WineChief

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• Rote Kappelle says:

  8/9/2023 2:25:00 PM - In answer to your post on my MB re cricket- Wasn't it a wonderful Ashes contest? The Australian wine making saying from the 1970's/1980's 'If there ain't no wood, it ain't no good' certainly seems apt. As a former quick myself, I loved watching the way Mark Wood imposed a transformative few moments on the series. I have very fond memories of John Snow and Bob Willis as well - very rapid and very good. Devon Malcolm had his moments, too. Angus Fraser is another of my favourites, though he wasn't rapid. I also really enjoyed the contest between two ways of playing the game. I think both are perfectly valid. Usman K is a nice story because his career was washed up and there is very little diversity in the game at the higher levels here. When the recent race issues were in the news re Yorkshire, in particular, I found it disappointing that very few here were prepared to look at the exact same problems here. In a way, the problems are worse, because we aren't even willing to see them yet. I have a great love of cricket as a game, as I do rugby, though in both cases my love is more for the game than for any given team or country. I love the way Yorkshire has gone about cricket and I have been lucky enough to see so many fantastic Yorkshire cricketers - some of my earliest memories are of the rather divisive Boycott; still one of the finest batsmen I have been privileged enough to see. I have been a great fan of Malfoy (Broad) as well; a magnificent competitor, a very fine bowler and I loved the way he struggled to manage his demons after a terrible head injury batting some years ago. I will miss him greatly. For what it is worth, I thought the Bairstow (his father was a naughty boy but a very fine cricketer and, I think also a Yorkshireman) incident was unfortunate for Bairstow - an understandable lapse by him- but also not a sportsmanship issue. I think it would have been if the Oz keeper had held on to the ball for a bit and then done it. I am also unmoved by the ball changing incident. One side got lucky, they got a ball that seemed to do more, it happens but several Oz batsmen also made runs against it. I think when you have great cricket it is strange to focus on things like the above. In rugby, Kiwis say 'you have to take the ref out of the game' and I think it applies in a broader sense. Sport is about mastering adversity. If you can't, then you get what follows. I thought England could have won the series in a clean sweep, or lost 2 or 3 to nil. The matches were tight and wonderful. Mark Wood deserves to be accompanied by good, English music. For some reason 'Space Trucking' by Deep Purple comes to mind, but 'Stormbringer' might be more apt. I think Coverdale was from Redcar, on the 'Yorkshire riviera'. Let me know your thoughts, if you will. I enjoy controversy, so if you have different views don't feel shy about it. Have you been to the Barossa and McLaren Vale? Both are lovely places, aside from the wine. I see from your photo that you may have been to Leconfield in the Coonawarra? I once worked not far from there and got to spend a lot of time there and in places like the Victorian Pyrenees etc.

• marcusmer says:

  12/4/2018 5:07:00 AM - You have a great cellar test1