An enjoyable troika

It's been a busy last 24 hours or so for sport, but in no particular order, three results stand out:

• Cricket: The Black Caps are all but in an invincible situation in the first test against England at Dunedin. Even though plenty of play has been lost to rain, there's really only one side that can win the match. The main debate now is whether or not New Zealand should bat on this morning; we reckon they should, given that there are still potentially 196 overs available. Why would you not want to drag tired English bowlers back out there and inflict more misery, whilst leaving their batsmen wondering when they are going to be called into service again? Another 50 runs, and definitely only one team can win the match, whilst there were signs late yesterday of the pitch taking turn. And hearty congratulations to Hamish Rutherford on a magnificent century on test debut.
• Rugby: The Hurricanes got out of jail last night with a 29-28 win over the Crusaders in Wellington. The highlight of the match was Julian Savea's Lomu-like try that brought the Hurricanes back into the match. Well done to the Hurricanes, and back to the drawing board for Todd Blackadder and his side who must be wishing Richie McCaw wasn't on holiday!
• Softball: The Black Sox had a thrilling 5-4 overtime win over world champions Australia last night in the World Championships. Former Wanganui lad Brad Rona scored the winning run as he shouldered the Australian catcher out of the way in a move that both Julian Savea and Jonah Lomu would have been proud of! With the two-life system in play for the tournament playoffs, the Black Sox needed to win last night to have a chance of winning back the title, and they did; great stuff.

And as luck would have it, some sporting fan has combined the Savea and Rona moments on YouTube already, so here's what we have been talking about!

Unfortunately we have to go to Wellington today, so we'll have to follow the cricket on the wireless; come on the Black Caps!