Trend and mirage Two - An interview with Manglers captain Paul Stewart
Paul, did the manglers get the two points today? Well, it turned out that the old India 8 lads aren't too bad with the old bat. They posted a solid 83 runs against us, which has only been beaten once in the previous two years (being you lads in the semi of semester 2 last year with that unfortunate 93 - sorry to dredge up old memories Ren�). But yes, we came away with the points. How do u see the manglers going this year? I think that we have a promising squad again this year - a few early season wrinkles to iron out, but which team doesn't suffer from those! It is a large squad this year, with a few of the players yet to see any game time. I think that this year's competition will be a much more even affair than we have previously seen - should make for an interesting season. In saying that, I still feel that the triple back-to-back-to-back is well within our reach! Is there a lot of pressure as captain of a side that expects to win? Undoubtably, high expectations are placed on a man in my position from the MANGlers supporters squad. However, I feel that having a core of such solid players around me, in addition to regular advice from our captaining correspondents in London and Auckland does help to lighten the load considerably. What is the history of the manglers? A quote from my first MANGlers email of the year: "For those of you with poor memories or who are new to the MANGlers community, I will briefly recap the history of the MANGlers. The MANGlers were originally established back in the dim, dark ages, when the likes of Steve "Battlestone" Batstone and Andrew Kerr were just beginning their PhD's. Despite some successes in these early times, the team unfortunately disbanded after a couple of seasons in the competition. Many, many years later, in 2002 (note: Batstone still working on thesis), Mark Stewart, as captain, helped bring the dream back to life with the modern-day MANGlers. Things did not start too well for this inexperienced young bunch of miscreants, with a loss in their first game. Mostly, this loss can be attributed to the presence of James Hole in the starting line-up. Hole was reprimanded severely, and sentenced to a life ban on playing in the MANGlers (note: this may not be true). Needless to say, the MANGlers have not lost a game since. This means that the squad have now won both the first and second semester competitions for two years running." How do u see 2 for 22 going this year? Interesting Question Sam. There are certainly some talented players in the 2 for 22 squad, and things will be interesting this year with a new captain. I think that the key for the 2 for 22 side is having all their players pulling out their "A" performance at the same time, in the important games. But potentially, I feel the side has the ability to do some damage (to be fair, one of your lads did concust one of our players last year!) Is it true Jimbo has a hot girlfriend? And that she is close with all the manglers? It is true that Big Jim has found himself a very lovely fianc�, Kim, to whom he is to be married in May. And yes, one of the other MANGlers (The Chicken) is considering moving in with her until the big day, if thats what you mean. Meanwhile this week we lament the fact that Steve 'Devo' Hay has yet to play for the crackers. Poor form in practice has led to coach Petrovic not yet calling him up on game day into the rotation. With Smith missing tomorrow surely Hay will be out to prove a point?? We say Play Devo!
