All Sports All The Time

[Bill Ryan]

In contract with the previous post, this is the lightest possible relief.
(I never knew about this till just now, but apparently the incident became famous in Australia)

This is the entire Australian women's cricket team dancing on stage with singer Katy Perry after their world cup victory in 2020 before a crowd of 86,000 people. They were by far the best in the world then, as they are now.

It was wholly unofficial and unplanned. The girls had all had a few beers, and spontaneously took the stage. Katy Perry, to her immense credit, was quite unfazed and was delighted to play along.

(enlarge to fullscreen and turn up the audio )

https://facebook.com/AusWomenCricket/videos/aussie-girls-sing-firework-with-katy-perry/896445910811902

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
This is the entire Australian women's cricket team dancing on stage with singer Katy Perry after their world cup victory in 2020 before a crowd of 86,000 people. They were by far the best in the world then, as they are now.

They've just decimated the English women's cricket team, winning a series of 7 games in differing formats.

The Player of the Series was named as Australian leg-spin bowler, Alana King. She's a small, slightly pudgy Australian whose parents had emigrated from India. Her hero was Australian legend Shane Warne, also a leg-spin bowler, by far the best in the world.

What follows is for baseball fans who may be curious.

One of the many things that differentiates cricket from baseball is that the bowler (= the 'pitcher') aims the ball to bounce on the pitch before reaching the batter. That means that one of the extra skills in play for the bowler is to make the ball do clever things when it bounces.

A 'spin' bowler makes the ball spin at an angle sideways as it moves on. From the perspective of a person looking over the bowler's shoulder, if it spins from left to right it's called 'off-spin'. If it spins from right to left it's called 'leg-spin'.

Leg-spin is a far more difficult art to master.. The very best (and Shane Warne was THE best) can make the ball do near-magical things, and even the best batters in the world can be bamboozled and bewitched, as if a magic spell were being cast.

Shane Warne became famous back in 1993 after he bowled what has since become universally known as The Ball of the Century'. The batter, England's Mike Gatting (and a good batter too) just stood in disbelief at what Warne had done.

Here it is. Warne modestly described it as a 'fluke' — but of course it wasn't.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=gZ8BiPCaq3w

Now, back to Alana King. the topic of this post. Shane Warne, who is no longer with us. became known as The King. Alana King is now being called The Queen.

Alana King was once interviewed about Shane Warne's famous 'Ball of the Century':

I first watched it at a very young age when I was getting involved in cricket, and leg-spin especially. Looking up to Warne when I was a kid, I just got told by many people at my junior cricket club and everyone involved in cricket in my life, "You've got to watch this ball."

Yesterday, in the final match of the England-Australia series, Alana King did exactly the same thing as Warne had done in 1993. It was a near carbon copy. Now in 2025, not 1993 any more, it's already being called The Ball of the Century.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1885593018780012597

Cricket commentators round the world were in purring raptures.

• This is Alana King magic. Shane Warne would have enjoyed that.
• Beautiful bowling, wonderful bowling. Absolutely magnificent.
• Still catching my breath after that ball from Alana King. Wizardry, masterful. Spellbinding.
• King in utter, hypnotic control. Perfection! A ball for the ages. I imagine Shane Warne raising a glass right now.
• King's own Ball of the Century set up Australia's whitewash. There was an audible gasp from the 11,804 in attendance when the replay came up on the big screens.
  
  

[Richter]

Day 01 Highlights | 1st Test, Sri Lanka vs Australia 2025

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RzkYNjdzhWs

Day 02 Highlights | 1st Test, Sri Lanka vs Australia 2025

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FGdYjiQEpYY

Incredible! Over 650 runs - 3 centuries and Khawaja 200+

[Bluegreen]

. . . . .

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bluegreen (here)
Naoya Inoue - Japan's "National Treasure" - Monster (Documentary)

This doc examines the career of the Monster from Japan, Naoya Inoue. His sensational knockout power and rock solid fundamentals make him a nightmare for his boxing foes. Take a look at the humble beginnings and meteoric rise of this diminutive and powerful boxer. Like Wayne Gretzky; a normal looking guy who did unnormal things.

Published 17th December 2020 (20:51)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AqusT34-1yc

Wow, thanks for this. I confess I don't really follow boxing, and (embarrassingly!) I'd never heard of Naoya Inoue. I have now!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoya_Inoue

[Bruce G Charlton]

Three stunning catches by Glenn Phillips of New Zealand in the Cricket Champions Trophy this week.

https://www.skysports.com/cricket/vi...atch-is-better

For those who don't know cricket, these are one-handed bare-handed catches (one is with the fielder's left-hand, when he is right-handed); of a cricket ball - which is about 160g, and very hard; and were made by a fielder standing about ten metres from a top-quality batter who has just hit the ball very fast.

After which, having jumped so high, Philips has to ensure that he does not injure himself when landing - while making sure the ball does not get dislodged from his hand.

Glenn Philips has emerged over recent months as probably the best fielder in the world at present (in this position); claiming at least one "impossible" catch to dismiss a batsman in almost every match, as well as saving many runs.

Phillips's love of fielding and delight at his own ability is infectious!

PS He is also an international-level batter and off-spin bowler. Like three players in one.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bruce G Charlton (here)
Three stunning catches by Glenn Phillips of New Zealand in the Cricket Champions Trophy this week.

https://www.skysports.com/cricket/vi...atch-is-better

For those who don't know cricket, these are one-handed bare-handed catches (one is with the fielder's left-hand, when he is right-handed); of a cricket ball - which is about 160g, and very hard; and were made by a fielder standing about ten metres from a top-quality batter who has just hit the ball very fast.

After which, having jumped so high, Philips has to ensure that he does not injure himself when landing - while making sure the ball does not get dislodged from his hand.

Here's just one of those catches. Keep watching for the slow-motion replay after 20 seconds.
(Few baseball fielders could have pulled this off even with big gloves )

https://twitter.com/i/status/1766264480001114436

[Bill Ryan]

An unfortunate story that I do think belongs on this thread. (Deliberate violence in sport rarely happens, but here's a new instance,) Despite the tearful denial, there seems no doubt that this occurred exactly as clearly depicted in the videos.)

• https://www.infowars.com/posts/high-...ead-with-baton

High School Runner Charged with Assault & Battery After Bashing Opponent in Head with Baton



A high school track runner in Virginia is facing assault and battery charges after she was seen on video striking a competing runner with a baton during a relay race, leaving her with a concussion and a possible fractured skull.

Viral footage showed I.C. Norcom High School runner Alaila Everett strike Brookville High School junior Kaelen Tucker as she overtook Everett during a 4×200 meter relay race at Liberty University in Lynchburg last Tuesday.

https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1898775366245732774

The text:

High school track runner gets attacked with a baton in the middle of a relay at the VSHL Class 3 State Indoor Championships. Kaelen Tucker was on the second leg of the 4x200m relay at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, when she got smacked in the head.

Tucker suffered a concussion and a potential skull fracture.

"When we got to the curve she kept bumping me in my arm and when we got off the curve I finally passed her and that was when she hit me with the baton," Tucker said. The girl's mother said neither the runner nor the coach apologized for the incident.

It's unclear if Trucker will file charges.

[Inversion]

That's an unfortunate shot.
dailymail

Alex Smalley found the water at Sawgrass' iconic 17th hole - but only after his ball took a comical tour round the edge of the island green.

Smalley was playing alongside Rory McIlroy in the penultimate group of The Players Championship, which reached its climax on Sunday night.

The par-three 17th is one of the most iconic and treacherous holes in golf. It sees players hit around 140 yards over a lake towards a green surrounded by water.

[Richter]

Tomorrow, Saturday march 22, the IPL 2025 starts with the match between Kolkata Vs Bengaluru.

KKR VS SRH - IPL 2024 FINAL HIGHLIGHTS

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=W5rfAQ2IHrA

[Johnnycomelately]

Skateboarding vids are generally pretty dreamy. Successful makes of usually-increasingly difficult tricks, for the length of one or two well tailored-to 3-minute songs.

Skaters and fans know that most tricks are not first try, in any proper skateboard vid. Sometimes the battle takes several days, returning to the spot, and can be brutal.

This is a story of a young Japanese pro, Aimu Yamazuki, what it took to make the tricks in his opening part in his brand Primative’s recent vid Wildfire.

I am so inspired by his footwork and awareness in bailing out his many fails. Kicks the board away, places landing feet off beside the falling board. His falls look mostly graceful and harmless too.

Article is forthwith, then the vid of Aimu’s battles, which L= 25:32.

Last is the vid Wildfire, L= 22:13, his part is first. More tricks shown here, than in the ‘makings-of’ vid. Other skaters ensue. There is a girl team mate skating though 7:-+.

TransWorld Skateboarding

NEWS
Aimu Yamazuki Primitive Wildfire

Watch: Primitive Skateboards Just Dropped Aimu Yamazuki's Raw Clips From 'Wildfire' and They're Heavy

Aimu’s raw ‘Wildfire’ clips give us a taste of his relentlessness and determination on and off the board. He's a real one!

[Brian Blakely Mar 17, 2025

https://www.skateboarding.com/trendi...wildfire-clips

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=M9xoLrSZqp0

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=MVVLkYqhGY0

[Johnnycomelately]

Print, historical article on the start of skateboarding in a town in America. I remember Fargo from Western pulp stories back when I vicariously lived in the Old West for a couple years.

Story highlights injuries, with viewpoints from hospitals and city administrators and parents. Also, how this was seen as a fad, as it was replacing the hula hoop obvious fad. Quoted excerpt has a hula hoop injury-type, back injuries in older folks. Positive take from this, people have been doing dumb challenges way before now.

Hey skateboarding is getting a little stagnant at the moment, except for the front and back flips, so I suggest involving a hula hoop in those tricks. Hardflip down a three-stair, h-hoop will need some kind of difficulty scale to judge, but still no “testing the waters”. Needs a commitment.

And now, sixty years later, skateboarding is an Olympic sport. Probably shouldn’t be, but kind of had to be.

https://www.grandforksherald.com/new...-became-common

“I’ll say we have,” said head nurse Margaret Shimmin of St. Luke’s emergency room in Fargo, when asked if there had been any skateboarding patients there in a May 2, 1965 story. Shimmin said there were about a dozen patients she has dealt with during her shifts.

“Some of the patients are rather sheepish when they tell you they were hurt skateboarding,” she told Forum reporter Gifford Herron.

Trampolines, water skiing and contact sports were surely causing their share of emergency room visits. Even the hula hoop, as Herron wrote, had its own risks as “oldsters threw their backs out of kilter from body gyrations they shouldn’t have tried at their age.”

[Bruce G Charlton]

Vaibhav Suryavanchi - 14 year old T20, IPL cricket superstar!

Already the youngest-ever player to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) - which is the top-viewed and top-earning cricket competition in the world, with (probably) a higher standard than international cricket.

From Cricinfo:

In his third IPL match, the 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi brought down to their knees seasoned pros from the best bowling unit in IPL 2025, some of whom have been playing for longer than he has lived [scoring 101 runs].

The youngest T20 centurion, among the youngest handful of centurions in all representative cricket, the second-quickest century in the IPL in 35 balls

Joint-most sixes - 11 - for an Indian in an IPL innings

Highest boundary percentage in a T20 ton, with 94 of his runs coming in boundaries

Oh, did we mention that it sealed the chase of 210 in 15.5 overs, the fastest successful run-chase of 200-plus in an IPL match, after Rajasthan Royals (RR) had lost three straight run-chases



Note added: One remarkable thing about this young man is his ability to hit sixes (and off some of the best bowlers in the world). At the age of 14, I would expect that his physique is not fully developed in terms of strength... and yet.

By contrast, the only cricketer to have made a faster century in the IPL than young Vaibhav, was Chris Gayle, a much older and vastly more experienced cricketer, and a West Indian with the powerful and muscular physique of a heavyweight boxing champion.

Gayle was self-named "Universe Boss" - whereas Suryavanchi has been termed "Boss Baby" or perhaps Baby Boss, after the Dreamworks movie character.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bruce G Charlton (here)
Vaibhav Suryavanchi - 14 year old T20, IPL cricket superstar!

Already the youngest-ever player to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) - which is the top-viewed and top-earning cricket competition in the world, with (probably) a higher standard than international cricket.

From Cricinfo:

In his third IPL match, the 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi brought down to their knees seasoned pros from the best bowling unit in IPL 2025, some of whom have been playing for longer than he has lived [scoring 101 runs].

The youngest T20 centurion, among the youngest handful of centurions in all representative cricket, the second-quickest century in the IPL in 35 balls

Joint-most sixes - 11 - for an Indian in an IPL innings

Highest boundary percentage in a T20 ton, with 94 of his runs coming in boundaries

Oh, did we mention that it sealed the chase of 210 in 15.5 overs, the fastest successful run-chase of 200-plus in an IPL match, after Rajasthan Royals (RR) had lost three straight run-chases



Note added: One remarkable thing about this young man is his ability to hit sixes (and off some of the best bowlers in the world). At the age of 14, I would expect that his physique is not fully developed in terms of strength... and yet.

By contrast, the only cricketer to have made a faster century in the IPL than young Vaibhav, was Chris Gayle, a much older and vastly more experienced cricketer, and a West Indian with the powerful and muscular physique of a heavyweight boxing champion.

Gayle was self-named "Universe Boss" - whereas Suryavanchi has been termed "Boss Baby" or perhaps Baby Boss, after the Dreamworks movie character.

Bumping this extraordinary story.

Vaibhav Suryavanchi is just 14 (in fact, he only turned 14 on 27 March. Before that, he was 13!), yet yesterday he broke a whole handful of major cricketing records. He already has his own Wikipedia page, and started playing cricket when he was 4 (four ).

Here he is:



Cricket writers round the world ran out of superlatives, barely believing what they had witnessed. For cricket enthusiasts here, on this page you can see extended video highlights of what he did — and with what merciless skill he did it.

https://cricket12.com/rr-vs-gt-highl...match-ipl-2025

(If anyone can't access that, here's a brief Twitter/X video, itself well worth seeing)

https://x.com/sachin_rt/status/1916913813049512178

[Ewan]

Also https://players.brightcove.net/pages...12&mode=iframe for a nice quality full screen version.

That was a pleasure to watch.

[Bruce G Charlton]

What's not to love about South African fast bowler Gerald Coetzee; currently playing for the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League?

Uncomplicated in operation; but no doubt affected by the living-torment that it is to be a fast bowler - always injured, often out of action, always having to push past the pain barrier; each wicket a product of sweat and tears.

He runs in hard, bowls very fast - and if he gets a wicket... He roars with every fibre of his being. A "celebration" that expresses, in microcosm, the very nature and essence of what it is to be a fast bowler.



His eyes literally bulge from their sockets, the veins on his head very nearly burst, his fists pump convulsively...

His Mother must worry every time she watches him play. Naturally she would want him to do well, but when he does...

Goodness only knows what happens to his blood pressure! If he ever gets five quick wickets; he would surely need to be stretchered-off with apoplexy.



Alternatively; I half expect him to turn green, grow to gigantic size, burst out of his clothes (leaving only a pair of ragged shorts), to rampage and to smash.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bruce G Charlton (here)

What's not to love about South African fast bowler Gerald Coetzee; currently playing for the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League?
His eyes literally bulge from their sockets, the veins on his head very nearly burst, his fists pump convulsively...

[ ... ]

Goodness only knows what happens to his blood pressure! If he ever gets five quick wickets; he would surely need to be stretchered-off with apoplexy.

Alternatively; I half expect him to turn green, grow to gigantic size, burst out of his clothes (leaving only a pair of ragged shorts), to rampage and to smash.

And another image:

[Bruce G Charlton]

@Bill - What I like so much about Coetzee's "celebration" is that it is certainly not an act, nor is it designed to intimidate - it's an irresistible spontaneous explosion of all his pent-up frustration and anger at the trials and tribulations of bowling fast.

[Bluegreen]

. . . . .

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
This depressing new development is very similar to EPO (Erythropoietin) 'oxygen doping' in athletics and cycling. There's already strong pushback from elite climbers, but this is all about commercialization and getting wealthy clients to the top of Everest by any means possible. There are no anti-doping 'rules' in mountaineering.

It's a long and interesting article, discussing all the implications, and below I've copied just the beginning of it.

• https://explorersweb.com/you-can-now...e-implications

You can now climb Everest in a week using Xenon gas

Sure enough, here we are. It's sports doping. (But because mountaineering has no 'rules', all this is legal)

https://explorersweb.com/xenon-climbers-summit-everest-in-five-days-from-home

Xenon Climbers Summit Everest in Five Days from Home

All four members of the Furtenbach Adventures team who prepped for their climb by hypoxic training at home and breathing Xenon gas, summited Everest today, five days after leaving the UK.