versatility.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: 2B Jose Altuve was given th

Greg Chappell was at the other end when I walked out to bat at the MCG in my first Test match. He was about 50-odd not out. Andy Roberts had just taken the second new ball and I thought Greg would do the right thing here by the young bloke and take over for a bit. I finished the final hour of the day 44 not out and Greg faced about six balls.Ian Chappell was an outstanding captain because he always wanted to change the game. Hed always place himself in front of the team when things got tough.In the mid-70s, the Sheffield Shield was renowned as the best first class competition in the world.I remember playing against Hoggy when we were in the under-13 churches competition. He was ten and I was nine.I fielded short leg, and the two hardest blokes Ive ever had to judge were Viv Richards and Greg Chappell, because they both played the ball so very late. Usually you can have a look at the batsmans feet and have an idea if the ball is going to go off side or leg side, or what shot is coming, but they both played the ball so late and whipped it from off to leg really quickly.I bowled a lot in Sheffield Shield cricket, first change, second change. I probably wasnt quick enough against the really good players.I opened the batting with Bill Lawry as a 15-year-old, for Northcote Cricket Club in Victoria. Bill played district cricket like he played Test cricket. Hed play five games and score 800 runs.Night Test matches will be great. Pinkish ball will swing like hell. The batsmen will struggle, but itll be great practice for guys to go to England, because its exactly how the ball behaves in England.Bobby Simpson, when he came back to captain Australia, aged 42, had no experienced players around him other than Jeff Thomson. He didnt have the players around him to do well. He gave me a bowl, though, so he mustve been a good captain, I suppose!I was disappointed to be the only one from the Centenary Test team who was left out of the Packer squad. I never had any explanation as to why I wasnt picked.In England in 1977, we struggled for a start to the innings. Richie Robinson even opened in the first Test, at Lords [hed scored 70 in the third one-dayer as an opener]. Rick McCosker didnt get any runs, Ian Davis didnt get that many.Hoggy would have played for Victoria, as a youngster, except he didnt like to train that hard, particularly on hot days.I was told to open against* India in 1977-78. Id opened in club cricket when I was younger and for Victoria when I was 18. But I hadnt opened for eight years, although batting at six you got the second new ball a lot. It was really out of the blue. I didnt expect to open. They didnt discuss it with me. Just said, Youre opening. So I opened.I think 50-over cricket was introduced because it was going to be exciting. Now its exciting for the first ten overs and the last ten. The middle stuff is as boring as bat shit.There was a lot of pressure on the guys in World Series and the guys outside. Between the World Series guys and the organising state associations. A lot of animosity. And no matter what they say, there was.Against West Indies, if Roberts or [Michael] Holding didnt get you, there was Colin Croft and Joel Garner. Garner made a huge difference. He was a bit like Thommo, made it fly from nowhere. He had a great yorker. Then Wayne Daniel, and after that, Malcolm Marshall. It was just relentless.I learnt very quickly [on debut] that the captains position is at the other end when the second new ball comes on. Lets throw the young bloke in. But it worked out okay. And who was I to doubt Gregs method of batting? By lunch the next day, I was 99 not out. Only the second player ever to be 99 not out at a break, on debut. The first was Alan Kippax and he got out for 99 first ball after lunch. I was told this later. First ball after lunch, Andy Roberts came back on. I played and missed outside off stump. Next ball I hit for four.I played my first Shield game as a 16-year-old for Victoria. I was 12th man.We were washed out for six weeks at the start of the 1977 England tour. We probably played once or twice in the first six weeks we were there. Things were okay in the team, at first, and then, of course the Packer thing happened. Once that broke, it kind of broke the team. Despite all the best intentions of everybody, I dont think anybody who was on the tour would say that we were a united team once that started to evolve.I love our Big Bash. I think its so good for cricket. If you can get 40,000 people to the Adelaide Oval for a cricket match, then something has got to be right.I played the worst cricket I ever played at the Centenary Test. Id been at the MCG as a Test batsman twice before and scored hundreds both times.I didnt get picked for the Australian team to go to India in 1979-80, but I think I was really close. Id been bowling offspin all year to try and get on that tour.With the coming together of World Series Cricket a year earlier than we expected, I realised that life in Queensland was not going to be as pleasant as it had been before.When the ball was swinging, I bowled okay. Ian Chappell was the outstanding captain. Greg was the outstanding player. Probably the best player Ive ever seen. Even better than Viv Richards. The boys [on the 1977 Ashes tour] didnt know whether they were expected to play for Australia when they got back, plus a few games for Packer. Then they couldnt and there were lawyers everywhere. It was just really difficult.The India opening bowlers [in 1977-78] werent any better than any Australian district attack and probably werent the standard of a lot of district attacks. Then the spinners came on, early of course, and it was game on.If you werent playing for Australia by the time you were 29 or 30, the state selectors were looking for someone to take your place.I got five wickets in a one dayer against England in 1977 and then got dropped for the next game. They brought back Jeff Thomson, which was fair enough.I stood at slip for five years to Hoggy at Northcote and he bowled as fast as anybody did, probably except for Thommo and Holding. He was able to put the wind up the opposition when he wanted to turn up.There was some residual stuff for me from the World Series days. I didnt enjoy it and I thought, right, thats it. Im going back home, to Victoria. As soon as it started to come back on me personally, then rightly or wrongly, I said, Bugger it.T20 has reinvigorated 50-over cricket a little bit. Teams are scoring more runs because of how they play T20.England had a pretty good side in 1977. Brilliant captain in Mike Brearley, who was great for England cricket. The bowlers swung the ball, very good attack. They also had probably the best slips-catching cordon that Id ever seen. They were fantastic. And they were all bowlers: [Tony Greig] Greigy, [Ian] Botham, [Mike] Hendrick, [Chris] Old, [Bob] Willis had a go.Back in district cricket, I opened the bowling, used to bowl quite well in Shield cricket. But once it got to international level, the guys who were skilled in that area did most of the work.It was obvious that Viv Richards was going to be a really good batsman, even back in 1975-76. And he was out of this world as fieldsman as well, of course. He had that swagger back then too. Viv was the man before he was the man.Without the Packer players, when Australia played Test cricket, there was no sequence to our play, no experience, nothing to fall back on. We just hoped it wasnt going to be too bad, next time. Thats kind of the rut you get into. Im sure England went through that a lot, for about 20 years.Test match cricket is okay today. The batsmen have it a little easier than when I played. One bouncer an over, or whatever it is. The wickets are flatter. The performance of batsmen is improving. The runs theyre scoring is racking up and up.*02:40:44 GMT, July 4, 2016: The article originally said open in India, which has been corrected Chicago Bears Mitchell Trubisky Jersey . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. Authentic Roquan Smith Jersey . 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Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Mitchell Trubisky Jersey Orange .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. MINNEAPOLIS -- With their stagnant offense struggling the way it is, the Houston Astros cant afford the sort of defensive mistakes center fielder Carlos Gomez made Monday night.Tyler Duffey pitched six effective innings and Minnesota took advantage of two misplays by Gomez in a three-run fifth that sent the Twins to a 3-1 victory over Houston.Gomez, the former Twins outfielder, let Jorge Polancos single skip by him for a two-base error that allowed one run to score. Then he lost a fly ball off Juan Centenos bat, turning it into an RBI triple.Danny Santana followed with a run-scoring single, and Minnesota won for the seventh time in nine games.The first one was hit really hard and I missed (it) in my glove, and the second one, I (didnt) know where the ball was, Gomez said. We lost the game because of that. I feel worse than anyone in this clubhouse.Collin McHugh (7-9) gave up three runs and 10 hits in seven innings, losing his third straight start. Meanwhile, the Astros have dropped 10 of their past 13 games and are averaging 2.28 runs during that stretch.We didnt lose because of defensive blunders, McHugh said. We lost because I gave up 11 hits, 10 hits, something like that. They strung some hits together, put guys on base and scored more runs that we did. One or two plays isnt deciding the game tonight, thats for sure.Duffey (7-8) permitted one run on four hits and struck out eight. Three relievers combined for three hitless innings, and Brandon Kintzler finished for his 10th save in 11 chances.Eddie Rosario had three hits for Minnesota, which has come around after a dreadful first half of the season.Minnesota finished the first half as the worst team in the American League. But since July 2, the Twins have gone 21-12 and lead the majors in runs, hits, doubles and triples.With 50 games, weve got to keep playing. Kind of enjoying what were doing right now, for the most part, manager Paul Molitor said. I think theres a lot of energy, guys are having fun, a lot of joking going around, which is good as long as the focus is where it needs to be.Polanco, called up from the minors when the Twins traded All-Star infielder Eduardo Nunez to San Francisco, has hit .378 with six RBI in nine games since being recalled.Those guys are picking us up, Molitor said of Polanco, Rosario and Santana. Cant say enough about Polanco so far, just the quality of at-bats and what hes doing for us.ddddddddddddGOMEZS FUTUREGomez was 0 for 3, dropping his batting average to .210. Hinch wasnt sure about Gomezs playing time going forward and said the outfielder wouldnt be in the lineup on Tuesday.Obviously, Ill take a look at it and see how it goes, Hinch said. Weve been pretty beat up in a lot of ways and you keep trying to hang in there with guys. You want to encourage, more than anything. Clearly, its been a rough patch for him for a while.GURRIEL GOING UPHouston moved infielder Yulieski Gurriel to Double-A as he accelerates though the minors. Gurriel, a highly coveted Cuban free agent who signed with the Astros on July 16, is expected to make his way to the Astros this season.Gurriel was 6 for 14 (.429) with a home run and nine RBI in four games at Class A Lancaster.Hes definitely graduated past A-ball, Hinch said. He dominated that level. I think hes in spring training mode. Theres no way to train for this game other than to play it every day. His body seems to be on the uptick. I know his bat speed is good. The reports have been very favorable of how he moves around the field defensively.Hinch said Gurriel would stay at third base in the minors. When Gurriel is ready, Hinch said rookie third baseman Alex Bregman could be a moved around to utilize his versatility.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: 2B Jose Altuve was given the night off, snapping the longest active streak in the majors at 202 consecutive games played. ... Right-handed reliever Luke Gregerson (left oblique strain) was scheduled to throw off a mound, and Hinch said Gregerson is progressing nicely. Hinch expects Gregerson to throw a few more times before being activated from the DL and said a rehab assignment likely wont be needed. ... INF Luis Valbuena (right hamstring) is back in Houston and has done some increased running, Hinch said.Twins: Trevor Plouffe returned to the lineup after missing 32 games with a broken rib. Plouffe started at third base and went 1 for 4.UP NEXTHector Santiago (10-5, 4.37 ERA) makes his first home start for the Twins on Tuesday night after the left-hander was acquired from the Los Angeles Angels at the trade deadline. Houston counters with RHP Mike Fiers (7-5, 4.34). ' ' '