Pirate Galaxy » died the 16th at the Tour Championship

Aasif Karim Brett Lee had a hat-trick. Kenya limped to 174. Adam Gilchrist hit a ball out of Durban. Me and my mates enjoyed the Durban sun at the 2003 World Cup and got drunk. It was Australia in their glory years.Then a 39-year-old Kenyan came on to bowl. The crowd had lost interest. The left-arm spinner had first played for Kenya 23 years earlier. He got Ricky Ponting. He had captained the Kenyan Davis Cup team. He got Darren Lehmann. This was his third World Cup. He got Brad Hogg. In his penultimate game against the best team on earth, the old man had 2-2-0-3.His 13th ball was picked for a single. So was his 19th. They were the only two runs in his first eight overs. Every dot ball sobered Australian fans. Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey shut up shop against Karim. At the end of every over there was laughter at Australia and cheers for Karim.Karims last two balls went for five. His figures were 8.2-6-7-3. Australia scored 171 for 2 in 23 overs against everyone else. Australia smashed Wasim and handled Murali. Karim stopped them.Pravin Tambe T20 is for glamour and bling. Its for Chris Gayle to go viral; for Virat Kohli to thank his sponsors; for SRK to wear golden pads in music videos; for rich Indian families to milk. It is not for 42-year-old nobodies to take hat-tricks.Pravin Tambe, hes a true legspinner. He spent years working out what legspin is, getting better and better, far away from crowds and contracts. Then he got the call and tossed it up. If you are over 40 and playing in the IPL, getting hit for six by Kieron Pollard is nothing. You have spent your whole life being hit for six. Now you get paid for it. You might as well toss it up.Tambes success is what middle-aged legspinners the world over needed. One of them getting paid a tasty salary, hanging out with Bollywood royalty and giving the ball a rip. If you are a leggie like me, every time Tambe takes the ball, your wrist starts to itch.John Davison I was in an electrical goods store in Harlem in March 2003. My friend was up against a radio, listening and smiling. It was in that dodgy store that three Aussie backpackers on their way to the World Cup heard that John Davison had made 111 off 76 balls for Canada.We all knew who Davison was. He wasnt some random Canadian cricketer to us. We were all Victorians, and if you were a keen Shield cricket fan, you knew Davison was Victorias 12th man. And an occasional offspinner.When he did bowl, it was rarely good news. Wickets were not his thing; stopping batsmen playing shots was. Most of my memories were of Davison not playing but walking around the MCG with a swagger that seemed odd for a non-playing, boring offspinner. Guns out, shades on, attitude aplenty.That day I found out why he was so damn confident. Davison took ten wickets at 19 in that tournament and made 226 runs at a strike rate of 119. The swagger was justified. Colin Miller My first memory of Colin Miller was of him as a medium-pacer for Tasmania against Victoria. That was after he had played for Victoria and South Australia, and no one in Victoria claimed ownership over him back then. No one in Australia cared for medium-pacers.Then he had an injury in a club match. He bowled some offspin. Then he played for Tasmania and bowled seam with the new ball and offspin with the old. It was quick offspin from a canny old seamer. Many club cricketers turn from quicks to spinners when they get old. Miller had done it in first-class cricket. He did it so well that in 1997-98 he broke Chuck Fleetwood-Smiths 63-year-old record for the most wickets in a Shield season.The trick worked for Australia too. In 18 Tests he averaged 26 with the ball. In one of the greatest teams of all time it was the middle-aged seamer who won the Test Player of the Year.In Footscray, Millers Melbourne club, there are two ovals named after local legends. Merv Hughes has the main one, Tony Dodemaide the shabby one across the road. Miller has a better Test average than both.Bryce McGain I had followed/stalked Bryce McGain since his recall to Victoria as a 34-year-old. No one thought he would make it. Not in his teens, when he didnt play representative cricket. Not in his 20s, when he played as much in his club 2nds as firsts. And not in his 30s, when he got his game right and somehow played for Victoria.Shane Warne had retired. Stuart MacGill would too. Then Brad Hogg. Australia tried Beau Casson, Cameron White, Nathan Hauritz, Marcus North and Jason Krejza. Then they tried Bryce, who learnt his trade watching super slo-mo close-ups of the worlds best spinners; who wouldnt drink while researching his craft; who needed permission to leave work early for training. The guy was now an Australian cricketer.Bryce was massacred. When a six is hit off a spinner in Cape Town, they say you can still hear Bryce screaming. It was one of the worst Test debuts. Bryce didnt care. He even thought he could get back. There is something about Bryce. Eddie Griffin Jersey . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. Stitched Rockets Jerseys . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. https://www.cheaprocketsonline.com/ . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. Kelvin Cato Jersey . -- Jonathan Drouin gave Halifax the boost it needed to edge host Sherbrooke Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Aaron Brooks Jersey . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Offer one mulligan to Kevin Chappell for the last year and the rules are bound to be broken.He mentioned the tee shot on the 18th hole at Bay Hill that was buried in deep rough and forced him to lay up, and he finished one shot behind Jason Day. He mentioned the tee shot on the 17th hole at East Lake that missed the fairway by two steps and sunk to the bottom of the Bermuda rough, leading to an untimely bogey at the Tour Championship that cost him the lead.Halfway through talking about the tee shot on the 18th in regulation at East Lake, he was reminded he could take only one shot back.I know, I know, Chappell replied.How about 18 at Bay Hill? he said after a long pause. If I handled that situation differently, maybe the other two dont happen.Its easy to think about everything that didnt go Chappells way over the last year because he is still searching for his first PGA Tour victory going into the RSM Classic at Sea Island, the final official PGA Tour event of the year.The 30-year-old Californian doesnt see it that way.He was runner-up three times against some of the strongest fields, losing to the top two players in the world without doing much wrong. Jason Day beat him at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship, and Rory McIlroy beat Chappell and Ryan Moore at the Tour Championship.Chappell rose to No. 28 in the world and went places he had never been. He played in the World Golf Championships for the first time, at the Bridgestone Invitational (tie for third behind Dustin Johnson) and the HSBC Champions. He made his inaugural trip to the British Open. Hell make his debut in the Masters next year.Missing from that itinerary is Kapalua for the winners-only Tournament of Champions.The competitor in me never wants to get that close that many times and not close, Chappell said. In the long run, that might be a great thing.He mentioned the patience of Steve Stricker and the relatively slow start by Day, the No. 1 player in the world who won just one time in his first six years on tour. Chappell finished last season at No. 8 on the money list with just over $4.5 million.Its hard to get hung up on the negatives.It can never be a bad thing to play that much good golf, Chappell said.ddddddddddddIf he were to win this week -- he was runner-up a year ago to Kevin Kisner -- he wont go to Kapalua because his wife, Elizabeth, is due to give birth to their second child in January. Chappells final event of the year is the Franklin Templeton Shootout, another perk to having a big year.His partner is Kisner, which is only fitting. Few players can appreciate the kind of year Chappell had.When he showed up at Sea Island last year, Kisner had been runner-up four times over the previous seven months without doing much wrong. Rickie Fowler beat him in a playoff at The Players Championship. So did Jim Furyk at Hilton Head. He lost another playoff at Greenbrier, and Russell Knox beat him in Shanghai.Kisner saw only good golf, and he blew away everyone at Sea Island to win by six shots.If you keep doing what youre doing and you keep putting yourself in that position, youre going to win one, Kisner said. Its just a matter of time. Youve got to stay patient. Hes a hell of a player and hes going to win plenty of times on tour in the next few years.Chappell had a one-shot lead when his tee shot on the 18th at Bay Hill found the rough, and by the time he faced his 25-foot par putt, Day made a birdie on the 17th to catch him and then won with a par on the 18th. Chappell birdied the 16th at the Tour Championship for a two-shot lead. But his tee shot in the rough forced him to lay up (bogey), McIlroy made birdie in front of him to tie for the lead and Chappells tee shot on the par-5 18th kept him from a reasonable birdie chance for the win.His final-round score in his runner-up finishes over the last year: 67, 69, 69, 66.So when he looks back -- at moments, not trophies -- he has no qualms declaring this a good year.Id be doing myself a disservice to look at it negatively, he said. And theres stuff to look forward to as I sit here today.A baby in January. His first Masters in April.And right ahead of him is one last chance to leave no doubt what kind of year it has been. ' ' '