The Apprentice becomes the Master

Hello and welcome back to my blog

Last week I suggested that New Zealand had more to fear from fast bowling from across the Tasman than a lack of it at home and this proved to be true during the first 2020 match in Wellington which Australia won with ease. 'Outclassed' appeared in several publications and reports. The culling-knives were barely out of their sheaths when the Black Caps balanced the ledger in Christchurch with one of the best games of cricket I have ever seen
I want to focus on two efforts here where individuals - perhaps labelled 'poor-man' versions of greater players - found their best form and got New Zealand across the line. First is the talented Brendon McCullum who finally achieved a hundred against Australia with 116* (58). He now has the second highest and second fastest 2020 century. It was a brilliant display of what 2020 batting is all about: power, innovation and pure nerve against 150 kph bowling. The comparisons with Gilchrist can now be made more convincingly
The second player is Tim Southee. Who would have thought that figures of 4-0-44-0 would be celebrated in pubs and living rooms up and down the country (such was the craziness) but it was his death bowling that impressed most with just 17 runs off his last 12 balls ensured the tie just when Cameron 'slog every gall' White looked unstoppable. Redemption from his effort at the same ground against India a year ago (where he conceded 100). The decision to bowl him instead of Bond during the Super Over was deserved and might be the sign that the boy is finally growing into the shoes vacated by Hadlee, Cairns and soon Bond.

NEWS

• Brett Lee announced his retirement from test cricket this week (in order to prolong his career) and hopes to play in the next world cup.
• The incomparable Sachin Tendulkar became the first man to score 200 in an ODI when he registered 200* (147) against South Africa. I'm glad it was him an not some slogger

RECENT RESULTS

• Australia completed and undefeated summer by thrashing West Indies in two 2020 games
• This trend continued in Wellington before finally being halted in Christchurch tonight
• India won their ODI series against South Africa 2-1 after Tendulkar's century in the second match and hundreds to Kallis and De Villiers in the third set up a cancellation match

ARTICLE OF INTEREST
On cricinfo this week I came across a great article about how terrible the presentation of cricket has become:
http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/449322.html
The commentary is very forgettable with the likes of Benaud retiring and now we are left with former players like Slater, Healy, Morrison, Knight, Richardson and Doull to bore us to death with their lack of imagination and a habit of over commenting on every ball. Even the animated Bill Lawry and Tony Greig combination is passed its best. From this collection of has-beens we must endure the post-match presentation where a 10 year old could recite the dialogue; it's as if Michael Bay were writing it. The players are just as bad with their answers - hardly veering from 5-6 different sentences - restricted by politeness and the 24-hour news cycle that can turn any comment into a scandal.
Just because you are or were a great player doesn't make you a great commentator. Richard Hadlee was good enough to recognise this in himself (or a brave producer was). Part of keeping the game alive is keeping the public interested and awake while listening to it

LOOKING BACK
In the spirit of McCullum's innings I will highlight February 22nd 1990 when Ian Smith smashed the Indian attack around Eden Park for 173 (136 balls). A record for New Zealand wicket keepers until the former surpassed it this year against Bangladesh

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

Deep Breath Before the Storm

Hello and welcome back to my blog

With Bangladesh heading back to the subcontinent all attention now turns to the upcoming tour by the Green&Gold machine that is the Australian cricket team. Any suggestions (and there were plenty) that Ponting's side would be nothing without the great players that retired in 2007-2008, have proven to be wishful thinking by fools - the kind of people who wish the best team to get worse than the weak teams to get better. Victories over Pakistan and West Indies this season have shown not just the skill of the remaining players but also the depth of Australian cricket with names like Bollinger, Watson, Hauritz and Harris cemented in the side
The tour of this renewed force begins in Wellington this Friday with the first of 2 2020 games (before 5 ODIs and 2 Tests) and the New Zealand side will be hard up to compete. Our own commentators have added little constructive analysis so far with several fingers pointing at the Black Cap bowlers - accusations of a lack of penetration - in the end no one really knows what to expect. Scott Styris has expressed confidence in our chances and suggests that the likes of Tait, Johnson and Bollinger are not to be feared with their 145-150 kph deliveries. I respectfully disagree, my biggest concern is our batting withstanding such a barrage over our bowling being too weak. Our batsmen had plenty of trouble against Aamer before Christmas and Australia have at least 4 bowlers who are as quick or quicker than he was
From the press this week I would like to note two things:

• The talk of the Haddin Incident involving his gloves from last time is neither interesting nor helpful and will only distract our attention from the hard work required to beat them; I hope this is not just setting things up for another 'blame the Aussies' excuse
• Adam Parore, famous for opening his mouth perhaps too often, produced a fine piece in the paper which is linked there

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/cricket/news/article.cfm?c_id=29&objectid=10627349

NEWS

• Shane Watson was awarded the Allan Border Medal last week after a prolific summer which has seen his bowling left to the wayside and his batting improve its consistency and ferocity. I won't take back my criticism of his technique (he is still susceptible to swing and LBWs) but his stroke-making has expanded nicely
• Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are options for a relocated 2011 World Cup if the security situation in India does not improve soon. interestingly if we are to co-host the event it will mean two World Cups in the New Zealand that year (including the IRB one) which should prove entertaining

RECENT RESULTS

• India fought back to beat South Africa by an innings, but only just as Amla scored his second century of the match and almost secured a draw
• A great partnership between McCullum and Guptill set up victory for New Zealand over Bangladesh in the test staged in Hamilton this week. One could not help but notice the inability to remove set batsmen by the bowlers though
• Australia wrapped up an impressive 4-0 series victory over West Indies
• Northern Districts won the Domestic One Day final in Auckland after a century from B.J. Watling and 5 wickets to Williamson

ARTICLE OF INTEREST
Geoffrey Boycott and Tony Greig both commented about the inclusion of 2020 cricket in the 2020 Summer Olympics on their respective radio shows this week. They felt that the Olympics is for more individual sports like swimming and athletics and that the inclusion of cricket was unnecessary not too mention a scheduling nightmare for the ICC.
I would tend to agree with both points and would stress that 2020 is hardly the best form of cricket when it comes to personal, athletic achievement; where in one stadium you have someone completing the 100 yards at a new record and in another stadium you have some person slogging across the line. 2020 is entertainment and thus does not belong

LOOKING BACK
FEB 19th 1980
Ian Botham reached the height of his powers with 114 (144 balls) as well as taking 6-58 & 7-48 against India in the Golden Jubilee Test. This was the first occasion on which someone made a century AND took ten wickets. This kind of performance is why I think Botham, at his peak was the best ALLROUNDER of the four 1980s players

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

The New Game

Hello and welcome back to my blog

In order to establish more regular postings to this blog (and as part of a new-years-resolution) I have decided to set out a specific format for this blog. I intend to post something each Sunday night following the style of that set out below. Occasionally I may revert to a single issue if a really striking one appears. In this way I hope to avoid the constant messaging on certain community websites every time I post an entry here; readers should now feel safe to check this space each week for my opinions on the world of cricket.
Today I will simply lay out the format with examples from the last few weeks:

(First will be a general point/concern about cricket in general or a special event in place of the above paragraph)

NEWS

This section will bullet point a few interesting developments regarding off-field events

• For example, it was announced this week that New Zealand and Sri Lanka will play 2020 games in Florida following the 2020 World Cup in the West Indies this year as part of the ICC's continuing efforts to break into that market

Recent Results

This section will include information about the week's games and note anything important that occurred

• For example, New Zealand achieved victory in Christchurch against Bangladesh on Thursday to take the ODI series 3-0. The victory was by just 3 wickets as the tourists showed some fight at last. The Black Caps played a very lazy - almost arrogant - style of cricket at times that didn't help their cause (most notable were the poor dismissals for McCullum and Taylor)

Article of Interest

This part will focus on the piece of media from the previous seven days whether it be from the cricinfo.com, youtube.com, newspapers or television. This may be a negative OR superb piece that I uncover
For instance, today former Australian captain Ian Chappell lamented the fuss over late-innings-reverse-swing when orthodox swing is just as deadly and far more potent to top order players. His comments follow the brilliant display by Dale Steyn against India.
While I find the point has merit - particularly the logic that early swing puts emphasis on the Spinner later instead of the pacemen - the argument seems an automatic reaction to Steyn's effort and is dripping with nostalgia for his playing days. The conservative streak in Chappell's articles has drawn my criticism before and I would hate to think that he favours sticking with the tradition and ignoring the modern elements of cricket that are just as fascinating. After all it was this attitude that allowed his countrymen to be so surprised and ultimately defeated in the 2005 Ashes contest (in fact he mentions this series as if it was conventional swing that did the damage - hardly). If anything I am just surprised that anyone could swing the ball in India at all!

Looking Back

Here I will take an event from cricinfo.com's similar page that I think is important to recognise

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

I'm Back and so is the Bull****

Hello and welcome back to my blog

Happy New Year to everyone and at last I have returned to keep the cricket discourse honest once again. Much has happened in my month off:

• Central Districts won the HRV Cup (NZ 2020 competition) and will go to the Champions League
• England choked and drew the test series in South Africa
• Australia beat Pakistan 3-0 at home (despite some troubles)
• Australia beat Pakistan 5-0 in the ODIs

It is from this final series that I take my first stance of 2010. The final game (in Perth) was disappointing on several levels including the awful conduct of one member of the crowd who tackled a Pakistan player (on debut no less) and should be banned for life from that ground. The conduct of stand-in captain Afridi was also dreadful, caught by several cameras biting the ball; after the match he was banned for two games which seems a slap on the wrist really.
However the most disappointing for me was the attitude on display by several of the Australian commentators towards the teams. At one point Mark Taylor lamented the 5-games-in-8-days work load for the Australians and suggested that they would enjoy the break - such an observation, while obvious, is accurate but appalling if you don't then apply the same standard to both teams! Earlier Ian Healy criticised the Pakistan team for appearing downcast and without the energy typically associated with their team (an attitude often employed by commentators of that country in a very down-their-nose manner but I have not time to cover the passive racism of Australian wicket keepers). The point is that surely the Pakistan team could be forgiven for appearing a little exhausted after long tours of New Zealand and Australia - they haven't been home since November - and yet 5 ODIs is somehow a marathon of work

Sadly this regrettable lapse in fairness by the commentators, for me, took some of the fun out of a very tight run chase. I would only conclude by saying that perhaps the workload has got to the commentators as well

On a more positive note, Bangladesh begin their tour of New Zealand this week and I expect them to be a whole lot more competitive this time around after a tough series against India

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