Better seen on screen

WHEN the 43rd pick of the 2013 NBA Draft, Ricky Ledo, was on-traded to my Dallas Mavericks, I foolishly hunted YouTube to form my opinion.

It was there that I found a 12-minute highlights reel of pure Ricky Ledo bliss. Not one shot missed, dunks, steals, blocks and more three pointers than the annual snooker convention where only green balls were supplied. This was Kobe Bryant 2.0 And if you search much hyped Hobart Hurricanes import Tymal Mills on Youtube; you’ll see the type of carnage Ledo was capable of . . . when his Mum put together 12 minutes of his best work and posted it online.

On YouTube, Tymal is the fastest damn bowler the world has ever seen. Seriously quick. It is why when I heard that Tymal was set to play for Glenorchy in a T20 CTPL game last weekend, I camped at Lindisfarne Oval so I would be guaranteed a spot in the 11-man grandstand that caters for the general public at Anzac Park.

These terrifyingly fast thunderbolts, set to pummel the body of Keiren Gilbert, had to be seen with own eyes. The air being blown out of Mathew Dance’s lungs, in a sound resembling that of a squeaky dog toy, had to be heard with, well, my own ears, I guess, if we are playing off the set-up of the first sentence.

But sadly, much like the career of Ricky Ledo in Dallas, the build-up of hype was met with a no show of performance. Even worse for me was that Tymal was just a straight no show, even though I had spent five nights sleeping, and toileting, illegally outside the Presidents special room at Anzac Park, where he hoards all the chairs.

It brings me to the point that those controlling the process of import allocation on behalf of the Hurricanes, CT and the CTPL, have absolutely no idea how important the availability of ALL players back into club cricket is for the connection of their brand to their sin- gle most important market: Cricketers.

Why bother having clubs waste their volunteer time on an application process when only a select few have interest in engaging the local playground, or aren’t wrapped in cotton wool?

And even if it is a cotton wool scenario, the local playground is understanding of the demands placed on the bodies of the modern day professional cricketer. Cotton wool doesn’t impact the progression of community engagement through coaching, mentoring or relationship building, unless of course, the cotton wool is being held by the mouth.

Well done Nathan Reardon for smacking the cover off it and winning the love of the local cricket community. Particularly the municipality of Kingborough, who came from the complete back blocks to be allocated two games worth of premiership points solely from the ridiculousness of the allocation process.

Extra Xmas pudding for CT from the Knights.

It’s not like Uni, who sit second last, or New Town who sit last, couldn’t use the assistance of a run machine, you know, in the name of equalisation!!

But hey, who can blame Tymal?

Cricket with a collection of unknown amateurs is hardly an ideal way of spending time in a foreign city, particularly one dominating as a favourite among international tourists.

Nah — fek that, CARGO is calling!!

Hurricanes List Manager, CEO and Head of Communications, Nick Cummins, has voiced his view that cricket doesn’t get enough financial aide from the government.

My advice? Look at ALL opportunities to better engage the community without leaching off the fact Tasmanians are so hungry for professional sport they’ll see beyond the lack of genuine connection within their communities to join those looked down on by those in the Chairman’s Room.

Being the only professional sporting team in the village will only last so long. Look what happened to Daffyd from Little Britain, political evolution has well and truly caught up with him.

And yes, Daffyd can be found on YouTube.