BRUMMY BRILLIANT

BRUMMY BRILLIANT

We British are useless at choosing an honest Prime Minister(Scary Liz would say or do anything to get to Number Ten)but we are pretty good at organizing and supporting Multi Sport events as Birmingham has triumphantly proved this last fortnight. Mutter as cynics might about the parochial standard of many events(athletics in particular in the shadow of a recent World Championship inserted in a post Covid calendar). From the moment a striking 30ft armoured bull with blood red eyes dominated the opening ceremony, Birmingham 2022 came alive.The crowds packed the stadia and cheered mostly in the right places and clearly had a great time whatever. The weather played ball,the sunsets were stunning.The Beeb covered things brilliantly(Were you watching, Nadine?)It was not the equal of 2012 in sporting prowess, it seemed 2012’s equal in the stands and in streets and squares. Paris 24 might take notes.

10 days of the Commonwealth Games and Quiz HQ set you ten questions. The dimwits at Quiz HQ missed some of the hottest tickets such as gymnastics or the triathlon or the 3 x 3 Basketball which looked wonderful. It even passed these world class dunces by that the Para Athletes were due to compete on an equal footing. Result-many heart warming moments not in the Quiz.

Heads will roll, as heads will roll for not including the word Commonwealth in early drafts of Q26,though Q26 was always specified as part of the Commonwealth section in the heading. Several chose countries not in the Commonwealth such as Holland or even Great Britain which competes as six or more separate teams. A sort of apology to those quizzers misled. There is a prize for best quizzer in the Commonwealth Games section.(You’ll have to read till the end to find that name)

Australia finished top of the overall medal table and many canny quizzers put a Yankee bet on four Australia team winners, for hockey, netball, swimming and cricket.

Q26)This bet on the Australians came unstuck with the women’s hockey as ENGLAND won their first ever Commonwealth gold. The English had beaten the holders, New Zealand with an epic clean sheet by their goalie in a penalty shoot out. The English were two-nil up at half time in the final but so had been the English men, and still lost. The team held on grimly as the Oz threw several kitchen sinks. The crowd helped-a bet that the hockey crowd were the noisiest at any venue.

29) AUSTRALIA dominated in the pool from first to last, winning over half the gold medals, so it was no surprise that the Oz won this Gold medal , paddling home over two seconds clear, with a gold medallist available on every leg. So dominant that the crowd took to booing as another phalanx of yellow swimming caps headed to the finish line clear-not sporting but understandable. I sometimes yell profanities at Aussie cricketers, England finished second in the swimming medal table too though much was dominated by the Peaty psychodrama.

32) Angela Brewer saw more Australian gold but there were bumps in the road.

In the Commonwealth Games netball competition the four highest ranked nations – Australia, New Zealand, England and Jamaica – were fully expected to dominate the tournament and contest the medal matches and this is exactly how it played out. In fact, many of the group games ended up being one-sided affairs, with only one match (Jamaica v Australia) having a goal difference of less than five goals and one with less than ten (Wales v Scotland). The surprise element of the tournament came in the matches between the top four nations and the countries who would eventually medal.  

In Group A Jamaica, with the prowess of goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler, won a close fought contest against Australia 57-55 and therefore topped their group, leaving England, who topped Group B, with a semi-final against the Aussie Diamonds and Jamaica facing New Zealand. Although the top four nations faced each other in the semi-finals, both games ended up with one team taking the lead early and going on to win the game, and it was a shame that the lead did not change hands more often and make it more exciting.  

The final between Australia and Jamaica, the two best sides in the competition, was probably the best game of the tournament, with the contest evenly matched at 29-29 at half-time and with many thinking it would come down to which of the in-form shooters – Jhaniele Fowler for Jamaica and Gretel Bueta for Australia – would come out on top. In the end Bueta’s movement and versatility proved decisive, as moving to goal attack, she helped Australia go in front after half time and this proved decisive, with AUSTRALIA winning the gold medal match 55-51. Jamaica will be pleased with their tournament, making history by beating Australia and making the final for the first time at a Commonwealth Games.  

As for defending champions England, they will be disappointed not to have won a medal of any colour and probably missed the athleticism and energy of former captain and centre Serena Kersten (nee Guthrie) more than was mentioned pre-tournament. An injury prior to the tournament to wing defence Beth Cobden and having only one recognized wing attack in Nat Metcalfe was also not ideal. The height, movement and accuracy of their shooters also didn’t match that of the two finalists, and with retirements of players like Stacey Francis-Bayman and Eboni Usoro-Brown, England will look to re-build as they head towards the World Cup in 2023.  

31) The Games saw the introduction of women’s T20 cricket for the first time and it provided AUSTRALIA with another tournament in which to excel, going unbeaten throughout to claim gold. Undoubtedly one of the world’s top teams in any sport over the past four years, they have brought new levels of professionalism and power to the game and this was evident at regular intervals during this quick-fire 10 days of competition. Above all though it was their handling of pressure and ability to triumph against the odds that would be the crucial feature here.
The tournament started as it finished, with Australia being pushed all the way by India in the opening group game. A half-century from Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur gave them a competitive total of 154-8 to defend and four wickets from Ranuka Thakur reduced the favourites to 49-5 in the 8th over. Australia always seem to find a way however, and an unbeaten 52 from Ashleigh Gardner got them home by 3 wickets with an over to spare. Both teams would make it through comfortably to the semi-finals.
England cruised through the other group, outplaying Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand. Confidence was high going into the semi-final against India but Mandhana’s 61 gave the hosts a tough target of 164 to chase. England were always slightly behind, never quite bringing the target down to manageable levels, and a trio of desperate run-outs in the last few overs gave the lower-order too much to do. Defeat by four runs hit them hard and they were unable to rouse themselves in the bronze medal match. New Zealand avenged their thrashing 60 hours previously with a convincing 8 wicket win to secure their position on the podium.
Australia had again found a way to win from a tricky situation in their semi-final against their Antipodean rivals, setting up the re-match vs India in front of a full house at Edgbaston on the final night of competition. Dazzling Indian fielding kept Australia to 161-8 but Mandhana and Verma both fell cheaply to poor shots early in response. A sublime partnership of 96 between Kaur and Rodrigues kept India up with the required run rate impressively. A flurry of boundaries combined with skillful running put the Australian fielders under mounting pressure. With 6 overs left India were in control. Enter Ashleigh Gardner again, this time with the ball. The crucial wicket of Kaur, caught behind for 65, combined with some poor shots and a sudden sense of panic running between the wickets from the Indian lower-order turned the match completely one crucial final time. India’s loss of 8 wickets for 33 runs was reminiscent of their collapse against England at Lord’s in 2017 and enabled Australia to yet again find a way to secure victory from what appeared to be defeat. They remain the dominant force in every format of the women’s game and are now the current holders of every single title.

  At the Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr cub reporter Neil Southwood had grabbed tickets for two nights of epic athletics and was also ringside at the NEC for table tennis and badminton as well as the T20 Cricket Final at Edgbaston.

28) “In the women’s heptathlon with only two non-Brits in the event, quizzers backing THREE GB medallists could be confident of success and they were not disappointed.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson led the way impressively. She has had a career defined by extreme highs and lows.There were lots of of encouraging signs here after two difficult injury-ravaged years. She secured an early lead thanks to strong performances in the high jump and 200m on day 1 and never let it slip. Compatriot Jade O’Dowda got a bronze medal through a personal best in the long jump while Kate O’Connor from Northern Ireland edged silver largely thanks to a javelin throw of 50m+.The main threat to British dominance came from Australia’s Taneille Crase but she fell behind during the javelin on the second evening and was unable to make up the difference in the final event. Any threat to KJT claiming gold was extinguished by her final javelin throw, a personal best of 44.33m which brought a roar of delight as all the emotions came through. She was able to comfortably run the 800m and triumph by 144 points to claim a very popular victory.”

30) Highlight of any athletics event is the 100 metres and we felt privileged to get tickets for this showpiece. All the talk beforehand was of a quick track and perfect conditions in the stadium. The absence of Caribbean runners in the men’s final gave opportunities for other athletes to shine. It was ex-rugby player Ferdinand Omanyale from Kenya who triumphed, defeating defending champion Akani Simbine from South Africa in 10.02 seconds, a victory for those who went for MORE than 9.9 seconds. Home athletes trailed in 5th and 8th, while there was a notable bronze for Sri Lanka which was their first athletics medal in 24 years.

27) The two imposters, triumph and disaster, dogged the four English athletics relay teams. First, England apparently could not find four men to carry the baton in the 4×400, although the Turks and Caicos Islands could. The women’s 4×400 squad saw more cliffhangers than a week of Eastenders. The last English runner set off 10 metres clear (hooray). The Kenyan runner steadily reduced the gap down the finishing straight (boo). Steve Cram called the Kenyan the winner. He was wrong (hooray). The English runner had thrust out her baton and edged ahead by one-hundreth of a second (hooray). But Cram was eventually right. An English runner had strayed from her lane and the team were disqualified (boo). More straightforward in the shorter relays. The women finished second at a comfortable distance behind the Nigerians; the men ran the perfect race to record England’s ONEsuccess.

33)Quiz HQ chose some notable damp squibs such as the Rugby 7s.The English men failed to score against Samoa and New Zealand but did manage to win against minnows Sri Lanka. Their best hope now was ninth which they managed by winning their last three matches against Jamaica, Wales and Uganda.

The WOMEN could not do worse, largely because there were only eight teams. Like the men, they could only manage a solitary win in the pool matches, against Sri Lanka. The women finished with wins against Scotland and South Africa to finish a dizzying fifth. No wonder you had to search your red button to find coverage or find your way to Coventry.

34)The glory decade of British cycling,starting with Hoy and Pendleton in Beijing 2008,ending perhaps with Geraint Thomas as the third individual British Tour winner. It felt longer ago as New Zealand shared virtually all the velodrome golds and repeated the trick in the four road races. The nearest a British cyclist got was a What If.What if Geraint had not got into a thirty second tangle with a spectator barricade for that was more than the margin of his defeat. Geraint too was leading the road race with 500 yards to go but a Kiwi who’d starred in the velodrome stormed past him and the British were left with NO golds.

And the Commonwealth quizzing gold medal goes to SCOTLAND to crown a brilliant ten days North of the Border. Neil Southwood saw Scot Eilish McColgan time her final burst to perfection in the 10,000m – one of the outstanding moments of the athletics nights at Perry Barr. Laura Muir also delivered in the 1500m and on the bowling rink age was no problem for Rosemary Lenton, aged 72 and a gold medal winner. To names like these, we now can add AMANDA HARVEY who got 8 of the 10 Commonwealth predictions correct (cheque in the post). Honourable mentions to Willy Guest and Nick Bunclark who will surely be consoled by his leap into first place. Sad to see our previous leader Noah have such a disappointing Games. Noah, there’s still time to make your comeback before December.