C-H 1
Hoodyhoo! I could only make it to midnight, with us at 67/4, Taylor on 24. For the last hour or so, I was only catching about 3 balls an over and dozing through the others. When I turned the radio off, the game was very much in the balance. Needless to say, I did not sleep well for the rest of the night. So it was fantastic to be welcomed by the clock radio reporting that Vettori scored the winning runs off the last ball.
Taking 50 complete overs to score 182 makes it sound like the target was at the limits of our reach, but in fact that is just how we roll. An awesome victory despite the narrow margin.
Listening to the game on the radio was a strange experience, not just due to me drifting in and out of sleep. Between tours of Australia I always manage to forget just how one-eyed the Aussie commentators are, and it is a shock to be reminded. To be honest, they had Justin Langer in the commentary booth, who made most of the more egregious comments. Of course, he captained the warmup match Friday, where he beat New Zealand, so he is an expert on our weaknesses. But I doubt his comments would have been different had his team been thrashed last week. He was completely incapable of registering what was happening in front of him. With Aus at 97/5 after 30 he was predicting a score of 250.
Here are some examples of the sort of thing he was saying (egregiously paraphrased of course, but still vaguely accurate):
I was spewing when I heard the result of a poll – excellent cricket shot there by Fulton! – a poll that said that nearly 50% of people thought we’d lose the series against New Zealand.
The Aussies have clearly been taking solace in the fact that in losing to South Africa they lost to the (then) 2nd ranked team in the world. They are having difficulty accepting that they might not dominate the 4th ranked team.
There must be something in the pitch that we don’t know about. These kiwi bowlers who have been average for such a long time don’t become world class overnight.
That’d be Mills and Vettori I take it, numbers 5 and 1 in the world.
If New Zealand lose this match chasing this total then I predict a 5-0 result in the series.
And yet it was Australia who lost…
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 am
Ben,
Never go to bed during a tight cricket match. You’re better watching till the end. That way, the sleep you do get is decent sleep.
Speaking from experience.
The perfect result; they cheated and we won.
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
C’mon, be fair. Aside from Langer – who was merely a guest in light of the match being played in Perth – the ABC radio commentators are very balanced and have, all summer, been scathingly critical of Australia’s current selections, attitude, Ponting’s captaincy etc. Meanwhile, they were generally full of praise for NZ’s efforts.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Fair point Jarvis. The ABC commentators were balanced and did call the game as they saw it. My comment was largely directed at Langer, who was pretty comical.
However, one does get very tired of the focus always being on Australia. During the Aussie innings, the commentary is largely about the Australian batting, while during the NZ innings the commentary is largely about the Australian bowling.
Perhaps it is just a matter of perspective. Being one-eyed is pretty much my modus operandi, so if I’m looking out one eye and the Aussie commentators are looking out another, we’re going have very different views of things.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Langer is appalling. A good commentator needs to display elocution at some respectable level. Langer drawls and stumbles on his mixed metaphors with ungodly regularity.
Besides that, ABC Local Radio commentary is usually ace, even better when they get someone like Jonathan Agnew on board.