Posts
Loading ...daniel-vettori
England aren’t kidding anyone
By Will 2 months ago, 5 Comments »
Judging by the way England’s batsmen pottered and tottered today, it’s clear their self belief has reached a depressing new low. Even Kevin Pietersen, for all his bravado in saying his 131-ball 42 was “one of his best innings”, struggled more than I can ever remember and New Zealand’s patience paid off. They nagged and nagged and waited and waited and each England batsman succumbed. Daniel Vettori bowled beautifully - and I’ve always rated Jeetan Patel, who looks like he belongs in Test cricket - but rare was the sight of a spitting delivery off a length. It was all about patience. New Zealand had plenty, England none. Their brand of aggressive Australian-style batsmanship, born in their successful run-up to the 2005 Ashes, is so utterly misplaced nowadays that when they encounter a low-and-slow surface, they have no answer other than to block.
Patrick Kidd wondered the other day what England’s lineup might be for next year’s Ashes, but I’m rather more concerned with the selection dilemma they face for New Zealand’s return trip here next month.
5 Comments »New Zealand v England, 1st Test, Hamilton
By Will 2 months ago, 9 Comments »
Ah, Test cricket. We welcome it back with open arms, albeit wiping the sleep from our eyes as we prepare to reverse our body clocks in the pursuit of sport and entertainment. Still - it could be worse (it could be 12 months ago when we were weeping our way through the depression of the Ashes) and England have an excellent chance of gaining an upper hand over New Zealand.
Of course, New Zealand can never be written off or dismissed entirely. Like a particularly hardy breed of mosquito, they’re rather hard to swat; what they lack in quality they more than make up for in grit and a never-say-die attitude. However, with the absence of Shane Bond - who’s deserted them for the wallet-swelling lure of the Indian Cricket League - New Zealand’s attack looks flimsy at best; only Daniel Vettori and Chris Martin can boast 50 Test wickets to their name. That is a worryingly weak statistic.
So do chat away. We’ll be doing all we can at Cricinfo to a) stay awake during the inevitable rain delays and b) keep you amused on commentary, so keep an eye on us. I’ll leave this open for the Test for you night owls to dissect the teams’ performances.
9 Comments »A nice night out at Adelaide Oval
By Scott last year, at the end of January, 1 Comment »
So I wandered along to the Adelaide Oval yesterday after all, and took up my seat in the Chappell Stands with New Zealand struggling at 3 for 60 after about 20 overs. England were right on top, and as I’d found myself next to a rather chatty fellow, we discussed the match, and also the possibility that we’d be going home early. As it was, we DID end up going home early, but that was because New Zealand had won the game.
How did they escape? Well, Jacob Oram batted well. England made it easy though for him, because he came out to bat and was facing the fire and brimstone of Paul Collingwood. My own view that Flintoff should have brought Anderson back into the attack eventually filtered through to the England captain four overs after I had said it, by which time Oram had settled in.
He’s a big lad, is Oram. After a spell from the game, his footwork was understandably rusty but once he found his range, he was able to power the New Zealand innings onwards. He found an ally in Brendon McCullum, who looked totally out of form, but was still able to contribute by running like a whippet.
A late flurry by Franklin took New Zealand to 210. I wandered off for chips, a hot-dog, and a chocolate ice-cream, all the ingredients needed for a balanced diet. I think the Black Caps might have had something a little more healthy because they came out on all cylinders.
Franklin took the first over from the Cathederal End because of the considerable breeze coming from the south. He took three wickets in his opening spell, though he was helped by a withering blast from the River End by Shane Bond.
Bond bowls with the pace of a Brett Lee and the accuracy of.. well he’s not quite in the McGrath mould, but he’s certainly pretty accurate. He pinned down the English upper order, and Mal Loye was in no mood to try his sweep shot this time around.
Franklin and Bond bowled the first fourteen overs, before being relieved. It was the introduction of Daniel Vettori that proved England’s undoing. He bowled a lovely spell; with the breeze to bowl into, he obtained drift and flight, and England’s batsmen did not have the footwork to cope with him. What particularly struck me was the way that England’s batsmen were stuck in two minds about whether or not to come forward, or to play back. Quite often they were caught in no-man’s land.
This certainly didn’t help England’s scoring rate. Ed Joyce was the only batsman to get past twenty. New Zealand fielded much better then they did in Sydney with Gillespie’s catch the highlight. Bond came back to finish the game, taking his 100th wicket in just his 55th match, and New Zealand’s large contingent of fans in the outer celebrated in style.
Speaking as a spectator, it was a nice evening out. I rather enjoy going to these ‘neutral’ games because since my team is not playing, I’m not that emotionally invested in the outcome, and therefore I can enjoy the cricket as it happens. But I have to say it- England were indeed woeful.
1 Comment »Lessons to be learned
By Scott 2 years ago, mid-December, 4 Comments »
Another day of tremendous Test cricket in New Zealand went by almost unwatched today, although to be fair, Christchurch’s weather forecast was predicting rain, hail, the doom of the world and the like. As it turned out, the day was fine and the cricket was even better.
New Zealand started the day looking to overtake Sri Lanka’s modest first innings of 154, and made serene progress untill Sri Lanka’s bowlers engineered a collapse, slumping from 2 for 106 to 6 for 113. I sure hope some English players were watching as Daniel Vettori and Stephen Fleming then applied a bandage to the innings and displayed a masterclass of damage control.
Fleming was slow, slow but sure, and put away the rare loose balls that Murali provided, while Vettori was his usual scratchy but inventive self. It of course helped that these two possess some real cricket nous. And they were right up against it because not only was Murali bowling with his usual menace, but Lasith Malinga was bowling with fire and aggression. After the lunch break, he gave Fleming one of the more searching examinations of his technique that I have seen for a while. It was great to watch.
Once Sri Lanka had finally winkled out Fleming, Vettori changed his role to that of a random hitter, and brought up a well deserved half-century.
But New Zealand’s lead was only 52 and that didn’t look like enough as Sri Lanka made steady progress to 44 for 1. Then that man again, Shane Bond, stepped up, and ripped out the Sri Lankan middle order. They lost four wickets for two runs at one stage. As it stands now, Sri Lanka hang by a thread at 8 for 125, with only Kumar Sangakkara holding things together.
Test cricket is so much better to watch when the conditions favour the bowlers rather then the batsmen.
4 Comments »Andrew “Roy” Symonds starts repaying what he owes.
By Scott 2 years ago, at the end of April, 2 Comments »
Andrew Symonds’ big night out on the day before an ODI against Bangladesh in 2005 will go down in infamy in Australian cricket lore, and probably will be celebrated in Bangladesh for a while to come as well. But he did redeem himself somewhat with a match-winning century in Dhaka to win the 2nd ODI for Australia yesterday.
It must be said, in all honesty, that at the moment he looks like he’s been on an even bigger bender then his 2005 effort. The dreadlocks look scruffy and the beard makes him look like a vagabond. At the moment, if any Australian cricketer is crying out for a makeover by the folks from ‘queer eye for the straight guy’, it is Symonds.
He may look like a drunken derelict, but his 5th ODI century for Australia was a most sober and abstemious effort. He came in with a bit of a crisis happening and Australia struggling after losing 3 for 10 after Adam Gilchrist got interrupted just as he was really warming up. That brought to mind his innings in Sydney against Sri Lanka, where Chaminda Vaas roughed up the Australian top order. Starting this time at 3 for 65, he combined with Michael Clarke to compose a brilliant but ungainly knock.
It’s one thing to score a glittering century on an easy paced but reliable SCG wicket; this wicket at Dhaka was simply diabolical. It was slower then a Madagascar sloth and deader then WG Grace. He came out wearing a helmet but there was no way Mashrafe Mortaza was going to get a bouncer to get beyond rib high at best. Pitch preparation is a black art at the best of times, but whoever was in charge of this one should hang his head in shame. Bangladesh may be poor, but if they can afford to put on a gloriously manicured outfield, there’s no excuse for a pitch like this.
So once the fast men finished their spells with the new ball, we had the rather dreary sight of spinners bowling and the batsmen working them over for singles. It is this sort of cricket that drove the ICC in frustration to introduce monstrosities like power-plays and supersubs. It is hardly the batsmen at fault in situations like this; in Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds, Australia had two of its most positive minded batsmen at the crease. But Clarke only scored 2 boundaries in his 54.
Credit must go to the bowlers, especially the redoubtable Mohammed Rafique. The veteran spinner has clearly been the pick of Bangladesh’s bowlers right through this Australian tour. Of course, it does help his cause that as a slow left arm spinner, he is a member of the spin caste that has troubled Australians the most over recent years. Daniel Vettori is another that springs to mind.
So Symonds played Rafique with respect, picking him off, working him over for the singles, and waiting for the loose ball from the other end. These were not in short supply once Bashar had to face the chore of juggling to find ten overs from his ‘fifth’ bowler, but again the conditions conspired, and the lack of bounce clearly frustrated Symonds. However, instead of losing his head and his innings, he managed to keep his composure, and his wicket, and in the end his century came off 122 balls; slow by his standards but fast in the conditions.
Bashar perhaps missed a trick; he seemed content to allow Australia to pick off singles, and I wonder when a captain is going to be bold enough to try keeping his inner fielders close enough to the batsmen to make singles hard work. It could have paid dividends.
But it was never tried, so they tied Australia down for a while but they could not get them out though, and a late burst saw Australia through to 250. And once the Australian fast men knocked off the top order of Bangladesh’s batting, that was it as a game. Habibul Bashar played a good captain’s knock to ensure Bangladesh had some respectability with their reply of 183, but Symonds was the man who made the difference. And a good thing too, because against this opponent, Symonds owed his country a match-winning innings or three.
2 Comments »New Zealand vs Australia, Game 3
By Scott 3 years ago, mid-December, No Comments; be the first!
The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy is decided, but there’s two things to look out for in this game. First, the debut of Mitchell Johnson, who was anoited as a ‘once in a lifetime’ bowler at the age of 17 by Dennis Lillee. He’s a very quick left-arm pace bowler from Queensland.
The second thing is the makeup of the New Zealand team; Stephen Fleming returns, but Daniel Vettori remains in charge. Is there a ‘changing of the guard’ ahead in New Zealand cricket?
I think New Zealand might get over the line in this one- they’ve only won one of the last fifteen meetings, so they are overdue to get a win.
No Comments »