Stumps on day three at the SCG - no play on Jane McGrath Day
So it was a total wash-out in Sydney, but word is through that the fundraising tally for Jane McGrath Day currently stands at $166,000, so well done to everyone involved and hopefully we’ll see you for more live cricket action tomorrow.
Rain has washed out the entire morning of day three at the SCG
A deal for you, dear readers
How about I finish this thing up now and report back if/when there’s some play? Sound like a plan? Okay, done. If I am back I get the sense it won’t be for a couple of hours.
Good day for it, @acvoges? Plan B seems to be an indoor net at the @scg #AUSvWI #PinkTest pic.twitter.com/UnhYlHVbcq
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) January 5, 2016
Errrr...sure?
The best thing right now, 7 hours of 😴💤😴💤 pic.twitter.com/w9VOkrLwru
— Chris Gayle (@henrygayle) January 5, 2016
Currently at the SCG
“There will be no play at the SCG today” says a Channel Nine reporter now, calling it “a disaster” for cricket. Still, the McGrath Foundation is still on track to make $380,000 today, so not all’s lost and their high tea is about to kick off too.
More time-passing cricket games
Phil Withall has arrived with a great suggestion and again, one in which I partook as a kid. “A wonderful way of passing the time during long, lonely rain delays is a game of ‘Owzat, the beautifully simple dice game. If you don’t have a set you can always use two normal dice and come up with your own scoring system. It got me through my long, lonely rain delayed childhood.”
This reminds me, I actually did one of my most esoteric Joy of Six posts on this very topic. Revel in 1992s ‘Cricket - the interactive television game’, Max Walker Cricket and the brilliant ‘NES International Cricket’.
There’s still no play at the SCG
And the radar shows it isn’t looking much good for the rest of the day either. What a truly dreary day for cricket. The opposite of what you’d hope for on Jane McGrath in almost every respect.
Well done to #MelMcLaughlin for standing her ground. I've had too many incidents where I've smiled while thinking "creep".
— Karen Lyon (@klioness) January 5, 2016
'Those comments are inappropriate in cricket and inappropriate in a workplace' - James Sutherland on Chris Gayle pic.twitter.com/3q74hiXubV
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) January 5, 2016
Our first reader email of the day
And it’s our old chum Robert McLiam Wilson dropping by with a gee-up to get me going, bless him. “I very much feel that you’re my brother from another mother, Rusty J, but I’m shocked by your rain-related dismay,” says Bob.
“Rain-ruined days at the cricket are a test of character, a gauge of sincerity. I remember two in a row in the long lost days of my boyhood. First day, inconsolable dejection, childish dudgeon as I checked the TV every hour or so. Second day, I watched the entire, uninterrupted 7 hour broadcast. Already-seen highlights, desultory interviews, and frighteningly long cutaways of the sodden ground and empty stands. It was less eventful than the Paint-Drying World Championship but I was unironically glued to it. That was when I truly knew that I was a cricket man. Show some ****ing gumption.”
You’re right. I need to dust off the old 1950s version of the Test Match boardgame – the one with the little sliders that allowed only children and the friendless to play an entire game in solitude. Perhaps this is an apt metaphor for Test cricket in general, actually. Let’s not consider that too deeply.
Yes, it’s a cultural thing
With that culture being...men in literally every field of employment in the world.
Dwayne Bravo - who has also hit on McLaughlin - was singing Bieber's 'Sorry' to #Gayle but insists it wasn't a joke. pic.twitter.com/g70xP7GJJ2
— Kate Jones (@Kate_Jones7) January 5, 2016
It’s getting a bit weird at the Gayle presser
Cricket official says Gayle's comments "may be a cultural thing". "It is unacceptable here in Aust. We don't condone that sort of behaviour"
— Shalailah Medhora (@shalailah) January 5, 2016
Insufferable clown of the day
...not for the first time, is Chris Gayle. Here’s Tracey Holmes’ take on last night’s awful display from the T20 specialist. He’s also facing the music at Melbourne airport as we speak.
Gayle now talking to his media manager. Doesn't appear in any rush to deliver this apology pic.twitter.com/7EKxLlnaKY
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 5, 2016
The covers are still on at the SCG
And now Brett Lee replaces Michael Clarke in the commentary studio, so things can indeed get worse. The skies are grey, winds blow across the park and spectators hover under cover with no play likely soon. In fact, the local broadcaster has just cut to a programme called “Hot in Cleveland”. That feels like a taunt to me.
“Failure is a part of batting”
So says Michael Clarke, who is unfortunately not describing things that are actually happening. He and Ian Healy are wheeling out the anecdotes and you know what, for all the grief he cops Healy can actually be an engaging storyteller in the right scenario. He’s now describing how nervous he’d get on the night before games early in his career and how Bob Simpson put him at ease and helped him feel as though he belonged.
But anyway, all of the covers are still in place at the SCG and there’s no promise of play in the immediate future.
Poor Mo.
Not even a solitary seagull to keep "Mo" Matthews company! @CricketTalkback #PinkTest pic.twitter.com/J9IqzvCfM3
— Ric Finlay (@RicFinlay) January 4, 2016
Fashions off the field
With no play possible I’ll take the opportunity to share with you some of the pink attire being sported for Jane McGrath day.
Updated
Preamble - the soggy edition Pt II
Hello OBOers and welcome to Jane McGrath Day, which I’m sorry to inform you is currently as rain-sodden as yesterday’s frustrating inaction at the SCG. The covers are in place, light rain is tumbling and in the meantime, there’s no chance of play.
While we wait, why not take a look at yesterday’s match report and also the latest from Newlands, where Hashim Amla has somewhat predictably discovered his best. Anybody want to send me an email? You can get me on the details above for the rest of the day.
Day 3 SCG always very special. McGrath Foundation continue to do amazing things. Lads loving the MJBale jackets! pic.twitter.com/fK1ntcHxQD
— Michael Slater (@mj_slats) January 4, 2016
Russ will be here shortly.
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