Who is there left to insult? the unbelievable politics of New Zealand Cricket

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The New Zealand general sporting public would have been quite happy to enjoy the recent victory in Sri Lanka as it always has - that one amazing result that keeps their faith alive for another season ala Hobart 2011 or Seddon Park 2008.  By 'general' sporting public I mean the vast majority of us that don't really care for the particular sport in question in a passionate way, the kind of mass of human beings that populate sport without needing or wanting to know too much about it.  You know who you are.  You should also know that, by your consistent paying of Sky Sports fees and match tickets, it is you that keeps these sports alive and the administrators and their machinations that come along with it.  As I said, the general sporting public would have been quite happy to enjoy the recent result but those administrators and their machinations just had to undermine the whole thing by allowing the current fiasco regarding the team captaincy.

We are to believe the 'facts' stand roughly as follows: that prior to the second test match in Sri Lanka Mark Hesson asked Ross Taylor to resign the leadership, or at the very least offered him the option.  This headline necessitated every sports journalist across the land to trip over their own shoe laces in the hurry to divulge all manner of rumour, feeling and inkling about the context in which this request by the coach was made.  This includes questions over whether senior players (how many is that then?) had no respect for Taylor, Hesson wants Taylor out and McCullum in, and the contrast in style between the aloof Islander and the aggressive Southern Man (at least the press is passed stereotypes...).
Just before I look at the real problem, there are a number of missteps to highlight about this cavalcade of hearsay and conjecture (sorry Mr Hutz but those aren't 'kinds of evidence').  Now first I want to know just when the senior (again I question the use of the word 'senior') players abandoned Mr. Taylor and if it was some time ago, you lot sure as hell picked a useful time to bring it up - 'widely viewed that he has lost the respect of senior players' widely: only in the last 48 hours in which you keep repeating this in your articles.
Now one point the press couldn't wait to ram home was that Hesson, formerly of Otago is and always was going to be a McCullum man.  This is not an excuse though!  If anything the quiet but incessant suggestions by Hesson that Taylor had to go should have been called out earlier as selfish, damaging and dictatorial: I'm the new coach and we're doing it my way.  The idea that the coach & captain relationship needs to be one of close friendship is as wrong as it is over invested in by the press - Fleming and Bracewell were said to be of a friendship and remember how wonderfully that turned out?
OK to play devils advocate for myself here, perhaps Hesson believed he had to make sure his tenure as coach was to be played out on his own terms and that that meant a captain he could work with - given the experiences of his predecessors that might be a wise strategy for self-preservation but also for team stability and growth.  I may grant you that excuse for Hesson's behaviour but it's barely the ghost of a point when it comes to the question of Taylor or McCullum.  Something I have found quite baffling so far in this drama is the reaction to the statement 'Brendon would bring a more aggressive approach to the role' - a statement whose meaning goes beyond its words to include notions of prior-success as a captain as well as 'aggression' being the desirable or even missing trait at the moment.
The reaction to this loose babble about McCullum's captaincy credentials has been a sea of nodding heads essentially, which looks past the following facts that a) his main captaincy took place with the Kolkata Knight Riders to their detriment as you may/should remember, b) aggressive captaincy is better executed by quiet orders that unleash fast bowlers, than emotional displays in public that even the press used to accuse McCullum of being prone to (when did they forget about that?), and c) Ross Taylor is anything but passive (something inferred by touting McCullum as the opposite) and given time could be capable of building a captaincy style built on both.

However, media melee aside, by far the most bizarre aspect of the whole thing is the contempt with which New Zealand Cricket has treated the general sporting public.  We are used to a clean out of management, coach and captaincy when a team loses but how NZC had the gall to create such an atmosphere after one of our more memorable and professional performances is beyond even your humble your correspondent.  Who, even in New Zealand Rugby would be stupid enough suggest a key player should be sacked after a victory let alone the key player being the captain, least of all that that captain should also be the hero of said victory.  People aren't going to stand for this, the relationship between cricket in this country and the people who enjoy it is tenuous enough without this kind of absurdity.  What is going on?  Either New Zealand Cricket just has no real respect for the populous that keeps its money and therefore lifeline flowing or, more likely, they lost control of the situation which speaks to something far more rotten in the structure than mere disdain.  If the latter is true then I suspect it goes all the way back to the haphazard way in which John Buchanan was allowed to establish himself and call the shots.
Don't misconstrue my point at all, I am not suggesting that just because public opinion lies with Taylor that the situation is amiss - one should never take shelter in the false security of consensus - but merely that for the sport's governing body in this country to appear so bereft of logic and understanding as to how it survives in the balance between sports and the public is an indictment of its operation and management.  The danger here is that the general sporting public is the last group a sport can get away with insulting in this way.

But enough of this, look forward to my profiling of Ricky Ponting and then my last post for the year which will feature a very interesting take on the current state of cricket, one I have been working on for a few weeks

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

A curse inflicted on England and myself

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Well a week is a long time in general but an even longer time in sport and the last 6 have been more than enough for my previous blog comments to seemingly curse the England cricket team from the no.1 position in both tests and ODIs. The top spot in cricket appears to be quite a slippery surface as Australia, India and now England have fallen victim to a lack of staying power upon it in the last 2 years. South Africa have finally achieved what they have threatened to do since 1992 and hold their nerve to claim the highest ranking in the gentleman's game. On the back of Amla's form and the potency of their fast bowling attack they totally outplayed England and brought an end to Andrew Strauss' career (more about him in my next blog). Spurred on perhaps by the freak injury to Mark Boucher before the series began, I salute them as deserved victors even if they aren't my favourite team to watch.

I can hardly believe my bad luck though in that in mid July I stated the following on this blog:

"...England have created for themselves an aura not too different from that of Steve Waugh's team of 1999-2004..." high praise indeed.

Eat your heart out Mark Richardson. I couldn't have had my words come back to bite me more completely than in the first test when South Africa so totally dominated the hosts and any aura I thought they had was not apparent. The only thing in England's defence that I will offer is that in the final test they played in a much more constructive and positive manner, the kind of style that won them the Ashes in 2005. In retrospect England seemed to0 defensive and hesitant against this South African team and lacked the nerve and assertiveness that so undermined and defeated Ponting's men in 2005. England's attempted run chase on Day 5 was some of the most exciting cricket of the series, so much so that I really wanted it to continue... FOR ANOTHER TWO TEST MATCHES! Why on earth was this series constrained to just 3 matches? If one thing has been certain in ENG vs SA encounters in the last two decades is that 1) they should be played across 5 games, and 2) if they are played across 5 games it will produce amazing cricket.

I will complain about this more in future posts but for now England are in free fall (due to their results and other issues which I will look at in my next post) and South Africa are on top of the cricketing world as last. Congratulations

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It's good bye for now

Come on Aussie, come on: the triumphant chant now the pleading of the cricket fan

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While our boys in black found trouble in the tropics, our Australian neighbours were beaten down 4-0 (with one abandoned) by a rampant English team. Their coach said during the series that he wanted more 'presence' to be on display by his batsmen, more 'mongrel' in the field and from the bowlers. Ian Chappell correctly points out, in a surprisingly well written piece, that while the latter is seldom desired, the former cannot be created on a whim. Presence, the likes of which Lara, Tendulkar, Ponting, Kallis and Dravid possessed through most of their careers, is earned through deeds not acquired overnight. The coach's words were desperate at best, ignorant at worst and illuminate the point that at this moment, England have created for themselves an aura not too different from that of Steve Waugh's team of 1999-2004. For the sake of a good Ashes contest in a years time I hope the Australian's can recapture some of theirs.

The aura of which I speak is something I could feel even before I followed cricket, it was in the background of my life, a topic of conversation whenever cricket was on the television and unquestionably powerful at home and abroad. The aura is that of the certain century, that if you dismissed Langer, Hayden would make 100, if you got Hayden, then Ponting would make 200. That feeling of inevitable doom and misery when Steve Waugh got through his first few deliveries and played that first punch drive through cover. It was the impression that McGrath and Warne could and would take a wicket in every over - my father once cynically explained to me what would happen when NZ toured Australia in 2004 in the following way "well McGrath and Warne will help themselves to 10 wickets... each.. per test" and I soon learnt why. England now have created something akin to this, although I would argue it isn't perfected yet. Cook, Strauss and Trott aren't quite Langer, Hayden and Ponting (or Greenidge, Haynes and Richards) but they are quickly imbuing their innings with a familiar sense of inevitability. Anderson, Broad, Swann and Bresnan cannot touch McGrath and Warne as individuals but the some of their parts is beginning to have a recognisable hunger for wickets and the excellence to satisfy it.

What I fear is that Australia will take too long to recover their old aura like this. They almost appear to be England of 1990-91 in Australia where a few old hands made final centuries for their careers but the team went down 3-0 to a younger, tougher unit. England took until 2005 to regain their cohesiveness as a team and really until about 2009 to begin to build a no.1 mentality. I really hope it does not take that long for Australia, there is nothing more riveting in cricket than a close Ashes series but that requires too quality teams (or two terrible ones but who really wants that - some say we have that taking place in the West Indies right now!).

Australia have the bowling resources, young and old to rebuild their team and power but their batting is without obvious successors to Ponting, Clarke and Hussey to challenge and then dominate opposition attacks. They have just one year to try and develop some top-order heft before they will face an England side, probably at the peak of its powers in 2013.

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It's good bye for now

Taylor comes to the party late... and so do I

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Well as New Zealand cricket fans we now stand half way through the first tour of the West Indies by the Black Caps in 10 years and find that the 2020 series is gone (2-0) and the ODI series is also gone (3-1 with 1 to play). This is a tour I had looked forward to for some time, mainly due to the fact that we hadn't been there since before I began following cricket, but it began so poorly when the team arrived to play, looking rustier than an old shed roof and their excuses ever rustier, that the novelty has worn off. Then the injuries came thick and fast - to the point that every time a dive was made in the field, domestic cricket coaches back in here in New Zealand must have been grabbing their contact list to see who was available to send over as cover (dear anyone suggest M. Sinclair?). It was a terrible beginning to what should have been a much more even contest, but after several bad losses the team pulled off a victory in the third ODI with a solid bowling and fielding effort. For the key 4th match up both Captain Taylor (who seems to have spent more of his reign injured than playing) and not-captain McCullum returned. Now if you have a side that beats the opposition by 88 runs then proceed to change that line-up with sudden, available talent who aren't accustomed to the conditions you risk a great deal on reputation.

While McCullum's return didn't seem to have much impact - although his mode of dismissal did see part of my hair pulled from my head (as I am sure was the case with John Wright) - Taylor scored a fighting century while the rest fell away. Despite improvements during the ODIs there are two big problems that persist: average death bowling or at least uncertainty in the face of aggressive slogging, but also the gifting of up to 5-6 wickets in the game by poor shot selection or plain brain-freezes. The latter issue will be more telling during the test series. Rob Nicol is the most frustrating exponent of this because he appears to be in some form (at least by comparison to the rest) but cannot seem to build an innings and needs to watch a few Nathan Astle videos instead of trying to obtain an IPL contract. Also, and I hate to have to say this of a player that i have enjoyed watching for some time, Jacob Oram only lingers in the team as long as Ellis remains incapable of playing cricket. He is now a walking injury, amazingly inconsistent at the batting crease (and I mean in terms of scores, form, tempo and pure intelligence of shot selection - he is inconsistent as if he is trying to add his name into the dictionary under 'examples of'). If his bowling didn't have the 'oh yeah he's tall so therefore he gets a bit more bounce out of his 125 kph deliveries' factor he may have been dropped already.

However, I wanted to make a couple comments about Taylor's/McCullum's return. As I mentioned above, it was a bit risky to rush Taylor back and have McCullum play suddenly but now that we have lost the series I look forward to how this affects the future and there are a couple things to point out. Taylor's century (imagine if he had got out for 0, oh the headlines!) provides him with form and time in the conditions ahead of the test series, but for me - and this is looking further into the future than just this tour - it removed from one 21-year-old-Kane Williamson the burden of captaincy that could have destroyed his career. It may have already done some damage as his play against Narine is troubling if you consider that he is supposed to be our guy for playing spin bowling. I am OK with the decision to have him lead the side if it was worked out with Taylor, Wright, Williamson and the team but if I hear that this was some Buchanan-machination then I will be more than just annoyed; to use a cricket team as a play-thing is enough without using a young player's potential in the same way.

More of a moan than I intended there but some home truths had to be said while our media is concerned with other sports (and rightfully so with the Olympics approaching). I am happy to see Taylor back in charge and back in the runs, if a little late to the Caribbean party but then I am even later considering how long it has been since my last post. I'm back now though and plan to keep 'em flowing during WI vs. NZ and ENG vs. SA

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It's good bye for now

The cricket writers' carousel of world weariness: Ian Chappell it's your turn

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It has been some time since my last post but outside the unstoppable behemoth of IPL cricket there hasn't been too much to really debate in cricket circles - until this weekend. Just to recap some recent events that may have escaped your notice: England are 2-0 up against the West Indies in an interesting test series for anyone who plans to watch New Zealand tour the latter in June or watch South Africa tour the former in July and. Marlon Samuels has been the surprise success for many people (including myself) as he has developed into a fine stroke-player but has curbed his stroke playing to concentrate on 'the V' that is so important to crafting a test-match innings (particularly in England).

England are getting into their stride, carried along by two centuries to Andrew Strauss who is finally making runs. Some are asking if the English attack lead by Anderson and Swann is approaching the kind of aura and skill level of McGrath and Warne - my short answer to this is that the Englishmen are slightly more limited than the Australia duo but England should enjoy success deploying them in a similar manner, however the comparison is a misguided one. Meanwhile, Nick Compton (grandson of the great Denis Compton) was stranded on 950 runs before the end of May this week by rain, which leaves Graham Hick as the last player to make 1000 before June (he did it in 1988). Finally, Kevin Pietersen has retired from limited-overs internationals and so will only play Test cricket and whatever 2020 leagues he can garner contracts with. This last piece of news is what prompts my discussion today.

It seems that each week it is a different cricket-writer's turn to lament the over-stuffed international calender - to the extent that it is almost as if a name is drawn from a hat on Monday morning as to who is going to write the familiar claptrap about IPL, test cricket, ODI cricket and this or that cricket council or cricket board. This week Ian Chappell is the author of an article in this mould saying that the retirement of Pietersen ought to wake a lot of people in English cricket and elsewhere to the danger of top-cricketers abandoning international cricket as their main focus in the face of 2020 riches. The second half of the article is fairly interesting (about the battles between players and administrators) but I can't shake off the feeling that Chappell is being a bit of a hypocrite on this. A writer should never make me ask the question 'what do you take me for?' when I read his piece but the former Australian captain does here. Let me ask you this: if the international calendar is so stuffed in your eyes, which cricket board is the one that wants 5-6 tests in The Ashes, which one is the country that keeps playing 7-game ODI series and which one just reinstated the ODI tri-series that takes up almost two months of summer? It is all well and good to say that England need to think about their situation but Australia are and have long been, one of the worst offenders.

The nation that should be complaining - and believe me, they will begin so shortly - is New Zealand who have ended up with a Test at Lords on May 16 next year which will require it's top players (Vettori, McCullum, Taylor, etc) to arrive the day before it starts, missing all warm-up games and preparation, due to IPL obligations. You may recall Chris Gayle doing this a couple seasons ago and look what he has become - cricket's first genuine mercenary player (of note). I find it appalling that any player could consider playing in a Lords test match without preparation in English conditions much less playing only IPL cricket - the complete opposite in terms of mindset and technique - beforehand. For instance, Brendon McCullum has been out in the 90s at Lords twice and will he expect to do better by batting for 30 balls in Kolkata three days before this test match? We shall see how this unfolds

As a more general point, I have always felt that 2020 cricket's success in terms of spectacle has owed much to established cricketers achieving well in that form. If cricket is reduced to 2020 by itself (as the main focus) then I believe the sport will be much poorer for it. The longer forms produce more interesting and developed cricketers for 2020 to use and I believe that to the core of my being - and have done since I saw the first 2020 international that featured this innings from Ricky Ponting. The problem is that the administrators/2020 enthusiasts of today cannot understand this relationship that is in danger of being destroyed if 2020 leagues suck up any and all talent - traditional cricket be damned. Cricket as we know it could well be destroyed by the sport equivalent of Mitt Romney (see Ian Chappell I can insert lazy political points into my writing too, it's not very hard) who is in and out for the quick buck and who cares if the sport is in ruins when you finish with it.

I will just bring things back to the international cricket calender to finish things off, if you need any more convincing of the points I am making here - about Australia doing most of the stuffing of said calender and the dangers of basing cricket decisions on a $-now! basis - then you might like to know that next year's Ashes series in England will be immediately followed by the return leg of the traditional fixture in Australia (instead of the normal 13 month break) so that the World Cup can be fit in the following Summer. Unbelievable

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It's good bye for now

John Wright's exit: a parting of the ways more stable than we're used to

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New Zealand cricket coach John Wright shocked fewer people than you might have thought when he announced that the upcoming tour to the West Indies (the first in a decade) will be his last with the team. This did not surprise me very much because I had heard plenty of rumour suggesting that his style of 'old school' coaching, while welcome in a discipline sense (perhaps even more to the public than the players), was not successful in administrative ways. An image of a man carrying a stack of disorderly papers comes to mind when others speak of his methods. It seems the media had heard the same thing and couldn't wait to mention how 'unexpected' this was (to them I think they meant) - that's nice, at what point did you think you would care to mention this before now?. This performance review where John Buchanan lambasted Wright for just such disorganisation, was submitted two months ago while this is the first mention of it I have heard from the media.

The main reason for Wright's decision appears to be the difficult relationship between his direct, traditional method and Buchanan's experimenting with every part of the team and cricket structure in the background (personally I keep thinking of a director trying to shoot a film while the guy the producers have sent in keeps second guessing him behind his back; ironic given Buchanan's title but there you are). Think of the episodes that we went through in the mid-90s and more recently with Andy Moles and Mark Greatbatch, this 'parting of the ways' seems fairly calm. There has been a suggestion that the next coach ought to be more in line with Buchanan's thinking and that this would provide a stable base going forward. I am very reluctant to even treat that suggestion with credibility and I would remind the people talking about this, of the previous coaching problems I mentioned above. The main problem with aligning every element of management of the team to one philosophy is that if said philosophy does not fit with the players of the time, it is extremely difficult to remove it without rolling heads or losing players. Examples: Turner/Germon regime caused untold damage in 1996 - to the point where Chris Cairns could have been lost to the team forever (not to mention the damage done to Parore, Morrison and Germon himself), then there was the loss of Astle under Bracewell, Fleming gone prematurely and the Vettori dictatorship.

After all of this I for one would ere on the side of a less philosophically cohesive management structure where strong views are respectfully challenged (please don't make me say a 'free market of ideas'). I do not wish to hear any more idle talk of consolidating power from these 'sports journalists' - it's a trap the team has fallen into far too often. We also don't need to hear from Glenn Turner who is in no possible way neutral on this (the article mentioning his 'views'(/moans) failed to mention his previous coaching role which almost destroyed the team or his obvious conservative approach. It's bad reporting and it's going to get people riled up for the wrong reasons

But enough of this, NZC will continue on its merry way and do what it will regardless of public opinion, common sense or prevailing wisdom. We have a tour to the West Indies approaching and one Neil 'Jesus saviour of man-kind' Wagner has been picked now that the ICC has confirmed his eligibility to play. I will be very interested to see him bowl in a test match but I hardly think he will provide a Shane Bond type spearhead, rather he will be a key ingredient in a talented bowling attack with the likes of Bracewell, Southee, Boult and Vettori that allows me to gaze into the future with optimism despite whatever happens with the coach.

I would add this last point: Steve Rixon took over after Turner in 1997 and developed a young, talented bunch into a world-class team; that end should be the desirable one, how we get there will be fascinating to say the least.

Next time I will examine some of the 'great' batsmen of our time and their home and abroad statistics

Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again

It's good bye for now

Wisdom is knowing how little we know

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The New Zealand cricket summer has come to a thoughtful, if not overly successful, end as the season that began with victory in Hobart concluded with a string of losses to South Africa only tempered by a fine rear-guard innings by Kane Williamson in Wellington. I felt the Black Caps gained a fair measure of themselves against one of the finest sides in the world and at times gave them a real scare. Elsewhere there was also Australia crushing the spirit of a billion people by wiping India 4-0 only to have it rebirth (slightly) with Tendulkar's 100th international century. There was also my Northern Knights winning the 4-day competition as well as this catch against them in the HRV 2020.

I have made my opinions on this pretty clear throughout the summer and nothing has really surprised anyone outside expectations, thus I thought I would go into something a little more personal in the cricket arena; namely my experiences of club cricket this season. For anyone who doesn't know, I have been privileged enough to help out a local cricket club in Wellington this season and looking back, there is nothing I would have rather spent my spare time doing. Helping the club enhanced my appreciation and understanding of the sport at a very basic but broad level, I was able to observe the kinds of things one cannot learn from a scorecard or a Channel 9 VB Tri-series match. I always knew that this was an area of weakness in my knowledge of the sport, quite predictable and acceptable for somebody who cannot actually even attempt to play the sport they love, yet somehow I had resigned myself to letting it go - so for providing me with such an opportunity I want to sincerely thank Victoria University of Wellington Cricket Club (VUWCC).

While performing various duties for the senior teams I gained new insights into areas of cricket that I had largely ignored or been oblivious/uncaring to before. First and foremost would be the mentality and psychology of the batsman about to bat and the sequel when they are dismissed, the intimacy of the sideline and changing shed that provides a microscope into what TV cameras can barely hint at. You can see it in the eyes of a player when you sit next to a man sitting on a pair (or five ducks, you know who you are) and the emotion when that fear is realised or conquered, the kind that a crowd can miss but is only too apparent to the fellow holding out the drink bottle (or just getting out of their way). Travelling from fine-leg to deep-third man to converse with the fast bowlers is a study in the opinion of 1/11th of the team that is experiencing the game first hand. It is quite an amusement to listen to the verbal-self-bashing at the end of one over become the bright elation at the end of the next (after the fall of a wicket) as the true, somewhat harsh, even masochistic nature of the sport is revealed (not meant as a negative necessarily - although one bowler I have in mind wouldn't have looked out of place hitting himself with a cat-of-nine-tails, take that image to whatever extreme you wish).

The taking of a wicket took on new meaning for me as for once I was truly invested in it, the palpable yearning for it to fall and the celebration upon that defeat of the opposition batsman. Being part of it all magnifies every aspect about the taking of a wicket, including the fall of one of your own. Although I have seen many Black Caps players lose their stumps (many, many, many Black Caps players), the castling of a player trying to keep his place in the side is more saddening, the suicide of a player that hooks to deep-fine-leg is more frustrating and the laziness of a slog that goes only up in the air is that much more annoying; basically the whole thing is more personal.

Then you have the wider implications of one ball that takes a wicket. The station of a player can depend on it, a good spell of bowling can save you from the axe and the construction of a long innings cement you in the team. Again, I absorbed the feeling of truly caring about such things because I knew the people involved, discussed it with them over a pint in the evenings (and sometimes in the wee hours of the morning) and keep my tongue behind my teeth when a player did fail.

Then there were the trainings each week which were a clinic in cricket education by themselves. I won't go over every detail here least I find myself writing a novel and you, my humble reader, slip into a coma, but I want to illustrate one example that appears foremost in my mind when it comes to cricket nets. Throw-downs is a term that conveyed an image of laziness, a sense of lack-of-desire and a feeling of the pathetic. I make no bones about the fact that in 2005 when Stephen Fleming was reported as facing nothing but cricket balls lobbed to him during a training session, I jumped on the bandwagon that denounced this as all of the aforementioned. Surely you cannot gain form against quality fast bowling with such simple rubbish? What I failed to understand then but fully appreciate now is that the throw-down is nothing about what the bowler is doing but what the batsman is doing. It is about honing the basic defensive and attacking principles that a top-order player builds his whole game on, to the point where they are as second nature to them as drawing breath. How can you even begin to consider the man running in at you if you're losing sleep (and energy) over where your own feet are going, where your limbs are moving? This season I witnessed a player work on his technique in this way that he overcame an injury and subsequent form/technical slump to top-score (90) in a winning cause. I observed another ground out several gutsy innings to give some dignity to his side's batting cards.

I know that much of this sounds like old hat to you players, and in theory it does to me as well but to witness it in action is to gain a new understanding of it all. To say that it provides the practical to the theory is perhaps simplistic but I think you know what I mean.

I discovered something new about myself and my interest in cricket this season too. People who know me fairly well, understand or at least can make educated guesses at the frustration I feel at forever being confined to the sidelines of sports, through no fault of my own. I freely admit that to spend as much time on the sideline as I did this summer was often a double edged sword: on the one hand I experienced all that I have explained in this piece already but on the other it served as a constant reminder of my own limitations. The joyless reality that can hit home in this situation is only matched for its cruelty by the instances of a player not realising that reality, and having their expectations die when the visually obvious goes over my head (often literally). This occurs when a player tries to point out a ball in the distance or requests my involvement in a friendly game of football; it's a very specific area of my reality where upon the sport offers a level of equality one moment but dashes it just as quickly the next - it's neither person's fault but it is still true. One never really gets used to this kind of undeserved-punishment and it is hard on the innocent player as well who has to drop their face in embarrassment and pity. It is the tease that suckers us both

As depressing as I am sure that reads, this summer presented the obvious and welcome anesthesia which is the realisation that my love of the sport is greater than this. My obsession with the battle between bat and ball, even if largely viewed from afar, is more rewarding than the pain of not playing. The acceptance offered by the players which allows the same feeling of belonging and gratitude. That is what allowed me to spend hours wrangling up players for the reserves team, or messaging last-minute fill-ins while I attended a wedding. People often seemed surprised at the lengths I would go to to attend club functions and trainings week in and week out. Their bemused questions were matched only by my surprise that they need ask me why I was keen to help so much. I feel as if I'M the one in debt to the club, not the other way around, for the feeling of fellowship as well as the improvement to my understanding of the sport. To sum up what I mean I retell my short speech from the prize-giving night, after reading everything above you may realise I was in no way kidding:

'...while I eventually felt like I had responsibilities everywhere, I still feel as if I owe something to you guys for you allowed me to realise that it is only after grazing on the slopes of ones own ignorance that one can see how far he has to climb...' or to condense - simply read the title of this post.

Finally, as if in credits to the above melodramatic claptrap, I note a few individual efforts from the club:

• Hamish Evans (top wicket taker and budding all-rounder)
• James Boyle (top runscorer and captain of the top side)
• Jonathan Dol (highest individual score in the top side)
• Duke Pomare (lone century maker in the senior squad)
• Simon Thomas (trusted a blind imbecile to manage the teams)
• Matthew Sadd and Josh Seton (for thinking that that blind masochistic imbecile might like the job)

I salute and thank you and the others I did not have room to name, for an absorbing and rewarding summer

Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again

It's good bye for now

A sad and sadly-useful distraction, looking back at the day when a Black Cap captain faced more than just cricket

Hello and welcome back to my blog

After the Black Caps' sigh-inducing effort in Hamilton, cricket fans across the country could be forgiven for seeking a distraction from the current tour - which at this point feels frustrating, fortune-reversing and fated for failure. Many sports fans turned to Rugby as the Otago-based Super team continues to hold the high ground (if only just) in matches against all-comers, others return to the politics of the day as the resignation of a minister is apparently enough to fill the front page. My mental wanderings traversed both extremes and more, in an attempt to ignore the impossible task of explaining away another batting collapse by my team (although in the back of my mind the words 'better fast bowling attack' spring to mind). The moment when I found the distraction that I craved and needed took place while reading 'Stephen Fleming: Balance of Power' (author Richard Boock, 2004). I feel both enlightened and guilty for finding distraction in this way because the Karachi bombing outside the team hotel in 2002 (which killed 14 people) is nothing to take trivial distraction from, but in my best defence I confess that the following jumped out at me in a way I have seldom experienced and I felt it only right to share this with you, my humble readers.

For those who do not remember, the Black Caps tour of Pakistan was ended prematurely after the Karachi bombing and Stephen Fleming appeared on television as an emotional wreck, easy to see and too easy to understand perhaps, but the book I mention above includes two letters that give this dramatic time greater context and gravitas. Fleming received both letters shortly after returning to New Zealand when the team was rushed out of Pakistan for fears over safety.

This is from a Pakistani cricket fan who had travelled to the hotel in question with his brother to get an autograph:

"...Dear Sir

Stephin Fellming

how are you I am fine here and hope you will be happy. Sir My Name SARWAR MALIK and ASAD MAIK was my elder brother who was very much fan you. Our accommodation is at Lahore and we all peoples went to Stadium, for see his Match and meet with you and we regret for his postpone the Match tour of Pakistan. Sir ASAD MALIK my brother went to Karachi for receiving you autograph and died in front of SHERATON HOTEL due to Bomb Blast and cut the Arms from the body and was in great pain and crying loudly, sir he was my elder brother and great fan of you and died on the sport, sir he was the only earning person of our house. Sir, you feel my brother's pain and you also weep at the the time of interview in press conference and after reading the statement in the News paper we feel that you are not only good player but also a great person too, because you have heart to feel the pain of others so. My old mother feel the need to send for thanks letter And I am weeping due to death of my brother, sir, now when I am writing you the letter I am too weeping, and sir I am again thanks to you for remembering my brother's demise.

With great thanks,

Yours sincerely

Sarwar Malik"

Not everyone viewed the team's exit of the country and safe return to New Zealand with as much relief as others, this from a New Zealander with strong feelings on the subject:

"Dear Steven (sic) and your men,

I appreciate you had a shock. However you are coming across to many of us as a wimp and you are the captain!

Come on, be a man. New Zealand had many, many men who went through horrific experiences during all of the wars that we have been involved in and they did not come home and wimp or grizzle about any of it.

I had an uncle who dug a hole in the sand every night for four years. That was in the Dessert (sic). No one ever heard him talk about his trials. He went on to become very successful in his life and still lives today.

What do you think he thinks of you lot?

Many of us have shocks and are not in the protected arena that you men are

Become mature and do well

I wish you well

Sincerely etc"

Well as to the second letter, the idea that the individual could write such a thing but end it with '...I wish you well..' says all that need be said about that individual in my opinion. However, just in case any of you feel fellowship with that individual, I would ask you a couple questions: don't you think our forefathers suffered and died in those wars so that we might live to enjoy the life of an international sportsman? To have the freedom to pursue such an end in the peace and security required to create such opportunity? If you disagree then answer me this instead - where exactly in the job description of NZ Cricket Captain does it mention the required skill of fighting in battle or coping with terrorism while on tour? A soldier has the trip, in boat or plane to the battlefield to at least ponder such things and prepare his/her courage, he/she did not see a dozen fellow human beings ripped apart next door to their house without warning or reason.

But I digress, what really struck a blow to my mind was the idea of receiving such letters addressed on both the envelope and in the words themselves, to you personally. I truly struggled with remorse at the first and anger at the second only to realise that I had the luxury of 'coping' with such differing emotions and their sources, in the comfort of an office lunch room with no greater stress than a recent Test Match loss. Fleming had to cope with such sadness and such vitriol on the back of actually seeing the images referred to, of experiencing the hell that was hinted at and surviving the scenes of carnage. The fact that he portrayed a face of both strength and humanity to the entire ordeal fills me with pride for my former captain and I can only hope that the likes of Ross Taylor can aspire to such heights during his tenure and not be destroyed by a test loss here and there.

I still feel guilty for exploiting such a thing for distraction but I cannot deny the impact those letters had on my understanding of Stephen Fleming and of ones priorities in life.

Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again

It's good bye for now

Some bad opportunism (which is not a good thing at the best of times)

Hell0 and welcome back to my blog

As my most avid readers have probably noticed, I have been scarce at my writing desk of late which I find regrettable, but amongst securing employment and many duties for the cricket club that I assist, summoning the will power to put thought to paper on cricket has been difficult. However I am back this week and hope to create momentum leading into the end of the season (although with Australia in the West Indies shortly (with Watson batting 3 in tests if you can believe it without vomiting a little) and England vs South Africa in the winter, there will still be plenty to write about). Below I take a look at Rahul Dravid's career and use it to explain why Sehwag cannot (or at least should not) be as highly regarded, something I have wanted to do for some time. Dravid once played very well in Hamilton so just call me opportunistic. What's worse is that I will also use this vague association to catch up on news from recent weeks. My apologies

I would like to start this week by expressing a couple of thoughts around the current series between New Zealand and the South African tourists. Although the results in the short forms of the game were disappointing, I was always most fascinated by what would happen in the test matches after the Black Caps' showing in Hobart and Napier. I was of the opinion before the test series that the result depended on the following things:

• Chris Martin's ability to get wickets - especially Smith as the captain who he has dismissed many times before
• The success of McCullum and Taylor in the middle-order against a very fine fast bowling attack and a more than useful spinner. Taylor's debut series was in South Africa and he was found wanting every time but he has grown a lot since then and is the captain as well. I will talk more about McCullum in a future post
• The form of Kallis and Amla. These two batsmen dominated our bowling the last time we faced them; they are the kinds of batsmen that get set in the middle and murder fast-medium attacks like ours. Only if we get them early, often and cheap do we stand a chance to match them as a batting line up
• Lastly, Vettori needs to break the habit of his career and get some wickets against South Africa. I have pointed this out before, his record against them is terrible. While Warne and Murali would feast on the Proteas' lack of confidence against spin bowling, Vettori has always struggled and if he is really the great spin bowler that people talk up, he needs to fix this blemish on his record (probably shouldn't have used the word 'fix'...)

As a final word on how New Zealand can win against South Africa, given any success lies with that of Vettori and Martin, the wickets must not be lifeless. The temptation is surely there to produce slow, flat decks to negate Steyn/Morkel/Philander but this would be a huge mistake in my opinion. I believe that the difference in the sides is between the batsmen, to a greater degree, than than the bowlers. There is so much experience and talent in the South African batting line up but if there is a bit of green in the wicket, the gap will narrow. I do not wish for another Hobart wicket - that would be too far - but don't fall into the trap of taking away the one area where both bowling line-ups are fairly equal: swing.

Now, this week the great Rahul Dravid finally retired and here is the obligatory statistical summary:

Test Career: 1996-2012

13,288 runs @ 52.31 with 36 centuries and 63 half-centuries

High score of 270

210 catches

(he also made almost 11,000 runs in ODI cricket)

Highlights include:

• 96 on debut at Lords, his first century was in South Africa, consecutive scores of 115, 148 and 217 in England (tour of 2002, plus 100* vs WI in his next innings) and 3 more centuries in England a decade later (last year when his team was thrashed 4-0)

However, to understand his true greatness and success it is helpful to compare him to his often over-hyped and certainly overrated, colleague Sehwag. Dravid is one of a rare breed of batsmen (certainly Indian ones) in that he averaged more away (53) than he did at home (51) and his career is littered with centuries in tough conditions:

• 233 to win the Adelaide test in 2003
• 270 in Rawalpindi to beat Pakistan by an innings (no other batsmen got passed 77) in 2004
• 190 and 103* in Hamilton 1999
• Multiple centuries in South Africa, England and the West Indies

His average in England was 68.80, in New Zealand 63.8, in Pakistan 78.6 and 65.7 in the West Indies. 21/36 centuries were outside India and he averaged an impressive 42 and 40 in the 3rd and 4th innings of tests respectively. Add to that, one of the most UNDER-stated innings, his 180 against Australia to help Laxman win after following on. Dravid could fight and achieve towering success when it really mattered and had the skill and temperament to do so in foreign/hostile conditions - his record vs Australia is not impressive but the two centuries that he scored against them were in the two famous victories mentioned above (Adelaide and Kolkata).

Sehwag on the other hand gains success out of a technique that spits on the idea of temperament and skill. He possesses amazing talent and nerve, I cannot deny him that, but his success is largely on dead wickets in the subcontinent and his record is terribly inflated as a result. He averages 27.8 in England, 20.00 in New Zealand, 25.46 in South Africa and even 35.2 in Bangladesh strangely. His record in India is impressive (average of 58), in Pakistan it is 91 and in Sri Lanka it is 69. Both of his triple centuries were in the sub-continent which leads me to label him, nothing more or less, the greatest exponent of the flat-track bully cricket has seen; Graeme Hick retired in 2001 and Sehwag debuted a few months later to carry the standard into the new millennium. I don't want to sound like I am getting at him personally, I have a grudging respect for what he is able to do, but those who so foolishly champion him as Tendulkar-like earn my scorn. Dravid has been the only contemporary Indian batsman to deserve a place anywhere near Tendulkar...

...until the appearance of Virat Kohli who just scored his 10th ODI century at the age of 23. He may yet impress further

Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again

It's good bye for now

Skip the gabfest on this one please: how the media is distracting us from actual cricket

Hello and welcome back to my blog

This week we have had to suffer through two examples of tabloid journalism meeting cricket-news and turning the thing into a circus. I would happily ignore it if it weren't for the important cricket events taking place that demand our sports-follower attention instead of whether a player lost a cricket match and the semi-retirement of another.

First I will look at the admission by Ricky Ponting that he will not be selected for One-Day cricket matches in the future. This is a fair call and should have been made by him before now, not because, as is the case right now, he is out of form but because he will be 40 come the next World Cup and to keep him around any longer would be counter productive to building a team to challenge India in 2015 (although given the way the World 'Champions' played in Australia this summer, it won't be difficult). Ricky Ponting has been, along side comrades Hayden and Gilchrist, at the forefront of the most dominant ODI team in history that won 3 consecutive World Cups - one of which he set up the victory for with a massive final-century in 2003. He also brought Australia back from the brink in the tri-series finals against Sri Lanka here. His legacy in this form is secure.

What surprised me about the coverage of this natural passing of the guard was the media-wide speculation over whether Ponting was due to retire from test cricket! In the past I would have guessed that this simply betrays a lack of cricket knowledge on their parts; he just scored a double century against India and has the Ashes to aim for in 2013, what in Ponting's career would suggest he would retire under these circumstances? In the recent series Ponting seems to have finally learnt how to bat in his later years, the same lesson that the likes of Lara, Hobbs, Hutton, Hammond and even Bradman learnt. What I realised is that this is just tabloid rubbish to keep the news cycle going: you report the upcoming news conference, ask the stupid question that no serious cricketer was thinking, trump up some idiot like Lawson to be on your side and then act so surprised when Ponting doesn't retire (or go to the lengths that the Dominion post did and suggest that he is 'clinging' to his test career). The whole thing was a non event and Australian cricketers and fans would be better served by talking about why Warner has struggled in the ODI series or whether they have solved their spin-bowling issues in Doherty and Lyon.

In New Zealand we have a similar problem with the blaming of Jesse Ryder for the embarrassing loss to South Africa at Eden Park the other evening. The late order collapse and eventual loss was the worst I have seen in recent times and I now begin to wonder if Mark Richardson's Commentator-Curse skills have reached such a height that he can simply commentate normally and achieve destruction - subliminal cursing perhaps? I realise this sounds absurd and it is meant to, just as absurd as the loss but also the criticism aimed squarely at Ryder. Craig McMillan, now to be taken as a journalist and not a former player in my opinion (and therefore judged on those grounds) decided overnight that Ryder was at fault, completely ignoring the panicked fashion in which his lower order batted after him or the lazy dismissals of the top order (and the resulting wobble that Ryder's initial batting saved us from). Ryder's awful batting on 49 was regrettable but a loss that embarrassing is not conjured by one man. McMillan's is poor analysis from a poor commentator - I suppose if you can't criticise his weight it has to be his dithering over one run? Hypocritical from a player that was accused of both throughout his playing career and if that feels like a cheap shot on my behalf - that's because it is! How does it feel Craig?

Personally I am not surprised that Ryder hit such a road block at 49, he hasn't played in international colours since before Christmas and before he knew it he was facing a half-century on return. In retrospect the loss is more laughable than dooming and I would advise my friends to get a grip, it is 2020 cricket and there are more important forms of the game to consider going forward. Masters Smith, Steyn and Kallis will be playing from here on in and this should be of greater concern. These three will prove a real challenge to the Black Caps as they top the list in their respective fields of excellence. I think it wise, while not to get to depressed over the 2020 loss, to take two important points from the match in Auckland:

• First is that the Cricketboks (box?) are deserving of their high rating in world cricket, they turned that match to their advantage as soon as we gave them half a chance and we cannot afford to be that charitable again.
• Second, the Black Caps came back impressively from Hamilton to contain and frustrate the South African batting line up. This attitude and ability will be crucial for the rest of the series and a similar intensity will be required to compete against some of the toughest cricketers in the world.

The last point is what gives me hope for the remaining six matches, rather than the cynicism born by the scape-goating which the media circus would have us concentrate on instead

Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again

It's good bye for now

Gloating over the misfortunes of other people

Hello and welcome back to my blog

2012, the Year of the Dragon, is upon us. Like everything religious or superstitious (if you care to think of those as names for different things) I expect this to have little impact on cricket or life in general but it is somehow fun to think of such a mythical creature. Cricket appears to be continuing on its merry way with the complete and utter destruction of India's number one title. I for one plan to gloat over the smouldering wreckage and ask you to forgive (or even take part in) the joy I feel for the cricketing nation that thought it could manufacture such success in the way that it did and then exploit it to the detriment of the sport.

After 4-0 in England and what appears to be 4-0 in Australia (or at least 3-0), India has revealed their success as largely built on home dominance, prowess on flat wickets (except the Adelaide Oval it appears) and against weak pace attacks. India coasts on the batting experience of its aged line up of 1990s players and on a bowling attack that is merely competent and in little way penetrative. On their way up the ladder they actually won a test in Australia (Perth of all places, but thrashed in less than 3 days this time around) and an actual series win in England that will be forgotten in the wake of their most recent effort mentioned above. One element that increasingly haunts this Indian team is the appalling ground fielding of the entire side (something the IPL is improving in younger players at least) which is slow, lazy and completely bereft of any modern sensibilities.

In a nation as large as India batting and bowling talent will come again but quality fielding is a new culture that has not yet taken hold in the top team. India's fielding woes stem from their conservative approach to cricket - the same method of thinking that allows them their stunning opposition to the review system as well as their reign-destroying reluctance to retire their greying batting line-up. The fielding culture of a team is hugely important to its success, not just for the ability to take catches and prevent extra runs but because the discipline required to excel at it improves the other skills of batting and bowling. It also sets the benchmark for how the team cooperates; both Australia and England understood this truth and rebuilt their teams around it in the 1980s and 2000s respectively. It is difficult to see how India can return without addressing this issue. With the arrogance of the the BCCI and the Indian public that believed victory in test cricket required only a vaunted batting line-up, they got, not so much what they wanted or expected, but more what they deserved

While I am happy to gloat over the misfortunes of the India, again I find myself appalled that New Zealand is playing against Zimbabwe - this time in our own country! I outlined reasons why this contest should disgust even cricket fans here and repeat that I will not watch any of the matches played during this tour. I refuse to take any enjoyment out of them by watching their coverage on television. I will of course observe the scorecards of these matches for analytical purposes.

To end on a positive note, I hope you all enjoyed the Big Bash and HRV Cup tournaments over the holidays as I did. While I didn't really care to follow the progress of any particular team (except for some bias towards the Northern Knights) it was the joy of hearing the players miked up in the thick of the action. The chance to really get inside the head of top players was a joy for anyone like me who is unable to enjoy playing this most glorious of sports for themselves. The chance to hear Shane Warne commentate his own bowling was riveting to me as a cricket fan and spin bowler and I hope this promising gimmick will continue in the future

Well that's it from here and I hope you join me again

It's good bye for now

New Year Update

I will be making my first post of 2012 sometime in the next 7 days, it should cover things like the Australia v India series and the upcoming 'tour' by Zimbabwe