What's in a poll?

This the latest poll from the Herald Sun, just one of a plethora of Australian newspapers in huge admiration over Murali's Test record, I'm sure you'll agree! What is strange are the results over the last few days. Perhaps a case of sub-continent ex-pats refreshing the page, or have the Aussie public suddenly realised the freak nature of Kandy's spin king over their own Shane Warne? Below left is the same poll from two days ago, from After Grog's Blog.




But then there is this quote from former Cricket Australia chairman and Test umpire Col Egar, who once no-balled Australian paceman Ian Meckiff for throwing. "I couldn't care less about him. As far as I am concerned they should have a separate record for bowlers with illegal actions. Warne deserves the record and in my book he will always be the record holder. I've got a photo at home of Murali's arm bending at 48 degrees. The tests they did on him were rubbish. The only tests that matter are those conducted under match conditions. The administrators of the game have got to take the blame for letting his action go."

CWC pains and memories

It looked at one point as if the International Rugby Board (IRB) was going down the same murky road as the ICC in how not to run a World Cup, after rugby's governing body wrangle with the media over use of match images on websites.

Nevertheless the Rugby World Cup was a sensational tournament and only serves as a reminder to the painstaking weeks it took to complete cricket's version.

Another reminder is still firmly simmering after the Nutley's continuing saga over claiming back its media deposit from CWC finance department. I'm sure the big organisations have received their $250 deposits back (could be a story in itself), but for a freelancer this is one of the scenarios of the job and another cog in reminding myself of the worst sporting event of all time.

Freddie fuels island PR machine

It is possible to be totally oblivious to the World Cup on St Lucia when there are no games shown at the Beausejour Cricket Ground. And just when other Caribbean media outlets are writing of the possible tourism scenarios in the aftermath of Bob Woolmer's death, than the St Lucia Star sticks the below header in. The article inside suggests that advertisers should get on the bandwagon and interview barstaff from Rumours nightclub and the security guard who asked Freddie Flintoff to get his pedalo back to shore.