While the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy was a great chance to compete with the best in the world (in the form of cricket to which they're best suited) a test series against the same opposition is not. I'm not trying to sound defeatist here but there is no getting past the fact that New Zealand boasts a very inexperienced Test team against a juggernaut finding its second wind in 2010. This series should be a chance for improvement and the building of a solid team aiming for success in 12 months and while this may result in a lost series the gains in the future should be worth avoiding the use of stale has-beens now.
Unfortunately this is not entirely the case as the squad appears today. While I quickly applaud the inclusion of Arnel the return of Sinclair is a disappointment when Kane Williamson has become only the second Kiwi to reach 1000 first class runs before the age of 20 (after one M.D. Crowe). The perseverance with Ingram is also mysterious given his age and difficulty against fast bowling; these defences of 'well Tendulkar and Sehwag don't use their feet either' wouldn't stand up to a Chris Martin batting onslaught and how NZC can utter them with a straight face is bewildering.
Furthermore, I hope that Chris Martin (as a bowler) has been included due to his record at the Basin Reserve. His performances in the last 6 months have been below-par at best and it might be time to get a younger bowler. I predict, assuming there is little rain interference, that the series will go to Australia 2-0 and that won't disappoint me unless we don't learn anything, which is exactly what will happen if new players are ignored!
NEWS
- This week the PCB baned several of their key players from between 1 year and ...well ever, in response to the pour tour of Australia. Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan will not play again and Afridi and the Akmal brothers were heavily fined and put on probation. I feel that perhaps the life bans in particular are severe - are they really going to stop their 2nd best-ever batsman from playing?
- After the ridiculous injury count this summer in the Black Caps team more and more questions are being, rightly, raised over the fitness regime
- NZC announced that the winter tour of Zimbabwe has been cancelled due to health concerns in that country. The tour may be rescheduled later in a neutral country (most likely South Africa)
RECENT RESULTS
- Australia retained the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy after convincing wins in Hamilton and Auckland. The credit here should go to Ricky Ponting whose decision to bowl first worked 2/3 times in this series and his captaincy has been very good during the game as well (including a very good innings in Auckland in game 4)
- New Zealand won the final match of the same series in Wellington after a strong bowling and fielding performance (made easier with the incorrect dismissal of Ponting to be fair). Vettori will be disappointed with the batting which failed for the 4th time in 5 games
- The IPL began this week with victories to Delhi, Kolkata (2 wins), Deccan and Mumbai: the highlight of the first week was the 37-ball century by Yusuf Pathan in a losing cause
ARTICLE OF INTEREST
http://www.cricinfo.com/page2/content/story/450909.html
I don't have a lot so say about this article except READ IT and laugh. Although the author reveals a strict left-wing-bias on some of the listed politicians this does not prevent the thing from making me crack up
LOOKING BACK
March 9th (1998) - Although this week is the anniversary of Laxman's Match in 2001 it is also the anniversary of Tendulkar's superb innings of 155* (191 balls) that set up a win against Australia in Chennai. He had been dismissed for just 5 (by Warne funnily enough) but took his revenge second time round with a brutal assault
Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again
It's good bye for now
No comments:
Post a Comment