Monday, 11th March

TURNER SIMPLY THE BEST FOR AUSSIES IN FOURTH ODI

Australia came from nowhere to achieve its greatest ever successful run chase in a One Day International with rookie Ashton Turner and a maiden century from Peter Handscomb to  get the Aussies home with a four-wicket win.

The Aussies came from nowhere when reduced to 2/12 early on in the innings but it was young rookie Turner with an unbeaten 83 off 43 balls that helped the Aussies get the four-wicket win with 13 balls to spare, chasing a total of 359.

It looked grim early on when Bhuvneshawr Kumar bowled Aaron Finch (0) for a duck and then Jasprit Bumrah yorked Shaun Marsh (6) in the fourth over.

Many Australian’s watching last night would have opted to call it a night and went to bed.

A 192 run partnership between Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb got Australia back in the game.

When Handscomb eventually went out for 117, enter rookie Ashton Turner.

With a last minute call up and playing only his second one day International, Turner smashed a numerically friendly six sixes and four fours up against an attack involving three of the top five bowlers in the world.

It’s a performance that his distant relative – Tina would be proud of and it was simply the best.

The fifth and final ODI of the series will be played in Delhi on Wednesday at 6pm AEDT.

 

REDS NOT DEAD YET

There’s still hope for Liverpool to not continue their proud tradition of being top of the league at Christmas, only to stuff things up.

The Reds are keeping within striking distance of Manchester City defeating Burnley 4-2 at Anfield overnight.

Burnley, who are facing down to barrel of relegation managed to take an early lead in the game but the Reds managed to come back and avoid any embarrassment.

In other EPL results, Arsenal also managed to get a big scalp with a solid 2-0 win over Manchester United at the Emirates.

Arsenal are now a point close to their bitter North London rivals Tottenham and now have the upper hand in the race for a Champions League qualification.

The Gunners don’t face any of the top six and their last eight EPL matches for the season while Man U have the likes of Chelsea and cross-town rivals Manchester City in the coming weeks along with FA  Cup and Champions League fixtures.

Chelsea also managed to avoid a major upset against Wolverhampton last night thanks to a stoppage-time strike from Eden Hazard resulting in a 1-1 draw.

 

SHOCK! AFL BOTCH UP SOMETHING.

Former Greats, players, clubs, fans, friends, family, girlfriends, exes, the bloke down at the pub, the hobo outside the shopping centre, Bev from the Bev Show, Humphrey B Bear and even the so-called experts on Married at First Sight are calling for the AFL to scrap its new 50 meter penalty rule with most describing it as a “disgrace”.

The new AFL rule requires umpires to be stricter on players that delay the enforcement of a 50-meter penalty with the new rule that allows players to play on during the advancement of the penalty.

During Saturday’s JLT series game between Port Adelaide and North Melbourne, four “100-meter penalties” were paid as a result of this new rule.

Another 100-meter penalty was awarded during the Hawthorn v Richmond clash in Launceston allowing Jack Riewoldt to kick a goal during the Tigers 40 point comeback.

The rule is confusing and pointless and those at AFL House will find some way to justify it later in the day.

 

Meanwhile, the AFLW’s conference system is working a treat.

With one round left in the home and away season, the top four teams are all in Group A meaning that the best four teams won’t play finals because the League couldn’t possibly think of a way to have a competition that allows 10 teams to play each other once 

In 13 out of the 14 games where a conference A team has played a side from conference B,  the conference A team has won, and convincingly. 

Carlton and Geelong who have only won three games  out of six now find themselves in a prime position to qualify for a Preliminary Final. 

 

PRIDE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

It’s a public holiday today in the city of churches as the good people of Adelaide don their magistrate’s court best and make their way down to Morphettville for the running of the Adelaide Cup.

From a punting perspective, staying races can be a bit of a hard one to find a winner and looking at the form guide a case can be made for every one of the 20 horses running.

Neds own in house profit prophet – Jared Timms is backing Top of the Range to get the job done today.

In his preview, the profit prophet writes “Wide barriers really aren’t a concern for mine in long staying tests and I think that Top Of The Range is ready to run a big race. The five-year-old has been up and racing for a while, but like me he’s only improving with time and hit the line well to finish third in the Listed Roy Higgins last week. He’s untested at the two miles but does look like a horse that will see it out.”