As history begins to repeat itself, it is the familiarity that connects the dots. Simon Mignolet Jersey . On the morning of the second day of the Test at Hagley Oval, as all the work that Pakistans openers had done was frittered away, it was that feeling of familiarity that was most obvious.For Pakistanis of a certain generation, tours to the antipodes are tied in to memories that are easily evoked - of godforsaken hours on wintry nights, of hope springing eternal, and of batsmen struggling to cope with alien conditions. It is often said that Pakistans worship of bowling, particularly the faster kind, has to do with the number of great fast bowlers the country has produced. But at times like this, one often feels that its the fact that the bowlers have delivered great wins in spite of the incompetence of the batsmen that leads to them being treated as higher beings.Pakistan havent lost a Test series to New Zealand in three decades. Even their last series loss there came about in a match that Wasim Akram got his first ten-for in, in the great tradition of bowlers trying to cover up for the incompetence of batsmen.Despite this record, its not as if Pakistani batsmen have conquered New Zealand. Pakistan went to New Zealand three times in the 1990s: in each instance, in their first Test innings of the tour, they were bowled out for under 220. Across the Tasman, where Pakistan will go in a fortnights time, their record is worse: in their first Test innings on five of their last eight tours to Australia, they have been bowled out for under 180.It was supposed to be different this time around - the success of Pakistani batsmen over the last three years, including on the tour to England, had promised more. But the days leading up to this tour will have set the alarm bells ringing. Pakistan lost a Test to West Indies, and the explanations for that seemed to raise more questions than answers. The first was that the team already had their minds on the series to come. The second was that mental and physical fatigue was a factor, as there had been just two weeks between a three-month long tour of England and the six weeks of the West Indies series in the UAE - which, despite its familiarity, still is a tour away from home for the players - and that this had affected them. The fact that these explanations came from the coach, Mickey Arthur, seemed to raise questions about his own performance, for arent these the things that he is supposed to be in control of? The final explanation, as seems to have been the case in every home series over the past couple of years, was that Pakistan didnt get the pitches they wanted (Arthur, in fact, referenced how Pakistan ought to be able to get the sort of pitches Bangladesh or India have for their home Tests), which again raises questions about the board and the team management, and what control they have over these home Tests.As the excuses piled up, and then Pakistans only warm-up game was washed out, the writing seemed to be on the wall. The last time Pakistan had a difficult away tour without any real preparation, they were bowled out for 49 by South Africa in their first innings there. Yet it wasnt in the first innings that Pakistan lost this Test match in New Zealand. Top-order collapses, as mentioned earlier, have always been a part of Pakistans away tours. What they lacked here was a failure to learn from the first innings. Having seen their approach to prolonging innings without shifting gears fail in the first innings, Pakistan doubled down on it in the second. Australia had just shown why even the opposite of doing what Pakistan did can fail. If there is any lesson to learn from this, or from this year in general, its that extremism towards any single approach is not exactly ideal.At least that is something Pakistan can work upon, even if they will badly miss Misbah-ul-Haq in the middle order. What they cant work on - and this is something that continues to affect them - is their tail.As pitches have in general gone from the homogenisation of the last decade to getting back to their true selves over the past few years, home teams have become more dominant, but there has also been another trend: the strength of teams lower-order batting can make or break games. Englands successes over the past 12 months might have more to do with their lower order than their middle order, for instance. Australias decline from the heights of the 2013-14 Ashes has a lot to do with their lower orders failings too.This year has been seen as an improvement for Pakistans tail - the Oval Test being held up as an example. Yet despite that match, and despite Sohail Khans efforts in New Zealand, Pakistan are one of only three teams whose last four batsmen (Nos. 8-11) have averaged under 15 this year. (This is still an upgrade on the rest of the decade, where Pakistan have competed with Zimbabwe for the wooden spoon.)And yet, for all these problems, Pakistan have rarely had it this good. In the history of the country, only four times have they gone more than five Test series without losing one, only three times have they done so with a streak as long as seven series. The first of those three was from 1985 to 1989, when Pakistan went ten series without losing, as Javed and Imran built the greatest team in Pakistans history. That streak ended on a tour down under, where Pakistans top five averaged 25 at a combined run rate of under 2.3. The second streak followed the spot-fixing scandal, and ended with a series where Misbah was banned from a Test because of slow over rates. The third is right now, Pakistan havent lost a series in seven - but with Misbah missing and the batsmen following the template of their ancestors, history might be ready to repeat itself. Jordan Lukaku Belgium Jersey . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Thibaut Courtois Belgium Jersey . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview. http://www.belgiumsoccerauthority.com/ . JOHNS, N. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Two Mongolian wrestling coaches stripped off their clothing to protest the result of a bronze medal match, a bizarre turn in a day where officiating was highly criticized.The scene began after Uzbekisatns Ikhtiyor Navruzov appeared to have lost to Mandakhnaran Ganzorig 7-6 at 65 kilograms on Sunday.Uzbekistan challenged the scoring, believing that the Mongolian was fleeing instead of fighting because he was running around in celebration with less than 10 seconds left.Navruzov -- whose quarterfinal match resulted in the dismissal of all three officials involved after a questionable late call -- won his challenge and the match on criteria.Ganzorig, who had already started celebrating, fell to his knees in disappointment.The Mongolian coaches went much further.Byambarenchin Bayaraa took his shoes and shirt off and threw them to the mat in disgust in front of the officials.Tsenrenbataar Tsostbayar stripped all the way down to his blue briefs. The Brazilian crowd started chanting Mongolia! Mongolia!This was a protest. There was a problem with the refereeing, Bayaraa said. Three million people in Mongolian waited for this bronze medal and now we have no medal.It was the second controversial call of the day involving one of Navruzovs matches. Wrestlings international federation removed all three officials from competition after Navruzovs quarterfinal.United World Wrestling said that Tong-Kun Chung of South Korea, Temo Kazarashvili of Georgia and Russias Sergei Novakoskiy, who oversaw the match between Puerto Ricos Franklin Gomez and Navruzov, also face further investigation and possible sanctions.Gomez had tied the match at 5-5 and held the lead based on criteria. Eden Hazard Jersey. Gomez went for a takedown of Navruzov with what appeared to be a scoring move before Navruzov grabbed Gomez and exposed him to the mat.It appeared the action could have resulted in two points for Gomez or even two points for each wrestler.Instead, the officials gave two points to Navruzov and none to Gomez -- sparking outrage from fans after the replay was shown.After a failed challenge, Gomez lost 8-5.The incident was the talk of the tournament -- before the Mongolians, of course.The referees were not good. They only supported the Uzbek, Bayaraa said.The appearance of any officiating impropriety could do harm to a sport that is just three years removed from being kicked off and later reinstated onto the Olympic program.But UWW president Nenad Lalovic defended the officiating during the Olympics in an interview with The Associated Press before the incident with Mongolia.We had for the whole tournament, maybe hundreds of matches and one or two situations were made doubtful, I would say. I think the situation is much better than we had before. Much, much better. Of course, we need time to cure all our diseases, Lalovic said.As for the matches themselves, American wrestler Kyle Snyder won gold to become the youngest Olympic wrestling champion in U.S. history. The 20-year-old Snyder beat Khetag Goziumov of Azerbaijan 2-1 for gold at 97 kilograms during the mens freestyle tournament on Sunday.Russian Soslan Ramonov won the gold medal at 65 kilograms, thumping Azerbaijans Toghrul Asgarov 11-0 in just 2:05 Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '