competing, divided into four pools of six. The top four in each pool progress to the round of 16 and from there it is knockout through to the final.

Tip – Iceland to cause an upset and become world champions.

SUQ – 6 – Difficult to find any coverage and certainly a niche sport, therefore an increased SUQ of 10 amongst hipsters. I think it’s great to watch but plenty of others don’t.

 

2.  Cricket – Australia versus England – Opening one day international at the SCG – Tri series cricket (the third team are India) returns and the opening match of the series see’s hosts Australia taking on the recently arrived England team. Australia were favourites when the market opened and have shortened even further despite England’s impressive warm-up performances in Canberra. All of England’s top 6 have had plenty of time in the middle and have looked good. Aaron Finch may be Australia’s top one day run scorer in the last 12 months but his Twenty20 form for the Renegades has been woeful. He and Warner will look to lay the platform for Australia’s middle and lower order to launch from later in the innings. Eoin Morgan will captain England for the first time since replacing Alistair Cook as England’s permanent one day captain (note that Morgan has captained England on eight previous occasions) and he will be desperate to get their tour off to a good start.

 Tip – England’s performance at Manuka Oval on Wednesday has convinced me that they can topple Australia. They are better prepared and have shown plenty of form.

SUQ – 7 – Let the build up to the World Cup begin.

 

3. Football – Asian Cup – It’s the final round of group fixtures. A number of teams have already qualified, for others it remains all to play for. Australia and South Korea will do battle for top spot in Group A with both having already qualified for the knockout stages, likewise Iran and the United Arab Emirates in Group C. Group B remains undecided and Saudi Arabia will play Uzbekistan for the right to join China in the next round. Both sides have lost to China and beaten North Korea and this shapes up as the fixture with the most at stake. Sides in Group D have only played the one game but after wins in their opening fixture Japan and Iraq should both qualify, with the winner of the clash between the two likely to decide the group winner.

Tips – Australia, UAE, China and Japan to emerge as group winners. Uzbekistan to get the better of Saudi Arabia in their clash.

SUQ – 7 – In a sense the knockout stages start early with sides either playing to survive or to finish top of their group and thus secure a, potentially, easier quarter-final match.