Bad sportsmanship

Tonight's indoor match was very fought, with our weaker lineup outclassing and outplaying a much tougher opposition. We made 84 runs after some limp batting in the middle, but we really bowled and fielded well in reply. Needing 31 runs in the final partnership, they only made 7 and crashed to 61.

But the game will be more remembered for the controversial run-out that happened at the end of the 13th over. I was keeping behind the stumps as the regular keeper was in the bowling attack. On his final delivery, I collected the ball. I was about to go back to my position in the field when I noticed the umpire did not call "over". Time seemed to stand still, but it was only a second later from the time I gloved the ball that the batsman started walking down the pitch. Immediately I hit the stumps to run him out, and appealed to the umpire. He was given out. I was ecstatic, as it was a crucial point in the game where a wicket could decide who wins the game.

In the next over, I was fielding in the cover area. At the start of the over, the non-striker who swapped ends between overs decided to have a swipe at me, calling the action "not good sportsmanship". What the fuck?? I was playing well within the rules. If your partner was so stupid to walk out of his crease while the ball was still in play, then he deserved to get out! I have absolutely no sympathy at people's ignorance of the rules. I felt like walking over and giving the bastard an old-fashioned knuckle sandwich after his remark, but since he had a bat in his hand, I restrained myself.

This reminded me of the time when Brendon McCullum ran out Murali after he stepped out of his crease to celebrate Sangakkara's ton. There was all sorts of vigourous comments and debate whether McCullum did the right thing, with regards to playing within the rules and playing within the spirit of the game. Like his captain, I also support McCullum for what he did. Murali has played over hundred tests, he's a vastly experienced cricketer and he knew the rules of the game. The Sri Lankans argued that it was a lost test for them, but I don't buy that argument. If Sangakkara made a double ton, and NZ lost the run chase, cricket fans and the general public would be spewing over McCullum's lack of killer instinct. I'm sure if one of our team members had a brain explosion and walked out of their crease, I would expect the opposition to do the same. In the context of the game, the opposition needed 31 runs. The batsman who took a swipe at me is a really good hitter and also very arrogant. I remembered him smashing three consecutive 7's of Glen's left-arm spin, so we had to take every opportunity to tame the partnership. Fortunately I was sharp behind the stumps. In fact I had a great game. I saved the batting at the close, giving us a much healthier target; I ran out two batsman with direct hits, and I picked up a bag of wickets.

To rub salt into the wound, he refused to shake my hand after shaking hands with my teammates. When I walked out of the playing area to shake hands with the opposition, he finally shook my hand and said "good sportsmanship". Sarcasm alert! Make up your fucking mind! If you thought I was a good sport, why don't you actually apologise for your earlier statement? Makes more sense than to say good sportmanship.

And having played his team a few times. I've observed that this person is far from displaying good sportsmanship. In fact after this game, it confirmed to me that he's a prick and a hypocrite. During the game he attempted to mankad one of our batsmen when the batsmen was clearly in his crease. And on the final ball, when the opposition had no chance to win, he hit the ball in the side net for two, but never bothered completing the run, already thinking "we've lost the game, why bother running?" Thank you very much, we ran them out again. Not really in the spirit of the game, methinks.

I'm pretty sure he called me a fuckwit in the carpark afterwards, but as I was quite far away and not wanting any further confrontations after a fiery game, I just pretended not to hear and walked to my car.

The Battle to Get Fit

I haven't been running for more than a month since I felt pain in my left knee. I did compete in the 1st race of the Leppin Off-Road series (the 14 km course) around three weeks ago, but as I took the race slowly by my standards, it's no surprise I didn't get a good time.

This prompted me to finally visit the physiotherapist in my gym. The problem is with my patella tendon in my left knee somehow being inflamed or aggravated. She did a few tests and unfortunately I have a few biomechanical problems, something runners don't want to admit.

My left ankle, which I rolled a couple of years ago while running (surprise surprise), is rather weak, which reduces the stability of my left leg. Because I also have a pronation problem, this causes the knee to roll inward, thereby placing pressure on tendons and ligaments there. Balancing on my left leg is far more difficult than on my right leg.

My ITB (illio-tibial band) is very very tight, which pulls the kneecap outwards and also contributes to mis-alignment of my knee.

Finally I have muscle imbalances. It seems my left leg is stronger than my right leg. That's an interesting observation, but not sure how this could contribute to my current problem. Generally muscle imbalances are bad. For example my quad muscles are much stronger than my hamstrings, though it is the hamstring muscles that are the dominant muscles in running, and when running huge distances I find that my hamstrings fatigue much quicker than my quads.

My very good physiotherapist gave me some rehabilitative exercises to get me back on track. And, to her credit, they seem to be helping. I'm still not out of the woods yet, it will still be some time before I can really get back into training for the Auckland Marathon. I'm also unsure whether I can break 4 hours this time. Injuries not only affect you physically, but they can affect you mentally as well. To not be able to meet your running goals because of an injury is really frustrating. At least I got injured now, instead of the day before the marathon. Now I'd feel gutted if that happened to me.

The downtime in my running has resulted in increased gym attendance. My physio recommended me not to do leg workouts as bulking up the legs would reduce leg flexibility, which may have contributed to my left knee packing up. So I have only concentrated on upper-body. I guess I can't go wrong with that. Time to get that huge chest, and bulk up my arms.