Saving athletics from itself
PLUS: Notes from the Basin #1, and TWTW and TWTWB
Zoe Hobbs ran an impressive 11.02s at the Sir Graeme Douglas International at Waitakere last night (pictured above), a resident’s and all-comers record.
That and the increasingly fascinating men’s shot put duel between Jacko Gill (22.12m) and Tom Walsh (21.79m) were the highlights on a low-lit evening.
Having made the short trip from my home to Trusts Arena my overriding impression was that it was an amateurish presentation that probably did a disservice to the athletes and definitely did for any athletics fans that attended (there weren't many).
In defence of the organisers, the weather was unkind but even the seemingly simple task of having the hot food caravan within a reasonable distance of the main stand was beyond them. It wasn’t just an annoying distance from the stand, it was the opposite end of the arena from the pole vault (an objectively poor competition with Eliza McCartney winning with the only cleared jump at 4.46m) and shot put, so unless you took field glasses with you to get your hotdog and chips, you were out of luck.
It was a dry event, too. Well, dry unless you were part of the assorted trough-snufflers who were in the VIP section. Nothing separates the petit bourgeoisie from the proletariat quite like a glass window with wines and cheese on one side and chips and Coke on the other.
Despite an honest attempt on the tannoy (a big tick at least for the sound quality), there were too many events where context was not provided for the layman in the stands.
One nugget that was passed on was during the women’s 1500m, when it was announced that Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka was on track to challenge Mary Decker’s New Zealand all-comers record. That jolted something in me. I was there with my uncle on that night in January 1980, along with 25,000 others at Mt Smart Stadium. I’m not sure if it was the only reason the nine-year-old me had been shipped up to Auckland from New Plymouth for the week, but it was a big reason.
Athletics really meant something then, with the likes of Decker, Don Quarrie, Hasely Crawford and Steve Backley frequently appearing alongside New Zealand’s best.
There are obvious financial reasons why those days are gone, but it was still deflating to see just how small-scale it has become.
One of the big nights in the domestic athletics calendar felt anything but, which is why I, along with most of the punters, upped sticks as soon as Hobbs had crossed the line.
By some metrics, track and field remains the second-most popular sport in the world. At the SGD Invitational, however, athletics didn’t just feel like a boutique sport, it felt like an afterthought.
Stuff was there and covered it more comprehensively (and less critically) than I.
Notes from the Basin #1
NZ 155-21
On a day dominated by rain then wind, there were but a few fickle thoughts to grasp hold of.
Is that the break Henry Nicholls needed?
Count me among those who believe his place in the team has gone beyond loyalty to something closer to blind faith, but the law of averages dictates he will come good sooner rather than later.
It didn’t look like it was going to happen at the Basin when he played an awful shot to Kasun Rajitha, flashing outside off stump with fast hands but no feet. It duly took the edge but on this occasion dreadful shot was met by horrendous keeping, with debutant Nishan Madushka flicking out one hand when a semblance of weight transfer would have enabled him to snaffle it comfortably with two.
That took Nicholls from 7 to 11 and it almost looked like he needed to get that waft out of the system before he knuckled down.
It reminded me of another time Nicholls came to the Basin under pressure. On that December 2020 occasion, he took guard off the back of 12 completed innings without a 50, got a couple of huge slices of luck early and proceeded to rack up 174 against the hapless West Indies.
This is a better attack and there is a long way to go, but if Nicholls (18*) is looking for omens, that’d be one to reference.
***
I have enormous respect for those who see somebody in form and call a triple century early.
A mere 222 runs short, but he did bat very well and I was as surprised as the above tweeter no doubt was when he chipped back to the gentle offspin of Dhananjaya de Silva, who was only employed to take the load off the seamers running into the breeze.
The on-drive that took Conway from 69 to 73 is as good as batting gets, particularly in the context of a green wicket and being inserted by the opposition, but it would have been nice to see a bit more.
***
The picture of Tom Latham immediately after he pulled the ball in the air to deep square was the perfect illustration of frustration.
Latham had done all the hard work on a green seamer, combining with the more flamboyant Conway to take the score through to 87, before getting slightly late on a long hop from Kasun Rajitha, holing out for 21. He immediately knew he’d stuffed up - the grille on the helmet couldn’t hide the pain etched on his face.
***
Kane Williamson’s serenity was such that I feel no need to comment on his 26 not out.
NZ v Sri Lanka, 2nd test days 2-3, tomorrow-Sunday, 10.30am, Spark Sport
THE WEEK THAT WAS
An interesting study out of Sweden that gives yet more weight to the belief that it is repetitive subconcussive blows that are the biggest contributor to neurodegenerative diseases in former athletes.
The study found that Swedish footballers who have played in that country’s first division are 50 percent more likely to develop dementia than the rest of the population.
The study found that among male footballers playing in the Swedish top division, nine percent were diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease, compared with six percent of the control sample. Intriguingly, goalkeepers had no increased risk of Alzheimer’s or dementia, “supporting the hypothesis that mild head impacts sustained when heading the ball could explain the increased risk in outfield players,” the study said.
The results are not as alarming as a 2019 Scotland study that determined footballers were more than three times more likely to develop dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases than the general public.
The Breakers didn’t win the Australian NBL but they won a lot of fans back who had been lost during the Dan Shamir years. I’ll be straight up with you, I found the bits and pieces I saw of the best-of-five finals against the Sydney Kings a tough watch. That could come under the category of “typical finals basketball”, but in my case it’s probably more like “spoiled by the NBA”.
The club’s revival hasn’t gone unnoticed by basketball aficionados. Here’s Guy Heveldt’s take, headlined: “The Breakers are back and one man has driven it all.”
“[Breakers] basketball had no life, no pulse.
“That has completely reversed under Mody Maor - a man who was alongside Shamir through those years.
“From the day the person in charge changed, the mood at the Breakers changed with it.
“A thoughtful, driven, passionate and very intelligent man, Maor went about changing the Breakers for the better; a warmer environment, a team-first attitude, belief in the players he had in the squad and a welcoming presence.”
While I believe that culture plays an important part in team sport, I’m a bit sceptical when it comes to basketball, where the addition or subtraction of one or two players can make a profound difference.
Regular correspondent Naki Pete has been similarly impressed by the turnaround (lightly edited for clarity).
“I hadn't been a big fan of the Breakers since Matt Walsh took over the team but have to give major credit for the turnaround. They have been amazing, one of the fairytale sports stories of this year. In basketball it can take a lot quicker to turn your squad around than league or football [but] after what happened to them with Covid I gave them zero chance of making the playoffs - tip my cap to them.”
A frosty, even crunchy start to the start of the Supercars season, with Shane van Gisbergen living up to his reputation of being one of the greatest drivers of motorised vehicles ever seen, and a prickly customer to deal with off the track.
Van Gisbergen crossed the line first twice in the opening round at Newcastle, but had the first race scratched, pending an appeal, due a dry-ice violation (you read that right). After winning the second, SvG, a taciturn interview subject at the best of time, basically blanked all questions at the post-race press conference, angering commentators such as V8s legend Mark Skaife.
Van Gisbergen responded, via Instagram. It’s worth reading (click on the below image), if only for the replies, including one from old sparring partner Scott McLaughlin.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
A very short list of what I intend viewing.
Anybody else notice that there seems to be a side-channel campaign against Scott Robertson over the past few weeks? At this stage it might be more imagined than real, but the excitement, misplaced as it was, about Joe Schmidt entering the coaching race and stories like this make me wonder if he’s suddenly on the outside looking in. This framing made me chuckle into my coffee (black, no sugar).
“[Aaron] Smith, now a wise old 34, wasn’t about to start endorsing Joseph over Scott Robertson on Tuesday, but…”
What followed was a few hundred words of testimony that sounded very much like an endorsement of Joseph and his assistant-elect Tony Brown.
“They are very innovative [in] how they look at the game. Jamie is very tough on getting the forwards into a place and he sets up an environment for that.
“Browny is obviously famous for his innovation on attack and everyone being on the same page.”
I have no idea who will get the nod and if it’s a choice between Joseph and robertson I’m not sure there’s a wrong answer, but all of a sudden, despite the sheer ridiculousness of his success at Super Rugby level, the results of Robertson and his Crusaders are going to be closely examined.
Blues v Crusaders, Auckland, tomorrow 7.05pm, Sky Sport 1
Something has to give in to a delayed watch because the two oval-ball highlights of the weekend overlap. All eyes at the back for the Warriors after Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was ruled out of tomorrow’s class with North Queensland after failing a concussion test. Taine Tuaupiki takes his place and, according to Newshub, the bar has been set high for the 23-year-old debutant.
“He’s hardworking, obviously, he’s not scared to dream,” said coach Andrew Webster. “It’s not like he’s 18 or 19 debuting, he’s come the long road… He’s very outgoing, he’s not shy. But he certainly knows he’s got a lot to learn. He’s not brash, or arrogant or anything like that. He’s confident in his own ability, and a very determined guy.”
Cowboys v Warriors, Townsville, tomorrow 7.30pm, Sky Sport 4
Everything is pointing towards an Ireland Grand Slam when they meet a demoralised England on Sunday morning in the final round of the Six Nations. Having spent a couple of wet years in Cork, I have a soft spot for Ireland, though I’m not a massive fan of the way they play the game. Each to their own. That Andy Farrell can coach though - that’s not in dispute.
Ireland v England, Dublin, Sunday 6am, Sky Sport 1
BOUNCED OUT (momentarily)
I’ll be repeating this message over the next few days so if you read it once you can ignore it, but The Bounce at the conclusion of the second test (21.3) will be my last one for a week to 10 days as I have both a few days off newslettering and complete a project that I have left idling for too long. I hope to have a guest contribution in the interim, but that is still TBC. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
This was posted when the umpires took the players from the field for bad light shortly after 6pm. There is a chance they returned and several points are moot.
I remember going to Crystal Palace in 1985 to watch the rematch of the 1984 Olympic 3000 metre final when Decker and Budd tangled and Decker crashed out. Decker owned Budd in the rematch and won by heaps. Will never forget watching someone run in bare feet (Budd) for three kilometres on a track.
I agree with you that faith in Nicholls has gone well beyond rationality and also that he might well get a big one tomorrow. But I disagree with your assessment of his innings v WI Basin 2020. I was lucky enough to be there. He came in on a juicy pitch, got dropped maybe 3 or 4 times, but didn’t let it get to him and cracked 170 in a game where no-one else got a score and there was always something there for the fast bowlers. I thought it was one of the gutsiest innings I’d seen. It reminded me of Bevan Congdon and his consecutive 170s v England back in the 1970s. Pat