Deliveries that miss the pitch

Hello and welcome back to my blog

Most spinners (and some pacemen) remember the time when they missed the pitch entirely and the ball rolled to fine leg or third man and the immediate emotion is anger or annoyance but in retrospect it's quite funny.

The wet end to the third test between NZ and India shows a similar sequence of emotion when the media and commentators miss the point. In every news source the fact that rain prevented a 2-0 result in the series is the headline when you could easily argue that if the pitch had broken up in Napier it might have been 2-1 or 1-1. The idea that the conditions prevented anything is a common misconception about the game of cricket - probably one of the most weather affected sports in the world! As a captain with 150 years of cricket history to be aware of and, much easier to read, a weather report stating that Day Five would be wet, setting a total of 600+ was a ridiculous move (200 more than the record for successful run chases!) and the blame therefore lies equally with Dhoni.
Having said that, Taylor's second century of the series was crucial and its level of skill was only matched by the low attention it received after the game in preventing a 2-0 score line. It's elements like this which define cricket games.

Analysis of the series as a whole has been much better with the Wellington and Christchurch papers providing food for thought. A good point is the return Vettori got from pushing for Chris Martin who picked up 14 wickets at 32 in the series. Vettori showed excellent judgement here (pity about Patel though) and Martin passed 150 wickets (now equal with Morrison at 4th most by a Black Cap). However the opening position is still a problem as NZ cannot seem to find two in-form batsmen for spots 1-3 but I do believe Flynn and Guptill show great potential (McIntosh has serious technical problems with the short ball and the front foot even if his temperament is correct).
Unfortunately commentators keep blithering on about India's ranking (3) compared to NZ's (8) as they fail to realise that this series was never about whether India would be dominant or not but about the Black Caps testing themselves against quality opposition and of course entertainment

On that note I come to Mark Richardson's comments, most of which I agree with. The series WAS entertaining with the Indian stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Harbhajan turning it on. The surprises were welcome as well with Gambhir and Ryder scoring well. The other surprise was Vettori's lack of penetration in this series, a fine observation by Richardson and one which I will pursue at a later date.

In the end the First Test was decided on day one when 6 Black Caps were out before lunch. The Second Test was drawn because of the pitch although NZ played some top notch cricket for the 3 days reminding us why they are still a test nation (an indication of things to come hopefully). In my opinion the Wellington Test was set up by two poor sessions: post-tea on day 1 (India scored 180 runs here) and post-lunch on day 2 (5 NZ wickets fell) and should have been a win for India if Dhoni had wanted it to be but he will learn his lesson - be mindful of the weather which will serve him well here next teim and in England.

I think I may have landed a few deliveries on the pitch today but then never trust a blind man's judgement on such things. Feel free to opine.

Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again.
It's good bye for now