a statement.We saw improvement in our cars and made substantial gains

Growing up as a cricket-obsessed kid in Colombo, my childhood hero was Allan Border. When he toured Sri Lanka in the early 1980s, I recall feeling so privileged to have been sitting nearby as he walked down the steps at the P Sara Stadium, barely touching distance away. Dream come true. Could it get any better?Many years later, in Sri Lanka and India on a cricket tour that doubled up as a trade mission for the Queensland Government, I captained a team that included AB. The team also included James Hopes. We played against a young Upul Tharanga, Robin Uthappa and Shikhar Dhawan. By then, despite having played alongside AB in club cricket for many years, it was still surreal to cheekily banish my childhood idol to third man while I assumed captaincy privileges at first slip!In the Australian film The Castle, the larrikin lead character kept saying Thats going straight to the pool room when referring to something special. The team photo from that tour of India and Sri Lanka sits proudly in my pool room to this day, a reminder of the time when a complete nuffie like myself strode alongside his boyhood hero. My sons gaze upon that picture in awe, and I pretend to be nonchalant as I point to the photo that sits alongside.It captures me at the top of my bowling action, bowling to a batsman whose unmistakable stance, posterior sticking out at a jaunty angle, can only be one person - Sir Vivian Richards.Oxford University v Glamorgan at The Parks. The faster I bowled, the further it went. The wicketkeeper even stood up to the stumps to stop Viv from walking at me, but it mattered not. They kept disappearing.Imagine my excitement then when I overheard Richards confiding to his batting partner, Matthew Maynard (who, by the way, savaged me even more brutally than Sir Viv did) that perhaps one of the other batsmen needed some match practice - it being an early-season outing for Glamorgan - and that perhaps he should walk past one.I distinctly recall him saying, This Jeh boy - he trying hard, man. He deserve a wicket. My heart leapt. Imagine telling this story to my (yet unborn) sons. The day their old man cleaned up Viv Richards with that unplayable ball (no mention, of course, of the mid-pitch conversation about throwing it away).And then Maynard, that damn impertinent Welshman, the man who might as well have killed Bambi, told Richards that the next batsman actually had a headache and didnt really fancy batting today. Just like that, with Okay man, I just keep batting then, possibly the biggest moment of my unremarkable career disappeared before me.Barely an hour later, weeping over a solitary beer at the Kings Arms pub in Oxford (as a student, a solitary beer was about all I could afford), I heard a deep voice behind me. What you drinking, Jeh man? Let me buy the beers tonight. No one should have figures of 0 for 150 on their birthday, man. April 21, 1993. My most memorable birthday: Viv Richards buying me beers all night. Id rather he missed the straight one, though. I can drink beer any day!At the other end of the spectrum, checking into a hotel for an MCC match with one of my best mates, Dirk Viljoen of Zimbabwe, I got my own back on these damn Test cricketers. Who do they think they are anyway, playing international cricket while duffers like me tried just as hard and got nowhere?So, having checked in, we raced each other up the stairs to try and secure the double bed. Id started in pole position, so Viljoen was never in the hunt. As I plonked my bag on the double bed, I pointed somewhat ungraciously to the tiny single alongside.Viljoen, cheeky, impertinent little sod that he was (and still is), never respectful of his elders, tried to pull rank. A shameless act really from a young pup. Senior player always gets the double bed, mate, he proclaimed. How many Tests have you played?At that point he had played one solitary Test, so he outranked me. Even with one Test, that was always going to be 100% more than I could ever dream of. But little did he know that I was not one to surrender my creature comforts that easily.Okay Dirk, youve got me there. I will give the double bed to anyone in this room who has scored more Test runs than me. Oh sorry, I forgot… you got a pair, didnt you?I slept like a baby that night in my big double bed. Robert Newhouse Womens Jersey . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. Randy White Jersey . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. http://www.cowboysrookieproshop.com/Cowboys-Chuck-Howley-Jersey/ . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. Tony Dorsett Cowboys Jersey . - Levi Browns tenure at left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers is over before it even began. Daryl Johnston Womens Jersey . The deal is pending a physical, assistant general manager Bobby Evans said. Traded from Seattle to Baltimore on Aug. 30, Morse also can play first base and right field to give manager Bruce Bochy some flexibility in writing his lineup. Roush Fenway Racing will cut from three to two Cup teams in 2017 and loan driver Chris Buescher to JTG Daugherty Racing, which will expand to a two-car operation next season.The move allows Roush Fenway to keep Buescher under contract while trying to revitalize its performance for an organization whose proud history includes putting five drivers into the Chase in 2005, two Cup championships and 135 Cup victories. Winless the past two seasons, Roush Fenway put no drivers in the top 20 in the 2016 standings -- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 21st in points, while Trevor Bayne was 22nd and the recently released Greg Biffle was 23rd.Stenhouse and Bayne remain as Roush Fenways full-time Cup drivers. The teams charter (NASCARs version of a franchise) for what was Biffles No. 16 car will be leased to JTG Daugherty Racing for Buescher in 2017. Stenhouse will have a new crew chief in 2017, as former Biffle crew chief Brian Pattie will replace Nick Sandler, who will head the Roush Fenway engineering department.We have been able to shore up our plans for 2017 and we feel that this will continue to move us in a direction that will yield improved performance and results, Roush Fenway co-owner Jack Roush said in a statement.We saw improvement in our cars and made substantial gains in our performance at times last season, and we will continue to build on that by maintaining a robbust engineering group in order to take the next step by consistently running up front.ddddddddddddBuescher, the 2015 Xfinity Series champion who drove for Roush Fenway Racing affiliate Front Row Motorsports as a rookie in 2016, finished 16th in the standings thanks to making the Chase with a win in the rain-shortened August race at Pocono. He was 29th in the points in the regular season but earned a spot in the Chase with that win. The 24-year-old Buescher now joins AJ Allmendinger, who was 19th in the standings last year, as part of a two-car Chevrolet stable at JTG Daugherty. The team did not announce a car number, crew chief or sponsor for Buescher.Im thankful for the opportunity and look forward to competing for a spot in the Chase, Buescher said.JTG Daugherty racing is co-owned by Tad and Jodi Geschickter and ESPN basketball analyst Brad Daugherty.Roush Fenway also announced an organizational restructuring. General manager Robbie Reiser will be reassigned within the organization. Kevin Kidd, who joined the organization a year ago and has assumed much of that role over the past 12 months as the Cup team manager, has been named competition director. Tommy Wheeler, who has overseen vehicle production, was named operations manager. ' ' '