Crucket

When you’ve tanked the bowlers around the park on your way to an unbeaten 20-20 century, getting the finger from one of those bowlers is the highest form of flattery. Tait is presenting to McCullum here in a frustrated acknowledgement that McCullum was fricken’ awesome the other night.

In contrast, despite what others might think, the Lancaster Park crowd was jeering Shane Watson because he is a dick, not because we respect his abilities with bat and ball. We openly hate him, we don’t secretly rate him.

New Zealand defeats Pakistan in the second ODI, regaining 4th spot in the ICC rankings.

A 64-run win would have been seen as a spanking, if the previous match had not been a 138-run slaughter.

The match was most notable for Brendon McCullum’s 131 off 129, which contributed hugely to the win.

Considering what a star Brendon is, it is remarkable that this is his first century against a decent opposition (though it is one that any batsman would be happy to have in his record). Ruffling through the stats however suggests that though he hasn’t hit 100 very often, his contributions are important for New Zealand wins. McCullum’s average is twice as large in wins as it is in losses. Also, when he scores 50 or above, New Zealand is twice as likely to win.

For Pakistan, it almost seemed like they were waiting for Shahid Afridi to do for them what McCullum did for us. By the time Afridi came in (in the 27th over), the top order had muddled along, allowing the required run rate to touch 8/over. When he went first ball (c. Taylor, b. Styris), there was no oomph left.

Phoenix Foundation:

You have to love the Otago Daily Times and their eternal optimism. From any number of press-conference sound bites, they chose ‘NZ has talent to win’ from Vettori as their headline.

It’s nice to believe that Vettori has faith in his players, but the quote the ODT article uses is just an empty throw-away platitude. If the Black Caps are going to succeed in Sri Lanka, they are going to have to do it by hard graft and good strategy. I don’t want to run down the ability of our players, but except for a couple of exceptions, natural talent is not our greatest strength. (It is a fair point that lack of experience is one of our weaknesses though.)

In contrast, Sti Lanka is overflowing with naturals. Their batting line up is lead by the eminently talented Sangakarra, currently the number 1 batsmen in test cricket. With him will be Jayawardene, another fine, fine player. The series against Pakistan has also unearthed another natural talent, Angelo Mathews, who scored 191 runs in the test series and bowled a good few overs as well.

I’m not sure where he is injury-wise, but if Muralitharan plays he will of course be the greatest talent on the park. However, the latest bowling wonder in Sri Lanka has been Ajantha Mendis. He’s still finding his feet, but if he is going to break through against any team, it’s likely to be the Black Caps. He gave us a lot of trouble at the World 20-20, the results of which give him a 20-20 bowling average against NZ of 3.

Against this, New Zealand has potential top-20 talent in Taylor and Ryder, McCullum has a gift for the limited-over formats and Vettori carries much of the team’s talent. For the rest of the team though, while there is plenty of ability there in the likes of Guptill and O’Brien just as quick examples, match-winning talent is a bit short at present, if you can see the distinction I am making.

The facts are, Sri Lanka are a better team than us by a long way. If we are going to succeed in this tour, we are going to have to play very well.

“Country first, cash second” claim the headlines after the NZ IPL contractees deigned to sign their NZ Cricket contracts. The headlines naturally simplify the issue greatly, but mange to be extremely generous to the players.

The story is that the six Black Caps who are contracted to IPL franchises weren’t keen to sign their NZC contracts until they were assured that their international obligations weren’t going to get in the way of them turning out for their franchises. They were given until last Friday to sign, which they all did in the end.

Let’s name these six:

• Brendon McCullum
• Daniel Vettori
• Ross Taylor
• Jesse Ryder
• Kyle Mills
• Jacob Oram

That all six IPL players who were offered national contracts were holding out on signing, it was clearly a joint decision, probably organised by the Players’ Association.

Before Friday I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. In contract disputes, “employees” generally have only one bargaining chip, withdrawing their services. So you shouldn’t take such threats too seriously. The threats have to be made of course, but they are more a bargaining position than a real likelihood. My feeling was that the delay in signing was just a message to NZC that they should give more concern to the players’  positions.

However, the statements coming from the players since signing have got me very concerned. Reports are that the players’ have got pretty much all they could have hoped for. The test series with Australia has been shortened by a whole test so that the tour will finish by 31 March, allowing the IPL players to be available for half the IPL tournament. That is a massive win for the players and a serious blow to the summer’s cricket. And yet the players continue to threaten to pull away from international cricket in favour of the IPL and talk about the decision to play the Aussie series to be a big decision. We’re also being told that Vettori had to convince some of the others to sign. Could they actually have seriously been considering not signing their NZC contracts? Was it more than just bluster?

And on top of that, we are being asked to applaud these players for their magnanimity, despite them having sabotaged the Aussie series and threatening to sabotage future tours. Well maybe some people will. The best I can say is that I am not as disappointed in them as I might have been.

And please everyone, stop talking about families. I have a family and it doesn’t cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Jonathan Millmow has had his say in today’s paper, expressing his disappointment and covering a few other issues.

Amongst all the talk of the sacrifices made by the IPL Black Caps and their loyalty and priorities, consider these aspects:

• We’re missing out on a test against Australia this summer. That’s not solely the fault of these players, but is certainly due to the IPL. That’s a big sacrifice NZ cricket fans are being forced to make – there is a huge difference between a 3-test series and a 2-test series. NZC may also be making a huge sacrifice here, assuming tests still make money. It also means less match fees, which is a sacrifice for the non-IPL-contracted test players.
• The IPL is for current players or retired players, not for uncommitted players. As I understand it, every player in the IPL needs a non-objection certificate from the player’s home board. So choosing money over country wouldn’t have been that straightforward anyway.

Ever wanted to throw a tomato at Lalit Modi? Of course you have. I have, many times. A good, juicy, over-ripe one right in the nose for splitting cricket and getting so many good New Zealand players banned. But even this morning I was tensing my tomato-throwing arm when I read that the ICC had to deny his claims that his Champions 20-20 League had been added to the Future Tours Programme. Who does he think he is?

And I wouldn’t be the first – 2379 tomatoes have already been thrown at him. (I should say though that I am also inclined to give him some applause for creating the IPL and for the Herculean feat of ensuring it ran this year.)

This Connect site, where people are throwing tomatoes and bursting into applause, looks like it might contain countless buried treasures. A quick browse shows that Harbhajan Singh and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth are in a duel for tomatoes (with 484 and 472, respectively). However, Saurav Ganguly is in a league of his own with 7165.

It’s hard to think who is most tomato worthy in the New Zealand team. Ross Taylor maybe for not valuing his wicket more highly. Jacob Oram for all his whining recently. Jesse Ryder for trying to piss his career away. Brendon McCullum for being too big for his boots. Worthiness is not of great importance here though; since it is an Indian site, the most important thing is visibility, and with his gold helmet glinting at the beginning of every Kolkata innings, no New Zealand player is more visible than Brendon McCullum. And therefore McCullum leads the other New Zealanders in pretty much every category, with 1262 tomatoes thrown at him, 3618 roses handed to him, 518 pairs of hand ringing out applause and 3 songs dedicated to him. And then there are the comments: “God’s miracle”, “hearthrob”, “he is best”, “hats off”, “fan!”, “you bloody ghorey” (that last by the way is not so complementary).

When I first took a look at how the New Zealanders were doing in the IPL, I found that most of them needed to lift their game if they were to make an impact, or their franchises had to give them more of a run.

How much have things changed over the second half of the IPL?

Kyle Mills – Mumbai Indians

Not given a single game for the team who ended up second from the bottom. Probably already left South Africa to join the NZ 20-20 squad.

Scott Styris – Deccan Chargers

Didn’t add to the two games he had played when I last reported. Piggy’s descent into obscurity continues.

Ross Taylor – Royal Challengers Bangalore

Had a slow start to the tournament, but really accelerated in the second half. Ended up second highest run scorer for Bangalore with 236 runs averaging about 30 at 134, particularly helped out by his 81* of 33. Not bad in the end, and possibly winding up for a good knock in the semis.

Jesse Ryder – Royal Challengers Bangalore

Pretty much dropped by Bangalore after a poor first half of the tournament. I think he played one game in the second half, where he scored 22, which actually pushed his average into double figures.

Jacob Oram – Chennai Super Kings

Continued on as he started; hit a few runs when he got a bat and knocked over a couple more wickets in the second half of the tourney. A most middling of middling performances. He sits a bit below half way down in both the batting averages and bowling averages.

Daniel Vettori – Delhi Daredevils

Despite having a tidy first half to the competition, Vettori has only been given two games in the second half. Fairly perhaps as he has taken no more wickets and only picked up a handful of runs. Delhi go into the semis as top qualifier, so they are likely to be happy with their winning lineup, which doesn’t include Vettori.

Brendon McCullum – Kolkata Knight Riders

One of the more abject performers of the first half, in both his batting and his captaining. He managed a couple of wins in the second half, but combined with another 5 losses. His batting improved considerably, including an 84 and a 81*, which gives him two entries in the top 10 high scores for all teams. These scores did enough to push his average and strike rate to 24 and 120 and out of the embarrasing zone.

So, with the semis and final still to be played, it has been a rather quiet tournament for the New Zealanders. Taylor has been the stand out, and he hasn’t even been playing to his usual standard. Really rather quiet.

Baz’s Blues

So some New Zealanders finally make it onto the IPL records (McCullum’s 84* in the recent Kolkata v. Bangalore match is currently the 4th highest score, and Taylor’s 81* off 33 sits just outside the top 5 scores, though is 5th on highest innings strike rates) and now Lalit Modi is casting doubts on the legality of the match. “Was Kolkata-Bangalore match fixed?” is India Today’s breathless title for the webpage showing the article more soberly titled “Lalit Modi hints at probe into Kolkata-B’lore match”.

The article quotes a stern Lalit Modi: “There is an anti-corruption unit. We will look into the TV footage and investigate about Hodge’s presence in the hospitality box.” It seems Hodge’s omission from the playing squad was surprising (leaving him free to enjoy the hospitality of the people funding the match fix one must presume) and that by the 15th over Bangalore were heading for a loss, then shockingly turned things around and won.

As much as I would love for there to be a juicy corruption scandal in the IPL, this doesn’t look much like it. Firstly, if you are going to arrange for someone to be involved in throwing a match, surely it would be best to have them on the field. Secondly, Bangalore were always on target to win, despite Kolkata racking up their highest total to date, so there was nothing suspicious there. And thirdly, aren’t you supposed to fix matches to bring about an against the odds result? Paying Kolkata to lose is hardly money well spent.

The defeat on Sunday of Kyle Mills’ Mumbai Indians by Taylor and Ryder’s Royal Challengers Banglalore marked the half way point of the IPL qualifiers.

While the tournament has been fairly subdued compared to last year in terms of action, it is shaping up to be a competitive run to the semis, with everyone except Kolkata well in with a chance. The New Zealanders haven’t contributed much to this however…well, maybe McCullum is contributing to Kolkata’s misfortune.

Brendon McCullum – Kolkata Knight Riders

McCullum’s star burnt brightly but briefly in last year’s tourney – he only played 4 matches but scored 188 runs at more than 2 runs a ball. He was, perhaps, rewarded for his performances by being made captain this year. You can read about his being made captain, though the story has many more sides. You can also read the inside word (or a dramatisation of, at least) on McCullum’s team, though the outside word is just as dismal. In short, the Knight Riders are crappity crap. Just one win and an NR in the first part of the tournament. As captain, Brendon knows he is accountable, and he has offered to quit if they don’t make the semis (and they won’t). He has been garnering a fair bit of sympathy though.

His biggest problem is that he hasn’t been leading from the front. By last Sunday he had scored a mere 50 runs from 7 innings, less than his average innings score last year (his average this year is about 7 so far). And that has come at about 2 runs every 3 balls.

Daniel Vettori – Delhi Daredevils

Delhi have had the strongest start to the tournament of all the teams; by Sunday they had 4 wins out of 6 games. Vettori’s contribution to this was 7 wickets @ 19, including a 3/15. A very good haul from his 5 games, though it might be fair to say he is riding the momentum of his team.

Jacob Oram – Chennai Super Kings

Oram has knocked 50-odd runs and knocked over 3 wickets in the 4 games he has had for the Chennai Super Kings, playing turn about with Andrew Flintoff it would seem. A decent performance, though he was in the news more for suggesting the IPL is a bigger priority for him than tests.

Jesse Ryder – Royal Challengers Bangalore

A real disappointment considering the expecations. Started out his IPL career with ducks in his first two matches. He has had one good knock of 32 in his 4 innings, but the fact that his overall aggregate is just 34 emphasises his poor overall performance. You could well imagine him to be nervous, though he never seems to show it, but it could just be Bangalore – they’re a team so lacking in spunk that even tearaways like Ryder and Pietersen get dragged down.

Doing great work as a part time bowler as usual. 3 wickets at 30, but under 7 an over.

Ross Taylor – Royal Challengers Bangalore

The other half of the stoner twins. Also picked up a duck in his first match, but is double Ryder’s tally (as of Sunday). Neither here nor there and hence pretty much invisible.

Scott Styris – Deccan Chargers

Also invisible. Only given 2 matches as of Sunday, with only one turn at bat (for 14). Outstanding bowling though, taking 5 wickets @ 12.8.

Kyle Mills – Mumbai Indians

Missing in action. Not given a run in any of Mumbai’s first 7 matches. Not a fair way to treat one-day cricket’s no. 2 bowler. I guess the recent series with India has damaged his reputation.

So, a real disappointment so far. A good record by Vettori more than matched by terrible performances by Ryder and McCullum, McCullum’s lasting for 7 matches. With Oram, Taylor and Styris phoning in some pretty average efforts. It would have been nice to see at least one standout performance from the six of them. Still, it is still early on. After all, Taylor has only faced about 10 overs in total, just as an e.g. Any of them, and Mills, could put on some fireworks in the second half.

For the record, the highest score for any Kiwi is 41* for Oram and the best bowling is 3/15 by Vettori.