Tag:

New Zealand

Motorsport

Thoughts on Three New Zealand airing NASCAR races live for free online this season with Shane Van Gisbergen set to begin his first full season in the US soon

by Sports Benches

Image Reference: Zach Catanzareti via Wikipedia, CC BY 2.0

You wouldn’t believe it by surprise as New Zealand will get live NASCAR coverage this season & it’s free to view too without a subscription where ThreeNow will stream every race of both Cup & Xfinity Series while continuing to one-hour highlights on Sundays through their CRC Motorsports show on the main Three TV channel. It’s brilliant timing ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen’s first full season racing NASCARs in the US starting soon, although the new racing season will return on Monday morning beginning with the non-points Busch Clash race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

As said, it’s exciting times for NZ’s own SVG who will compete full-time in the Xfinity Series including a few part-time Cup races with Kaulig Racing under loan development for the year from Team Trackhouse. Yes, he will have to race the ARCA main series opener at Daytona on his first racing weekend out of 2024, but that’s only for him to pass the superspeedway requirements by NASCAR before he’s allowed to raced there. He has never done it before other than road courses where he made his name in Supercars while he won at Chicago on his Cup debut + raced on a short oval with Niece Motorpsorts in Trucks last year. He won’t be lost at Trackhouse after all despite the late change due to AJ Allmendinger’s return to the Xfinity Series also to Kaulig as his new team-mate. They are preparing him well at the right place ahead of racing Cup level full-time in 2025 & beyond either in their potential third car or possibly replacing Daniel Suarez in the No.99 Chevy Camaro.

So what does that mean for Australia? It will still be on Fox Sports/Kayo every week Live for all Cup and Xfinity races where you would need to pay at $25 a month to watch these races behind a paywall. Yes, it didn’t cost that much for Three to stump up the money in order to show races live legally now in NZ. Speaking of Three, they are owned by Warner Bros Discovery whose parent cable channel TNT will return to the sport next year under the next Domestic TV rights contract (five late summer races live alongside Max as a sports streaming add-on with all 2nd half practice & qualifying events via TruTV).

But despite the Three NASCAR deal in NZ, don’t see NASCAR coming back on free-to-air in Australia anytime soon even it’s only one-hour highlights like IndyCar. Anyone can watch YouTube at anytime for a few mins highlights from the race without having to sit few hours each time & there’s always full race replays during the mid-week too that is all for free worldwide.

We don’t even know what is happening with Brodie Kostecki right now after he shockingly decided to leave Erebus Motorsport in Supercars this week not long before the new season starts soon despite winning the championship. I hope he can come back sometime this season & race part-time at Cup level again with Richard Childress Racing. There’s still always hope to see an Australian racing in NASCAR though every week alongside SVG whether it’s with or without Kostecki. Plus, you got Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters potentially racing a few road course races there later this year for RFK Racing’s 3rd part-time vehicle in a Ford Mustang & he’s so passionate about this sport, having visited 1-2 races at Martinsville I (April) & Daytona II (August) last year.

For now, NZ Motorsport fans can enjoy watching NASCAR races live for free every Sunday & Monday thanks to ThreeNow. But for us Australians, don’t hold your breath when most top-level motorsports content is behind a paywall – even with an Aussie and SVG in there when most people are at work during the day except when you can Xfinity Series races on most Sundays.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

The hosts India stay on stop towards Sunday’s Cricket World Cup final since 2011 after they def. New Zealand in the first semi-final match

by Sports Benches

The host nation India has stayed undefeated yet again this time in a semi-final v New Zealand. They won the toss by electing to bat first where India scored nearly 400 (394-4) & while New Zealand never gave up chasing that big reply later on, but that wasn’t enough unfortunately to secure them a 3rd straight final after being all for 327 with just an over to spare. India won by 70 runs who are now through to their 4th World Cup final since 2011 – also as previous hosts at the time with a world championship. They only lost a World Cup final once in 2003 also against the Aussies but have won both past finals back in 1983 & 2011, so this is something Australia or South Africa needs to watch out for v this undefeated team. Now the second semi-final awaits where one of them will take on India this Sunday for the big final in Ahmedabad hopefully tonight or tomorrow if rain doesn’t hold back play between the Aussies and South Africa.

Brilliant stuff from start to finish by Team India where Shubman Gill fire off well until he got some cramps on 79 not out before Virat Kohli delivered another magnificent ton along with Shreyas Iyer & fast bowler Mohammed Shami was outstanding that made the home supporters reach something special with the ball thanks to his seven-wicket haul. Meanwhile, commiserations to New Zealand when they did the best they can to respond to that 398 run target under pressure after a tough time early in the afternoon on the field. Their batting was top-notch too led by Daryl Mitchell who scored an excellent hundred including skipper Kane Williamson at the top-order, as well as some good runs a bit down the order from Glenn Phillips. But sadly, the fielding and bowling performances were far outweighed by the always impressive Indian batting attack where NZ fell short towards the end there. It would’ve been their third straight World Cup final if they did beat the hosts but they’re still a Top 4 side who hopes to bounce back better next time.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

2023 Cricket World Cup Week 1: Blackcaps def. England in 2019 Final rematch while the Aussies looked lost with the bat against India

by Sports Benches

We’ve reached the first week of six in this year’s Cricket World Cup over in India with some exciting match-ups to kick things off, such as the 2019 Final rematch opener between England v New Zealand. England didn’t do so bad for a start thanks to Joe Root (77) earlier on of 282-9 even though they couldn’t reach 300, but that big batting partnership of Opener Devon Conway (152) & No.3 Rachin Ravindra (123) has helped NZ wow the defending champions by a nine wicket win – having each recorded their own 100s.

Sounds like NZ’s attacking approach is the original birth place of Bazball where it has been adopted to England since last year by their Test coach Brendon McCullum. Although it’s safe to say that he’s not their white-ball coach (Matthew Mott is who formerly coached the Australian women’s side), despite having a similar kind of dedicated coaching staff who shares the same philosophy as him. NZ went on to beat the Netherlands two days ago by 99 runs two days ago (Monday) while England has also recorded their first win of the 2023 CWC v Bangladesh yesterday by 137 runs.

Then the tables turn on our Aussies who unfortunately didn’t get the win they wanted from Sunday v the host nation, India. It looked so promising from the start when you got Dave Warner & Steve Smith smashing 30/40s, but then the rest didn’t do so well where they ended up just above 200 before India were too good to bring it home with the winning runs by six wickets.

Their next game is tomorrow night AEDT v South Africa who got their first win from Saturday v Sri Lanka. Now the Proteas would want to treat carefully with water later on who is well known for being chokers like India – but so far, so good. 

SA recently beat the Aussies at home out of a five-match ODI series last month (3-2) & that it’s something the Aussies needs to do in order to turn things around such as their batting card on such hot conditions over there. There is still some time left to play for where Australia will look to win some matches against 2-3 top teams & then hopefully put themselves into the Top 4 finals, with Sri Lanka coming after this next game on Monday.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

An update on the Liam Lawson to Williams links on loan where he would’ve gone & be a perfect replacement for Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing for 2025 but it’s still unlikely

by Sports Benches

Image Credit: Lukas Raich via Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0 International

There’s a little more to it a few days ago about the possibility of Liam Lawson racing on loan at Williams-Mercedes from Red Bull next season alongside fellow past Red Bull & Toro Rosso alumni Alex Albon from Thailand.

Last weekend, it was announced that Daniel Ricciardo will be back at Alpha Tauri while they hold on Yuki Tsunoda for another year due to the Honda links they bring into RB’s feeder squad when it comes to the engines + funding. It seems that won’t go away until at least the end of 2025 where Liam should be racing F1s by then in place Ricciardo before RBR & AT will switch to Ford engines from 2026, so that Yuki may join Aston Martin since they will be the next Honda’s works outfit. 

It would’ve been great to see Liam get a full season experience at Williams beforehand next season where he can be a perfect replacement for the under-fire Sergio Perez as Max Verstappen’s next team-mate at the flagship organization in 2025. But then that door is also closed when Williams wanted to retain American Logan Sargeant despite him crashing all the time.

Even though Sargeant may not be back & Liam missing out, Williams would elect to have last year’s Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich from Brazil instead in his place. All can Liam do now is learn from both Red Bull teams, then step up to Alpha Tauri in 2025 and go from there to achieve something big so he can go on & race for the main team in 2-3 years time. It’s the same for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris who had to sit a year out before earning their first moves onto the big time. Let’s hope more Kiwis can follow his lead when it comes to earning their stripes from the ground up to all the way at the top level.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

F1 Live Race Today at Suzuka: Max Verstappen unstoppable with Aussie Oscar Piastri’s first podium in P3 for McLaren while NZ’s Liam Lawson finished 11th in Alpha Tauri

by Sports Benches

Yes, today’s Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix race was crazy earlier on where we saw a few cars make contact into each other that led to some DNFs along the way. But it was a great day though with Max Verstappen being unstoppable in the Red Bull-RBPT Honda before he was joined by both McLarens to round out the Top 3 as Lando Norris finished 2nd followed our Aussie own Oscar Piastri, who scored his first podium finish in 3rd. We wished Oscar would’ve chased down Max from 2nd, but then he was blocked by the race winner immediately after the race start where Lando took a great view on the outside from 3rd to 2nd before he couldn’t get on hold onto Max as the race progresses. There will always be another Oscar moment after his mother couldn’t be there to watch her son race in-person today, but it looks like we will see him win races & hopefully a World Championship someday thanks to his latest four-year contract extension a few days ago with McLaren.

And shoutout to New Zealand’s Liam Lawson down in 11th for the Alpha Tauri-RBPT Honda outfit. He had a great battle with his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda from the start, although he was losing some track position for a while. But he had a great last half run though nonetheless, having made up some lost time where he got around Yuki before being way ahead of him en route towards another good result – despite being a lap down in his 4th race. Again, this is one driver who deserves a full-time seat. But there’s nothing we can do about it unless Williams can loan him out (which is unlikely) following the news yesterday that Alpha Tauri will retain both Yuki and the injured Daniel Ricciardo next season. Next stop, Lusail International Circuit in Race 17/23 this season under the lights for Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday 8th October/Monday 9th October at 4am AEDT here.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

2022 T20 World Cup: Persistent rain abandoned Australia v England game tonight at the Melbourne Cricket Ground without a ball being bowled

by Sports Benches

Well, we were hoping to have at least some play tonight between Australia v England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground but again Mother Nature ultimately won this game ahead of the two teams without a ball being bowled.

With that being said, Australia should not have to face any issues beating Ireland and Afghanistan to complete their Super 12 campaign. However, like Mother Nature, Australia will need some luck & pray that England lose to the Black Caps (New Zealand) on Tuesday. 

That way, not only Australia can end up in the Top 2 Group 1 ladder, but they can advance into the semi-finals v India or South Africa in order to continue their World Championship defence on home soil.

For now, the Australian Opening and Top-Order will need to be at their best by scoring big, so they can come to a semi-final fully prepared to upset a giant like India as if their 2nd place finish in Group 1 was confirmed. 

Meanwhile, their bowling has been okay on the other hand but again they will need to be up and running right & nail down early wickets from the very start. If not, they will have a hard time overcoming India in the semi-final and potentially throw away another Trans-Tasman showdown v the Blackcaps (New Zealand) for the big T20 World Cup Final at the MCG come Sunday November 13.

We love seeing some underdog teams upset the big nation Test sides so far in this tournament, as we can’t wait to see how the business end of the Super 12 group stages unfold going into this weekend as well as the entirety of next week.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

A rundown of Nine Network’s coverage of the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup ahead of Australia v New Zealand tonight at the SCG

by Sports Benches

Well, it has been a while when watching white-ball International Cricket on Free TV, but Australia’s 2022 T20 World Cup campaign defense kicks off tonight at the Sydney Cricket Ground v New Zealand aka Black Caps.

And the Nine Network is onboard once again alongside Fox Cricket as the ICC’s Australian Free TV partner to bring you all the action with Australian games, a couple of other Super 12 games, two semi finals and the final to round off such a great next few weeks ahead of T20 World Cup on show.

I’m glad that Roz Kelly is onboard as the host who knows cricket so well, thanks to her husband who was also really good back in the his day with his fast bowling for South Africa in Morne Morkel. She also hosted Network 10’s Big Bash League coverage in the past before the rights were taken away by the Seven Network in 2018. But again, great to see Roz get the opportunity to present cricket on Nine after she came back here at the start of last year to host Rugby Union, Tennis, reading the sports news for Nine News Sydney (Fridays & Saturdays) and Sports Sunday.

It’s also good to see former Opening Batsman Mark “Tubby” Taylor provide his insights on the game once again as Nine’s primary cricket expert, even though they no longer hold the home summer matches anymore. But he’s still well liked here for over two decades since his retirement from the game, especially when he pops up on Sports Sunday for most of the year with Roz.

Although there isn’t any ex-Nine cricket faces currently hired on Seven and Fox Cricket these days following the tragic death of Shane Warne (Fox Cricket) earlier this year – as well as Michael Slater (Seven) whose life gone has upside down not long after Seven dismissed him over the past year due to budget constraints – but Nine will have two new analysts for this tournament in former spinner Steve O’Keefe and former batsman Callum Ferguson.

And oh, Michael Clarke may not have been picked up by Seven or Fox at all since Nine no longer airs the summer of cricket four years ago, but he will be on the world feed commentary nonetheless alongside Fox Cricket regulars in Mark Howard, Mel Jones and Adam Gilchrist.

It will be interesting to see what the cricketing community here will say about this commentary team in the next few weeks. I’m sure they will enjoy having a female presenting the coverage in Roz including Tubby and two fresh faces, before Nine will be back on the crease next year with The Ashes in England (Mid June-August) & the next Men’s 50-Over World Cup in India (October-November).

Then we’ll wait and see if Nine will get some help from Network 10 once the current domestic deal expires in 2024, so Nine can hopefully get Test Cricket back & 10 picks up the rest with the Big Bash & white-ball International Cricket – while keeping the Australian Open Tennis which has been working for them so well since they shocked Seven and the Australian sporting community in 2018/2019.

For now, enjoy the next few weeks of T20 World Cup Cricket. Plus, shout out to Ian Chappell who recently announced his retirement from commentary at age 78, after a illustrious spell for over a few decades following the end of his playing career with Nine and other International TV/Radio outlets.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Looking back at the 2022 IndyCar season-opener highlights race on 9Go, with Scott McLaughlin as the race winner for Team Penske

by Sports Benches

I just had the chance to watch a bit of the IndyCar highlights today on 9Go, where I took a few shots of Sunday’s season-opener round (Monday morning here) that was held from a street circuit in St Petersburg, Florida.

Hats off through a fantastic drive from Kiwi & 3 x Supercars Champion Scott McLaughlin, who sealed his first IndyCar race win for the No.3 Penske Chevy, during Race 1 of 17 in the new season. Not only he dominated final practice and qualifying, where he started from pole but also on race day, having fended off a fiercely competitive battle against reigning champion Alex Palou in the No.10 Ganassi Honda, who hails from Spain.

And once he got into the podium/victory lane, we loved how he reached out to those back in Australia during the post-race interview, where they are experiencing a tough time right now with the ongoing floods over in Queensland and New South Wales. He also mentioned how he missed seeing his parents by his side from Cambridge, NZ, who were unable to attend his races or see their son in person right now for over two years due to COVID. Glad to see them chat once again via facetime, as McLaughlin not only hopes to bring home the famous Indy 500 in late May but also the series’ title.

Great race to reflect with Australia’s own Leigh Diffey calling the shots for NBC Sports, which is the host commentary feed we get for IndyCar globally.

This series is moving onto an oval layout now at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth for Round 2 of 17, as the next race will be on Monday, March 21 (Sunday, March 20 over in the USA) at 3-4 am AEDT via paid streaming service on Stan Sport. You can either try out Stan Sport on a seven-day free trial or pay $20 a month on top of the basic Stan package. Otherwise, 9Go will be back airing highlights of Race 2 from Texas free of charge at 2-3 pm on Thursday, March 24.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

2021 T20 World Cup Final Match Report

by Admin

Australia won their first ever T20 world cup, after a commanding run chase over New Zealand.

The Aussies won the toss and decided to bowl, a decision that has become pretty common in this world cup due to the dew effect and how the pitch matures. It seemed to be a pretty smart decision early on, with Josh Hazelwood taking the wicket of semi final hero Darrell Mitchell, in the third over. The other opener Martin Guptill scored a slow 28 runs off of 35 balls, before he chipped one to Marcus Stoinis.

But from there on it was the Kiwi captain who took control of the innings. After a slow start, Kane Williamson exploded through the middle overs, hitting thirteen boundaries including three sixes in a spectacular innings. Williamson was able to score his 85 off of just 48 deliveries. It was a spectacular innings, that led New Zealand to finish on 172-4, after Jimmy Neesham smacked a six towards the close of play.

It meant Australia had the difficult task of chasing 173 on a slow pitch. Their run chase was made a lot more difficult when they lost captain Aaron Finch for just five runs in the third over. But from there, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh put on the match winning partnership of 92, before Warner was bowled out by Trent Boult.

While Australia came into the tournament with some incredible batsmen like David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch, it was ten year veteran Mitchell Marsh who provided the match winning performance. Coming in with Australia down 15-1 after a slow start, Marsh provided a controlled but impressive innings which led his side to victory.

Marsh had been dropped in the run up to the tournament, but was reinstated into the team as the tournament began, and provided the most important innings of his career in the final. Marsh hit some beautiful shots before Glenn Maxwell took Australia past 173, with seven balls to spare.

Top 3 Performances

3. Kane Williamson produced what was thought to be a match winning performance. His T20 ability is often overlooked, but the captain did everything to try to lead his team to victory today, narrowly falling short of defending their total.

2. While Williamson batted excellently, Josh Hazlewood showed why he is one of th best t20 bowlers in the world once again, taking 3 wickets for just 16 runs, including the wicket of Williamson. It was a bowling performance that meant no other New Zealand batter could properly help their captain

1. Mitch Marsh produced his greatest ever performance. Australia’s batting had been a worry coming into the tournament, with questions all across their line-up. But Marsh put to bed any questions about him being in the team. Marsh never looked worried as he hit a match winning 77 which included four big sixes. It was a performance no one expected, but came at exactly the right time for Australia.

This is the Aussies first ever t20 world cup victory, despite winning five world cups in ODI cricket. Australia lost in 2010 to England, but took care of things today. It means they go into the 2022 world cup which is hosted in Australia as holders, looking to defend their crown at home.

New Zealand need to regroup after a difficult loss in the final, but they will go into the world cup next year with a good squad that should have some crucial additions like Lochie Ferguson and Finn Allen come back into the squad to give them a good shot at the world cup in 2022.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Rugby

Australian Rugby News, Top 3 players from Game 2 of the 2021 Bledisloe Cup at Eden Park

by Sports Benches

Sam Whitelock stood out on his own All Blacks territory who exposed the Wallabies’ poor executions both as a leader where he guided the Crusaders to many Super Rugby titles & a brilliant contributor in defense.

He read it well when the opposition lacked support numbers going forward that saw so many gaps before Sam filled it up with the Wallabies lost opportunities via the turnover/penalty.

It sums up his side’s attacking dominance in return with some help when building the attack which saved him so much workload & uses his natural game that puts off the Wallabies at Eden Park.

Codie Taylor comes in next who helped stabilize the All Blacks’ extended lead after the HT break at hooker; he has so much to offer when it comes to the line-outs/throw-in as well as the physicality on all fronts.

He credits the direct passage of play where Dane communicated very well that helped ease their workload, especially to his team-mates at the backline who built the groundwork before he processed two tries off his own.

Brilliant run tonight alongside an early mark to the bench so he can rest up towards the All Blacks’ upcoming Rugby Championship campaign later this month.

And Andrew Kellaway is the last of the Top 3 bunch when his Wallabies side looked really sore once again, but he did well individually on the wide right backline position.

He has the finishing instincts to explode any opposing half even though it’s his 2nd game at International level, you got to credit some winning penalty restarts that helped the Wallabies were organised for a couple of occasions.

Unfortunately, his side lacked patience when it comes to executing through open play with no talk up & direct attacking structure which frustrated him as Andrew needs help next time in order to earn the tries his side desperately need that is match-winning quality.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • 1
  • 2