Loopy reverse sweep not for test cricket thanks
The reverse sweep had to have been hatched at what was Cherry Farm, north of Dunedin.
The message must have got through to John Parker because some time during the 1970s in a test for New Zealand he was dismissed playing what was more of a reverse hit, intended to go towards a wide mid-on rather than a sweep square or behind square.
It’s not surprising that a dumb stroke is introduced into the T20 format, but in the test cricket arena presumably when trying to repair the blushes of a possible innings defeat is another matter.
Furthermore, I suggest any batsman getting out to such a loopy shot should be encouraged by his captain to change in the opposition’s dressing room, having demonstrated gifting their wicket to their opponent.
If I was an opposing captain when this occurred, I’d welcome them with open arms, offering free drinks and a spot in our dressing room closest to the bar.
It never ceases to amaze how just about anything can become normalised through repetition, irrespective of consequences.
You never know what might be on the horizon, perhaps a bowler being permitted to change his/her bowling action in their delivery stride by delivering with the other arm to what was originally intended.
Eric (bugle) Watson was known for doing it on more than one occasion while playing for Albion in Dunedin Club Cricket in the 1970s.
Holding to account
After four decades in mainstream media I left the industry 10 years ago, in part because I feared my industry had lost its way.
Refreshing, then, to hear Paul McIntyre on RNZ's Media Watch this morning explaining his newspaper's position on the hospital upgrade. Fearless, credible, responsible, accurate media is a bedrock of democracy. How else to hold authority to account?
McIntyre, his staff and the publisher behind them, deserve recognition for having the courage to come out swinging with passion and creativity on an issue of such regional importance.
They are demonstrating, both to a callous government and to a responsive audience, that at least one branch of mainstream media does still have relevance, despite all the upheaval and change of the past decade.
Good on you. Keep it up.
Time to go it alone?
When I read in my local paper of the way Dunedin and indeed the South Island is treated by this government, I have to ask, ‘Is it time now?'
Time for the South Island to detach itself from the North Island.
After all, as we in the other parts of the North Island know, Auckland and its voters are all that matter to this government (not forgetting its financial backers).
The South Islanders do not need a safe way across Cook Strait, you can spend all your money on airfares instead. Nor do you need the type of healthcare that is available in Auckland.
Nor even safe or repaired homes after disasters. You are needed to provide electricity for the North Island, pretty pictures for tourism campaigns, holiday homes in Queenstown for wealthy North Island skiers and of course, land for mining.
So once again I ask, ‘Is it time now?'
Wells for South D peace of mind
For many years multiple politicians and interminable government studies have cogitated and wrung their hands over what to do about low-lying and flooding-prone South Dunedin. I am an engineer and the answer is is very simple and has two components. Strategically position and drill up to a dozen 30cm diameter wells, equip them with high capacity pumps, switch them on and pump the groundwater into the sea.
In a few weeks the water table will be lowered by several metres thereby creating a large ground reservoir to absorb future heavy rains. Leave the pumps in place to periodically maintain the water table level and they also will be ready to protect the residents from occasional future deluges. The other remedial project would be to drive about 3km of sheet steel piling, topped by concrete, on the sea side of the sand dunes thereby extending the protective sea wall that is presently in place at St Clair. South Dunedin would then be protected from the sub-surface egress of storm sea water. There is plenty of time for the sea wall project to be completed since sea level is rising world-wide at only 2mm per year and shows no signs of accelerating despite all the claims by the climate alarmists. Money would be much better spent on such a permanent two-component solution than buying high-risk homes and these projects would give all South Dunedin residents and businesses peace of mind.
Great idea from John Price (Letters, 5.10.24) to name the new hospital for Dunedin the Southern Regional Hospital.
How about adding ‘Teaching’ to that as this highlights its national significance?
Does the govt want a public health service?
Joanne Fox (Letters, 3.10.24) has hit the nail on the head.
The hospital build is ideological. Public healthcare is on the line. I will wager my next income check that the majority of National’s members have private insurance. They are not about to wait months for their "elective" surgery, or sit in the hallway of an emergency department waiting ... and waiting to get treatment. The libertarian philosophy behind these people drives their policy and decisions.
They don’t believe in public health service any more than public education.
Witness David Seymour’s quest to privatise that sector.
They calculate that if they starve all the services that we, the people now rely on, we will accept the inevitable privatising. We will all pay. The rich will have won.
There are ongoing protests and expressions of strong disappointment about the government’s reluctance to come up with additional funds for our new hospital.
While we all fight for a new hospital, with every possible reasoning under the sun, should we not also introspect the decisions made by the group of experts who have made earlier decisions about the location and initial planning for the hospital?
I would very much like to see the extent of incompetence by the people who were involved with the initial planning and decisions about the hospital build, and yes, if there was any mismanagement by that group. Another $1 billion could help the health system fund a lot of specialists, nurses and other healthcare workers; have many thousands of hip, knee and eye, and similar operations; certainly speed up the very long waits in the emergency departments and for routine operations in our ageing hospitals around the country.
[Abridged. — Ed.]
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
