My Shout By Steve Devereux  February 2, 2012

What a week of incredible results we have seen on the sporting scene! It started with the Black Caps when they hosted the Zimbos in a one-off test, a test which served the dual purpose of keeping our guys attuned to playing in the whites, while re-introducing the Zimbabweans to international touring cricket.
The New Zealanders batted first, and while the visiting bowlers created several chances in the first session, they couldn’t break through and the batsmen took full toll, with Brendon McCullum posting 83, and centuries from skipper Ross Taylor (retired hurt, out for the ODIs and Twenty20 games) and new keeper BJ Watling, who really has made every post a winner since being a shock selection (for some) from John Wright, who is obviously not afraid to back himself on the big calls.
All eyes were then on the Zimbabwe batting line-up.
Captain Brendan Taylor is obviously a very good player and could be expected to contribute plenty on a pitch displaying few demons, Tatenda Taibu is a dashing run-maker and could also cause some problems; there had been several hours lost to rain, which had to be considered as well if the visitors dug in for the long haul.
But nobody had predicted the other scenario – the one where Chris Martin scythed through the top order, all the other bowler pitched in and suddenly Zimbabwe was looking to beat the world record lowest test score (unfortunately still held by that little country just to the south-west of Australia).
They did manage to scrape past that milestone, but when the last wicket did fall and stand-in skipper McCullum sent them straight back in the dose was repeated.
The veteran spearhead Martin again knocked the top off the order, and when the other bowlers couldn’t quite prise the final few batsmen loose Martin was recalled (much to Macca’s delight in the commentary box; he’d been having a hernia calling for just that move) and completed a superb man-of-the-match performance, while the Zimbos could only look back at the carnage and wonder where it all went wrong.
Martin has always been a favourite of mine (ok, his stocks dipped a bit when he left Canterbury and joined the Auks) and now he’s confirmed his class by moving ahead of Chris Cairns in the New Zealand wicket-taking list (only Hadlee and Vettori to beat), and he shows no signs of chucking it all in at this
stage.
When one of the new whiz kids goes past him into the strike bowler’s role, it will leave him as a superb back-up bowler and will only enhance the New Zealanders’ chances of getting themselves just a little bit further up the table of test-playing nations.
Over on the tennis courts of Melbourne, the Battle of the Screamers didn’t come to much at all, with Maria Sharapova winning the Special Effects Award, but failing to translate that to any sort of defence against Victoria Azarenka’s unstoppable march towards the title, and with it the mantle of number one in world tennis.
In marked contrast the next night, the Rod Laver Arena saw possibly the best tennis match I’ve ever seen, and that’s remembering some of the titanic battles between Agassi and Sampras, Borg and McEnroe, and even the big matches when Nadal burst on the scene and wrested the No. 1 position off Federer, including that stunning Wimbledon final of 2008 (6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7).
When Djokovic eventually expires and they do an autopsy, I’m certain they are going to find bionic machine parts in all the important bits; it it simply unbelievable that he can repeatedly dredge up another colossal effort to hold off two of the best players of modern times, often when seemingly down and out.
Roger Federer is literally about half a centimetre behind the top two, playing almost at his best, and can’t get a look in at the slam finals, and that’s just an amazing situation.
It’s been a long time since the top five in the world have been so close, and yet so clear-cut.
The Mid Canterbury cricketers, with a team list containing many names new to rep cricket, completed an outright victory over Otago Country in their Hawke Cup campaign at the weekend, with Jono Print leading the way with a century in his first Hawke Cup match – now that’s a result!
And however many on-field minutes he gets this weekend, just making Gordon Tietjens’ sevens team is a huge result for ex-Methvenite Mark Jackman; he has some lofty goals, and there will be a lot of Mid Canterbury eyes following his future progress with great interest.