12.30am in Sydney, ten hours before the scheduled start of the Warne-McGrath-Langer-Buchanan grand finale. It has been raining fairly steadily for the last three or four hours here, about six kilometres west of the SCG.

Having said that, the forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology indicates that the showers will be restricted to morning and night.

There's something I can't comprehend. Why do the good people of Sydney insist on all those carbon emissions into the atmosphere to mark the New Year?

Anyway, have a good one. It is now the Year of the Dolphin.

Nine Blacktown first grade cricketers decided to pile into a lift built to carry five people when they left the field for the tea break in Saturday's game against University of NSW. An hour and a quarter later they finally got out after technicians had worked furiously to free them.

The Inner West Courier takes up the story.