The Silver Fern

I'm all good. Thankfully I live in a boarding lodge in Mt Vic overlooking the Basin rtahre than Loafer's Lodge which catered for a rather different level of clientele. I've been working 7 days a week until very recently which is why I've been absent (that and falling out of love with rugby).

Really appreciate the concern.

this is my favourite picture of all time

Been debating whether I should post here...most of my more "open" posts occurred in the lockdown thread which seemed appropriate at the time.

I'm one of those people that find it difficult to make small talk. I'm a listener more than a talker. That and observation was part of my training in the one job I ever did that meant something. The rest have basically been lifetsyle funding exercises.

The corporate world gave me the shits especially the HR driven happy clappy bullshit. As I said at one performance review, once you've fallen on a decomposing corpse as part of your job ,team building exercises don't exactly carry any weight. The amount of grief I got for never staying behind for after-work drinks always shitted me. I was 15-20 years older than my immediate boss, who had the worldly experience of Bali holidays and that was about it, and my colleagues were pretty much all born around the time I was working in Bosnia and Rwanda. So I had nothing in fucking common with them in terms of personal experience. Hell I'd spent more time overseas than some of them had been alive. And maybe I was a tad cynical and more prone to dark humour.

If I'm honest, I'd rather not be workin g 7 days a week right now, but I'm rebuilding (again) because I left it way too long to get out of a corporate snakepit and ended up getting out at the last minute before I completely disintegrated mentally.

I am in a good place emotionally as I've been for 20 years though - caught up and re-established a friendship with the one person I can honestly say I love and have loved. My girls are all safe and sound, albeit only just coming out of lockdown in France, but they're about as good as can be expected .

I think the turning point for me was about Christmas 2019 when I did a fair amount of introspection and looked reality in the face. The fact is, anything I want to do, I have to do in the next 10 years or not at all. I'm already well past my use by date (let alone best before) and I've never been able to imagine myself or where I will be beyond around 60-65.

So my priorities have changed - everything is about short term goals and targets - 18-24 months is the longest timeframe I'm allowing myself. That way I've got some much needed focus.

I'm not a bar and pub guy anymore - give me a small cafe where you can have a conversation and well priced decent coffee (Fuck you, Sydney Baristas), so if any ferner want's to touch base, I'm around in Welly - usually at either Deluxe on Kent or Midnight Espresso on Cuba.

Just some final thoughts before I get some sleep.

Spirit of the Game:
From the very start, when Virat made a point of acknowledging and congratulating BJ on his career, this game was played in the best way, with moments of camaraderie, respect and appreciation.
I've just been watching the final days highlights and little things have struck me, Kohli's tap on the shoulder after Rosco got hit in the head, the bromance hug at the end of the game between Kohli and Kane, Rosco and Kane walking off like Tenzing and Ed, the graciousness of Kohli's comments including the good humoured smile regarding Kylo having the wood on him. All these things plus the obvious emotion in Doullie's interview with Rosco.

It was a very special match. An advertisement for Test cricket where technique and mental application were at the forefront. Two bowling attacks that operated at as close to 100% as dammit, where a 40 or 50 was worth a century in most other matches, on a pitch that wasn't unplayable but was in that great understatement of test Cricket; a "sporting" wicket.

Now the emotions are more under control, and the stress is gone, this really did live up to the branding. There was imperfect play, but that's to be expected given the stakes and the occasion. And Frankly I'm glad it wasn't at Lords just because I realkly don't like the quality of the actual playing surface with the slope (it's about as flawed a playing surface as Eden Park is for tests). ut both sides have refused to give it away during the two years of the tournament, NZ having to win all 4 tests of their final programmeto qualify, India fighting back in Australia and grabbing victory over England after falling 1-0 down at home.

I've been able to ignore the Bobs and Vags segment of fandom today because they are irrelevant. Just seeing the world wide reaction from test cricket fans, former players and administratorshas reinforced just how good this match was. There's been some quality writing and analysis before during and after this match, for sure,

I really hope that the WTC and the quality of this match keeps Test cricket as the pinnacle of the sport. Sure, improvements need to be made, but no one expected much of the 1930 or 1987 world cups for football and rugby respectively at the time. Thankfully Virat and Kane are absolute champions of the improtance of test Cricket. And yes, I see Virat's POV regarding a best of three final, I just don't agree with him. But at least he's thinking about Test cricket .
I'm probably going to bask in this game for a while at least until the India -England series starts. But tonight I'm sure that there's a smile on Hogan's face and he's at peace.

This is really hard to type. There's a fucking khamsin in my room right now.

They can never take this away from us.

Oh, and Tim Paine: You can fuck right off.

Jesus, just read @majorrage post a moment ago just after i'd read this piece by Jarrod Kimber:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/wtc-final-jarrod-kimber-new-zealand-deserve-to-be-the-world-test-champions-1267745

I watched NZ win their first test against England in 1978, just scrape past the Windies in 1980,win with the Ilford Seconds in 1986, Marty & Andrew Jones bat for eons at the Basin, then the apocalypse that was 1995-2012 where we celebrated mediocrity and prostituted our test game for limited Overs - including match fixers.

Then after the nadir of South Africa, the captaincy change debacle, we saw the rise of McCullum (Captain's Knock Edition) - the glory that was the UAE no bumper test , McCullum making doubles and a triple, Southee, Boult, Wags, Rosco , Kane and Latham...s

and all I could think of while they were getting each single run was Bert Sutcliffe never playing ina test win, Martin Donnelly and Stewie Dempster having to make their money playing for County and invitation sides , the 49 tourists playing in England to force 4 day tests, the 73 tourists forcing 5 day tests, and finally thinking how Marty would have reacted to this one.

@MajorRage you said it far more eloquently than I ever could. This one means everything to people like me.

Best moment for me was after the game. Watching the Haka that Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi's family did was spine chilling stuff . Might even have got some dust in my eye watching that.

I will say one thing about this test, the spirit the game is being played in. There's a lot of hard but clean cricket on the field aand yet still time for genuine smiles and good spirits. The weather may not be the best advertisement for cricket but the technical excellence and quality of the players has been exceptional - truly is a "Test". I'll take the couch hiding every day over some of the other innings I've seen played (England I'm looking at you)

Hey Virat, we did play you in 3 tests during the WTC - 3 zip matey

Lets face it, win or lose, this was the end of one of the greatest AB eras. I've got a lot of good memories of the Henry-Hansen era, and some of the finest games played by AB sides with some of the greatest ABs.

I'm not sure we'll ever see its like again.

@Chris said in RWC: England v New Zealand (SF1):

Ok now I hope we smash England off the Park even more than I first did.
The Media interviews with England Players,Ex England players Coaches and just the English Media have once again reminded me why I dislike English Teams.I would Hate to lose this SF it would become unbearable.

I desperately want a ABs vs Springboks WC Final - 100th Test, mutual trespect and regard, plus we'll probably get Pienaar and Fitzy waxing eloquent right over the top of the numpty NH "analysts" - the disdain they have for the British talking heads is palpable

@snowy said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:

Jeez, your tugging at some heart strings there. I met him at his sister's place in between the illnesses, he was in remission (I guess that is the correct term) for a while and seemed healthy enough at the time. I had also met him in his playing days and he kind of aloof, almost arrogant, really driven and determined might be fairer (he had a right to be arrogant really) but the second time around he was just a lovely bloke. Humble, kind, happy to talk to anyone. I even asked him if he thought that his attitude during his playing days was a part of his success. His reply was that the softer more rounded person that he had become might have been even better. He attributed that change to Lorraine as well. Obviously a few of us feel that this was for him which pleases me.

I'm pretty sure most of the cricket following ferners know my history with Marty. But just in case, played against him at School boy level just before he got selected for NZ (whacked me all over the park and got me out ) ; gave him a bottle of Champers when he scored his maiden Test Century at the Basin (back when the player lounge was at ground level); kept in touch sporadically but followed his playing career and subsequent pinnacle of writing for cricinfo. So when I heard he was sick, that was a body blow and when he passed, well lets just say I'm still not completely over it.

To me, he was the perfect blend of style, poise, power and clasical technique. Sure he developed the two eyed stance, but his square cut/cover drive and the square drive off the back foot were things of beauty and immense power, Even on a stuffed knee and with a dodgy back, he was just a tier above his teammates and most opposition bowlers, In my mind, I always picture him with a DF bat even though he changed makers after the falling out with JFM.

Unsung AB sub for me Is Wyatt Crockett - he's become mR dependable these days - doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for jhis work at ruck and in the linking as well

@donsteppa said in NZ tour of India:

@nzzp said in NZ tour of India:

@donsteppa said in NZ tour of India:

@hooroo said in NZ tour of India:

I thought Wagner was a certainty. I’m gutted to see him out

Stead certainly has his selectorial moments. A bit like no Southee at the SCG.

there was at least an argument there that he was absolutely cooked, adn getting smoked by the Aussies.

But yeah. He does random at times. No chance he ever wins or gets close to a Test Championship, an ODI title, or a T20 world cup. Noooooo chance at all....

Yep, a top coach who has occasional puzzling selections...

The upshot of no cooked Southee was CdG opening the bowling at a gentle 120kmph on a New Years test at the SCG...

I'm not convineced he is a Top coach tbh, I think this team has so many good to top echelon players that his impact is negligible. I think Hesson (and everyone knows I'm not a fan of his) has far more to do with the foundation of this side and Kane and Latham are the drivers behind the commitment to hard graft. Somerville is well past his best by date and seems to have beeen selected because he's a spinner, not because he's actually test level.

Oh that's beautiful. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving coach...fuck you, Stuart, You're a blight on the game.

@Snowy said in Black Caps v Pakistan:

WRT to the spinner selection - I'm still struggling with this from Stead:

I'm not. I'm really not convinced Stead is up to coaching this side. If anything I think he is a handbrake that Williamson is having to deal with for now. He was clueless in Aus and clueless when he went on holiday - he's not intellectually incisive enough to manage the team nor does he have the playing gravitas to persuade me either. Journeyman player - mediocre coach - the Santnav of Team management

Sorry peeps, been away from the fern while I oncentrate on watching live tests rather than just listening to them and then watching the days play later.

1. Gary Stead is still a moron.
2. Santnav's test career should end now - Ajaz and Ravindra offer much more (still not saying much but that pitch is not a bunsen and that's only day 1 anyway)
3. Henry bowled a lot more clinically than I had thought he was capable of - but I think his peak years have passed by - a victim of having three all time great NZ bowlers operating for the last 5 years.
4. I'm feeling a bit more optimistic about the WTC - our batting depth can be good - one middle order collapse seems to be about par for most sides in a season (unless you are the Pomgolians) - there's no need to shoehorn in Santnav when Kylo is superior in all facets - and having wags bat at 11 is a travesty - Lovely Trenty could bat at 10 and with our 1-7 batters I'd not be worried

@sparky said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:

Thinking about the great Martin Crowe and how much he would be enjoying this.

oh you bastard. that just tipped me over the edge

@snowy

As far as I'm concerned, unless you are Toshiro Mifune or another such Japanese actor, manbuns/topknots should be illegal

The only consolation I have is that BOD wasn't part of this...