Chock full of the Angry Pills!

Wine of the Week:
Nightingale Wines 2007 Shiraz - Trish and I went to the Hunter last month for the Pepper Tree Wines Harvest Luncheon (By the way, congrats to the guys at Pepper Tree for winning Cellar Door of the year; check them out http://www.peppertreewines.com.au )

We visited a number of other wineries while we were up there and found a new one in Broke called Nightingale Wines. It is a small, emerging winery which is about 15 minutes from Pokolbin. They have a nice setup there with a number of villas and a restaurant which offers a "You dine, we drive" service. 

We tasted a few of their wines and the Shiraz was a typical Hunter Shiraz and one that you could drink now and anytime you felt the need for a peppery, warming Shiraz; which with Winter arriving is becoming a regular occurance. Reasonably priced as well - perfect for everyday drinking! http://www.nightingalewines.com.au

Well...after a month I am back and have decided to bring the soap box with me. See, there are a couple of things that I need to get off my chest...and suffice to say I am not happy!

Now, last week Cricket Australia announced their list of 25 contracted players for the 2011/2012 season. Every year there are always notable 'ins and outs' that are worth debate but what the list does do is provide an insight as to those that are in the frame for national selection for the coming season. One of the notable names missing from the list this year was Simon Katich. 

By now, most would have heard that the Kat was far from happy with his omission from the list and the reasons given to him as to why. To be honest, he does have a fair and reasonable case and it kudos for having the gumption for getting up and having a spray (by the way, if you haven't seen the spray, check it out on YouTube Simon Katich's spray). 

Fact is (and Andrew Hilditch knows this) the opening partnership has not been the problem for Australia of late and the fact that there is justification to drop a player who is averaging 50+ in Test matches is just plain stupid. Don't get me wrong, I am all for building for the future and making sure the older players don't hang around too long but this particular call is just plain "ridiculous" (as the Kat put it so eloquently last week)

Now, the questions and observations I have is as follows...

1. When will the often spoken about post-Ashes review going to deliver any outcomes/recommendations? Surely, it must before the Australians leave for Sri Lanka in September and that the back office (read: Selection Panel) needs to be looked at prior to this tour as well.
2. I would suggest that Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey will be under extreme scrutiny this summer. Katich was the sacrificial elder lamb in this case and this would be a warning sign for the other two elder statesmen of the team. For mine, Ponting deserves the right to name his own exit date on the provisor he scores runs. Hussey is very lucky as he should have been out prior to last summer.
3. Phillip Hughes will join Shane Watson opening the innings in Sri Lanka...he better score big otherwise the dogs will be barking! 

In short, the big winners here are the NSW Blues who will benefit from Katich's experience and runs full time this season. However, Cricket Australia is cutting off it's nose in spite of it's face. I could wax lyrical about the state of Australian Cricket but that is for another time...as I have other matters to spray about.

Which brings me to my next point - at this time of year I hate Queenslanders! Hate is such a harsh term but hey it is what it is. 

We are in the middle of this year's State of Origin series and Queensland are up 1-0 after their win at Suncorp three weeks ago; thus setting them up for a sixth consecutive series which means the bleating from up north has been neverending..which annoys me greatly!

See, whenever Queensland win it is always about how great they are. When NSW win, it is always about how they were dudded. It has always been the Queensland way and that will never change...which is why everyone south of the Tweed hates them this time of the year!

I grew up in an era when State of Origin was born; when Queensland and 'The King' continually beat NSW. That is until Steve Mortimer stopped the bus in Caxton Street in 1985 on their way to their first series victory. In short, I take State of Origin personally and every Maroon victory hurts.

I think NSW are a strong chance of levelling the series on Wednesday night at a sold out ANZ Stadium. They lost Game 1 due to a couple of mistakes and I think they will have Queensland a little concerned because they know they got out of Game 1 by the skin of their XXXX-stained teeth!!! 

If by some stretch of the imagination, Queensland do win on Wednesday night, a word of warning...do not call, text or message me that night and expect a response as I will be sulking well into the night...if not for the remainder of the week! 

And as I pack away the soapbox just one final point...to Tony Abbott - when will you stop pushing a negative and divisive agenda and actually provide a real alternative in opposition??? Stop being a poor John Howard imitation and develop some tangible policies!!!

And in the words of Austin Powers "...and I'm spent!"