Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz is showered with fake money after hitting a solo home run in their 6-1 victory against the New York Yankees in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Tuesday. PHOTO: IMAGN IMAGES VIA REUTERS
The men in black
Test week!
That is how we used to feel about it, anyway.
In ye olden days, before The Last Word got weary and literally everything about the world got worse, the build-up to an All Blacks test in Dunedin genuinely deserved an exclamation mark.
There was no ludicrous clash between club and international rugby, so both home and visiting teams were at full strength.
Both teams would also — ALWAYS — arrive in Dunedin on the preceding Sunday, and do public trainings and be out and about in the city, which really helped the buzz grow.
From tent villages at Bathgate Park to shops (with plenty of carparking) competing with one another to ‘‘black out’’ in greater style, there was such an incredible atmosphere here that many argued Dunedin was the best place to have an All Blacks test.
It is a little different now, and without sounding too cynical, the changes have not been for the better.
Let me stress that an All Blacks test is still brilliant, still far and away the biggest sports event we can hold, and we should be grateful Dunedin gets one most years.
But the All Blacks do not arrive in our city until Tuesday night, the French do not even bother to come here until Thursday night, and there is not the slightest sign of rugby test buzz in town, and that makes me a little sad.
International void
While I am really winding up my levels of bitterness — note to self: must embrace positivity more — here is another thought.
Two things each year are guaranteed to make my heart sink briefly, but it appears they cause mostly shrugged shoulders around Otago.
The Silver Ferns announce their home schedule, and Dunedin is not part of it; and New Zealand Cricket reveals its schedule and the University Oval misses out on a test again.
Let’s get out and march in the streets over this appalling development.
Dunedin has not hosted a Silver Ferns test since 2008 — the one before that was in 1998, when your man was in his first year at this fine newspaper — and the Black Caps have not played a test here since 2017.
International hockey has not been seen in the city since 2007, the Tall Blacks have not played here since 2006 and the Tall Ferns since 2007, and the Kiwis test here in 2014 was the first in 86 years.
The All Whites broke a 25-year drought when they played in Dunedin in 2013, though the city has seen top-level football thanks to the Fifa Women’s World Cup in 2023 and the Under-20 World Cup in 2015.
New Zealand Rugby, for its faults, still appears to value Dunedin as a venue — that cracking stadium helps — with the All Blacks coming most years, and the Black Ferns playing here just two years ago.
A word of warning, though.
Christchurch will open its fancy new house next year. The All Blacks now regularly play a ‘‘home’’ test overseas. And with an old-school tour of South Africa coming next year, and the World Cup the year after, there will be fewer home tests.
Is it possible this French test will be the last time we see the All Blacks in Dunedin until 2028?
Grudging acknowledgement
The Crusaders are Super Rugby champions again.
How wonderful for their long-suffering fans.
Seriously, Chiefs: you had one job!
Bazball again
That was another stunning effort by the English cricketers as they chased 371 in the final innings to take a 1-0 lead in the test series against India.
Hat tip to Michael Wagener, one of the cricket tragics I follow on X, for this outstanding snippet of information.
He says that, in 148 years of test cricket, there have been just eight instances of a team chasing down a score of 250-plus to win a test while maintaining a run rate of better than 4.5 runs per over.
Five of those eight chases have come from England since our Brendon McCullum became their coach.
Plucky little amateurs
This was the point when I assumed I would be mentioning Auckland City getting destroyed again, and mocking their presence at the bloated Club World Cup.
My bad!
It is legitimately amazing that New Zealand’s battlers at the Fifa tournament managed to draw with Argentine powerhouses Boca Juniors.
Bravo, lads.
That lad again
Sprint sensation Gout Gout continued his rapid rise by smashing the Australian 200m record in the Czech Republic earlier this week.
The 17-year-old Usain Bolt Mark II clocked a sizzling 20.02sec.
Only a matter of time before he is challenging Bolt’s legacy.
Birthday of the week
Adolfo Carlos Julio Schwelm-Cruz would have been 102 today.
Heck of a name, obviously.
But the most interesting thing about the Argentine racing driver is that he was given a single race in a Formula One car, at his home nation’s Grand Prix in 1953.
One race! Even Red Bull gave Liam Lawson more than that.
