Tubbs And Slats Slip Back Into The Old Routine

Sun Herald

Sunday February 13, 2005

David Sygall

FORMER Test opening partners Mark Taylor and Michael Slater may be very different characters, but their routine at a debate hosted by Sydney grade club UTS-Balmain at NSW Parliament on Thursday suggested they remain a very good combination. The theme was "Who Carried Who" and the pair hilariously niggled each other while being interviewed by former Test and NSW off spinner Gavin Robertson. Recounting an innings at Lord's, Slater said: "Tubby was hitting them right out of the middle that day, it was really exciting. I think he was about 25 at lunch." To which Taylor responded: "All I know is that when Slats came into the team my average was about 50. When we finished as partners it was about 42. So, I know who carried who."

Pigeon's hit out

GLENN McGrath will be one of a bunch of internationals playing in an ING Cup grudge match today between the Blues and the Bushrangers at the SCG. But while his batting this summer has been the best of his career highlighted by his 61 in the first Test against New Zealand he probably won't bat today. In his 19 ING Cup matches since 1992-93, McGrath has not once wielded the willow.

Chee Quee has the night of his life

TESTIMONIALS are all about the end of one stage of life and the beginning of another. Which is why former NSW batsman Richard Chee Quee proposed to his girlfriend Lianna Woodgate during his special night at the Petersham RSL on Wednesday. Chee Quee popped the question on stage, in front of 400 guests, including Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Simon Katich, Michael Clarke and Wallabies coach Eddie Jones. But the decision wasn't a sure thing. "I asked Lianna's father two days before," he said. "And I picked up the ring the day before. I wasn't sure I'd ask her that night, with Valentine's Day coming up, but it just felt right. It was the most emotional night of my life."

Unilateral stance

AS a former Test and NSW fast bowler, Geoff Lawson knows the SCG well. But, though the ends of the ground are known as the Paddington and Randwick ends, the parochial Lawson, a University of NSW stalwart, has decided he will refer to the Randwick end as the UNSW end.

Boos up batsman

ENGLAND'S Kevin Pietersen wishes he could borrow the South African crowds for the Ashes in England later this year. After blasting an unbeaten one-day century off just 69 balls on Wednesday in East London, South African-born Pietersen revealed he was spurred on by the crowd's boos.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"I've got three kids. They're triplets. I reckon I'm the only fast bowler to get a hat-trick with two balls."

Former Test paceman Mike Whitney, who was guest speaker at the UTS-Balmain fund-raiser on Thursday.

STATS ENTERTAINMENT

FORMER South African-turned-England batsman Kevin Pietersen, 24, has played 10 one-day internationals, batted eight times and scored 442 runs at an average of 147 and a strike rate of 99.5, including two centuries and two 50s. His first-class average is 54 after 89 innings.

dsygall@sunherald.com.au

© 2005 Sun Herald

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