If you don't laugh, it just seems mean

A couple of years back, I received a set of DVDs for the first season of "How I met your mother" for Christmas. It is a show I have often enjoyed when it is on the TV though I rarely go out of my way to find it.  One of the episodes caught my attention. In it Barney, the self declared "awesome" one of the group whose exploits are (in his own words) "legend... wait for it... dary", plays a prank on the main character, Ted. Towards the end of the episode, just before the pay off, Barney explains what he has done to the rest of the group, and is greeted with silence. He encourages them to laugh because "if you don't laugh it just seems mean". The lesson of course being that it is fine to be mean as long as it seems funny.

It was an episode that I was reluctant to watch a second time. The main reason is that I don't laugh, and it does seem mean. Or more precisely, it seems mean so I don't laugh. I find it difficult to laugh at some of the mean humor that people/TV shows/movies employ. One of the reasons is that it takes me back to

Phil and Agar

Last night the Aussies got themselves out of a heap of trouble thanks to a virtually unknown 19 year old and a two time has been.

This is Phil Hughes' third crack at test cricket.  Both other occasions had early success (2 hundreds vs. South Africa the first time, and one against Sri Lanka the second) but soon after the flaws in his technique were exposed and he was dropped.  This time hasn't seen the stunning success of the earlier attempts, but rather he has grafted out a couple of decent scores in tough circumstances in the last few tests.  He still has a unique approach, but there is a level of grit and determination that wasn't there before. Hopefully it will last.

Batting upside down

In 1937, faced with a sticky wicket, Australian captain Don Bradman decided to reverse the batting order and sent in the weaker batsmen first to give the pitch a chance to dry out and for conditions to improve.  In 2013, I wonder if the Aussies have done it again, but on a more permanent basis.  The weaker batsmen (or the tail) are sent in early to take the shine off the ball and encourage the opposition, leaving the stronger batsmen to bat lower in the order and clean up the mess.  Ashton Agar's fine knock yesterday was just the latest example.  The last five Test innings for Australia (most recent first) have had as their top scorers:
Agar 98
Siddle 50
Siddle 51
Hughes 69 (occasionally a tailender will top score, and as he showed by sticking around with Agar, he is handy especially when he has a decent batsman at the other end)
Starc 99.

Now if we can just get Rogers to swing the ball, and Cowan to work on a flipper...

Humble pie and good prospects: state of a cricket nation.

Just over twelve months ago on this blog, I questioned Clarke's ability to mould the team in the way Border did in the eighties and nineties. Well twelve months on, I am willing to admit there is more substance to Clarke than I had given credit for. He has shown himself an astute captian.

The changes he made in the Sydney test last year seemed to me at the time the actions of a man who wanted to show he could stamp himself on the team, rather than actually doing so. It merely confirmed what I had thought just a week or so before. However, since officially taking the reigns, Clarke has shown a creativity that his predecessor did not. In particular, Clarke seems to know how to use a spinner, especially one trying to establish himself. As I noted last year, Ponting struggled with this, which made it difficult for him to rebuild the team, and contributed to the revolving door of spinners we had before Lyon. Clarke has also stepped up with the bat, with a century against each opponent he has faced as the full time captain. In particular, his score against South Africa in trying conditions was