Sport
Sportsview with Murray Leeder
The modern racing industry is all about betting turnover and that strategy shows no sign of abating , particularly as the media expands and glorifies the amazing wins enjoyed by lucky punters . What they don ’ t dwell on is the losses . It is something of an enigma to sooth guilty consciences when punters are encouraged to bet with all sorts of inducements - then warned to bet sensibly ! Really ?
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One very promising young player , Ashton Agar , is currently on the outer . At his inaugural and unplanned test debut in England as a 19yo he astounded the world when eventually dismissed three short of a century . He batted at number 11and almost singlehandedly won the match ! Not only is he still a top batsman , he ’ s also a terrific spin bowling prospect . Perhaps he has to do a Gilchrist to finally and belatedly earn his turn !
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Test cricket is in the doldrums worldwide and the Perth Test between South Africa and Australia further emphasised the divide between traditional cricket and the current craze for hit and giggle versions . The Aussie battlers certainly didn ’ t give Cricket Australia or the WACA any cause for celebration . Facing almost certain defeat after an inglorious batting display in the first innings , the Aussie attack was then put to the sword . With two days ’ play remaining the WA fans simply abandoned ship and few turned up to click over the turnstiles . By the final day you could have fired a cannon of birdshot around the ground and hit what Paddy shot at . Even the seagulls didn ’ t bother to show . Why go there they probably debated when there won ’ t be any crumbs to pick up . In simple terms the game was a financial disaster and the state of the wicket did nothing to inspire confidence . So will it be any different in the second test in Hobart ? Well we can only cross our fingers and hope . There will obviously be some selection changes – but brought on by injury rather than replacing under-performing players . For some reason Australian cricket has always been plagued by the belief it is a special boys ’ club when it comes to selecting our test team . The best instance of that came when Adam Gilchrist , arguably the best wicketkeeper batsman in the world , couldn ’ t get a game of Test cricket until he was 29 years old ! Then there were the summers in Oz when we invited two teams from other countries to participate in a World Limited Over ( 50 ) Series . We picked two sides – Australia A and Australia B . It was senior players who campaigned to abandon that concept . Many of we commentators were of the belief it was because Australia B often out-performed the more celebrated players in Australia A – thus threatening their future selection prospects .
And finally the news that a recent survey in WA determined that thoroughbred racehorse owners shell out between $ 35K - $ 50K per annum on training fees per neddy . The news comes as a sobering thought to wannabe rich lovers of the turf at a time when a dithering WA Government ponders over the Premier , Colin Barnett ’ s , recommendation to sell the WA TAB .
As things currently stand the Government owned TAB distribution provides the lion ’ s share of funding to the racing industry . It is also a source of valuable revenue to Government coffers . Increasing opposition from privately owned betting consortiums is being touted as the reason for dumping the lucrative TAB .
Fair dinkum , if a Government can ’ t profitably manage a TAB the solution is manifestly simple to achieve a turnaround .
Dump the Government stupid !
24 The MAG Vung Tau