Well, welcome to our readers here in New Zealand, & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning in to my KiwiAvenger blog here on blogger (And this is my last before Christmas this year which is happening on December the 25th, & we're 4 days away from it as of today, especially our whanau here in New Zealand), but first that there was once another one of the cricket stories on the Captain Courageous programme about Alec 'Stewy' Stewart (He thought about opening the batting in the aftermath of the injury prone English player Alex Tudor (Who had the highest scorer ever by a night watchperson at 99 not out against New Zealand way, way back in 1999) who unfortunately got injured a day before the test on Christmas morning, so a keeper named Warren Hegg had been called up to the squad therefore making his test debut (And if Hegg didn't play, Stewart would've kept the gloves while an extra bowler would've been named in the team meaning that it wasn't easy, but he delivered as the only time Alec Stewart had actually won a test match for England against Australia, as captain) who was the English captain when they sailed to an unlikely win against Australia in the Boxing Day test way, way back in 1998 at the MCG in Melbourne, his only win against the Aussies as England skipper in which he got a century (His top score was 91 over the 8 years of facing the Aussies) in the first innings when he top scored 107 in a match (And he got a half century during the 2nd innings as well in that he got 52) that was a low scoring affair that really was a famous victory for England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), where Australia, needing only 14 runs to win, collapsed from 7/208 to all out for 220 and lost by 12 runs. England bowler Dean Headley took the last three wickets for the win, as he had been awarded standout player of the game. The match is renowned for Australia's dramatic batting collapse and England's remarkable turnaround (And that dramatic LB (Leg before) decision from Darren Gough on Aussie number 11 batter Glenn McGrath, had decided the test).
And secondly that I've decided to include all 8 teams that were the world champions in the Football/Soccer men's World Cup (7 former & 1 current) such as Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain & Uruguay in the 2nd season of the Global Champions Cup, as well as season 3 will feature the top 8 of the most recent 2022 tournament in Qatar such as Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, England, France, Morocco, the Netherlands & Portugal of the Global Champions Cup, all whilst playing on the eFootball PS5 game (Well, I thought about downloading the Xbox Series X version of the game, but I decided to stick to PS5 throughout).
And thirdly in league news such as the Kiwis coached by New Zealand league legend Stacey Jones (A former New Zealand Warriors (Who'll begin their season next year against the Sydney Roosters at Go Media Stadium in Auckland, then they host the Dolphins at Sky Stadium in Wellington, as well as the North Queensland Cowboys at the brand spanking new state of the art indoor stadium (Just like Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin where it's the only indoor stadium here in our country until the opening of Te Kaha over in Christchurch due in April next year where they will host Super round (First time since last year where they last held it in Melbourne & first time New Zealand will host it) during the Super Rugby Pacific competition in 2026) which is One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch, & the Warriors final regular season game will be against the defending premiers the Brisbane Broncos at home) player who took over from Michael Maguire when he was at the helm in 2023 where New Zealand last triumphed in the Pacific Rugby League Championships (Although there will be no PRLC competition taking place next year due to the League World Cup in Australia & PNG to be held of course (Even though Lang Park (Brisbane Stadium) will host the final of league's global showpiece event for the 3rd time next year after previously hosting it in both 2008 & 2017), but the latest in the league as the Cook Islands become the 10th & last team to qualify for next year's League World Cup with a demoralising win over South Africa there, therefore joining the likes of co-hosts & defending champions Australia, Samoa, New Zealand, England, Lebanon, Tonga, Fiji, as well as another one of the co-hosts of Papua New Guinea, & France as the other qualified teams that made it to next years tournament) against the Kangaroos (Who had a stunning clean sweep in the 3 match Ashes rugby league series against England that Australia featured the likes of the big 4 such as Nathan Cleary (Brother of Jett the Warrior who comes from Ukraine that he plays the national team for because of his grandmother being from there), Cameron Munster, Harry Grant & Reece Walsh) & led by 4 time Premiership winning player who currently plays for the New Zealand Warriors of James Fisher-Harris in the final in Hamilton by 30 points to nil) triumph in the Pacific Rugby League Championship Cup for the 2nd time in 3 years (Well I wanted the Kiwis to win, & they delivered as I watched the 2nd half on the 12th of November, but I watched it again a day later on November 13th, this time it was the last 10 minutes of the game) against Samoa at CommBank Stadium in Sydney, Australia in what was to be a farewell game for Kieran 'Foz' Foran (The 2011 NRL Premiership winning player for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (He began his NRL career there before Foran's last club that he played for was with the Gold Coast Titans in which he made 318 first grade appearances) was the one who was called up to the squad before the tournament as an injury replacement for Jahrome Hughes (The Melbourne Storm player) who had his final swansong of cap off or I should say, sign off his league career before his coaching career begins as an assistant coach for the Sea Eagles that is the team that 'Foz' has played for during his playing career (And the reason why he wanted to retire was his body is not feeling right according to the Fox League show that I saw this year on Sky Sport NZ), but the golden boot winner went to controversial Kiwis five-eighth Dylan Brown (The Newcastle Knights bound player who played for the Parramatta Eels this season) who really was the star of that tournament by having that Reece Walsh caliber that he had during the Broncos successful run to the NRL Premiership this year.
And finally in the music department that I have made a strange decision to include the famous & most popular American heavy metal band of Metallica as my 6th fave rock band to join alongside 5 others as my mains such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Nickelback & U2 due to me always loving that song 'Nothing Else Matters' that was an ode of 1992, as well as having a love affair with the band themselves meaning that I have become a fanatic again after for so long for like 18 years for example which was way back in 2007 along with AC/DC.
So that is my 646th blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 70th of this year, viva Ukraine.
P.S. And my last thoughts before Christmas? Well, have a good one eh? Right guys? (But later then as well).
Great blog Whetu!!
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