The NZ men’s cricket side has gone from hopeless to number one in the test rankings in seven short years. Michael Appleton breaks it down, and asks: can we lock in that run of success? To be a Black Caps fan is to be familiar with disappointment. Thudding, repetitive, painful disappointment. For much of our … Read more
After a byzantine process, some beautiful performances and a fair splash of luck, the Black Caps will be playing for the biggest prize in cricket – the first ever World Test Championship. Alex Braae explains how they got there. What’s all this then? In June this year, Kane Williamson will lead the Black Caps onto … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mahuta signals intent to replace Tauranga council with commissioner, Super Fund keen on local infrastructure, and Safety Warehouse panned for idiotic cash drop stunt. Local government minister Nanaia Mahuta has started the term with a big call. After months of dysfunction and infighting around the Tauranga … Read more
With venues slow to pick up Spark Sport, New Zealand cricket fans might have trouble finding places showing the games. Alex Braae reports. For decades, any sports bar worth the name will have had a Sky Sports subscription. Long hazy days at the pub could be spent watching a test match slowly unfold, punctuated by … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Massive workforce boost for horticulture sector, wild opening day at parliament, and dwindling specialist doctor workforce raises burnout fears. Two announcements from the government this morning will give the horticulture sector a major workforce boost. As the NZ Herald’s Derek Cheng reports, 2000 places in managed isolation will … Read more
This year, a whole lot of the traditional summer of cricket will be very different. What’s changing, and what’s staying the same? Alex Braae explains. It’s that time of year again, when we all mercifully forget the All Blacks and spend long, hazy days watching grown adults gently strolling around a park. A time of … Read more
Good morning and welcome the The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Contrasting visions on National’s defeat and future, St Johns ambulance in deep funding hole, and Tauranga mayor quits with call to sack council. Contrasting visions for why National lost the election so badly have been presented at the party’s AGM. As the NZ Herald’s (paywalled) Derek Cheng reports, … Read more
As South Africa prepares to unleash a confusing new three-team version of cricket on the world, it’s time to settle once and for all: which cricket format is the best? Cricket is a sport steeped in tradition. One of the proudest cricketing traditions calls for purists to express outrage any time a new format of … Read more
As a boy, finance minister and cricket tragic Grant Robertson was given the nickname Jock, in honour of the big-hitting batsman Jock Edwards, by his older brothers. It was a name he carried with pride. It must have been the summer of 1980/81. We were on a family camping holiday in Te Anau. It was … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Debate over leaving lockdown fires up, how the tax system could change after Covid-19, and concerns as cyclone bears down on Vanuatu. Over the last few days, a debate has started to fire up about leaving level four restrictions, and restarting some of the economic activity … Read more
She had a modest message about peace and solidarity to share, and then it was confiscated from her. Something perturbing happened to my friend at the cricket. It was, on the face of it, a minor act of censorship that went unnoticed by most. It might have been something and it might have been nothing. … Read more
Eden Park has been home to Kiwi sports fans for 120 years, but now it’s launched a new effort: to be a leading NZ venue for big music events. The battle between the managers of Eden Park and residents of the leafy streets surrounding the stadium is about to resume, with a resource consent application … Read more
Sure, the new wave of RTDs might have cool labels and no carbs or whatever, but for Sam Brooks, none come close to the perfection held within that little yellow can. RTDs are coming back, if they were ever really gone. I remember the halcyon days of getting drunk off Purple Goannas, off Taboos, even … Read more
The controversy around the unexpected (but ‘pre-planned’) mid-season break for Black Caps coach Gary Stead left countless cricket fans feeling they were being taken for suckers. And no wonder: it’s only reasonable to be suspicious of what sports administrators tell us, writes Alex Braae. In the English Premier League, there’s a phrase that inevitably causes … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Former PM Mike Moore mourned, travel ban put in place in attempt to prevent Coronavirus, and Greens break government ranks over transport spending. Former PM Mike Moore has passed away at the age of 71, a few days after his birthday. A wide range of tributes … Read more
The exhibition T20 Black Clash, between Team Rugby and Team Cricket, will take place this Friday. Here Alex Braae sets out why the game is such a joy to watch. There was a moment near the start of last year’s T20 Black Clash which summed up why it connects so well. Stephen Fleming, one of … Read more
Simon Day and Alex Braae, co-hosts of The Offspin podcast, look back at the 10-year evolution of the Black Caps. The last 10 years have been a bizarre time for Black Caps supporters, because the team has been consistently good. The true joy of being a millennial New Zealand cricket fan is built on the team’s … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Data breach blunder hits gun buyback, new poll gives National the numbers to govern, and South Island farm sale blocked by ministers. Another problem has hit the gun buyback programme, denting confidence in both the government and the police carrying out the operation. This time it … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Minister wants winter grazing cleaned up before next season, elite figures wade into port debate, and golfers win Chamberlain Park fight. Environmental and animal welfare concerns have been at the forefront of a hard hitting report on winter grazing. It came from a taskforce convened by agriculture … Read more
James Borrowdale spent the last cricket season examining Neil Wagner and his unique approach to bowling. Today, in the first test of the Black Caps’ summer, Wagner returns. Neil Wagner has a wicket. He freezes mid-pitch, fists clenched at his side, knees slightly bent, a roar on his lips. His brows are knitted into a … Read more
It’s final time. The Offspin team are joined by actor, Lotto host and passionate cricket fan Sonia Gray – do we dare to believe in a Black Caps World Cup victory? It’s still hard to fathom, but we’re in the final again. And it’s against the English, who overcame the sandpaper canaries. Ahead of that … Read more
In today’s episode of The Offspin podcast, Simon Day and Alex Braae go absolutely berserk over the semi-final win that put the Black Caps into the Cricket World Cup final. It took 29 hours and two nights, but the Black Caps have somehow managed to beat the mighty India to advance to the Cricket World … Read more
In the latest episode of The Offspin, cricketer, commentator, activist and aspiring local board rep Peter McGlashan joins the show to mix sport and politics. The game was utterly frustrating. It was slow, things went wrong at key moments, it made people at home angry and now requires confusing calculations to figure out who will … Read more
Radio NZ journalist Ravinder Hunia has a dilemma over who to support at the Cricket World Cup tonight. Will it be the birthplace of her father in Punjab, or the birthplace of her mother in Te Puke? My father Surjit Singh was born in an Indian village, Daroli Khurd, in Punjab 60 years ago while … Read more
Many moons ago, when the Cricket World Cup was just about to start, one of our resident cricket fanatics made a series of predictions. Have any of them come to pass? It took five weeks, more than 40 completed matches, and what seems like a thousand takes about who should open the batting for the … Read more
On this episode of The Offspin, legendary all-rounder Dion Nash joins the show after a Black Caps performance that felt like a throwback to New Zealand cricket’s dark days of teal. Once upon a time, the stereotype of New Zealand cricket was of freezing in the big games, fragile batting and despair, while still finding … Read more
For the latest episode of The Offspin podcast, we’re joined by writer, musician and cricket tragic Samuel Flynn Scott, to process the utterly insipid Black Caps loss against Australia. Well, that was rubbish. The Black Caps utterly failed to show any spine against Australia, leaving their Cricket World Cup campaign dangling precariously as we approach … Read more
In this bonus episode of The Offspin podcast, Simon Day takes a walk around Eden Park with one of the most unlikely legends of New Zealand sporting history. He probably shouldn’t have even been there. In the year before the 2015 Cricket World Cup, South African born Grant Elliott was a relatively obscure figure, in … Read more
In episode nine of The Offspin, we’re joined by Black Caps test spinner Mark Craig to explore the crueller side of cricket in the wake of the Black Caps victory over the West Indies in both thrilling and devastating circumstances. There are few things in life more cruel than being blessed with spin bowling talent, … Read more