#1

lbourne had the final last year and Adelaide has also

in Introduce Yourself As A Pony! Tue Feb 26, 2019 9:57 am
by corse178 • 1.660 Posts

It is calm, there is no bunny hop, no bucking bronco, the cat is not on a hot tin roof, and the goat has left the trampoline. Younis Khan looks like Younis Khan again. Younis Khan, the Pakistani batting legend.Earlier in the tour it hasnt been like this, it has been a horror comedy. At times it was as if gremlins were biting him, he was hopping across a road dressed as an elf, he had fallen off the back of a truck, a man who has forgotten how gravity works. He has five limbs, his left and right feet are in an eternal dance off against each other, and hes auditioning to play the plastic bag in the American Beauty reboot. Thats what Twitter thought. Batting coaches and cricket analysts probably just combusted upon watching it.In one shot his back foot was dragging towards square leg as his front foot went forward and across in the other direction; his bat was in the middle of this, missing the ball. There were leg glances that even if he had middled the ball he had jumped so far across the wicket he could have middled them onto his stumps. A simple forward defence turned into a weird dance move with a kicking back leg. Another delivery and his hands are thrusting out as if he is trying to punch the ball, not hit it, and his feet go backwards. Another leg glance ends with him using his bat as a crutch so he doesnt fall over.And that is just a taste of how bad Younis had got. At Lords, even his leaves were an extraordinary dramatic contemporary dance move that conveyed emotions of worry and doubt. It was a trigger movement that was squat, charge and hope.Either Younis Khan, the Pakistani batting legend, had been replaced by some eager frightened replica, or Younis Khan, the Pakistani batting legend, had convinced himself that this was a batting method that could somehow work. Both didnt make sense. Younis found it hard to play his regular shots as he propelled himself at the ball like he was a secret service agent and the ball was a bullet.33, 25, 1, 18, 31 and 4 were all he had to show for it on what have been tracks that several other Pakistani batsmen have been good on.Was he over thinking it, trying to get in line so much that he was jumping there? Were the pitches outside Asia getting to a man who didnt have young reflexes? Had no one in the changeroom taken him aside and said: Um, Younis, dude, whats going on? Was this the end, how the great man would go, launching himself to his own doom?At Younis age, the slightest sign of weakness is seen as the end. This wasnt a subtle sign; it was a massive jumping neon one. But every Test Younis had been paring back his kangaroo technique a little. By the time he got to Edgbaston, he might not have been making runs, but at least he was trying to get there.Today he got there. There was still the Younis squat, but there wasnt the Khan thrust. He stood in his crease, waited for the ball, his legs usually stayed where he wanted them, and when the ball came he played a Younis appropriate shot to them. He might have still gone across his crease, but he did it with his head screwed on and his feet often (as much as he ever does) touching the ground.It was a batsman of balance, patience and skill, making runs when the conditions were in his favour and his team needed a lot of them. He played all his classics, strike rotated, spinner milked, and quicks handled. He held his batting partners hand as he got nervous and went about building a total that Pakistan would need to win the game.Younis form was so good and off-putting to England that they reviewed a ball he middled. And compared to every other day in this series he middled a lot. A sweep off Moeen was so muscular it had its own throbbing bicep and a six went further than a 40-plus man should be able to hit anything.When he brought up his 50 it was a shot the Younis of Lords would have struggled to play. It was short and wide from Anderson, Younis waited and pounced, instead of pouncing and hoping. The ball disappeared through point. It was a shot so Younis, the Pakistani batting legend, it was practically autographed.Later he would play another, even better. As the ball cracked through backward point you couldnt help but wonder where this calm, skilful, and patient batting had been all series. Pakistan have been so close to winning this series, what they really needed was this Younis, the Pakistani batting legend, to arrive.Asad Shafiq made being on 99 look like a Japanese horror film; Younis made it look like a Sunday afternoon walk. This despite a new ball for England that was moving. The wicket of his captain Misbah. And the gift from Iftikhar. Younis was on 99 for all of it. And yet at his end, it was serene. When Stuart Broad bowled a searching ball in and around off stump, Younis moved smoothly into the line, dropped his hands softly, middled the ball and wandered up the pitch like he was checking on his azaleas.Even when he celebrated his hundred there was no leap of joy. The leaping had gone, this was just batting. His team needed him, so he made a hundred. It was no different to the other 31 Test hundreds he has made. It was just number 32 for the Pakistani batting legend. Alex Verdugo Jersey . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. Kirk Gibson Jersey . On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. http://www.cheapdodgersjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-yasmani-grandal-jersey . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. Erik Goeddel Jersey . LOUIS -- St. Logan Forsythe Jersey .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. Sydney FC have made their pitch to host the FFA Cup final, confident they can draw a big crowd and arguing its only fair the harbour city have a turn after Melbourne held last years decider.The Sky Blues will learn their opponent on Tuesday night after Melbourne City clash with defending champions Melbourne Victory in a derby semi-final at AAMI Park.After that, one of Australias biggest interstate rivalries will heat up as the winner vies with Sydney to host the showpiece event on November 29 or 30.A decade has passed since the Sky Blues last played a final at their Allianz Stadium home ground, where they won the 2006 A-League grand final.Now into their seventh season without silverware, the club is eager to break the drought in front of home fans.Chief executive Tony Pignata believed Allianz Stadium could draw a midweek crowd upwards of 18,000 if Football Federation Australia (FFA) priced tickets more reasonably than last year, when a price hike was blamed for the paltry 15,098 that attended AAMI Park.Sydney people love a big event, and Im expecting a good crowd if the final is at Allianz, Pignata told AAP.We havent had a home game the whole FFA Cup this season as welll.ddddddddddddMelbourne had the final last year and Adelaide has also had it, so I think its Sydneys turn now.Our fans deserve a final.Whatever arguments the respective clubs put forward, its all a numbers game for FFA.FFA will take into consideration a wide range of factors, including a venue that will allow the highest number of football fans to attend the match live and maximise the viewership and entertainment for Fox Sports, FFA chief executive David Gallop said in a statement.Both City and Victory will therefore be eager to attract large numbers on Tuesday in arguably the biggest game of the tournaments three-year history.Club officials are tipping a crowd between 15,000 and 20,000, which would likely break the FFA Cup record of 16,142 set atHindmarsh Stadium where Adelaide defeated Perth in the 2014 final.Sydney captain Alex Brosque said hed be happiest if FFA picked names out of a hat.It would probably be the fairest, Brosque told AAP.But obviously wed love to have a grand final in Sydney, which hasnt happened for a very long time. 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