Archive for South Africa

The Test Final and Final Examination Board

Posted in Cricket, Education, Maynooth with tags , , , , , , on June 12, 2025 by telescoper

Had I not been obliged to attend this morning’s final Examination Board for Theoretical Physics programmes at Maynooth University, I would have been at Lord’s today watching Day 2 of the World Test Cricket final between Australia and South Africam where it is now the Tea interval. There certainly wouldn’t have been any cricket in Maynooth this morning, as there has been torrential rain all day so far, but the Exam Board went ahead and finished even before South Africa were all out in their first innings for 138, after late-order collapse, in response to Australia’s first innings total of 212.

As I already mentioned, today’s Examination Board we went through the results in the presence of our External Examiner. Since this is the end of the academic year, we also looked at the final grades of those students who are completing their studies this year in order to consider the classification of their degrees. Another (pleasant) duty of our Examination Board was to award prizes for the best performance, not just for finalists but for students at every stage, including the first year. These will be announced in due course.

But that’s not quite the end of it – there is an overall University Examination Board that covers all courses in the University to formally bring an end to the examination process. It is not until after all the Boards have done their business that the students get their marks. If all goes to plan, students will receive their final marks on Friday 27th June.

Soon after that, on Tuesday 1st July, we have a Consultation Day, where

Staff will be available in all Departments to discuss results with students. Students are entitled to see their examination scripts if they wish, these will be generally available on this day or at another mutually convenient time.

If I had my way we would actually give all students their marked examination scripts back as a matter of routine. Obviously examination scripts have to go through a pretty strict quality assurance process involving the whole paraphernalia of examination boards (including External Examiners), so the scripts can’t be given back immediately but once that process is complete there doesn’t seem to me any reason why we shouldn’t give their work, together with any feedback written on it,  back to the students in its entirety. I have heard it argued that under the provisions of the Data Protection Act students have a legal right to see what’s written on the scripts – as that constitutes part of their student record – but I’m not making a legalistic point here. My point is purely educational, based on the benefit to the student’s learning experience.

That’s one set of examination duties done and dusted, but not everything. Next Tuesday I am Internal Examiner for a PhD at Maynooth and, about a month from now, I have to travel to a foreign land to be an External Examiner. It’s all go…

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The Rugby World Cup Final

Posted in Rugby with tags , , on October 28, 2023 by telescoper

So, after a tense, scrappy, and error-strewn final, South Africa have retained the Rugby World Cup by beating New Zealand 12-11, all the Springboks’ points coming from penalties kicked by Handré Pollard – shades of the 1995 final, when Joel Stransky kicked all the points for South Africa.

The game hinged on the sending-off of the New Zealand captain Sam Cane in the first half – a decision about which the All Blacks can have no complaints. Despite playing for over 50 minutes with only 14 men, New Zealand had chances to win, specifically the missed conversion of the game’s only try, which would have made it 13-12.

But you can’t blame anyone else if you don’t take your chances, so congratulations to South Africa!

It’s been a strange World Cup, with some cracking games, a fair share of heartbreak (especially for Ireland and France), and an absurdly unbalanced draw. Let’s hope the arrangements for 2027 are thought out better!

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The Day at Lord’s

Posted in Cricket with tags , , , , on August 19, 2012 by telescoper

Just time for a quick post to record the fact that yesterday I made my annual pilgrimage to Lord’s to watch the third day’s play of the third Test between England versus South Africa. I had to get up at 5.30 to catch an early morning train to London, hence yesterday’s “full many a glorious morning have I seen” post. That choice was motivated more by the forecast than immediate reality, however, because it was raining in Cardiff when I set out. I did however, take a sun hat and shades with me, which turned out to be a wise move as there was bright sunshine when I arrived in London. Lord’s is conveniently situated a relatively short walking distance from Paddington, but even at 9.30 in the morning I could feel the heat, so there was a glorious morning after all…

Once again, courtesy of my old friend Anton I found myself among the member’s guests in the Warner Stand, with an excellent view of the proceedings, from a position a few rows back in the direction of fine leg for a batsman at the Pavilion End. There was a bit of high cloud early on, but it soon cleared. We had warm and sunny conditions for the duration, and a full day’s cricket ensued.

England resumed on 208-5, chasing South Africa’s first innings total of 309. Bairstow and Prior started pretty well. Mindful of the match situation they played carefully and scored quite slowly. Then, after 9 overs, South Africa took the new ball, a dangerous moment in any innings, so I expected the England batsman to play even more carefully. Prior, however, had a mad moment against the very first delivery with the new ball, played an awful shot at a wide ball and departed. England were on 221-6, and hopes of them reaching South Africa’s total were fading fast. Bairstow batted well, but when he got into the 90s nerves clearly got the better of him. He was becalmed on 95 for what seemed like an eternity, and then fell. A fine innings, and such a pity he didn’t get a maiden Test century at Lord’s. At 264-8 it looked certain South Africa would get a first innings lead, but Swann and Finn added 32 for the last wicket and England eventually closed after lunch on 315 all out, just 6 runs in front.

To have any chance of winning the match, England needed to take South African wickets quickly with the new ball. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Indeed, Swann was the only bowler who looked really threatening. Although England tried hard, the South African batting is very strong and the bowlers just couldn’t put enough pressure on them consistently to break through. South Africa finished the day on 145-3.

My prediction, I’m afraid, is that South Africa (who only need to draw this game to win the series and displace England at the top of the world rankings) will bat England out of the game today. If they can reach a score over 300, which seems very likely, and the weather remains good, I think they’ll win this game. But I’m not complaining. I think South Africa have outplayed England this summer, and thoroughly deserve their success.

Not many runs were scored in the day, but it was absorbing stuff. There’s nothing to match the ebb and flow of Test cricket. But anyone who has ever been to a Test match at Lord’s knows that it’s not just about the cricket. Few people remain in their seats for the whole day; you can easily pop out for some refreshment, stroll around the various shops and other facilities, or even just sit down and have a picnic.

Unfortunately, the combination of the heat and excessive consumption of “refreshments” was too much for one gentleman I saw flaked out as I stretched my legs. The stewards and the police between them were politely suggesting that it was time for him to go home…

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SKA Site Duel ends in Dual Site for SKA

Posted in Science Politics, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , on May 26, 2012 by telescoper

I wasn’t going to post about this but then I realised nobody seemed to have used the obvious headline so thought I might as well knock out a quickie.

Yesterday, after much to-ing and fro-ing an announcement was finally made  concerning the site of the Square Kilometre Array.  The two contenders for the honour of hosting this superb project were South Africa and Australasia (both Australia and New Zealand get a bit, actually).

So who won?

Well, formally the decision was to split the project between both. At first sight this looks like a political compromise, but wiser heads than me disagree and say that this an excellent outcome on science grounds. I’d be interested to hear  opinions on that, in fact.

In any case, a quick skim through the STFC announcement makes it clear that South Africa actually gets the lion’s share of the actual dishes, which will be operated alongside the  Meerkat facility, and will do what I think is the more exciting science.  Having been to Cape Town just recently I know how much the SKA project means for astronomy in South Africa so I’m delighted for them that the outcome is so positive.

It does, however, remain to be seen what the implications of this decision are for the overall cost and scientific value-for-money, but for the time being the thing I’m most pleased about is that a decision has been reached.  I think the SKA project is by far the most exciting ground-based astronomy project around, and it will be very exciting to watch it grow.

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The World as a Beach

Posted in Biographical, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , , on April 10, 2012 by telescoper

Well, as some of you will have noticed, I’ve been offline over the long weekend. There’s no internet connection – not one that I could get to work, anyway – at the residence I’m staying in and I couldn’t be bothered to traipse all the way up the hill to the department in the pouring rain to connect from my office. Hence the first gap in my postings this year. I don’t suppose anyone minds that much. Anyway, here are a few pictures and random thoughts from the weekend.

Here’s a picture of the residence, by the way. It’s called Kopano, although when I previously stayed it was called Driekoppen. The old name was a relic of the days of slavery – three slaves were tortured and executedin public  after rebelling against the terrible conditions they were held in. Their heads were displayed on pikes nearby, hence the name which means “Three Heads”. This was in 1724. I’m not surprised that the end of apartheid brought a change in the name, although keeping it as it was would have served as a reminder of South Africa’s terrible past. One shouldn’t  become obsessed by events that took place such a long time ago, but neither should one forget them.

Good Friday was a very Good Friday indeed, starting with a lovely breakfast and a walk on the beach in Muizenberg. Apparently this is something of a surfer’s paradise but, as I said, I didn’t have an internet connection so couldn’t join in. Also, they have sharks here. I mean big ones. Great White ones, as  a matter of fact. None showed up while I was there, though, and in any case I was only paddling along the shoreline. It may not be obvious from the picture, but it was pretty hot. Almost 30 degrees.

 I was watching a chap surfing while we walked along and it reminded me of the post I did a while ago about teaching analogies. Standing on a beach looking out towards the horizon is a bit like doing cosmology. Off in the far distance everything looks smooth; the waves on the surface are much lower in amplitude than the depth of the sea out there, so everything evolves linearly and is quite easy to understand. That’s like looking back in time at the early Universe imprinted on the cosmic microwave background. Nearer to the shore, however, the waves become non-linear because their height is comparable to, or larger than, the depth of the water. These waves evolve in a non-linear way producing, breaking on the beach to produce foam and spray, just as the primordial waves collapse to form galaxies and the foam of large-scale structure when their self-gravity becomes sufficiently strong.

That’s enough of that, I think.

Unfortunately, the weather changed for the worse over the rest of the Easter weekend and torrential rain kept me from doing much on Saturday or Sunday. The finishing section of the  Two Oceans Marathon, which ended on the UCT campus on Saturday, was like a quagmire. As you can see from the picture, I reached the line well in front of the pack. About two days in front, actually. I took this as they were building the stands and hospitality tents a few days before the race.

Anyway, the good side of the bad weather was that I got quite a lot of work done, catching up on things I have let slip for far too long. I also exhausted the reading material I brough with me, so will have to find a good bookshop in the next day or two. Well, that’s about enough for now. I hope to continue regular dispatches from now on until I return to Blighty  next week.

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