Christie

I saw an article on news24 that claims 45 more players will head out of SA after Super Rugby. Half the Lions and Kings teams lots of Bulls, too. That would bring the foreign based players to about 350 in number - that is more than 20 teams worth. This lowers the standard of the domestic game a lot. - it is the biggest problem facing our rugby (and cricket) at the moment.

I wonder what the power option will cost? Are they going to sweep the market? It does not look bad, kind of badazz in black (except the RD looks like it belongs on a mtb.)

PS, nice debut for Tabraiz Shamsi. He picked up only one stick, but it sounds like he had the Aussy batsmen in a spin, and could have had a few more. I only watched till we bowled thd first 2 overs at them, so missed his introduction to the attack. I will watch the highlights later today. He was a bit wild in the IPL, but turns it both ways. He has lots of potential, more so than Phangiso, imo.

Intetesting game yesterday. SA laboured to 180, which they defended. Some comments: -We played 3 specialist spinners, which worked well. -Behardien played a match winning knock, after Amla threw it away and AB, QdK startred and got out -Rilee and JPD : how may chances are they going to get? (But then again, what other options? Faf for Rilee and Morris for JP? Miller is a better young batsmen than Rilee imo, but he is in a slump of note. -Parnell: he used his chance, bowled well. Did not bat well, though.

Lions got thrashed. They fell appart completely then the Hurricanes bossed the breakdowns and scrums. Stormers could have won, regardless of the red card. Losing that last scrum was bad. Sharks coukd also have won, a bit unexpectedly, but they gave it a good go, running the Chiefs that close. They play the Hurricanes in Durban next, lets see how they do compared to the Lions. SA franchise teams are better than the Aussies imo, but behind NZ. Thats not bad imo, considering how many top players play in Europe etc.

I like KP, but we are not short of top order batsmen. Only place for him would be replacing Faf or AB, I cant see that happening.

What a last over !!!!!! (Glad one of the big 3 did not win)

G, it could have been easier if luck went our way, buttTo be champs, we have to be able to win regardless of the toss. Imo we lost mentally, for the same reason as Bangladesh when they lost. The run-out o Amla, Rilee, Faf, AB dismissals - more talent cant fix that. BMT is needed in ICC tournaments.

Why dont they ride tge TdF on 1x gruppos, if it offers such a big advantage?

SA are just so bad at cricket tournaments. We have legendary batsmen: AB, QdK (arguably the best keeper/batsman playing), #, perhaps Miller too. We have one of the best fast bowlers of all time and one of the best spinners in the tournament. If we play badly like this, with this team,my conclusion is that we will never ever win a WC, ever.

I just dont think 1 less cable would be such a massive advantage. Perhaps a bit more aero... but is electrics a step towards simplifying, or more complexity?

Electric shifting for a 1x build would be a bit of a waste imo.

Weights shown here: http://www.bikerumor.com/2016/03/24/sram-xx1-x01-eagle-specs-actual-weights/#comments It looks from the numbers as if everything got heavier, except the crank. I recently went from 9s to 11s, Im going to pas 12 and wait for 13s.

...and if you crack a rim, you can always McGuyver by riding home using the 50 sprocket as a wheel to finish the race. Hat, coat, dooooor

OP: Decide what you may want to use the rifle for, to select a calibre. 308 and 3006 are good all rounders, but dedicated competition target shooters prefer 6.5mm - it offers the best combo of recoil, flat trajectory and wind drift performance. More expensive ammo, and not ideal for hunting are disadvantages (some game farms will not allow anything less than a .270 in the field) If you just want to enjoy some range time, a 22 22-250 or 223 offers cheaper ammo, less recoil. Re rifle choise, go feel them out once you have decided on a calibre. How they fit you is just as important as bike fit. Savage Axis, Ruger American, Remington 783 are good enty level options, though you may think of a stock upgrade later. A step up in expense would be the likes of Cz, Remington 700, Ruger Hawkeye, Weatherby Vanguard. I feel you pain! My mtb build took 2 years, due to spending money going towards my other hobby. Now I want a 9.3mm ..... (n+1)

Whoa, I see Shahzad saying that he loves playing Dale Steyn and Steyn is not dangerous. I think his statement is correct in this case, but it is a reckless thing to say to the press - he might face Steyn again some time, on a different pitch. It makes me think of the captain if the UAE facing AD without a helmet long ago - looking for trouble

Also, I wonder about Steyn vs Morkel, did they go with the right option?

Glad I was on the road from Pta to Oudshoorn last evening,else I would have been watching. Sounds like we threw it away bowling so many extras. Those bouncers going over the batsman and keeper, eish. I see Tahir did not go for a single boundary, which is superb given the context. Perhaps our selectors wonder if they should have chosen 2 specialist spinners a la NZ.

I hope our selectors take note (unlike they have done in the past) of the way bowlers arenused. In some games, fast bowles will travel and spinners domoinate. I wonder if we would have gone with 3 spinners like NZ did, and left out Stey and Rabada, for example, if it were us playing India in that opening match.

India were out played in home conditions - awesome! They loaded the dice in their favour but NZ adapted well and thumped them. I so hoped that the Blommetjies could do that in the last test series, but some jungle justice got served today, finally. Well done NZ.

Better count your words JF, that is not always a positive statement (excuse the pun) in cycling

Ha! We beat India in a warm-up game. QdK and JPD made good runs to get us to 196. It was almost not enough, but Abbott and Morris bowled some brilliant overs at the death with dew making bowling difficult, to see us win by 4 runs. (AB did not play, I hope he is not injured). The rest of our top order did not do so well, lets hope they adapt quickly.

I like watching t20i and IPL. It is the only form of cricket where I can watch the whole game. My life is too busy with kids, work and mtb, I cannot spend a whole Saturday watching an ODI, let alone a test match. For thos I follow on live commentry, or catch the highlites

A proper thrashing by Aus yesterday. We were 20 runs short, that cost us the match imo. Some thoughts going into yhe wc: Our best atsmen in this format: QdK, Amla, AB, Miller, Faf. Our strategy should be to have at least one of those at the wicket while batting (Aus got that right with their order). Those batsmen must get us most of the runs. Leaving Amla out is stupid selection policy. After them, you need blasters, who can tee off from the second or third ball - Wiese, Morris, Albe Morkel. The top 5 will bat deep, else we lose. Scrappers who turn over the strike weaken the batting - imo JP, Rilee, Behardien contribute little. Our bowling has problems - Wiese went for plenty, JP cant bowl anymore. If we rely on JP to be the 2nd spinner, we will be in trouble - India has Ashwin and Jadeja, for example. Abbott vs Morris: neither out-bowled the other. Our fielding was not as sharp as Aus - dropped catches and misfields through the series did not help. I would Select: QdK,#,AB, Miller,Faf,Wiese,Morris,Harmer/Parnell/Abbott,Rabada,Steyn,Tahir Batsmen-sloggers-lots of bowlers

Fastest bowling action rehab ever....