NZC’s 'vague' attempt to stop horse Boulting
PLUS: The Week That Was and an epoch-making Weekend That Will Be
As a fan, all you want to see is your best players suiting up for their country, but if you’re on the fringes of that high-performance scene, it must be uncomfortable seeing one rule for one and another for everybody else.
This sense that New Zealand Cricket has moved into uncomfortable shades of grey was heightened when the list of centrally contracted players was released last week and Boult’s name was absent.
Whether by accident or most likely design, NZC’s vague description of Boult having signed a “casual playing agreement”, has understandably rubbed some in the cricket community up the wrong way.
Both Mike Hesson and Craig McMillan have spoken out about the situation this week. Both these guys will be still dialled into player sentiment around contract situations, so take it as read that they are echoing concerns that are talked about in dressing rooms.
“It seemed only 12 months ago Trent Boult was more than happy to make his decision to move away from international cricket and take the riches of the T20 franchises around the world and you couldn't [begrudge] him that,” McMillan said.
“... Now [he] almost wants a little bit of a dollar each way. It’s a difficult one. It doesn’t sit overly well with me and I’m sure it doesn’t sit with some of the other players within the setup who are doing the hard yards then have to move back [when Boult returns].”
This is going to be the most white hot of hot-button topics for cricket boards, particularly small ones like New Zealand, to address over the next few years.
Good luck navigating the minefield.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
This recent report from ABC’s Four Corners shows just how insidious the creep of sports betting is.
“Australian soccer’s governing body is taking a cut from bets placed on games at all levels in the country, from international blockbusters to amateur suburban club competitions,” the investigation starts.
It’s quite an eye-opener, especially these lines.
Prasad Kanitkar, a former trader with Bet365, said even suburban Australian soccer matches can attract thousands of bets every minute from the bookmaker’s international customers — largely based in Asia.
He said it wasn’t unusual to see bets totalling up to $1 million on a single game…
Asked why punters would be interested in betting on amateur sport, Mr Kanitkar said it’s simple: “If you can bet on something, people do.”
Still in Australia, this is crazy stuff. The chasm between the interests of Netball Australia and the players keeps getting wider. The relationship is irreparably damaged.
Given the size of the sport in Australia and their primacy on the world stage, the organisation that runs it is close to a basket case and is paying the price for a decade of poor decision-making, which you could sheet all the way back to their decision to blow up the transtasman competition that was largely serving both countries well.
While NA could rightly claim that many of the New Zealand franchises (arguably all of them bar the Magic), were underachieving and a drag on the ‘high’ part of high-performance - it is understood Netball NZ was happy to include more Australian franchises but not at the expense of any of their five teams - the fact was the tournament was essentially paid for by Sky TV and Australia brought very little to the table commercially.
As soon as they finally got a comparable broadcast deal, NA split to form their own tournament. NA did this at a time when traditionally male-dominated codes like cricket and Australian rules were starting what would soon become popular female franchise competitions the AFLW and WBBL, and they effectively ceded the one advantage netball had over these competitions - the transtasman element. And that broadcasting deal, based on a lot of contra-type arrangements, never turned out to be the goldmine they expected, while on the other side of the deal the competition failed to ignite the commercial sector in the way the broadcaster (and by extension NA) hoped.
Meanwhile, despite still producing more world-class players than any other country, NA spiralled into debt - it sits at A$4.2m at present - and it is joked that their entire business plan revolves around hosting world championships as they made a tidy profit in 2015 and are bidding again for 2027.
In the meantime, they have alienated their players with both sponsorship choices; by selling the their domestic grand final to the West Australian government regardless of who qualifies for it; by railroading rules like the two-point shot into their competition at the behest of broadcasters, even though it leaves them exposed when those rules do not translate to international netball; and by what the players now deem to be bad-faith negotiations.
Netball Australia is an unmitigated mess… but they’ll probably still win the world champs in Cape Town though.
I sat down with an open mind and tried to watch the Netflix docuseries McGregor Forever, which follows global mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor as he makes his comeback to UF after a two-year break… and never made it to the second episode.
There was nothing sympathetic about McGregor’s character; nothing behind the bluster and the bling. Scenes that were meant to portray humility looked confected and I finished the episode wishing him nothing but eternal misfortune.
When I waved my wand, however, I must have cast my spell slightly wrong, because the misfortune has thus far applied only to those who cross his path.
In the space of a couple of hours in Miami, McGregor punched a mascot twice, once when he was prone on the ground, sending him to the ER room in a “skit” that went badly wrong, and allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in the toilets, claims he denies. This was the line from the report that was most startling.
McGregor has been accused of sexual assault four previous times outside the United States, although he has not faced any legal punishment and at least one case was dropped.
The Dubliner is either the unluckiest man in the world to have had to face all these “false” allegations, or he is something else entirely.
It’s been 20 years since the book that changed sports was released.
The Athletic interviews Moneyball author, the brilliant Michael Lewis ($), who shone a light on how a small-market baseball team, the Oakland A’s, eschewed old-world concepts like scouting and aesthetics in favour of analytics to “buy” runs and keep pace with deep-pocketed teams.
Billy Beane, the A’s general manager, cooperated for the book largely because he didn’t think it would sell a copy and would have no material effect on his life. Ten years later Brad Pitt was playing him in a critically acclaimed movie.
Two decades removed, was the concept of “Moneyball,” however you want to slice it up, good or bad for the sports world? There have certainly been negative effects, from the aesthetics of the sports to the hiring practices in front offices, in the chase for efficiency and perfection. But the pursuit of knowledge is always a positive. This revolution was happening whether or not Lewis wrote a book. He just put a catchy name to it.
When I posed that question to him, Lewis brought up how analytical approaches to football opened up the passing game, and in basketball, the 3-point shot. But in baseball, the focus on perfection and logic eventually turned the game into a more static, more boring sport.
Far removed from the world of sports, Lewis’ book on alleged cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, Going Infinite, promises to be revelatory.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
The first All Black squad of this very important, consequential, significant and potentially epoch-making year is announced live on Sunday night. Sky will be there with interviews with coaches and the assistants. Most of the intrigue seems to centre around halfback and how you squeeze Aaron Smith, Brad Weber, Cam Roigard, Folau Fakatava and Fin Christie into three spots. The Bounce will bring the key findings to you on Monday morning.
The Breakdown, Sunday 7.30pm, Sky Sport 1
“The Blues are certainly going to show up with physicality, possibly niggle and possibly a bit of chat so we got to be prepared for that.” Don’t take my word for it, that’s from Scott Barrett, per Radio NZ. OK, so it’s not the most incendiary pre-match chat, but it’s up there for Super Rugby, especially when you marry it up with Dalton Papali’i’s bold talk of inflicting gruesome violence while putting 50 points on the Crusaders. Or was it just a vague mention of “bad blood”? Either way - IT’S ALL ON! It is worth pointing out that while my excitement borders on delirium, the Crusaders do bring a 28-0 home playoff record into this match.
The other semi I’m less excited about, but at the same time, a Chiefs win would make for a great final no matter who wins .
Crusaders v Blues, Christchurch, tonight 7.05pm, Sky Sport 1
Chiefs v Brumbies, Hamilton, tomorrow 7.05pm, Sky Sport 2
My earliest memories of the Ashes were all aural, whether it was trying desperately to stay awake to listen to the first session via the BBC on a transistor radio tucked under my pillow, or the old man trying to tune an old valve radio to pick up the whine, static and hiss - and hopefully a splash of Alan McGilvray - if the series was in Australia. Greg Chappell driving Derek Underwood down the ground sounded like a hopelessly romantic proposition way back then. By modern standards, the cricket would have been dull, but would be a shock if that was the case in the five-test series starting tonight. There are so many elements of this which remain fascinating, the most obvious being whether England’s sustained aggression - sometimes referred to by a but name beginning with ‘B’ - can work against a world-class bowling attack. It’s not the only storyline, not by a long shot, but it’s the most obvious one to start with. And it’s on the telly - free of charge!
England v Australia, 1st test, Edgbaston, starts tonight 10pm, Spark Sport
Probably need a bit of help from my golf-nut subscribers, and I know there’s a few of you, but my suspicion is the USGA, who administer the sport’s national championships, will be deeply embarrassed by the benevolent conditions presented by the Los Angeles Country Club. The organisation takes a sadistic pride in producing courses that are long, narrow and offer draconian punishments for errant shots. It is gleefully marketed as the toughest test in golf. To see Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele post 62s, and another four players including Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson shoot 65 or better must have had long-standing committee members in conniptions. I’m not sure what they can do over the next three days except hope that the greens bake off, make the pins less accessible and hope the rough grows faster than Sam Whitelock’s beard.
Ryan Fox doesn’t mind, however, his first round two-under 68 has him in a tie for 13th and barring a second-round disaster, he is well on the way to competing at the weekend in another major.
US Open, Los Angeles, rounds 2-4 tomorrow-Monday from 3.10am, Sky Sport 6 (and pop-ups)
It’s a truncated, Warriors-less NRL round, but this match-up should be pretty tasty nonetheless - especially if you were a fan of the NSWRL in the early-80s.
Parramatta v Manly, Parramatta, tomorrow 7.30pm, Sky Sport 4
The All Whites play Sweden free-to-air on Prime (not Amazon prime). Given I don’t have a set-top box, this might be a struggle, but for those that know their way around terrestrial TV…
Sweden v New Zealand, Stockholm, tomorrow 5am, Prime
Even the most ardent of Supercars fans would concede that the racing has not been great this season on the new Gen3 platform, mainly due to Ford being uncompetitive compared to the Chevrolet Camaro. So much so that Ford has threatened to walk away if it feels it is damaging their brand. That’s reason enough, just, to tune into Sunday’s racing.
Supercars, Darwin, Races 14-15 Sunday 2.20pm and 5.55pm, Sky Sport 5
The issue of central contracts vs seeking the riches of the T20 circuit is only going to worsen. We know (usually) the tour and tournament schedule for the next 12 months.
Would it not be better to have a limited number of 'part time' contracts? Players can submit which NZ tours/tournaments they make themselves available for (after they account for their own T20 commitments they either have or will seek).
NZC can then see which player submissions have the most favourable terms/player quality and then offer a limited amount of these. At least we are getting some people still committing to play for NZ when they otherwise might give it away, while still providing reward to those who toil here by maintaining full time contracts.
This 'all or nothing' contract approach, while admirable, is not sustainable. Contract negotiation is standard in any employment environment, adding a tender process for competitive spots might mean NZC can extract the best value out of our very best.
The “casual contract” reference is problematic for NZC. What does that mean? Are others eligible for it? No transparency. Honestly, I’m not surprised, I’m no David White fan. Yes, he’s been at the helm during some good times but to me he’s never impressed when true leadership and clear communication has been needed. That’s exactly what’s needed here. Dylan, you’ve nicely articulated the tension between having the best players on the field and rewarding those that show the most loyalty to NZC. What’s needed, IMO, is an emphatic statement one way or the other about which way NZC is inclined when making those judgments. Even as a fan I have no idea about whether this means TB is likely to play or not. I actually don’t think that’s good enough, but imagine the suspense of being in the contracted group….