How has the England Test team fared under Brendon McCullum?

At the time of writing, former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon “Baz” McCullum, has recently made headlines again. On September 3, 2024, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that McCullum would officially be taking over as head coach of the England men’s white-ball or, in other words, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 (T20), teams, replacing the previous incumbent Matthew Mott. Mott was originally appointed as white-ball coach in May 2022, at the same time McCullum assumed red-ball duties, but failed to improve England’s record, in either format, and was dismissed in late July 2024.

McCullum, on the other hand, has revitalised the England Test team with his devil-may-care style of cricket, a.k.a. “Bazball”. He won his first series in charge, against his home country in June 2022, 3-0 and has since won four more and drawn three, including a remarkable comeback against Australia in The Ashes in 2023, having lost the first two Tests by narrow margins.

Of course, Test cricket has not been altogether plain sailing for McCullum or Ben Stokes, who has been England captian throughout his tenure as red-ball coach. A narrow victory against India in Hyderabad in January was followed by four successive defeats and a first, chastening series loss for the pair. Nevertheless, a Test record of 19 wins out of 28, including 15 out of 18 at home, speaks for itself, particularly in view of the fact that England had won just once in 17 matches before McCullum took charge.

What, exactly, is “The Hundred”?

the hundredFor the uninitiated, “The Hundred” is an annual, 100-ball cricket tournament run by and, until recently, funded by, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It is a fairly recent addition to the cricketing calendar, having first been staged in 2021, and involves eight, purpose-built franchises, based at major venues around the country. Competition, for both men’s and women’s teams, takes place over a five-week period during the school summer holidays, with matches held at the same venue on the same day.

Each team plays eight matches, four at home and four away, making a total of 32 matches, in the league stage of the tournament. The top three teams in the league progress to “Finals Day”, with the team that finishes top automatically reaching the final and the teams that finish second and third playing off in the “Eliminator” for the remaining final place. At the time of writing the reigning champions are and London Spirit, who beat Welsh Fire by four wickets, albeit with just two balls to spare, to win their inaugural women’s title at Lord’s on August 18, 2024, and Oval Invincibles, who retained their men’s title with 17-run victory over Southern Brave later the same day.

The Hundred format was intended to create a faster, more exciting form of cricket, which is more attractive to a younger, more diverse audience than the traditional Test, One Day International (ODI) or Twenty20 (T20) formats. Granted that 41% of the 540,000 tickets sold in 2024 were bought by families, and 30% by newcomers to cricket, few could argue that it has been successful in achieving that aim.

How many horses have won the Melbourne Cup more than once?

Known locally as ‘the race that stops a nation’, the Melbourne Cup is run over 3,200 metres, or just shy of two miles in imperial measurements, at Flemington Racecourse, on the banks of the Maribyrnong River in Melbourne, Victoria, on the first Tuesday in November. The race was established in 1861 by the Victorian Turf Club, which, three years later, merged with the competing Victorian Turf Club to form the modern body, the Victoria Racing Club. Nowadays, the Melbourne Cup, which boasts A$8 million in total prize money – of which A$4.4 million goes to the winner – has the distinction of being the most valuable handicap on the whole. It holds wide appeal, with the Australian jokacasino pokies online real money crowd and more.

Generally speaking, multiple winners of the Melboure Cup have been few and far between, although the inaugural winner, Archer, owned and trained by Etienne de Mestre and ridden by John Cutts, went on to become the first dual winner. Indeed, the son of William Tell won by six lengths in 1861 and eight in 1862 and could, conceivably, have become the first triple winner but for being refused entry in 1863, after connections overlooked the deadline for acceptance.

As it was, the next horse to win the Melbourne Cup more than once was Peter Pan, trained by Frank McGrath Snr., who was successful as a three-year-old in 1932 and as a five-year-old in 1934, thereby becoming the first multiple, but non-consecutive, winner. Thereafter, Rain Lover (1968, 1969) and Think Big (1974, 1975) recorded back-to-back victories and Makybe Diva (2003, 2004, 2005) became the first horse to win the Cup three times.

Which is the longest held Olympic record?

With so many Olympics sports in the mix, it can actually be difficult to wade through sports trivia to the essential facts of who has held the longest olympic record for a man or woman. The ‘what, where and when’ of it all draws various interpretations, some with more basis to them than others.

Case in point, some believe athlete Czech athlete Jarmila Kratochvilova, who in 1983 ran the women’s 800 metres in just 1:53.28 holds the olympic record. However, while her achievement at Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany deserve to be acknowledged it did not in fact take place, as stated in several places online, “at the 1983 Olympics”.

The actual 800 meter olympic record is the 1980 1:53.43 time set by Soviet middle-distance runner Nadezhda Olizarenko while winning gold in the women’s 800 metres at the 1980 Moscow held Olympics. Her time remains the second fastest ever for the event, behind only the aforementioned Kratochvilova time, by 15 hundredths of a second. Imagine the odds of knowing, or rather deducing, that a world record was about to be achieved and considering which betting broker to opt for (since they offer the best odds, bookies and arbitrage betting opportunities, even to those with a talent for picking winners) in such a scenario. It certainly provides food for thought when watching big sporting events.

The longest held Olympic record by anyone belongs to American Robert “Bob” Beaman, who, in October 18, 1968, won the men’s long jump at the Olympics in Mexico City with a distance of 8.90m. This topped the existing world record by an impressive 55cm. Testament to his record was the fact that it remained a world record until August 1991, when fellow American Mike Powell jumped 8.95m at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, during the World Athletics Championships. Beaman’s decades old jump, to this day, remains the second longest legal jump in history.

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