All White on the Night

Yes, we know; we're supposed to have retired from blogging. But do you REALLY think we would let the All Whites' magnificent performance from last night pass without comment? Of course not; especially when we were at the match, and have the husky voice this morning to prove it!

We attended our first rugby test in 1971 - the third test against the Lions at Athletic Park. Since then, we've probably watched the All Blacks play at least 25 tests, including the 1987 RWC final at Auckland. But never, never before have we experienced anything quite like what we experienced at Wellington last night. The atmosphere was electric - nuclear powered electric to boot. The crowd bought in to the "White-Out" theme, and the Ring of Fire glistened white come kick-off time. The singing and chanting was at times deafening, especially in the White Noise Zone, where we had deliberately chosen to go. Our ears were still buzzing this morning! Our seats were great, not that we used them - we stood, from the moemnt we arrived in the RoF to the moment we left. It was special.

With all the hype and pressure, the match itself could have been a let-down. It wasn't; it matched the occasion, and way more. From the time that Bahrain was awarded its penalty early in the second half, it was heart-in-the-mouth stuff, right until the final whistle. And the All Whites were magnificent. Chris Killen ran until he could run no more. Rory Fallon should have had two goals; denied by a magnificent reflex save. Leo Bertos ran at the Bahrain defence all night, and delivered a perfect corner for Fallon to score. Ben Sigmund and Ivan Vicelich were strong defensively.

But to us there were two special heroes. Ryan Nelsen is Captain Fantastic. His work-rate is strong, and he marshalled the Kiwi defence all night. He was a collosus. And Mark Paston - not only did he save a penalty ( a poorly taken one, but he stopped it cleanly nonetheless), but he made a hugely important save just before half-time, and just before Fallon scored. Had the All Whites gone to half-time a goal down, the result might have been very different.

We could say more, but we'll resist the urge. Suffice to say that last night will forever be one of our most special sporting memories, and we are so glad we got in early (before the away leg) to get our tickets. Because whenever this match is talked about in the future (and it will be talked about, believe you me!), we will be able to say "We were there". Well done All Whites - you did the nation proud!

PS - for anyone who may have been shocked when we, along with thousands of others removed our shirt at 80 minutes exposing an ample, white abdomen, our apologies. It wasn't personal; it's football!

A game of two halves

It's just a brief return from semi-retirement (although there will be an announcement before the end of the year), but we couldn't let the mighty Wanganui's 34-13 victory over Mid Canterbury in the Meads Cup final pass without a mention.

Down 13-nil at half-time, and for the first ten minutes of the second half, things did not look good for the River City boys. But a storming finish with four tries in the final half hour will see the Meads Cup stay in Wanganui. It truly was a game of two halves!

The Butcher's Apron is not rugby's most fashionable jersey. But without doubt, Wanganui has been the dominant team in the Heartland Championship since its inception four seasons ago. Wanganui has been a finalist in the Meads Cup in each of those years, and now becomes the first repeat winner. If there is to be a second-tier competition next season involving teams demoted from the Air New Zealand Cup, Wanganui will be worthy participants. In the meantime, they can celebrate tonight, and a few beers will probably be shared with Sir Tree himself, who was present at the match

Right - if the All Blacks can dismantle the Wallabies in Tokyo tonight, the Kiwis can beat the French in the morning, and the Phoenix can beat Sydney FC tomorrow night, life will be bliss!

Goodbye!

We're all blogged out.

Maybe it was Barnsley Bill's post the other night that got us thinking, or maybe that merely confirmed something that we've been thinking for quite a while. But the bottom line is that we've realised that we have neither the time nor the energy to keep going with Keeping Stock. And like Barnsley Bill, we've suddenly realised how insular we have become; and that's not a healthy scenario.

Our business has been going gangbusters this year, and there's a heck of a lot more that we'd like to do. But lately, we've been spending way too much time and energy blogging, while the piles of work build up around us. Something's got to give, and it can't be the business.

We've had a blast over the last couple of years. We've "met" some great people, had plenty of robust debates, and broadened our horizons considerably. But it's come at a cost, and it's a cost that we can no longer justify. We contemplated taking a "blog holiday", but we don't think that's going to be an answer; then next six months are going to be manic, and who knows what 2010 will bring. We're also well aware that we have an addictive personality, so it's best to make a clean break.

So this will be our very last post. It's also our 2535th! And that represents a lot of "work avoidance", or wasted time that can never be recovered But like Helen Clark, we're leaving with no regrets; we're simply looking forward to the challenge of getting caught up on things which should have had our attention some time ago.

If anyone would like to take over from us, we'd be happy to pass over the baton and the access code. Leave your e-mail in the comments section, and we can talk; it's a going concern after all.

In closing, we just want to say a big "thank you" to everyone who has encouraged us with positive feedback, and all those who've taken the time and effort to comment - you're the ones who have made Keeping Stock successful. We'll miss you all, but that's the way it's got to be. We might pop up on some of the blogs we follow from time to time, but for the moment we'll be taking a complete break while we get it together.

Goodbye from all of us (me, myself and I), and God bless you all - it was fun while it lasted!

Jackson overdosed

Whilst it's unlikely to come as a surprise to anyone, Stuff is reporting that the Los Angeles County Coroner has found that Michael Jackson died of a drug overdose. The story says:

The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide, a finding that makes it more likely criminal charges will be filed against the doctor who was with the pop star when he died.

The coroner determined a fatal combination of drugs was given to Jackson hours before he died June 25 in his rented Los Angeles mansion, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings have not been publicly released.

Forensic tests found the powerful anesthetic propofol acted together with at least two sedatives to cause Jackson's death, the official said.

Dr Conrad Murray, a Las Vegas cardiologist who became Jackson's personal physician weeks before his death, is the target of a manslaughter investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.

According to a search warrant affidavit unsealed in Houston, Murray told investigators he administered a 25mg dose of propofol around 10.40am after spending the night injecting Jackson with two sedatives in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to sleep.

The warrant, dated July 23, states that lethal levels of propofol were found in Jackson's system.

As we said above, it's hardly earth-shattering news. Jackson was known to be addicted to painkillers, and his drug abuse has been widely reported. Whilst Jackson's "personal physician" will doubtless have been on a very healthy retainer, we can't help but question the ethics involved in continuing to pump powerful drugs into an addict. We guess that only underlines what a bizarre "bubble" Jackson lived in.

In the meantime, we're currently reading a book entitled Be Careful Who You Love by investigative journalist Diane Dimond. If we had any doubts whatsoever that Jackson's interest in young boys was unhealthy, they have been totally dispelled. It's well worth a read; we found a copy in the local library.

Emmerson on Maori seats

Rod Emmerson reminds us why he's our favourite local cartoonist with his pictorial depiction of the Auckland Supercity Maori seats issue this morning - enjoy ...

Stats Day

It looks like it's Statistics Day on Stuff this morning! Of the five leading stories when we loaded up the page this morning, three report various statistics (60%), and now we know that:

• Almost a third of Kiwi women and one in five men will experience violence and abuse at the hands of their partners.
• One in 20 prison officers has been investigated for misconduct, including smuggling forbidden items into jails and inappropriate relationships.
• Over half of male university students make themselves vomit after bingeing on alcohol.

That's all very interesting, but it made us wonder - what percentage of Stuff's journalistic resources was involved in giving us statistics overload this morning?

Buying time?

Has John Key tried to buy himself a bit of time over the S59 referendum today? That's the conclusion that we are drawing from the measures that Key has announced post-Cabinet today. The Herald reports:

Mr Key said he would not ignore the referendum and Cabinet had agreed to ask police and Child Youth and Family to review their procedures to ensure good parents were treated as Parliament intended.

An independent person would assist in the review which would be completed by December.

A report on the effects of the law would be brought forward from the end of the year to late September/early October and the police would continue with their ongoing reviews of the law.

Instructing the Police and CYFS to "review their procedures" is a good start, but it is at best an interim measure. For a start, it's not a good precedent for the government to set - directing agencies to overlook breaches of the law. If S59 of the Crimes Act warrants being circumvented, then surely it warrants change; that's our humble and considered opinion.

We now hope that the reported "report on the effects of the law" will indeed demonstrate to the government that change is not only desirable; it is essential. In the meantime, the timing of the review affords an opportunity for those who feel strongly about this issue to lobby MP's, Ministers and John Key himself.

We can only hope that they are listening.

Balance or hyperbole?

Our friends over at The Standard are up to their old tricks. There's a post over there today under the title First they came for Spongebob - which is actually quite clever - but which has "bad loser" written all over it. It's all about Focus on the Family; an American organisation which strongly promotes family and Christian values. It begins thus:

One of the most powerful conservative Christian fundamentalist groups in America is Focus on the Family. This group has an impressive organisation, income, media presence and influence (summary). They also have an agenda which has been colourfully described as follows:

Focus on the Family A christian organization based in Colorado Springs that was founded by Dr.James Dobson. … Typical of other large christian organizations based in CS (see also: New Life Church) they mouth the words of peace while teaching hate and intolerance. Dr. Dobson has been featured on various national news programs usually spreading his narrow minded views on (pick one or more) homosexuality, atheism, how satan is real, drug use, pre-marital sex, how the republicans are truly the blessed of god, how democrats are spawn of satan, pro-life, how killing abortion doctors is ok etc. etc. Focus on the family is responsible for pumping millions into republican coffers, doing slander ads against their opponents, all as a “non-profit” company …

Now it's fortunate that the "guest poster", a chap or chappess by the handle of r0b left the hyperlinks in, because if you follow the one on the word "colourfully" you'll find that r0b drew his (we'll make that assumption, for the sake or brevity) quote from a website called Urban Dictionary which goes by the by-line "Urban Dictionary is the slang dictionary you wrote. Define your world.". We found that interesting, so we dug a bit further, and found this on Urban Dictionary's Wikipedia entry:

Urban Dictionary's chief definition of "Urban Dictionary" reads: "A place formerly used to find out about slang, and now a place that teens use as a "burn book" to talk about celebrities, their friends, let out their sexual frustrations, show off their racist/sexist/homophobic/anti-(insert religion here) opinions, troll, and babble about things they know nothing about, etc."

We found that even more interesting!! It seems that r0b is happy to use "a place that teens use as a burn book" as a reputable source of information to slag off an organisation whose views he doesn't agree with. We don't think that that's particularly ethical; in fact it borders on outright hypocrisy. But at least, to his credit, r0b has disclosed his source; even though it delivers a fatal blow to the credibility of his argument!

The ghost of Billy Murdoch

On the left is former Australian cricket captain William Lloyd (Billy) Murdoch. On the right is current Australian test cricket captain Ricky Thomas Ponting, walking away from the trophy his team lost overnight to England.

What's the connection? It's quite straightforward really. Ricky Ponting is the first Australian captain since Billy Murdoch to lose two Ashes series in England. Murdoch's record was established in the 19th century, and is one record that no Australian captain would ever have wanted to equal.

We feel for Ponting. At the peak of his powers, he is one of the very best batsmen in the world today. We do not believe however that he will be remembered as one of Australia's great captains. He inherited an Australian team from Steve Waugh which was chock-ful of superstars - Hayden, Langer, Gilchrist, McGrath, Warne and Lee to name just a few. Sure, the guts has been ripped out of the Australian team, but the fact remains - Australia is no longer the arrogant, swaggering nigh-on-unbeatable force which Ponting first captained.

Ponting has been a conservative captain. That was never better illustrated than in his declaration in the first Ashes test at Cardiff. Australia batted on too long, and England was able to survive the last eleven overs with Panesar and Anderson to go to Lord's on level terms, not a game down. Ponting didn't back his bowlers, and in with the benefit of hindsight, that was where the Ashes series was decided.

Ponting is now almost 35, and he has been playing test cricket since 1995. No-one would criticise him if he pulled the plug right now on his cricketing career. We believe that it is inevitable that he will be relieved of the Australian captaincy, and that Michael Clarke will be appointed as Ponting's replacement. Doubtless Ponting will do some soul-searching in the days and weeks that follow Australia's series defeat, and we will not be at all surprised if he makes the decision to end his career on his own terms, not on a selectorial whim. We hope that he chooses the former course, and that in his retirement, he can exorcise the ghost of Billy Murdoch.

Henry-watch

The All Black victory on Saturday night was a tonic, but still has to be looked at in the context of the season overall; and as of Saturday, the All Blacks still only have a 4 win/3 loss record. So whilst we were delighted with Saturday's win, we're still on Henry-watch.

Chris Rattue writes provocative opinion-pieces for the Herald, and he's been a trenchant critic of Henry this season, but even he is cutting the All Black coach a bit of slack this morning. He writes:

For this punter, Saturday night's test match was gripping and contained almost everything a fine test match should. Maybe it was the mood I was in. There is sometimes an indefinable rationale to these things.

You could analyse Saturday night's match to death and still end up in a dead end. One of the post-match interviewers talked about it as a return to running rugby. Yes, there was a lot of running around, but with all the botched moves - and this is an ideal point to suggest that Luke McAlister's reintroduction has done nothing for the All Blacks' cohesion - it certainly wasn't running rugby in its pure form.

While the term "running rugby" focuses on the legs, it's only relevant if everyone is also catching the ball with their hands. Running rugby actually means passing and catching rugby.

Yet the occasion, the significance, the transtasman rivalry and closeness of the score, meant it was gripping.

What do you need for a memorable test match? Tension. Rivalry. A massive and packed stadium. In the absence of much icing, the cake can still be excellent.

Well said. We love the "nice cake but no icing" analogy, and reckon that sums up Saturday night's match pretty well. The quality of rugby wasn't always that crash-hot. But the quality of the occasion was top-drawer. As our old mate Bill Lawry would say, courtesy of the Twelth Man "It's all happening - the tension, the drama, the buzz". And indeed it was.

And Rattue even pays the All Black coach a small and conditional compliment:

As an ardent critic of the Henry reappointment and regime, I gladly admit here that he deserves praise for keeping a struggling team in the Tri-Nations hunt and retaining the treasured Bledisloe Cup. You can't scoff at that, and sometimes, at this level, winning is indeed enough.

Henry has handled a lot of pressure and may still emerge victorious out the other side. His side has not dropped its bundle and may indeed be starting to pick it up.

We agree. The return match against South Africa in Hamilton, and the Bledisloe Cup match in Wellington will be a guide as to whether the 2009 edition of the All Blacks has turned the corner, or whether the team was just not quaite as bad as the Wallabies on Saturday night. We will be watching both matches with much interest.

The Monday Quote - 24/8/2009

Jane Clifton's column in last week's Listener lampooned Labour's bus trip, so she wins the prize this week for this effort. Under the headline The bus ride from hell she wrote:

It's hard to see any joy in Labour's penitential road trip.

There's a whiff of penance about Labour's big bus trip. There's no place for a higher concentration of depression, vengefulness, regret, mribid plotting and sheer despair than the caucus room of a recently defeated government. Why put that show on the road?Making those poor MP's sit together on a bus for hours on end concentrates the misery to inhuman levels. Sing-songs only underscore the pathos. (A bottle of the finest socialist chardonnay from Bellamy's to the MP who leads a round of Kumbaya.)

Phil Goff is exposing the still-wounded to further explanations from the country at large as to why they lost the election. As hair-shirt gestures go, it's completely convincing. Labour must be truly sorry to put itself through this. The only other credible theory is that the bus is covertly lead-sheilded so as to deflect the incessant texts from Helen in New York.

Sheesh, we couldn't have put it better ourselves!

Are they listening?

Tracy Watkins writes in this morning's Dom-Post that MP's are being deluged with e-mails in the wake of the S59 referendum result. - she says:

MPs are being bombarded with emails from angry voters as Prime Minister John Key resists a law change in the wake of an overwhelming vote in the smacking referendum.

Mr Key will today outline measures aimed at reassuring parents that they will not fall foul of authorities for giving their children a light smack. But pro-smacking campaigners are demanding the Government change the law or risk a massive public backlash.

Mr Key said yesterday that he was confident the law was working, but signalled changes to the way police and Child, Youth and Family staff dealt with smacking cases.

Though that would not involve a law change, it would give parents "a higher degree of comfort that the law as it's passed ... that good parents shouldn't be criminalised for lightly smacking a child ... is being adhered to".

We sincerely hope that the proposals that John Key is suggested are INTERIM proposals, until such time as the law is changed. That would, in our humble and considered opinion, be an acceptable compromise. Not legislating, in the face of an overwhelming referendum result is not good enough. We have previously suggested that the government adopt John Boscawen's Bill, or draft its own legislation based around Chester Borrows' 2006 amendment.

This is a real test of John Key's leadership. We simply hope that it is a test that he passes.

England's Ashes

England regains the Ashes with a 197 run win over Australia.

Australia slips to #4 in the ICC test cricket rankings.

'Nuff said?

How many ...?

We were looking for a different angle on last night's Bledisloe Cup game, and we reckon we've found it! We found this story in Sydney's Daily Telegraph lamenting another loss for the Green and Golds. And as with online stories, it has a comments section, which was where we found this gem from Ems of West Sydney:

Sounds like the Wallabies lost the game again instead of NZ beating them. How many losses can a Koala bear?

That's gold - and green! But it does raise an interesting point. Aussie Bob Deans is now one from six against Graham Henry, and the Wallabies have now lost three straight games and are winless in the Tri-Nations. The third Bledisloe Cup match in Wellington in four weeks' time is a dead rubber, but the match now has huge importance for the Wallabies. How long will it be before our Australian neighbours start calling "Time for a Change"?

Calling it as he sees it

Mark Richardson writes a provocative colum in today's Herald on Sunday with which we agree wholeheartedly. And it is refreshing to see a sports columnist who is prepared to be as frank as Richardson is - he writes:

There is no easy way to put this, no soft way to broach it, so here goes - Muttiah Muralitharan is throwing the ball.

I know he's been tested, re-tested, tested again and cleared. And I know, with the special makeup of his limbs to the naked eye, his action looks worse than it is.

But, for goodness sake, half of cricket is now not watched with the naked eye, thanks to the invention of super-slow-motion cameras, hot-spots, snicko and hawk-eyes.

Many of the slow-motion replays I've seen of Murali have only strengthened my conviction he is exceeding the 15 degrees bending and straightening allowance. Is it not meant to be the other way round? Isn't the hi-tech equipment meant to alleviate my fears?

Big ups to Mark Richardson for his refreshing honesty about Murali. The Sri Lankan is a very good cricketer, but he gets, in our humble and considered opinion, and unfair advantage. And Richardson lays the blame for this firmly at the door of the ICC:

Many of his deliveries may fall around the 15 degrees but, in my opinion, too many. In particular his faster deliveries appear well beyond it and since the introduction of the 15 degree allowance his action appears to have deteriorated.

The problem lies with the inappropriate way in which the ICC has decided to police throwing. A player is suspected of throwing and then, for want of a better term, tested in a laboratory.

We've all seen the pictures of Murali lit up with bulbs. To his credit he volunteered for this. Apparently he proved he wasn't a chucker.

But did he really? What he proved is that he can bowl within limitation, not that in the heat of battle he actually does.

Cricket is not played in a laboratory. On the field it matters where and how the ball gets to the other end. In a laboratory it doesn't, all that matters is how you delivered it.

And unlike some who merely complain, Richardson suggests a way forward for the ICC, using the same technological advances which they home will improve the standard on on-field decisionmaking - he says:

Because of the way the ICC has gone about dealing with this situation, too many bowlers now appear to have suspect actions and can operate for too long before there is any reaction. Now is the time for the ICC to amend procedures to reflect how it is introducing technology.

We can use technology to access where the ball pitched, where it may be heading, how much it bounced, turned, seamed and yet we can't use it to access the most important thing - how it got there in the first place.

Surely the technology exists for the match referee or third umpire to assess, during the game, bowling actions and take appropriate action when someone is operating outside the laws of the game.

We've got a lot of time for Mark Richardson. He is a thinker, he loves the game of cricket, and he has shown again today that he's not afraid to voice his opinion, even when it might not receive universal acclaim. But more importantly, he has stood, bat in hand, 20m from Murali watching the arm come over and watching the ball being delivered at an incredible rate of revolutions. He's been in the perfect position to make a judgment call on the legality of Murali's action.

As former cricket umpires, we've always had grave doubts over the legitimacy of Murali's action. The ICC not only decided he was legitimate, but also changed the law to allow Murali and many others to continue to chuck with impunity. Therefore, his status as the game's greatest wicket-taker is written in stone. It won't stop us debating the subject however, and Mark Richardson makes an outstanding contribution to that debate today.