Superstars hard to replace

Amazing the difference one player can make in a sporting contest, isn't it?
Australia without paceman Glenn McGrath were only a shadow of their former selves in the second Ashes cricket test at Edgbaston.
Sure, a late rally by lower order batsmen in their second innings saw them get to within two runs of what would have been a memorable victory but who would ever have thought that England would have a massive 107-run first innings lead. Especially after the first test at Lords where their bowlers had the Poms tied up in knots for most of the game and laid the foundations for a comprehensive victory,
It was the ever-reliable McGrath who spearheaded the charge for the Aussies on that occasion
His ability to consistently put the ball in the right place while doing enough either off the pitch or through the air to keep the batsmen guessing is legendary
And at Lords he did exactly that and for the most part the Englishmen didn't seem to have a clue how to cope with him.
Without McGrath to lead the way at Edgbaston after he had injured an ankle in a freak training accident the Aussie attack was all at sea.
The three pacemen used there, Lee, Kasprowicz and Gillespie, simply didn't measure up, too often bowling too short or too full and being caned by an England batting line-up which almost gave the impression they were playing a one-dayer rather than a test.
News is that McGrath will be missing again when the third of the five Ashes tests gets under way at Old Trafford tomorrow and while you can never write an Aussie team off his absence is sure to have the England batsmen in a buoyant frame of mind.
So buoyant, in fact, that a betting man could be very tempted to put good money on them going 2-1 up in the series ? a call which would have the men in white coats taking you away a couple of weeks back!
But if the loss of McGrath has hurt the Aussies how about the return of speedster Shane Bond to the Black Caps test line-up on their tour of Zimbabwe.
Bond might not have got as many wickets as he would have liked in that remarkable first test which lasted only a couple of days but boy did he have an effect on the Kiwi performance.
Even though he was never bowling flat out he was still quick enough to turn the colour of most Zimbabwean batsmen a paler shade of white and you could almost feel the positive vibes he created among his own fielders through your television set
With Bond in full cry the Black Caps are a force to be reckoned with, no matter what the quality of the opposition.
Long may he remain fit and well.