Wasim Akram’s on board the Saints express. The former left-arm Pakistani paceman tweeted his delight as St Kilda surged into second place on the AFL ladder on Thursday night with a four-point win over Gold Coast on Thursday night.
“You beauty!!! Well done to the Mighty Saints @stkildafac, what a win, hope this lifts some of the spirits in Melbourne. Love from the UK,” Wasim wrote after the game.
You beauty!!! 💪ðŸ¼ðŸ’ªðŸ¼ Well done to the Mighty Saints @stkildafc , what a win, hope this lifts some of the spirits in Melbourne. Love from Uk #StkildaFC #AFL #MelbourneLockdown
— Wasim Akram (@wasimakramlive) August 6, 2020
Many assumed it was Saints tragic Shane Warne who had converted Wasim to the cause.
Yes, Warne is a peripheral figure in this story but, as fellow St Kilda man, colleague Peter Lalor tells us, his devotion to the Tricolours was actually part of an informal pre-nuptial agreement.
Eight years ago, when the cricket legend asked his future father-in-law, Tony Thompson, for the hand of his now wife Shaniera it came with one condition: “Yes, but you have to follow St Kilda if you want my daughter.”
Thompson is a former Victorian policeman and controversial private investigator who sold his Brighton mansion to Warne in 2018 after buying it from Essendon great Matthew Lloyd three years earlier.
Wasim, who visited St Kilda headquarters in January this year during one of those slightly cringeworthy, made-for-the-media, international-celeb-kicks-a-Sherrin moments has a satellite television at home and tunes into Saints games from Karachi. He has also been commentating on the first Test between England and Pakistan at Old Trafford this week alongside, you guessed it, Warnie.
Channel Seven out for 99
This week Channel Seven aired a fantastic trip down memory lane, a look back at the Sydney Olympics as the network started its 12-month countdown to next year’s delayed Tokyo Games.
Ian Thorpe’s magnificence in the pool, the heartbreak of walker Jane Saville’s disqualification and the comic genius of Roy and HG. Of course, Seven selected Cathy Freeman’s gold medal in the 400m as the highlight of the Sydney Olympics — the most magical 49.11 seconds in Australia sporting history. Seven added some extra magic dust to the moment, pointing out it was also Australia’s 100th Olympic title.
Perfect! Except it wasn’t. It was the 99th.
In 2012 the Australian Olympic Committee was shocked to learn the International Olympic Committee had — without warning — stripped us of the title won by Donald MacKintosh, who came first in the game shooting event and third in the live pigeon shooting at the 1900 Paris Olympics.
Why was he stripped? The 1900 Games, at the suggestion of modern Olympics founder Pierre de Coubertin, were held alongside the Universal Paris Exposition and it had become unclear over time which events belonged to the Olympics and which were part of the Expo.
Mackintosh’s exploits in events that saw hundreds of birds shot dead were deemed non-Olympic competition.
At the time, famed Olympic historian Harry Gordon told The Australian it was all highly unusual — particularly as he has previously confirmed Mackintosh’s status as a bonefide Olympic champion during a visit to the IOC’s own archives in 1992.
“I don’t think you can retrospectively remove a gold medal that has been recognised,” Gordon said.
So who did win Australia’s 100th Olympic gold medal? It was taekwondo fighter Lauren Burns who was awarded her gold medal by IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch two days after Freeman’s run.
“Samaranch presented my medal at the Games,” Burns told Seven. “This was the only medal he presented at the Games so it’s very special.”
Even more special than you think, Lauren.
Afridi’s gift from Sachin
It was only Shahid Afridi’s second one-day international in 1996 when he marched to the crease in a game against Sri Lanka in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
In fact, it was the first time had ever batted in an international. But 37 balls later the enigmatic Pakistani was raising his bat for the world’s fastest ODI century.
This week it emerged that same bat originally belonged to none other than Indian great Sachin Tendulkar — a piece of wood that turned Afridi from a spinner to one of the world’s most devastating batsmen.
Speaking on The Greatest Rivalry podcast, Afridi’s former teammate Azhar Mahmood revealed the bat had originally been gifted to Pakistan paceman Waqar Younis, who passed it on to the young debutant.
“I think Waqar got a bat from Sachin, he used the great Sachin’s bat and managed to get a hundred and after that, he became a batsman,” Mahmood said. “Mainly he was a bowler who can hit the ball, but in the end, he had a wonderful career.”
Afridi’s world record for the fastest ODI century stood for 18 years until New Zealand allrounder Corey Anderson beat it in 2014 by a single delivery against the West Indies.
South African superstar AB de Villiers then smashed that mark a year later with a 31-ball ton against the West Indies at Johannesburg.
BC’s tip of the week
The weather in Sydney turned sour on Friday so Brendan Cormick has found a supreme mudlark for the city’s first Group race of the new season, the Missile Stakes (Race 7) at Rosehill on Saturday.
Eduardo (No 10) is his pick against a pretty strong field, which includes Melody Belle, and trainer Joe Pride has him hot.
He will make it two wins from two starts since joining the Warwick Farm stable if he salutes.
mcloughlins@theaustralian.com.au
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