as also been there. from corse178's blog
It is a sleepy morning. Clayton Kershaw Dodgers Jersey . Spectators lay sprawled on Seddon Parks steep banks in a spatter beneath steel-grey clouds trimmed by wisps of sky. The match has ebbed and flowed, and ebbed and ebbed for four days. There is hope that, if we are lucky, fans will get their payoff. But for now Test cricket is snoozing.The first over from Neil Wagner is an unremarkable maiden. The second over yields one run, and then another maiden follows. Eventually Azhar Ali gets off the mark off the 22nd ball he faces, but the day is yet to acquire a pulse. A queue has collected near the coffee caravan. It is almost 11am, but it still seems too early for a beer. On the southwest bank, a couple is canoodling.About fifteen overs in, Wagner rubs two pads of a defibrillator together and draws the first sparks of life - what else but with short-pitched bowling? Over the past year the short ball hasnt so much been Wagners go-to delivery, it has seemed like his sole calling in life, the entire reason he exists. If someone were to go back in time and outlaw the bouncer, it is possible Wagner would disappear into thin air Marty McFly style, leaving blanks in the scorecards of games he has played in, as well as gaps in team photographs.One ball hits Sami Aslam on the ear-guard on his helmet. Another one, at Azhars ribs, takes the shoulder of the bat and lands just out of short-legs reach. But the unremarkable maidens soon return to becalm the Test, and the only moments of interest before lunch are Kane Williamsons strange referrals. On one occasion, after Azhar sought to sway out of the way of a short ball, Williamson reviews the mildest caught-behind appeal. Replays show there is a Colin de Grandhomme-sized space between Azhars bat and the trajectory of the ball. Shortly before the break, when de Grandhomme himself raps Aslam flush on the pad in front of off stump, Williamson wrings his hands for two seconds too long, and a decision that would have been overturned goes unreviewed. It is a horror DRS session; the worst for a Test captain since… well… whenever Angelo Mathews last played.Wagner and his rib-cage tickling defibrillator are back after lunch, but the Test will still not be roused. In the morning session, the broadcasters had tried to talk life into the chase, dwelling on the glorious the possibility of a Pakistan victory, flashing scorecards from the manic pursuit of 302 in Sharjah, and the monumental chase of 377 in Pallekele. When Azhar and Aslam score just 31 from the 15 overs after lunch, these scorecards fail to appear. Aslams fifty - off 188 balls - is the slowest for a Pakistan opener in 23 years. The only thing slower in this Test has been the speed at which his hands came together when attempting a catch at slip. Then suddenly, a heartbeat. Aslam has hit two fours off Henry. Azhars back-lift has a fresh energy to it, and theres a birr in his feet. He aims an expansive drive through cover off Mitchell Santner and plays on, irking himself and puzzling Santner as to how a ball that turned away could take the inside edge. Something other than a draw now seems possible. The couple on the hill have stopped canoodling. The coffee-getting crowd is thinner.Still, at tea Pakistan are only one wicket down, so they are surely safe from losing. The question is, can they win? But wait, there is Babar Azam attempting to play virtually the same shot as Azhar had tried, off the exact bowler, and somehow, he has played on as well. What seems clear is that Santner has not planned it. It would make sense if batsmen were getting stumped, or caught at slip. But this? he asks his team-mates. Is it the drift that is doing it? Is it the dip?After Azams dismissal, Sarfraz Ahmed finds himself promoted to No. 4, and now it is quite clearly Pakistan who are trying to shoot adrenaline into the Test match. He flits around the crease and chops to off, but the big shots arent connecting. He and Aslam heave and slash, but every time they look up from a shot, a fielder has the ball in hand, elbow cocked. So well protected are these boundaries, some American voters may soon start demanding New Zealand cricketers, instead of a border wall.The Test match is in the mood now, and the sucker punches come quickly. Aslam departs, slogging unselfishly. Sarfraz runs himself out. When the great Younis Khan, he of 201 innings and 39 full years, pads up to a stump-bound delivery, you know the Test has truly awoken. It spurned the efforts of Wagner, and the broadcasters and Pakistans middle order were ignored. But now, in its own time, the Test has arisen and its roaring.The last four wickets are a blur. Sohail Khan scoops a ball to cover. Mohammaad Amir edges one in front of his chest. The Test has the crowd in its unshakeable grip now; the batsmen are finding their edges drawn to the ball, the fielders are stopping singles almost involuntarily, the cricketers have all become the games marionettes. Off a surface that was assumed to have gone barren, balls are leaping off lengths, jiving off unseen cracks. Two wickets fall in the space of three balls. Soon it becomes three off six. To Wagner goes the final reward, sparking stadium-wide elation - even the coffee vendors must by now be on the hill.What else but Test cricket to take a foregone conclusion so gruffly by the collar? What else but Tests to make believers out of us all, while leaving everybody in such disbelief? It was Pakistan it chose to sock today - poor Pakistan, battling without their captain, defending a two-year series record, trying bravely, though briefly, for that difficult last-day win.New Zealand it left in happy shock. Andre Ethier Dodgers Jersey . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Los Angeles Dodgers Hoodie . However, he did make them miss him a little less. Cundiff, who had the unenviable job of replacing Dawson last season, agreed Thursday to a one-year, $1. http://www.ladodgersprostore.us/Scott-Kazmir-dodgers-jersey/ . However, he did make them miss him a little less. Cundiff, who had the unenviable job of replacing Dawson last season, agreed Thursday to a one-year, $1. NASSAU, Bahamas -- If there was any trepidation about hitting full, powerful shots or spending too much time doing so, Tiger Woods wasnt letting on Sunday afternoon as the wind whipped across the driving range at Albany Golf Club -- where he was the only player practicing.With his return to competitive golf after a 15-month absence looming this week at the Hero World Challenge, Woods was busy testing equipment -- and looking pretty good doing so.Im not dead, he quipped. Woods, 40, arrived in the Bahamas on Saturday and played nine holes, then spent some two-and-half hours Sunday on the driving range and in a testing center using a device called TrackMan to gauge various distances and launch angles -- a process he said is more daunting now that his longtime sponsor, Nike, is no longer making golf clubs, and Woods has an array of choices.So many manufacturers sent Woods clubs to try that my head was spinning. For now, he is sticking with his Nike irons and experimenting with various woods -- it was a TaylorMade driver, 3-wood and 5-wood and Sunday -- and he dropped a bit of news when he said hes using a Bridgestone golf ball this week.?The most important thing is the ball, he said. Once you find a ball, then you can work around everything else. The ball is No. 1. The most important club in the bag is the ball.Woods had no trouble carrying drives over 300 yards, shaping shots in both directions with his various clubs while showing no pangs of discomfort. Of course, its Sunday, not the opening round on Thursday of an otherwise low-key, 18-player tournament that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. Its a year-ending cash grab for many stars of the game, and how they fare here is of little consequence. There are world ranking points at stake, and a $3.5 million purse with $1 million going to the winner.But for Woods -- who in his absence has slipped to 879th in the world -- this is a big deal. The 14-time major champion has not competed since August 2015 at the Wyndham Championship, where he tied for 10th. Earlier he had missed cuts in three consecutive major championships. And he would later undergo two back procedures that forced him to the sideline, causing all kind of speculation about his future in the game.According to the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, Woods has the worst odds to win the tournament, at 40-1, of anyone in the 18-person field.Woods admitted he will be nervous.But Im nervous for every tournament I play in, whether its after a layoff, or six in a row, or a major, he said. I care. If I care, Im nervous. And its good to be that way. To have that nervous energy and channel it into aggression, into focus, concentrattion, thats good stuff. Enrique Hernandez Jersey. . If I wasnt nervous, that would mean I didnt care. I dont want to be out there flat.Woods said he understands the thinking that he shouldnt care, that just being back after an extended absence is enough.I get that, and that part is great too, he said. Im out here playing and competing. That part is really neat. Then there is that part of me that is the competitor who wants to beat these guys. I want to compete.Some seven weeks ago, Woods announced he was not ready to do that. He at first committed to the Safeway Open in California, then three days before the tournament decided to pull out because he described his game as vulnerable and not ready to compete against the best in the world. That set off a new wave of doubts about his game and his future, and while Woods said he badly wanted to play that week, it was a good decision in the end. The competitor inside me wanted to go so badly and was itching to go. I had been playing at home. I thought only if I have a few shots, its good enough to get it around. I had played feeling worse. But whats the point in rushing back when Ive waited over a year to begin with?Ive waited this long, its not going to hurt to wait just this much longer.Woods caddie, Joe LaCava, who was walking the Albany course on Sunday, twice went to Florida to work with Woods since the Safeway withdrawal, mostly to get Woods in tournament mode and off a golf cart. His instructor, Chris Como, has also been there. Two weeks ago, Woods and LaCava played rounds on four consecutive days, walking -- which seems simple enough until Woods explains he had not been doing that enough.Its weird to say, but I have to get my walking legs, he said. Its a 5-mile walk. You forget what it feels like to be in golf shoes versus tennis shoes. To be on an uneven lie versus a flat lie. I can walk for two or three hours on a treadmill and its not the same as walking on a golf course. Its so different, the standing around (between shots).The rhythm of playing in a golf cart versus walking and playing. I had forgotten that because I had been away for over a year. Joey really helped me ... normal tournament talk, I had to get used to that again.This is a big week for Woods every year. The event began in 1999 at the urging of his late father, Earl, and is a big fundraiser for his foundation. There are numerous sponsor obligations -- Hero has one more year on its deal after the 2016 event -- as well as all the attention his game is going to receive.Im ready to go, he said. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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