Pirate Galaxy » getting point guard Isaiah Thomas wi

Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs South Africa v Pakistan, Cape Town, January 2003 One of the great things about Test cricket is that it is often difficult to tell which side is winning. You cant tell what sort of pitch this is, goes the maxim, until youve seen both sides have a bat on it. There is a valid argument here, and sometimes a first innings does little more than frame the contest. But other elements of the game besides the score - the intangibles such as momentum, confidence, aggression and injustice - are all determined from the first ball of the match.This is to say that opening partnerships are vital. They set the tone. No wicket is more important than the first one, no score more ominous than 100 for 0. When it comes to really big stands, one name reoccurs: Graeme Smith. There have been 13 opening stands of 300 or more, and Smith appears in four. He has a share of the biggest (415 with Neil McKenzie) and has three triple-century partnerships with the unpredictable live wire Gibbs (no other pair has more than one). Of the three, the 368 against Pakistan was comfortably the most entertaining.Pakistan were, admittedly, a shower. They lost the first Test by ten wickets and this by an innings. They lost their entire match fee for bowling so slowly. But how else could they contend with Gibbs when his famously fast hands and scattered brain clicked in sync? He bullied Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq with a range of shots that caused grown men in the stands to miss their mouths with their sandwiches, according to Wisden. Smiths 151 was more restrained but no less lordly. History records him as an ugly player. But he was also an unyielding one.Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss England v Australia, Edgbaston, August 2005 The Test with the most famous ending of all also had a beginning to remember. Those of a curmudgeonly bent might say that the most important moment came before a ball had been bowled, when Glenn McGrath rolled his right ankle in the warm-up. In a weird attempted double bluff, Ricky Ponting stuck England in, as if to demonstrate that his side could duff them up under any circumstances. He was wrong. Strauss and Trescothick took advantage of some non-McGrathian lines from Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie and launched one of crickets most famous attacks. Shane Warne was brought in after only 13 overs; Trescothick hit him back over his head for six. Warne then got Strauss on the brink of lunch with a big legbreak, but by that point England had made 111in 25 overs and were ahead of the game, and back in the series.Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes England v Bangladesh, Lords, May 2010 Imagine playing in a team that has lost 57 out of its 66 matches. Imagine returning to a ground where, on the only previous occasion you had played, you lost in less than three days, by an innings and 260 runs. Keeping morale up, giving your all - the bare minimum we expect of professional sportsmen - is more difficult than it should be.In this match, Bangladeshs openers had the incentive of playing at the home of cricket, but the signs were ominous after Jonathan Trott took England to a first-innings 505, dashed off at more than four an over. Geoffrey Boycott, watching, said Bangladesh didnt belong in Test cricket. Tamim and Kayes, 21 and 23 respectively, had to fashion a response.Judging by their initially leaden footwork and wild heaves, they were so nervous it was a wonder the rest of Lords couldnt hear their hearts thumping. But after eight overs of very skittish cricket, Tamim settled and crashed Tim Bresnan for three boundaries in six balls. Three overs later, Kayes got stuck into a rusty James Anderson. Tamim reached a quick 50 in the 22nd over before he was run out by a direct hit from Kevin Pietersen. Regardless, the 88-run stand settled the nerves. As if to demonstrate that fact, the pair put on 185 in the second innings, with Tamim making an outrageous, flamboyant century from 94 balls. Bangladesh still succumbed to loss number 58, but they had proved a point.Michael Atherton and Marcus Trescothick Sri Lanka v England, Galle, February 2001 While on the subject of failure, an 83-run opening stand in an innings defeat doesnt seem especially worthy of praise. But Atherton and Trescothicks mini-masterpiece in Galle set the tone for one of Englands finest series wins. Everything was against the tourists: suffocating humidity, a boisterous opposition, and a slump to ninth in the world rankings. By the end, England were convinced the umpires had it in it for them too. It was open conflict disguised as cricket.Marvan Atapattus unbeaten double-hundred meant Sri Lanka kept England in the field for 170 overs - hardly the ideal start to a Test series. England, with the added pressure of a long tail, needed the top order to hang around. On his previous overseas tour, to Pakistan, Atherton had done just that as leading run scorer, with a strike rate of less than 35. Here he showed his junior partner, a green Trescothick, how to negotiate Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena and the rest. Trescothick went on to make his first ton, and though he shared another painstaking partnership with Atherton in the second innings, there was little resistance beneath them, and England lost by an innings and 28.The tour was far from over. Lionhearted bowling from Darren Gough and some middle-order accumulation got England a win in Kandy, and then two not-outs from Graham Thorpe sealed the series in Colombo. But England would never have found the necessary application and grit had Cockroach and Banger not shown the way in Galle. Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes West Indies v England, Antigua, April 1990 A fine example of cricket as a game that punches you in the face, and then, for good measure, kicks you in the nuts. For 20 years, touring the Caribbean was like playing football at Old Trafford. Teams arrived already beaten. Graham Goochs England had more reason than most to be cowed. They were on a mind-boggling run of one win in 25 Tests, while their opponents hadnt lost a series in a decade. Yet an attack of Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small, Angus Fraser and David Capel somehow outbowled Ian Bishop, Courtney Walsh, Malcolm Marshall and Patrick Patterson, for a nine-wicket win in the first Test. An abandoned game, a draw and a loss left the series all square with one to play.Part of Englands success had been subduing West Indies GOAT opening pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. In the first four Tests, they managed only a single substantial score between them: Haynes 109 in the fourth. Yet when England were still hopeful of a truly remarkable series win, the pair pulled out a partnership for the ages. Nearly 300 runs were plundered as England finally succumbed to the psychological torture of playing cricket in the Caribbean: the heat, the cacophony from the stands, the imminent threat to life of facing Marshall and pals, the tired muscles, the aching brains. The bowlers sprayed the ball around and were duly punished. England ended the tour with an innings defeat, and just a modicum of pride.Air Max Wholesale Uk . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Cheap Air Max 95 Uk .S. -- Nikolaj Ehlers registered a hat trick for the third straight game and Jonathan Drouin had a goal and five assists as the Halifax Mooseheads hammered the host Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 10-1 on Tuesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. http://www.fakeairmaxukoutlet.com/best-max-270-trainers-cheap-uk.html . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Authentic Air Max 90 . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Buy Air Max 90 Uk . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday.SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- From owner to general manager to coach, no other NBA management team has had as little time to prepare for the draft this year as the Sacramento Kings. Catch the NBA Draft on TSN Thursday starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. The Kings have had so much turmoil and turnover since the season ended that focusing on the future has been an ever-present process of acceleration. The uncertainty that clouded the franchise for so long hit its peak May 21, when Keith Smart represented the Kings at the draft lottery at the request of the Maloof family. Smart has since been fired as coach and replaced by Mike Malone. Pete DAlessandro took over as general manager for Geoff Petrie last week. And new owner Vivek Ranadive has wiped away just about every memory of the Maloofs inside Sacramentos suburban arena as part of the franchises "new era." The Kings can begin adding to that next chapter on the court come Thursday night, when they have the seventh and 36th overall picks in the draft. "I see real potential in this draft," DAlessandro said. The first-time general manager has relied heavily on the scouting he did in Denvers front office and leaned heavily on Malone -- whom DAlessandro jokingly called "a seasoned veteran with two weeks experience" at his introductory news conference -- to decide how that information might translate to the coachs style and Sacramentos needs. DAlessandro also brought over Mike Bratz from the Nuggets to be his assistant general manager. As for filling out the rest of his front office, that will have to wait. "The beauty of this business is you have a network," DAlessandro said. "Its like any business -- you have people that you trust. Even without having a staff, I have the people that I trust in this industry that are excellent." This years draft will shed some insight on what directtion DAlessandro and Malone want to take the team.dddddddddddd After making eight straight playoff appearances, the Kings have failed to make the post-season the last seven years and have the second-worst record in the NBA during that span. The franchise had become more frugal each year under the Maloofs, putting pressure on Petrie to find success in the draft, where talent can come cheap. The Kings seemed to channel Petries past success when they took Tyreke Evans with the fourth pick in 2009. Evans turned into the NBA Rookie of the Year, though the combo guard has been saddled with knee injuries and inconsistency ever since, and now hes set to become a restricted free agent. Drafting DeMarcus Cousins fifth in 2010 had the same risk then as signing him to a long-term extension does now: hes a talented centre who could blossom into one of the leagues best big men, but hes also a player who has shown a lack of discipline and defence, getting suspended three times this past season -- twice by the NBA, and once by the team. While getting point guard Isaiah Thomas with the 60th and final pick two years ago might be considered a steal at that slot, the rest of Sacramentos recent draft history has been forgettable. Jimmer Fredette, the former BYU sensation selected 10th overall in 2011, has yet to live up to the hype. Thomas Robinson was such a disappointment after been taken fifth that the Kings traded him to Houston midseason. That missed pick was magnified even more because Damian Lillard, the NBA Rookie of the Year, was drafted by Portland one spot after Robinson. But as with everything else in Sacramento now, the revamped franchise is looking forward and not back. "I think this team is more of a clean canvas," DAlessandro said. "We have some strong pieces in there, but theres a lot we can do to get it in the right direction." ' ' '