Four score and three.

On the day before Sir Don would’ve turned 100, South Africa couldn’t even manage that. The game only lasted 37 overs. I wonder if the South African’s might donate their match payments to the crowd who turned up.

Ha-be-sucks.

Who’s happy to see the back of Harbhajan Singh and his bunch of cronies?

Can’t believe I’m saying this: I’m glad cricket’s over. Forgive me Tricky.

Three weeks

Well Saturday was the first day off I’ve had in three weeks. Stayed in bed until midday which was really good. Has stuffed me for the rest of the day though.

Time to reflect on what has been happening.

 Firstly Summer Camp which I’ve already posted on. A great week of encouragement. Reinforcing that is where God wants me to be.

 Then from 5th to 13th was Albury Wodonga Bible Fest. A great week of bringing Jesus to kids (and adults). This taught me alot about relying on God to help us through life’s difficulties, teamwork and if you put your mind to something (and with God’s help) you can accomplish anything in a short time. Also Rowan’s encouragement wall was a great idea. (Might steal it)Reflecting on that week I am amazed at what was accomplished. I managed to write a talk, organise five bible studies, write and give my testimony in 45 minutes and rewrite the talk into a sermon. I know that I deserve none of the credit for accomplishing this. All glory is to God.

In the past week the kids and I joined a number of families from church on their annual pilgrimage up to Tawonga. Those who think camping is a time to relax and recharge batteries need their head read. I was more tired after that trip then the previous two weeks combined. Though I enjoyed every moment of it. Maybe next year I could go for a couple of weeks long. Don’t see it happening though.

Finally, on Friday we went to B1’s 18th. Was another chance to hang out with the young one’s again. Catching up with Slim and having a general chat about things is pretty good. Tis a pity that I generally get close to people just before they leave.

Sunday was spent down in Corowa (a road less travelled is an unused road). Preached down there for the first time. I’m starting to feel a bit more confident, though wearing a suit jacket in summer is a bad idea.

Above all, I’ve enjoyed the last few weeks. Am looking forward to spending this weekend at home. Would like to have gone to Finley, but I think I should stay at home.

This week, it’s back to work. Looking forward to my next big adventure.

On the cricket front, what a load of baloney this racism row is. Seriously India need to realise that they don’t own the game. (Being careful with what I say) Every time a decision doesn’t go the way of an Asian side, why do they have to act like spoilt children. Look at the difference in the two sides. The Aussies got some real dodgy decisions in the third test, do you see them jumping up and down threatening to pull out or demanding the umpires be sacked. Also Kumble should apologise for India celebrating their win in Perth. It’s apparently not in the spirit of the game anymore.

On the local indoor front, we’ve suffered three defeats in a row now. We were sitting 2nd just before Christmas. Last week I made 27 and took 3 for 11. Also caused some controversy by leaving the pitch because of the way the opposition played the game. Supposedly it is a ‘man’s game’ where swearing, insulting and bowling at a players body and head is the norm of the game. We play Division 4 and it’s my belief that we’re there for fun.  Would I do it again. Probably. I did warn their captain that if he didn’t control his team then I would walk off. Obviously he is a bit hard of hearing.

Anyway, we probably need to win all of our remaining matches to have a chance of making the final.

Until next time I feel inspired.

H-H-Hat-trick

Tonight at cricket I accomplished my biggest sporting moment. Much better than winning the Association Goal Keeping award. Much beter than scoring 61 at Walbundrie and certaintly much better than taking 4 for 32 at Balldale. Tonight I took what we believe is a tripple hat-trick.

What makes it even better is that it was against a Division one team (We are in Div 4). I will say they took it a bit easier, but it’s not every day you look at the score card and see 2 overs, 5 for -8 to your name (yes, my first over was ordinary). We even managed to take a point off them, which was sweet.

We lost the toss and got sent it. After our first pair made -3, we knew we were in for a long night (though we knew that last week when we got the draw). However, we recovered to make 72 (Andy and I made 33, I made 2, and Dave and Stuart made 42).

It was then a matter of playing for bonus points. We gave the first skin away seeing how it’s pretty hard to defend -3. We were going to concentrate on winning the last skin.

That all changed after my over, after conceding 4 off the first two balls, I managed to pull off a direct hit run out, then came a caught behind, stumping, bowled, caught and bowled and another caught and bowled. While the batsmen seemed to be taking things easy, he did seem to try for the last two because they hurt a bit.

We then changed tact a bit and went for the bonus point for the middle pair which we won by 10 runs. Chalk one up for the good guys.

Their last pair put on 69. We ended up losing 158 – 72.

Next week we face another Div 1 team. Hopefully, they will take it a bit easy on us too.

I am a bit dirty I didn’t get to keep the game ball though. Another time perhaps. Not a bad game, 2 runs, 5 wickets (tripple hat-trick), Run-out and a stumping.