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HOME & AWAY ROUND 5  Game 34 - Sydney BOP  Sat 10 Jan 2009

PATRIOTS PIP SOUTH AUST 9-8 FOR SWEEP!

Minnesota Twins' potent pitching prospect Brad Tippett had just mown down the last two South Australian innings in rapid-fire mode; The dominant New South Wales team was leading comfortably 5-2 and former major league pitcher Chris Oxspring was taking over on the mound. All was well in the Patriots’ camp with another sure victory on the way, right? Sorry folks, this is baseball, and even though few would have bet bad money on SA to rally, this is a game that you can NEVER afford to turn your back on.

Former Queenslander Oxspring is the 2004 Claxton Shield Golden Arm Award winner who pitched in the big leagues with the San Diego Padres before leaving for even greater riches in Asian baseball. Not in his worst nightmare could he imagine the treatment he would receive from the cellar-dwelling SA team who had managed just three hits over their previous two games. Six hits and six earned runs coinciding with just one out is the type of horrible stuff that the South Aussie relievers have endured over recent years, not a pitcher with this pedigree.

Of course Chris Oxspring would realise like the rest of us that this kind of thing happens to everyone in baseball at some stage… nobody is immune! It simply serves to remind us why our game is perhaps the greatest “leveller” of all sports. What he would not have liked is the fact that he was on the hook for a shocking upset loss if his team mates had not rallied again against the shaky SA bullpen. Just don’t count on seeing this happen again any time soon!

Rewind to the start of this game and how do we reckon the beleaguered South Australian lads might have felt after being ravaged by Lundgren and Cox in the first two games, only to learn that they would face experienced ‘AAA’ star Craig Anderson, followed by hot young pro Brad Tippett, then major leaguers Oxspring and Rich Thompson… please stop the world because I want to get off!

Baltimore Orioles’ eight-year pro Craig Anderson enjoyed a nice workout with 3.1 innings that permitted just one unearned run. Minnesota’s young ace Bradley Tippett started by allowing a run on two hits before settling in to retire the next ten batters in sizzling sequence, largely via five ground outs and four strike outs. We won’t mention Oxspring again, but he was impressively backed up by Los Angeles Angels' big league reliever Richard Thompson who will be even sharper with the benefit of this pipe-opener.

South Australia effectively countered Anderson’s start by opening with their own seven-year ‘AAA’ professional Paul Mildren who also did his job effectively with just two runs from four innings… not brilliant, but OK in the context of their struggles so far this season. The major difference was, as too often lately, that Mildren had precious little to back him up in the ‘pen. Unfortunately, once again, we cannot realistically say that any of Fienemann, Lawson, Ewart or Crabb really looked like convincing AMLB pitchers at Blacktown on this day… let’s leave it right there.

We commented yesterday that ‘Tornado Trent’ Oeltjen appeared to see the ball like the “Goodyear Blimp”, well, we’d like to change that to the planet Jupiter! Trent was a home run short of “Hitting for the Cycle” yesterday and he was only a triple short of doing it again today. Bear in mind that this feat has only been done twice in AMLB history (since the start of the ABL); both times by import major leaguer Kevin Jordan who later became an Australian citizen. Oeltjen's 3-4 today included a game winning three-run rocket over centre field. And, just in case that is not enough, the wonderful outfielder also stole two bases to emphasise what he brings to the baseball table. Good luck to any Aussie who can beat Oeltjen to become our next player to reach the big leagues!

If Trent Oeltjen is a superstar of the present, then maybe David Kandilas is one of the future based upon the rookie season efforts of this soon-to-be Colorado prospect who added 3-4 with a RBI to his already super summer. So too Boston’s Mitch Dening who has been a revelation in Claxton’s 2007 and 2008; He is building up to that again lately with another team-orientated two RBI effort. Keeping New South Wales ticking this season have been stalwart current non-pros Michael Lysaught, Mark Holland and Shannon Pender. Holland continues to run very hot with his 2-3 that included a walk and a RBI, while Pender batted 2-4 and scored twice. Former Twin Lysaught singled, walked and drove in a run.

Back atop ‘Flintoff & Dunn’s’ headlines today is ‘Bashing Ben’ Wigmore who exposed his class once more against some tough pitching with two doubles that delivered two RBIs… we won’t attempt to disguise our admiration for this fellow! Dan Wilson has long been a valuable backup for Wigmore and he emphasised this here with his identical 2-4 plus two RBIs.

It is never easy to maintain your spirit while toiling with limited success so we will tip our caps to modern SA stalwarts Todd Langman, Jeremy Cresswell and Josh Cakebread who have worn their state colours with pride again this year in rugged conditions and, without checking, each should enjoy career best statistics at the end of this competition. Baseball is definitely a team game, but you can’t knock individuals who perform to the best of their abilities.

We guess that the Patriots may not be turning any cartwheels after sweeping the one-win South Australian team in this home series. Meanwhile the visitors are entitled to bemoan their lack of relief pitching that might have nailed down their late-inning lead in this game. As we often comment at times like this… “that’s baseball”… you don’t have to like it, that’s just the way the game is! New South Wales will move on.

HOME & AWAY ROUND 5  Game 33 - Perth, WA  Sat 10 Jan 2009

WEST SWEEPS AWFUL ACES VIA 11-5 WIN!

In two years of Claxton Shield baseball, the pinnacle of Australian competition, WA whiz kid Liam Hendriks has right now pitched nine starts for, get this, EIGHT WINS! He received plenty of plaudits for his astonishing AMLB debut season that helped win the National Championship for his state but, in some ways, it is even more impressive and significant that he has been able to backup with the same type of consistent brilliance in Claxton 2009.

We have already mentioned that the young Minnesota Twins prospect had to recover from minor back surgery that sidelined him throughout our winter and, for that reason alone, it would be some achievement for him to get back to near where he was so quickly after savouring the Championship champagne. There is no doubting this young fellow’s talent but what has stood out more obviously to us this summer is the cool composure and competitive spirit that enhances his impressive package. This guy is a “bulldog” in the same complimentary terms that Americans use to describe legendary Dodgers’ pitcher Orel Hershiser.

Many far more experienced pitchers than Liam might have struggled to recover after walking two batters, followed by two hits and two runs with only one out in the second inning. Not him… he goes right back to work to halt the momentum in that inning and then to settle down for another high quality start. Over the next four digs only his senior Minnesota Twins club mate Danny Berg managed to hit a double and a single, while 12 other Victorians were retired without incident. Suffice to say that Hendriks has become a cornerstone of a very successful West Australian team.

By the time Hendriks handed the ball over to his bullpen the victory was already near security with a handsome 8-2 lead. Future Philly Dan Schmidt added a scoreless seventh, before his leadoff walk in the eighth saw him make way for Warwick Saupold who cashed in his earned run plus two of his own when the Aces belatedly plundered five hits from his single inning. Class closer Brendan Wise was in no mood to prolong the game when he locked down the last with three ground ball outs.

Mitch Graham probably just stole the headlines for a Heat outfit really starting to roll in this game with his three hits and two RBIs, but he wasn’t far ahead of the menacing Tim Kennelly who doubled, walked and doubled for his two driven in. Like that pair, Kimpton, House and de San Miguel continued to haunt the Aces with duo hits each, while all three of them added a walk and ‘de San’ also wore a hit by pitch. Dan Floyd drove in a couple of runs and Andy Kyle one. In all, the 19 total base runners over their eight innings was like a Chinese water torture to the Victorians and their travelling fans!

At least the resilient Aces offence persisted in this losing cause and twelve hits was ultimately a nice reward for refusing to quit while facing the onslaught of the Perth Heat… and we are referring to the temperature as well as the WA team. It was great to see star Victorian catcher Grant Karlsen breaking through for three safe hits here to compliment his catching that has already impressed many. It may have taken a little time for Grant to become comfortable with the mantle of being Victoria’s No.1 catcher following the retirement of Mathew Kent, but it was only a matter of time before he started to really assert himself.

Minnesota Twins' prodigy infielder Jimmy Beresford has gone about his job this summer with typical quiet efficiency, adding offensive contributions in most games to his ever adept defence. His 2-4 in this contest reaped three timely RBIs, leaving him with an excellent .333 competition average for a physically developing player. It is not hard to project what Beresford might be like in a year or three.

Recent Kansas City and San Diego major leaguer Justin Huber finally provided a glimpse of his true abilities with his two hits plus a walk that should see him crank it up from here on in this competition. Minnesota’s hot ‘AA’ prospect Daniel Berg also emerged from a relatively subdued series with two hits to get him back on track after pre-Chrsitmas wisdom teeth extractions set him back slightly.

I’ve deliberately avoided discussing the visitors pitching in this game because it was an ugly sight until after the game had pretty much vanished into the distance. We have mentioned that lefty Dean Barker tends to be like a “feast or famine”... on this occasion it was a famine for him and a feast for the WA batters. Reliever Donavon Hendricks has been quite solid, but he was unable to put the brakes on a runaway train today. The only real positive was the convincing return of Game 1 starter Adam Blackley who bounced back strong with a neat effort in late relief. Matt Blackmore struck out the final batter to depart Perth with one more scalp.

The Victorian Aces never really looked like winning this game but, after recovering from a slow start in the opener and dominating most of Game 2, they will be entitled to feel that WA’s series sweep was very flattering to them. The West Aussies will not give two hoots about that, only the fact that they have now secured top of the table status and, apparently, guaranteed home final(s)… they’ve earned it!

HOME & AWAY ROUND 5  Game 32 - Sydney BOP  Fri 9 Jan 2009

NEW SOUTH WALES ROMPS 11-0 v SA!

The South Australians can pick their own poison as the reason or combination of reasons why they suffered, and we do mean suffered, another “Mercy Rule” thrashing at the hands of the New South Wales Patriots in this game. Let’s start with the very positive aspect of another brilliant shutout start from reigning Golden Arm award winner ‘Terrible Timothy’ Cox. He was at his ruthless best again here, allowing JUST THREE South Australian base runners, while whiffing EIGHT. Tim needed only 93 pitches to romp through this seven inning victory.

On paper at least, veteran “knuckler” Phil Brassington enjoyed one of his better starts this summer for SA but, while he cut down his walks, there were enough hit batters and wild pitches to keep the NSW offence interested. Unfortunately you still could not describe his brief three inning performance as effective once again for Claxton 2009. Seasoned Jay Ziersch was not much more tidy, however, at least he could point to a comedy of errors for part of his struggles. Little known Adam Crabb can take quite a bit of confidence from his relatively neat pair of relief innings that did not cost him an earned run.

The WA fans in Perth this weekend were “bullish” about their Luke Hughes becoming Australia’s next major league player, and rightly so, but they didn’t want me to remind them about Trent Oeltjen! This guy starred as a top outfielder for the ‘D-Backs’ at ‘AAA’ level this season and he shows no signs of letting up coming into the 2009 season.

‘Terrific Trent’ walked to leadoff this game for the Patriots, singled to leadoff their five-run third inning, he tripled to leadoff the fourth, then he doubled to leadoff the fifth. If this game had not been truncated by the mercy rule, it would have taken a very brave man to bet that Oeltjen wouldn’t have completed “Batting for the Cycle” with a home run. He is seeing the baseball like it is the size of the Goodyear blimp!

Unsung Mark Holland is also enjoying a strong Claxton 2009 with his 2-4 and the RBI triple that scored one of his two “ribbies”. Similarly former Twins’ minor leaguer Michael Lysaught who singled, walked and was also hit by a pitch. Young Red Sox pro Mitch Dening may be finding touch at the right time with his 1-2 that produced two unselfish RBIs. Patrick Maat simply can't seem to stop driving in runs, joining Kandilas, D'Antonio and Graham with single RBIs here.

The very familiar names of Langman and Cresswell were the solo men to lay some wood on Tim Cox here as they certainly cannot be blamed for failing to support the big dogs like Wigmore and Welch during this Claxton Shield campaign. One can only feel that the weight of carrying the South Australian cause for so long, and seeing so few good pitches, might have finally taken some toll on ‘Wiggy’ this summer. I’ll guarantee that he has never stopped tying to give his all.

It is not very usual for a born and bred Victorian to feel anything like sorry for a South Australian sporting team, however, we must have some sympathy for any team that is so obviously doing it tough as they are this season. It is harsh enough that players like Tom Brice, John Challinor and Dushan Ruzic have been unavailable virtually throughout, but now they have to face razor sharp pitching like Lundgren and Cox have dished up to them to start this daunting series. Just three hits from two games is the type of soul-destroying output that takes years from the lives of baseball managers... and provokes crocodile tears from loyal supporters!!

Nice job by the hosting New South Wales team who are gathering momentum very nicely indeed.

HOME & AWAY ROUND 5  Game 31 - Perth, WA  Fri 9 Jan 2009

ACES CHOKED IN 3-4 LOSS TO HEAT!

Big Leaguer Travis Blackley was a raw teenager when he gave up one earned run in Claxton 2003, this before he rose to the majors with the Seattle Mariners and then again with the San Francisco Giants. Having thrown eleven innings in Claxton 2008 and adding on to those this season, he still has not allowed another as his Claxton ERA plummets into the decimals below ONE! I spoke to Travis after his start in this game which he described as “scratchy”… ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ would describe it with words more like effective and scoreless!

In recent years Blackley has grown a huge fondness for “body art” and his growing collection of tattoos now sees him featuring more ink than Melbourne’s Herald-Sun newspaper. One thing the “tatts” have not done is to blunt his proficiency as a pitcher of rare quality with the sort of commanding stuff that can strike out the toughest of batters. He KO’d eight over just five stanzas here! ‘Trav’ might feel the extra heat of working in sleeves if he gets the chance to pitch in the majors for the Arizona Diamondbacks this season, but we sure hope that he does!

The only sobering news for the Victorians with Blackley starting was the fact that he would be limited by a strict pitch count and his five innings might have proved one too few for the ideal strategy in this game. Adam Bright has the solid credentials of pitching at ‘AA’ level with the Colorado Rockies in the past two seasons, but he would be pretty short of game-conditioning and, we suspect, it was tough to ask him to work into his third inning in very hot conditions. He had been quite sharp with two scoreless frames, numbers six and seven, but he was fading rapidly in the eighth as the game started to slip from Victoria’s seemingly solid grasp.

As a Victorian at the game, I couldn’t help but feel the eerie parallels from the deciding game in Victoria’s series against WA at the same venue in Claxton Shield 2008. On that similarly sweltering evening Travis Blackley had staked Victoria to a handy lead with his shutout start only to see the unfortunate Adam Bright suffer from some defensive mishaps as the game slithered through the Aces' butter-fingers. The other stark similarity was Victoria’s failure to grasp opportunities to add-on runs as the game drifted on.

On this occasion the remarkably reliable Matt Blackmore tried in vain to hold back a building tidal wave form the WA offence who were fuelled by an awakening home crowd of very good size. He had to give way to seasoned former pro Russell Spear who couldn’t prevent the West Aussies from nailing the go-ahead and ultimately winning run… it went on to Blackmore’s overloaded credit card from this game that could prove just as costly as the “déjà vu” fixture from last year?

Former Angels’ professional Dylan Peacock was overshadowed by comparison with Blackley, but his effort would also prove decisive in the washup of WA’s uplifting comeback win. He allowed all three runs posted by the Vics but, most importantly, he withstood a fair bit of pressure on occasions to make sure that the game never got out of hand for his team.

Claxton rookie Warwick Saupold was poised again to earn an unlikely win, while Dean White added another strong late relief effort to his pitching resume that is overtaking his early career credentials as a professional infielder. Future pro Dan Schmidt walked the only batter he faced in the last, while Benn Grice grabbed the scalp of an impatient big leaguer Brad Harman for the final out with the game on the line.

2008 star Mitch Graham is starting to do it all again as the only WA batter to compile two hits that he loaded on top of his leadoff walk in the first inning. All of the Heat’s eighth inning runs came in a bunch which began innocently enough when Luke Hughes reached on an error to score Nick Kimpton who had singled earlier. The next two daggers driven into Victorian hearts were via successive, none out, RBI doubles to Tim Kennelly and Chris House… the final thrust was a one out RBI double to Allan de San Miguel. Full credit to those young professional tyros who got the job done impressively when the game temperature was even hotter than the local weather… and that’s saying plenty!

Productive Paul Weichard opened the bidding early for the Aces with his leadoff long ball that cleared the left field corner before many fans had settled at the start of the game. The only other Victorians to reach base twice were Rikki Johnston who tripled plus walked and Jim Beresford who singled plus walked. Scotty Wearne supplied the other run batted in as he continues to thrive at National level.

I don’t want to overdo this because it doesn’t achieve much, but on this rare occasion ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ have a duty to mention some of the umpiring that seemed to impact negatively on the visiting team, while we will stop short of suggesting obvious bias. The “OUT” call at first base last night was a “shocker”, but it paled in comparison with a “SAFE” call on a picked off WA runner that could have turned ugly in the first inning today. In this case the picked runner was stone dead by the time the ball reached Brad Harman who had positioned himself on the line about five meters to the first base side of the second base bag. Whether Harman had actually tagged the runner became irrelevant when the runner ran clearly off the line like he was playing tiggy in the school yard… an automatic out!

All we want to say here is that cricket might think it needs zany and exaggerated characters like New Zealand umpire Brent ‘Billy’ Bowden, but baseball doesn’t. We’d rather our officials concentrate more on accuracy and professionalism than the type of self-promoting drama and histrionics we witnessed at times here... enough said!

To deliberately finish on a very positive note I would like to sincerely thank Baseball WA and their marvellous historian Doug Corker for their invitation and hospitality during their Diamond Anniversary announcement of the All-Time WA Claxton Shield team. This, I might add, was impressively conducted by WA’s tireless Events Manager Shane Tonkin and it was a credit to all those others involved behind the scenes. It was also very humbling for us that ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ received such recognition via those players who are also in our own Hall-of-Fame. It helps make our efforts worthwhile.

HOME & AWAY ROUND 5  Game 30 - Sydney BOP  Thu 8 Jan 2009

PATRIOTS SHUT OUT SA 3-0!

From recent memory names like Shane Tonkin, Chris Oxspring, Simon Beresford, Matt Gahan and Dushan Ruzic spring to mind… along with last year’s prize pack of Tim Cox, Liam Hendriks and Mark Kelly. Australia’s prestigious Claxton Shield can now add the name of WAYNE LUNDGREN to the list of those who have pitched phenomenal games at our sport’s national level. In fact, let’s not mince words here, this effort by Lundgren would have to rank right up near the top of any such illustrious list.

Consider the fact that the former minor league journeyman and recent Independent League pitcher produced a complete game shut out… already a statistic that is becoming rare due to the reliance upon specialist relievers and/or closers. Then add to that the incredible fact that he allowed only two South Australian base runners when Craig Watts walked in the second inning and Todd Langman broke the “NO HITTER” in the seventh. We’re not counting the other two guys who reached on fielding errors. Twelve strike outs would go a fair way towards explaining how dominant his 104-pitch hurricane was and, by the time it had subsided, the visitors had been well and truly blown away!

One guy who hung in there to survive with his head still proudly above the receding tide was that grand old South Aussie warrior Darren Fidge who, not unusually, pitched well enough to be the winner on most other occasions. 34yo ‘Fidgey’ remains one of the bravest stalwarts in AMLB history as a guy who simply wouldn’t know how to surrender or how to shirk any issue. Of course, he may not be capable of shredding through Claxton Shield offences these days, but he still has more than enough “ticker” and cunning to battle as he did through eight whole-hearted innings in this losing cause.

Hard hitting New York Mets’ pro Pat Maat was the only player in the game to hit more than once, but he also walked to prove once again what a terrific eye he has for baseball. Mark Holland drove in two of the three NSW runs via a hit and a sacrifice fly, while future Colorado Rockies’ pro David Kandilas continues to attract attention with his RBI triple.

We have already provided you with a commentary of South Australia’s total offence against ‘Whirlwind Wayne’ Lundgren as it took seven innings for Todd Langman to break the ice with their one and only safe hit. One critic suggested to us that the feat would come with an embarrassing “asterisk” via his lowly opinion of SA’s batting powers. While we agree that the team from Australia’s mid south is currently enduring a low ebb, you will never hear ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ denigrating any team at this level. Success can by a cyclic thing in sport and it pays nobody to get complacent about their own present situation.

We note with interest a few of the very familiar names sneaking back onto the Patriots’ roster post-Christmas. The New South Wales team have been a bit like those old US wild west cavalry films where the advance party have been fighting gamely before Christmas but, now that the heat is coming on, we can hear the sound of bugles in the distance as the heavy artillery arrives just in time to lend their support. High quality additions like Trent Oeltjen and Richard Thompson have given their roster a more daunting appearance for the stretch run.

HOME & AWAY ROUND 5  Game 29 - Perth, WA  Thu 8 Jan 2009

WA JUMPS VICTORIA FOR 8-7 VICTORY!

We’d really prefer not to get into anything that sounds like an excuse for any team in this competition that is generally fairly balanced but, in this case, if we had the time to preview each series this year, we MUST have put this case for the Victorian Aces. Every team has a weekend off under the five team "home & away" format, however, for the ladder leading Victorians this scheduling could not have been worse. Fate would perhaps decree that Victoria’s break would come immediately after the festive season, just when club baseball is in suspension and thereby meaning that the Victorian players would be the only ones to have and extended hiatus without serious match action.

Having said this, the puzzle here is to somehow decipher what this “rustiness” would mean in terms on the end results? ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ certainly have no intention of watering down the efforts of a very competent West Australian team yet, it has to be said, some of the customary sharpness of the Victorians in the field, and with bat or ball, would surely seem to indicate a team lacking competitive hardness? We’ll now set this aside while trying to recount the events of this series… we have explained the facts and we’ll now leave it right there for everyone to ponder. No doubt Victorian fans might evaluate it differently than those in the ‘Wonderful West’… ah yes, sports fans are fully entitled to be parochial!

Matching up for this important series opener would be recent Independent League pros and 2009 Claxton Shield stars Mark Kelly, for WA and Adam Blackley for Victoria. On this occasion neither of the starters would enjoy their finest moments although it was hard to read whether Blackley was more untidy or unfortunate? He didn’t last long today after some scrappy defence compounded too many base runners. Kelly was much better, although not at his brilliant best, and four innings was a relatively short start for the 2008 Championship MVP.

The game got away from Victoria very quickly when Blackley hit the leadoff batter with a pitch, then saw the steaming hot Nick Kimpton clip a “seeing-eye grounder” up the middle… it always looked ominous when ‘Likely Luke’ Hughes connected for a none-out, three run shot over centre-left… welcome to the wild, wild west for the visiting Victorians! But, if the travelling fans from Melbourne thought that was bad, they didn’t need to wait long for those wonky wheels to fall completely off during a horrible four-run bottom of the second.

Blackley departed with the weight of his first loss of the campaign on his solid shoulders and, maybe, it could shape the series when he needed to be relieved too early by usual starter Darryn Cassidy as the “long man”. Thankfully for the Aces, Cassidy would bring his customary mettle to the molten-hot Perth kitchen with six of the most gallant one-run innings you would ever witness at this level. Only a sacrifice fly could put a WA run on the board as he contained the rampant Heat offence. Evergreen righty Russell Spear made a handy return to the Aces squad with a typically competent 1-2-3 inning at the end of a tightening losing cause.

Given their dream seven run start, West Australia’s pitching was just OK when it didn’t need to be a lot better in this contest. Todd Murphy did a workmanlike job to suspension span those middle innings, while Dean White walked the tightrope later on. Heat closer Brendan Wise once again showcased his ‘AA’ quality to make pretty sure that WA’s big early lead would not totally evaporate at the skinny end of the game.

West Australia’s rising Minnesota Twins’ professional Luke Hughes is racing towards the not-finished line with a couple of others to become Australia’s 27^th major league player and he emphasised this today with his when-isn’t-it timely long ball in the posterior of the first. 'Nuclear Nick’ Kimpton continued to hit like it is something so easy to do with his, yet again, 3-4 plus a RBI, while ‘Mighty Mitch’ Graham was the only other Heat hitter to have duplicate knocks.

2008 Claxton Shield tyro Scott McIntyre might think about starting his own paving company, because all he has done since his Victorian debut is to prove his worth and to cement his place in the Aces team… he did this in the most positive way in this fixture with his gritty 3-4… top job ‘S-MAC’! McIntyre just edged former journeyman pro Paul Weichard who has the admirable ability to regularly rise to the biggest AMLB occasions as he did here with the first of his two hits bringing a leadoff bomb over the left side, while his second was a ripping double and his first plate appearance resulted in a walk. Major leaguer Brad Harman batted 1-4, while he supplied a RBI along with Wearne and Beresford.

Now, just before my Victorian brethren start to assume that I will “pike out” on making rational umpiring comment… NOPE… forget it! The ninth inning “OUT” call on a Victorian runner hustling at least one pace beyond first base was very obviously WRONG and, yes, we agree, it did look like a convenient home-town decision under the circumstances of a knife-edge game that might have slipped from the grasp of the locals? Sorry, we’re holding back at this stage because nobody can be sure that a leadoff runner will result in the tying run and, also, it pales in comparison with at least one unbelievable decision in the second game and a very tight one at home plate that might have changed the course of this outcome?

One thing that ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ will never abide is could’ves, should’ves, and might’ves… they don’t count for much, but you will hear more about the umpires in our next report from this series which, by the way, will not overshadow WA’s deserved victory. You cannot and must not blame any team, even if there is a suspicion that they have been either favoured or fortunate… it has little to do with them other than to aid their confidence levels. Of course it can influence the outcome, but who should you blame for this?... over to you.