Black Caps' Will Somerville reacts during day four of the first test against India. Photo / Photosport
Black Caps' Will Somerville reacts during day four of the first test against India. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
From cricket to league and boxing, three lessons stood out from the sporting weekend.
The Black Caps' major mistake
No matter the final outcome it's difficult to be overly critical of the Black Caps' efforts in Kanpur. Sure, a first innings batting collapse squandered day two's prime position. And,yes, Kane Williamson could have been more aggressive with his field settings in India's second innings after reducing the hosts to 51-5.
Yet given New Zealand lost the all-important toss that forced them to bat last on a deteriorating, turning track with variable bounce, and only the cold hearted could not see they have scrapped as hard as anyone could ask to this point.
Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson's feats in the first of this two test series have been well-canvassed, and rightly so. One stat, though, highlights the one major mistake New Zealand made.
Will Somerville's 40 overs are the most by a visiting spinner in India without taking a scalp since Shane Warne's 42 wicketless overs in Kolkata in 1997/98.
Any spinner would usually welcome comparisons to Warne. On this occasion, it is not flattering company to keep. Somerville's struggles to generate enough grip and rip perhaps reveal the lack of exposure to Indian conditions, with New Zealand's three-pronged spin attack claiming three of India's 17 wickets – all to Ajaz Patel.
If they had their time again, the Black Caps would almost certainly include Neil Wagner's hustling, relentless aggression. The beauty of hindsight, of course.
New Zealand have endured some shoddy umpiring in this test - none more so than Will Young's lbw decision late on Sunday night. Tom Latham and Young missed the chance to review the decision by a matter of seconds, leaving one to ponder what would happen in the same instance with an Indian batsman.
On a side note, any chance of shipping over one of those leather recliner chairs players and coaches have been basking in the pavilion? Asking for a friend who has spent four months in lockdown.
Brandon Smith's future
Brandon Smith in action for the Storm. Photo / Photosport
I'm here for professional athletes ditching tired clichés and speaking more honestly about any topics they choose. That's why I can't fault Waiheke's Brandon Smith, the NRL's hottest free agent for 2023, fawning over the Roosters while under contract at the Storm for another 12 months.
Smith's whistle-stop preseason tour has rivalled 'Days of Our Lives' for soap opera drama as suitors line up to lure one of the best hookers in the game. Cameras have followed the 25-year-old from the Gold Coast Titans to the Dolphins, the NRL's 17th franchise due to enter in 2023, and Cowboys, where Smith cheekily asserted he was merely playing the pokies after emerging from one meeting.
The Titans have tabled a three-year deal worth $800,000 a season, while Wayne Bennett's Dolphins offering Smith upwards of $850,000 per-year reflects his standing.
Smith is thought to have rejected a $2.2 million three-year offer from the Storm, and he gave the strongest indication yet he is unlikely to stay with Melbourne beyond next season when he appeared on the YKTR podcast.
The Roosters turned on the charm with a golf day, lobster lunch and passionate pitch that pulled on the heart strings and promised to safeguard Smith's future off the field.
Recalling the presentation around the team's heritage from former club stalwart Mitchell Aubusson, Smith went as far as suggesting he wanted to win a title with the glamour Sydney club.
"I was just looking at the Roosters jersey as he was saying it, I had goosebumps. I was looking at it going, 'I want to win a premiership in that jersey'."
As a neutral, hearing any athlete speak so openly is refreshing. Ultimately it only generates interest.
Storm fans will, however, hold very different views.
If Smith signs on with the Roosters from 2023, leaving one more season at the Storm to complete, it will again underline the NRL's messy transfer market that allows players to sign deals well in advance, thus creating seriously awkward dynamics around future moves and motivations.
George Kambosos Jr shocks the world
George Kambosos Jr poses with the belts he won after beating Teófimo López. Photo / Getty Images
An upset for the ages. Kambosos not only captured the WBA, WBO and IBF lightweight world titles with his inspired split decision victory over Teofimo Lopez on Sunday, he also now holds the greatest triumph in Australian boxing history.
In doing so Kambosos relegated Jeff Horn's unanimous decision win against Manny Pacquiao that brought Suncorp Stadium to a standstill four years ago into second place.
Kambosos is now the poster boy for the notion that if you tell yourself enough times something will happen, you start to truly believe it will come true. When virtually no one else outside his corner believed, he did.
Kambosos sure earned his moment of glory after winning his last seven fights on foreign soil. With two split decision victories against Welsh opponent Lee Selby and American Mickey Bey to gain his title shot, though, Kambosos hadn't exactly hinted he was capable of such a performance.
Lopez, having defeated three-weight Ukrainian world champion and pound-for-pound contender Vasyl Lomachenko to claim the three belts last year, was widely expected to make light work of the unheralded Australian challenger.
Starting a 13-1 outsider, Kambosos had other ideas, knocking Lopez down in the first round with a counter right hand that caused problems all night to set the tone. That Kambosos survived a 10th round knockdown and rallied over the closing stages depicts his defiant character.
Stunning any highly regarded American fighter at Madison Square Garden is no easy feat.
In a sport too often dogged by hometown decisions and protectionism of money fighters it was a welcome surprise two of the three judges favoured Kambosos, who thoroughly deserved his moment in one of the great sporting theatres.
"When Muhammad Ali fought an unbelievable puncher in Joe Frazier, [he] rang Cus D'Amato and said, 'What do I do?'" Kambosos said. "And [D'Amato] said, 'You hit him with the best right hand you've ever thrown in your life in the first round and you change the fight'. And that's what I did."
The lesson Kambosos proved? Never, ever write off an Australian.
