A koala visited the NSW Minister for the Environment, Carmel Tebbutt, today in a plea to save his forest in the south-east of the state from woodchipping.

A number of other projects have kept me away from my own blog lately. I promised at the end of the Sydney Test Australia v South Africa in January that I would continue the BoG points tally for my outstanding play of the Aus-RSA reciprocal Test series (for the hugely unprized The Kepler-Wessels) with the South African leg of the tour.

"Having two umpires from your own club officiating in a match in which you need 12 runs off the last over is a recipe for disaster and that is what nearly transpired during the match.

The last over of the day proved incendiary as Poreporena, needing 12 to win, were given a blatant hand by clubman Rarua Agalu standing as square leg umpire when he chose not to give his own team captain John Ovia out for a clear-cut run out off the first ball."

Antigua is having a bad trot. Having suffered the humiliation of having a Test match at their wizbang new-ish Sir Vivian Richards Stadium being abandoned because of a dangerous playing surface, they now find that the Man Who Held The Antiguan Economy By The Short And Curlies is in deep trouble with the US legal system.

Happy 200th birthday to that other great US president from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln.

It's also the bicentenary of one of the world's great scientists, Charles Darwin.

On a more personal note, February 12 would have been the 89th birthday of my Uncle Percy. He only saw, however, 22 of those years. Private Eyre was one of 1200 Australian soldiers who died in the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.

But most importantly of all to me, happy 6th birthday Adara!

Australia's a bloody harsh continent to live in. If you live in or near bush you know that the risk of bushfire is always present, and that you need to plan for what to do in the event that a fire is approaching.

Before I move on from last Friday's IPL auction, I leave you with the lead story on the front page of Saturday's Telegraph (Kolkata), and with these five words:

Burt. Cockley. Kings. XI. Punjab.

Dammit. I look for some livestock to bid for on eBay and the first thing I strike is some tickets for a sold-out Taylor Swift concert...

Round Three at Goa. The most productive round in terms of the number of players acquired, though no big names claimed now... available slots and available money drying up.

Some news from Thursday's Wodonga cattle sales. "Stock and Land" newspaper reports that the heat wave kept prices down.

Offering a smaller than advertised yarding of 1,430 head, a distinct lack of northern orders was a feature of the sale. This resulted in a soft steer market of 150- 175c/kg lwt. Heifers fetched 140- 160c/kg lwt.