Sports manglish

I initially thought the following clumsy paragraph was a simple sub-editor’s mistake in the SMH. However, on re-reading, it seems to have been intentional:

The following evening as his younger brother Mitch watched their 28-year-old sister Melissa play her final home match in her top-level basketball career Shaun was an absentee, by virtue of notification the South Africa tour duty that had been called off for him was suddenly back on, and that he needed to pack and get to the airport for a 11.45pm flight from Perth to Johannesburg.

Brain hurt. But wait; there’s more.

The subsequent paragraph runs off the rails after the hyphen:

The trigger for selectors’ change of heart on the enigmatic 30-year-old, who has not played Tests since a horror stint two years ago, was a combination of his strong showing in the BBL final and, more significantly, Shane Watson’s inability to pass a fitness test – regarding a calf injury, the same reason he himself was ruled out for on January 30.

“Regarding” is wrong; “he himself” cannot be used given the change of subject; and “ruled out for” … seriously?

So does the next:

On Saturday the hierarchy quietly put him through a fitness test but was left to lament the results of it – that the irritation was bad enough to not only stop the 32-year-old bowling but also batting with sufficient freedom over the next week.

Hierarchy is the wrong word; “left to lament its results”; “over the next week” cannot be used.

The remaining errors are left as an exercise for the reader.

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