flower sales ! - Summer rains !!

 

Summer rains 2018

அடாது மழை பெய்தாலும்,   விடாது  .. .. ..  !!

Team South Africa completes honours in World Test Championship 2025

 

People are happier making memes and setting narratives – a team, often labelled as Chokers today rose at Lords – in a 3 and something days, they created history winning World Test Championship.  Congratulations South Africa, Temba Bavuma & his team and more so, Aiden Markram.   

 

At  Lord's, South Africa secured the most significant moment in their cricket history with the World Test Championship title. It was not without nerves – but it was happy ending.  Aiden Markram took them to the brink with an epic 136, an innings that will go down as the country's most important in Tests, before the winning runs were driven through the covers by Kyle Verreynne to spark the celebrations.   No longer was the 1998 ICC Knockout, with its various names and caveats, the only reference point for South Africa's global success. After so many near misses, they had a crowning moment. It will be a hugely popular victory, too, as the underdog story so often is, and as part of the wider narrative around the health of Test cricket outside of the Big Three. 

For all the success Australia have gathered over the years, this will be agonizing experience as they had a solid  74-run first-innings lead after a stellar bowling performance by  Kagiso Rabada.   After allowing Aussie tail to wag and chasing a total of  282, looked formidable, if not impossible, given their first innings dismal performance of 138.   After losing Ryan Rickleton at 9; Wiaan Mulder at 70 – Capt Bavuma and Markram stitched a near 150 run partnership and Markram got out when the win was just a shot away.   Glorious performance indeed. 

Anybody writing on South Africa cricket has in mind that 2^nd Semi final of 1992 Benson & Hedges WC at Sydney.    That particular WC had more innovations than any other. It was the first at which teams used coloured clothing, the first to use white balls (two at each end so they didn't get grubby), and the first to use floodlights and also pinch hitters as openers. It also saw the introduction of a new rain rule. By the end of the tournament, the rule was utterly discredited. England, put into bat by Kepler Wessels, scored 252 for 6 in their 45 overs, the innings curtailed as South Africa had bowled their overs slowly.  

South Africa's chase started well but then they lost their way until Jonty Rhodes got them back on course. With five overs remaining, they needed 47 to win, and that had been reduced to 22 from 13 balls when the rain, which had been falling for a few minutes, grew heavier.  Then came the 1 ball 22 run target !!

 

Also remember that Semi Finals at Eden Gardens on Nov 24, 1993 – CAB Jubilee Tournament (Hero Cup).  Chasing a mere 196 in 50, they needed just 6 in the last over.  Azhar's unexpected gambit perplexed many, but it also got the crowd buzzing. Richardson had been run out in the previous over, but South Africa didn't learn any lessons. With Tendulkar bowling seam-up,   they managed only three, and De Villiers became the seventh run-out of the game.  Keeper Vijay Yadav was vociferous and Tendulkar had golden arm.   

Today’s victory was fashioned by the first South Africa captain to win a World Cup, albeit at age-group level, Aiden Markram  who led South Africa's Under-19s to World Cup glory in 2014 and was also their leading run-scorer and third overall.  Statistically it is close 10000 days (9722)  between South Africa's two ICC titles - the Champions Trophy in 1998 and the World Test Championship (WTC) in 2025.  The man at the helm, who had been booed often – Temba Bavuma has won 9 Tests and the other was a draw as South Africa’s captain.    Only England's Percy Chapman (9) had as many wins as Bavuma in his first ten Tests as captain. 

Happy for Team South Africa and its unwavering  supporters.

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
14.6.2025

உனக்கு மட்டும் உனக்கு மட்டும் ரகசியம் சொல்வேன் ~ Sabrina !!

Secrets are best passed on by women by shouting !   ~  parakeets at my terrace !

 

உனக்கு மட்டும் உனக்கு மட்டும் ரகசியம் சொல்வேன்

அந்த ரகசியத்தை ஒருவருக்கும் சொல்லி விடாதே.

எனக்கு மட்டும் எனக்கு மட்டும் சொந்தம் அல்லவா?

எங்கள் இருவருக்கும் இயற்கை தந்த பந்தம் அல்லவா?

 

 ஒரு இளம்பெண் ஒரு பொம்மையிடம் தன் மனதில் உள்ள காதலை வெளிப்படுத்தும் பாடல் இது.. 

Sabrina Fairchild is the young daughter of the Larrabee family's chauffeur, Thomas Fairchild, and has been in love with David Larrabee all her life. David, a three-times-married, non-working playboy, has never paid romantic attention to Sabrina. Since she has lived for years on the Larrabee estate in Long Island with her father, to David she is still a child.  Eavesdropping on a party at the mansion the night before she is to leave to attend the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, Sabrina watches, follows, and listens as David entices yet another woman into a dark and vacant indoor tennis court. Distraught, she leaves her father a suicide note and then starts all eight cars in the closed garage in order to kill herself. She is passing out from the fumes when Linus, David's older brother, opens the door, discovers her and carries her back to her quarters above the garage when she does pass out.  

                   The film opens with voice-over narration, spoken by Audrey Hepburn as her character, “Sabrina.” According to a Mar 1953 DV news item, Paramount paid $75,000 for the rights to Samuel Taylor’s play, prior to its first production.  The film opened in New York and Los Angeles in Sept 1954  and was number one at the US box office for two weeks.  Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times on its original release, lauded the film, thinking it, "in our wistful estimation, the most delightful comedy-romance in years". Crowther also offered praise to Audrey Hepburn's performance, declaring "she is wonderful in it — a young lady of extraordinary range of sensitive and moving expressions within such a frail and slender frame"   

In this photo – the tongue of a Parrot is visible !  Parrots use their tongue to carefully select, hold, and manipulate food items, including seeds, nuts, and fruits, allowing them to remove outer shells and access the insides.  Parrots possess a highly dexterous, fleshy tongue, often described as a "second hand," that plays a crucial role in their feeding, vocalization, and even social interactions. This remarkable tongue structure, which may include a small bone for added strength and flexibility, allows them to manipulate food, explore their environment, and mimic human speech.  

The song at the start is from ‘Mana Panthal’ – sung by P Susheela, lyrics of Kaviyarasu Kannadhasan, music of Viswanathan Ramamoorthy.   This  Tamil-language romance film, directed by V. N. Reddy, produced by T. R. Ramanna and written by Thuraiyur K. Moorthy, was released in 1961 starring -  S. S. Rajendran, S. A. Ashokan, B. Saroja Devi and E. V. Saroja and others.  The film was simultaneously made in Telugu as Intiki Deepam Illale; both versions are based on the American film Sabrina (1954; based on Samuel A. Taylor's 1953 play Sabrina Fair).

 

Sabrina (Sabrina Fair/La Vie en Rose in the United Kingdom) is a 1954 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Samuel Taylor and Ernest Lehman, based on Taylor's 1953 play Sabrina Fair.  The movie starred  Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, and William Holden. This was Wilder's last film released by Paramount Pictures, ending a 12-year business relationship between him and the company. In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". 

Interesting !
 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
14.6.2025
  

symbol of peace !!

 

Beautiful white dove – symbol of peace !