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VB Series, Year XXVII, Games III, IV, V, VI and VII: Go Baghdatis!

Submitted by rickeyre on January 27, 2006 - 4:20pm

Sorry guys, but I have been finding the Australian Open far more interesting than the blandness of the VB Series thus far. I'm really enjoying watching Marcos Baghdatis in action. He's just won a rain-interrupted (and what a time for that to happen) semi against David Nalbandian for the right to be hammered by Roger Federer on Sunday night (or Nicolas Kiefer if he's very, very lucky). The Guardian did an over-by-over of the tennis if you don't know what I'm talking about.

(What, they're starting a mixed doubles match at 11.55pm?)

Getting back to the cricket, I can't remember getting excited about a WSC game since the night Phil Simmons went crazy with the ball in 1992. I'm probably being a little harsh here, but I've lived through 27 years of this triseries and it's all looking the same to me. Of course, it's a cash cow for Cricket Australia and the touring teams, and for the families who take their kids to the game each January, it's a big annual day out during the school holidays.

South Africa's nine-run victory over Sri Lanka on Tuesday night was genuinely a good finish, but for me the standout performance so far in the Veeb of '06 is Jayasuriya's brilliant 114 at the SCG last Sunday. (Here's the reports of that knock by Elmo, Roebuck and Conn.)

And as for the Australian "rotation" policy, designed as I recall to stop quicks like Merv Hughes and Craig McDermott from burning out, how on Earth does that justify Ricky Ponting getting a day off in the middle of a closely-fought tournament? Imagine, if you will, Tiger Woods missing the third day of the Ryder Cup so that he could spend Saturday with his folks...