SPORTS: Another Time …
- July 1st, 2010
- Posted by 7thmin
International sports in June saw Australian players thinking of next time, in the Cricket, Football, Rugby, Tennis and Formula One, though avoiding disaster in any field …
The latest clash saw Australia win the fourth one-day cricket match in the series against England, at The Oval, in London, on Wednesday (30.6.10); a bounce-back after three straight losses, the best-of-five competition already lost.
In tennis, Jarmila Groth and Lleyton Hewitt got to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon before elimination (30.6.10). That competition has seen leading lights taken out ahead of this Friday’s (2.7.10) semis, and finals on the weekend. Gone are such stars as Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick, Venus Williams, and Roger Federer (the Swiss defender, after seven years of dominating the event, defeated by Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic on Wednesday, 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6). Among those still standing: Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, and the revived hope for British supporters, Scotland’s Andy Murray.
Rugby Union officials and supporters had their reasons for anxiety about the Wallabies’ form, though not entirely explained by the scores in the recent test series, with three wins out of four, (defeating Fiji 49-3 at Canberra on 5.6.10; England 27-17 in Perth on 12.6.10, and Ireland 22-17 in Brisbane on 26.6.10; the loss being to England, 20-21, in Sydney, 19.6.10 – an unsettling home defeat for the fraternity). Some sense of trepidation is reported from these Rugby ranks, and the commentariat, ahead of the Tri-nations series starting this month, and the World Cup in a little over one year from now.
The Socceroos have been returning home from South Africa in ones and twos after the disappointment of not making it into the final 16 for the Football World Cup. All was lost in the first clash, the 4-0 defeat by Germany, that score mattering mightily when it came to counting-back on draws. Something more like expected form was demonstrated in the 1-1 draw against Ghana (the Socceroos again, as with the Germany game, playing with ten on the field most of the way through, after red cards). Redemption came with last Friday’s (25.6.10) 2-1 win against Serbia. Getting through to the final eight, knock-out stage for the World Cup: three European teams (Germany, Netherlands and Spain), four from South America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), and one African team, Ghana.
Lastly in the chain of sporting set-backs, MarkWebber in Formula One racing had his dramatic crash at Valencia — and lived to tell the tale. (See EUAustralia, “Mark Webber crash …â€, 26.6.10).
No hands-down victory for Australians this time around? Crikey.
Reference
Cricket Australia, home. http://cricket.com.au/, (1.7.10).
FIFA, Zurich, “2010 FIFA World Cup Round of 2010â€. www.fifa.com/, (1.7.10).
Les Murray, “A Tale of Two Stylesâ€, The World Game, 1.7.10. www.sbs.com.au/, (1.7.10).
Wimbledon Tennis 21.6.10 – 4.7.10, London, home. http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/index.html, (1.7.10).