Well, what's going on as we welcome to all our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning into my Kiwiavenger blog but first, in the cricket (Well, everything is about the cricket here in New Zealand as the rugby season is over already (Except in the Northern Hemisphere where it's still going, especially the Investec Champions Cup, & with the Six Nations due in late January this year) until February starting with the Super Rugby Pacific season with the 1st match of the competition taking place on Valentine's Day between the 2 former champions of Super Rugby, the Crusaders & the Hurricanes (Who'll be without 1 test AB Ruben Love, as he faces his spell in the sidelines for 3 to 4 months with a bad injury that he took during pre-season training) at Apollo Projects Stadium (Which is going to be replaced by One New Zealand Stadium when it opens next year as a replacement venue of the old Lancaster Park which closed its doors as a result of damage sustained by the earthquake back in 2011 (That was the year after the 1st Christchurch earthquake) in which was the most tragic here in New Zealand compared to 9/11 in America way back in 2001 & the July 7th bombings in London in the UK also way back in 2005 after the city had been awarded hosting rights to the Summer Games in 2012) in Christchurch in the Canterbury region) as the Black Caps went on to win the 3rd & final test against England (Who had to win the series as well as the inaugural Crowe-Thorpe trophy (The competition named after both late cricket legends of Martin Crowe (Who passed away in 2016 after a lengthy battle with a terminal illness) & Graham Thorpe (Who tragically passed away last year as a result of taking his own life when he got fatally run over by a train in the UK (And he had depression according to his family) after dominating the 1st 2 tests in both Christchurch & Wellington in which the Black Caps are out of the picture of reaching the World Test Championship final at Lord's) at Seddon Park in Hamilton in Tim Southee's farewell test as former captain Kane Williamson posted a ton in the 2nd innings, meanwhile Australia (Who had been a global superpower in world cricket since 2023 when they completed a treble such as the WTC, the Ashes & the men's Cricket World Cup) have levelled the BGT series against India at Adelaide 1 - 1 before the 3rd test in Brisbane had ended in a draw (With both Travis Head & Steve Smith posting tons respectively) meaning that the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is still locked up at 1 apiece going into the Boxing Day test in Melbourne.
And in motor racing related news such as Liam Lawson has departed Racing Bulls (Who'll have Algerian-Frenchman Isack Hadjar (Who narrowly missed out on claiming the F2 title to Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto whose with KICK Sauber F1 Team now alongside German Nico Huelkenberg) replacing Lawson to pair up with Japan's Yuki Tsunoda) meaning that he's in to replace Mexican Sergio Perez at Red Bull when he pairs alongside his new teammate of the 4 time defending Formula One world champion, Dutchman Max Verstappen in a bid of regaining constructors championship glory after McLaren ended Red Bull's 2 year reign on top of the constructors championship summit last year with the season opening race locked in on the 16th of March this year with Australia hosting round 1 of the world championship since 2019 (Then a year later in 2020 (That was the year after the Christchurch mosque shooting massacre which was tragic along with a pair of shootings in Dayton & El Paso in the United States that was inspired by the tragic events in Christchurch, & the White Island eruption which resulted in severe casualties + there was protests in Hong Kong, China where there is a ban on political freedom in the region due to China's imposition of a controversial national security law in the country & the bushfires in Australia had taken place from 2019 until 2020, right before COVID came along) where they thought they're going to open the F1 season, but called off immediately due to COVID), but in news related to the Supercars Championship (Which will open the season at Sydney Motorsport Park for the first time since 2022 on the weekend of the 21st to the 23rd of February, compared to IndyCar hosting the season opener at St Pete in Florida in the United States of America on the 2nd of March (That's a fortnight before F1 begins their new season on March 16th down under at the Melbourne Grand Prix circuit at Albert Park in the city of Melbourne which hosts the Australian Grand Prix) that Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell could potentially host another New Zealand round of the championship next year (But the Supercars Championship has never hosted a round in the South Island of New Zealand, but it's mainly the North Island of NZ mainly hosts it on that occasion (First it was Pukekohe, before that it was Hamilton, then Pukekohe again, & it's Taupo now) to join alongside Taupo International Motorsport Park which is contracted to run until also next year.
And the nominees are in for the 62nd Halberg Sports awards sponsored by ISPS Handa with New Zealand's most successful Olympian of Dame Lisa Carrington (Who had an ultra successful year at the Paris Summer Games as she brought home 3 golds (Including being part of the women's K4 sprint kayak with Olivia Brett, Alicia Hoskin & Tara Vaughan, women's K2 sprint kayak with Hoskin, & on her own in the women's K1 sprint kayak) during the summer Olympics) leading the way in terms of sports nominations such as Sportswoman of the Year (The other nominees are Ellesse Andrews, Sarah Hirini, Amelia 'Mellie' Kerr, Lydia Ko & Risi Pouri-Lane are among the contenders/front runners of claiming sportswoman of the year) & Team of the Year (Along with the Black Caps, Black Ferns sevens, Brooke Francis & Lucy Spoors, Emirates Team New Zealand (Who dominated the last 3 America's Cups in Bermuda 2017 then Auckland 2021, & Barcelona last year) & the White Ferns) as part of the women's K2 sprint kayak, & the women's K4 sprint kayak as well (While both Finn Butcher & Hamish Kerr battle it out for the Sportsman of the Year awards along with 5 others including All White Chris Wood).
And finally Carole is off to the UAE (United Arab Emirates) to see her family there during Christmas time (And last year me, Pops & Carole were in Northland for which would be my last holiday since I'm retiring from going on trips (I thought me & Pops were going to see Cathey, Paige & Norah in Wellington this year in January, but I decided to drop out of it citing fears of Pops old age & travel costs regarding to inflation mainly due to the dreadful war that has still been going since 2022 (And I've made my decision to move on from the 3 of them until further notice, & for the foreseeable future but I'm still going to meet them one day) like that according to the previous blogs that I did) such as her bro Zaki, Zaki's wife Aisha, Zaki's son Yasser & Zaki's grandson & Yasser's son Kace, but I miss her now & I'll be seeing her on the 2nd of January next year when she comes back from Dubai on a long flight, but me & Pops will be at Dad's place on Christmas day last year on the 25th of December (And I've got a present including the physical copy of the Rugby Challenge 4 game on the PS4, but I'm giving it to Dad so that he can update the players & teams which is a bit tricky since I got the digital copy that I bought since 2020).
So that is my 587th blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 11th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
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