I did some free-writing today, and posted the resulting piece of writing in the Writing Samples section under SAL35-XJ7. It is the first chapter of what feels like a bigger piece of writing. I'll try to work on it regularly, posting on the website so that I can get some comments regarding the content. I'll try to add some movie reviews in the next few days, as well as some book reviews so that that site actually offers content, rather than the same regurgitated stuff. I'll keep you posted, and don't hesitate to bug me if I begin to slack off again. :D
For as long as I can remember, I have had a passion for the strange English sport of Cricket. As one of the favorite pastimes for many Australian households, I can remember mucking around in the backyard with my brothers, playing our own brand of Cricket. As the only girl in the family that has an ongoing love of Cricket, my interest has been renewed, and in the strangest of ways.
Although I love the sport, I never did grow to appreciate what is referred to as Test Matches. Test Matches were originally four-day games, now five-day matches, where the teams have to bat twice (called innings), trying to chase the run tally set, and amassing a large total to give a decent run tally for the opposition. Due to the nature of the game, the result often ends in a draw due to time running out, rather than either team being bowled out before the end of the end of the fifth and final day, called stumps. It has, for many years, been boring though there has been a number of developments in world cricket.
I was stunned at how the recent Test Match series between Australia and South Africa panned out. On the first day of the first test I dared to watch, and what began as a mild curiosity, left me gripping my office chair. Australia, number one in the world for many years, was finally being given competition by the Proteas, the second raked team. Sure, it might seem like that would make sense, but in recent years other teams have had trouble finding players of the high caliber of our national team, for a variety of reasons, including lack of development for the junior players, poor promotion of the sport, and lack of incentives to play the game. So, South Africa comes in and takes the first two games, showing that they can give Australia a run for their money. And two days ago the last day of the third test left me a little shell-shocked, because it showed that in spite of how tired both teams were, both had a lot of fight left. In the end, the injured Proteas captain, Graeme Smith shed a plaster cast covering a broken pinky finger and brought the team within ten balls of a draw before he was bowled by the very talented Mitchell Johnson. It was a thrill ride that will linger in the annals of sports history for decades to follow.
The next development was far across the sea and in the home of the sport - England. Over the last few months there has been lots of trouble within the ranks of the English Cricket team. A fued between the captain, Kevin Petersen, and the coach, I forget what his name was..., has lead to the coach lossing his job and the captain giving up his position. Now Andrew Strauss has been given the position as skipper of this embattled team. It is odd hearing about the progression of stupidity of a team that I once respected, a fued that has tarnished their image for years to come. It doesn't surprise me that Kevin Petersen would be in the midst of the turmoil though, having left South Africa for fear of being discriminated against in favor of previously underpriveleged minority players. He was throwing blame around when he should have been focusing on improving his cricketing skills so as to reduce the chances of losing his position in the side. The coach is a mystery, however, and about all that I know about the man is gleaned by what might be inaccurate news reports and commentary based off of falsities. So, I am not sure how this development will affect the quality of play from the team leading up to the Ashes in Winter, though I hope that the team will be settled by the time that the Australian team heads over to England months from now.
There has been a lot of talk about the role that T20 matches will play in the years to come, I just know that the even shorter format of the game is kick-*ss! The state teams have had a decent series, many of the outstanding players replacing the likes of injured paceman, Brett Lee and dropped batsman, Matthew Hayden. It is sad to see some of these guys out of the upcoming Australia Vs South Africa T20 series, but it makes way for some new faces in the side, and that will make for some entertainment. I expect to see great bowling, big hits down the ground, and energetic fielding.
The One-day series doesn't excite me as much as the T20 series, but it is still less frustrating than the average Test Match. For years it was the only alternate to Test Cricket, and was a draw-card for larger audiences because of the intensity of the game. But although one-day matches are great entertainment, six-hours can be a bit of a challenge for kids to sit through. So, when you have as short an attention span as yours trully, you'd prefer the even shorter format, which is found in T20, where games run between two-and-a-half and three hours a piece. I will still sit through a ond-dayer, but will probably have less enjoyment than seeing T20 on the new plasma.
So, in conclusion, Test Matches can be enjoyable if you a real competition on your hand; T20 is cool; and One-day matches are entertaining, but not as cool as T20.
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