Spoilt for choice is the way I’d describe last weekend. Soccer, cricket and rugby. There is not much more I need to be extremely sitting happily inside watching TV on a beautiful late summer’s day. The highlight came early when the Blackcaps beat the Aussies in the first ODI, following on from squaring the 20/twenty series in sensational circumstances.

In the clash of the summer and winter sporting codes, cricket definitely came out on top last weekend with the thrilling win on Sunday night by our mighty Blackcaps over those horribly smug Australians. Dan Vettori summed it up after the opening game loss on Friday night by saying all it will take to win, is to have at least two of our players play outstandingly well. Those two players were Brendon McCullum with the bat equalling the fastest international 20/twenty century, and Tim Southee with the ball, who bowled three overs of perfectly straight in-swinging yorkers. Now we know we can compete, the upcoming ODI series holds just that little bit more interest.

I have been trying to get into the Winter Olympics as much as possible but despite the obvious attraction of high speed crashes on the downhill skiing course or luge track, and following the fortunes of Queenstown locals Tim Cafe and Mitchey Greig, I have found the viewing rather underwhelming. It’s a shame because I really did want to get into it, but with most of the sports being time trials or decided by judges, rather than actual head to head racing, it just hasn’t been floating my boat. Yawn.

The second round of the Super 14 produced scores resembling a cricket match rather than rugby. One really has to question the art of defence when teams can score in the twenties, thirties and even the sixties and still lose. The Chiefs may have notched up 72 points but to leak 65 is quite simply a disgrace. Regardless of that, they still won another match in the Republic with a bonus point and that would surely put them in the box seat of the competition. As for the hapless Highlanders, they have again narrowly lost, which they seem to be very good at, and now hit the road with the distinct possibility of no wins in the next two weeks, to go with the no wins in the first two weeks.

With all this talk of rugby it must be remembered it is still summer, and finally the summer of cricket really begins with the Aussies arriving for two 20/twenty matches, five ODI’s and two test matches. Now we will see exactly how good, or bad, our boys really are. Against the Aussies there is nowhere to hide when things are not going well. Every weakness will be exploited and every mistake punished.
Overshadowing all other things sport last weekend was the Wellington Phoenix adding another chapter to the rise and rise of football in New Zealand. I was on the edge of my seat as they won their A-League elimination semi-final on penalties 4-2 against Perth Glory. Now the football mad Wellingtonians can look forward to another elimination final in two weeks time, and Kiwi football can bask in the limelight of success just a little bit longer. Everybody loves a winner and that’s the truth.

There are a few things in the world of sport that have upset me in the last week. The death of Olympic luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was bad enough, but for news agencies like TV3 to show the crash in all its horrific glory, complete with man versus steel pole soundtrack was disturbing indeed. Even for a hardened professional journalist like yours truly that was cringe worthy and the sound will haunt me for ever.