Nailbiter
and another
to come
SPRINGBOK rugby scrumhalf flyhalf Herschel Jantjies made his debut against Australia Saturday a week ago, scoring two great tries. Last Saturday he scored a dream try against the All Blacks, clinching the draw.
The worry now is that he'll retire before the World Cup, while he's still on a high.
What a nailbiter this was. What a nailbiter it will be when we meet the All Blacks again in a few weeks in our first match of the World Cup. Even Stevens. What tackling on both sides.
The Boks failed to translate first half dominance into points. But they came back in fine style in the dying seconds. If our guys are lacking here and there in polish, there's no lack in can-do.
'Erewego, 'erewego, 'erewego!
Red ball
WHAT are we to make of the first-ever cricket Test between England and Ireland? Having just won the Cricket World Cup, England were skittled for 85 in their first innings. Humiliation!
Then Ireland were skitttled for 38 in their second innings. England's chestnuts out of the fire.
Let nobody say Test cricket is tedious, but if you bought tickets for the full five days and watched for three, you're surely entitled to be a little peeved.
This extraordinary encounter proves at least one thing: How different Test cricket, with a red ball that moves in the air and seams, is from one-day, played with an inert white ball. Also, Test wickets are prepared to be much more lively.
Let's not even talk about T20, which has the class and guile of a slugfest.
Seagull chomper
READER Dave Southwick confirms that, as discussed last week, the seagull-chomping giant trevally, as the Aussies call it, is indeed our kingfish (caranx ignoblis). It's a ferocious predator, he says, and a formidable opponent on line or spear.
But the trevally/kingfish is only a part of the piscatorial confusion.
"Colloquial fish names can be a nightmare. A species locally known as a 'Natal snoek' (more accurately a queen mackerel), is nothing like the Cape snoek.
"Off the Florida coast and in the Caribbean, yet another entirely different fish is known as a 'snook'.
"And our 'shad' is called a 'tailor' in Australia and a 'bluefish' off the US East Coast."
Yes, and of course we also have green shad and blue shad. Down in the Cape waters they're "elf" – and that's not the bag limit.
Fast message
HOW'S this for a combination of methods of communication? In November 1969, 13-year-old Paul Gilmour put a message in a bottle and threw it overboard from the ship in which he and his family were emigrating to Australia from Britain.
Fifty years later it was found washed up on Talia Beach, South Australia, by Paul Elliott and his nine-year-old son, Jiyah, according to the BBC.
They posted a message on Facebook in an attempt to trace Paul Gilmore. They found Annie Crossland, Gilmour's sister.
Paul Gilmour? He wasn't immediately available, being on a sea cruise in the Baltic – no doubt throwing overboard messages in bottles.
This could go on forever.
Tailpiece
A GOOD friend is always there to bail you out of jail. Your best friend is in the cell next door saying: "Damn, that was fun!"
Last word
There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president. - Kurt Vonnegut
No comments:
Post a Comment