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. Continue Reading →

The SMH … sigh

What is it about using commas for pauses, but not to separate dependent clauses

Unsurprisingly, African countries with their high rates of malnourishment and lack of access to clean water and affordable produce, populated the top 10 worst countries to eat in.

including when they are clearly needed?

The all-rounder dubbed the Big Show by teammates threatened his best production yet, hauling Australia back from 4-114 after the exit of Shaun Marsh (55) into what was looking by the minute a match-turning knock.

That article has a pearler even by the standards of sports journalism:

The ball after reverse-pulling Bresnan for another boundary a slightly more conventional pull brought him unstuck, ending up in the hands of Ravi Bopara at midwicket.

So the ball reverse-pulled Bresnan? Sigh…

And, of course, no sports article would be complete without a failure to recognise the existence of the collective singular:

Australia lead the series 2-0 heading into Sunday’s third match in Sydney.