Crucket

So apparently Vettori is “devastated” about the loss in the the 20-20 on Sunday, but seems to be philosophical about the rained out end to the Chappell-Hadlee. Well Judas Priest! If I wasn’t pissed off enough about the results of this tour, Vettori’s topsy turvy priorities have made me pretty damn grumpy.

Maybe it would have been nice to have won the 20-20, given that it was a proxy tie-breaker for the tied Chappell-Hadlee. I don’t know. I can’t really summon up any disappointment for losing that match. Perhaps it is just swamped by the utter skull-splitting intestine-eviscerating letdown of having our victory in the Chappell-Hadlee decider stolen by the rain.

Goddamn but we were close. 30 or 40 runs away with as many balls remaining and us rattling along at a happy clip. Here’s the Cricinfo graph showing how well placed we were:

We would have cleaned up. Cleaned up the game and cleaned up the series, for the first time on Australian soil. But instead the series goes into the records as a draw and Australia retain the trophy. The series will probably be remembered more for the fact that Aus played themselves back into the series in games 3 and 4 than for the fact that but for 1/2 hour too much time lost in game 5, we would have carried the trophy home.

New Zealand defeats Australia by 6 wickets. Neither team was really trying. And in the absence of effort, New Zealand was the better natural team. They fielded and bowled well (only 5 extras given away). Then they paced their innings impeccably perfectly. Raw efficiency.

0-2 down and the Aussie commentators still reckon they are man-to-man the better team. Well maybe this Australian team has a greater potential, but it’s not coming to them naturally.

MGMT:

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…

Alright. South Africa lead the CB Series after the first leg and have confirmed their qualification for the (nonexistant) finals. Here are the standings:

The second finals spot will basically be fought over in a straight contest in the five Aus–NZ matches. Australia appears to have the advantage because they carry over 4 points. However, ultimately they will have to win the overall contest with New Zealand – a 2-3 loss will leave them on the same points as NZ, but NZ will go through on head-to-heads. It could all come down to bonus points.

Early last year, New Zealand beat England 6-2 over two ODI series. Shortly after that, England beat South Africa 4-0. And now South Africa have beaten Australia.

So what does it mean then for the relative standing of these four teams when Australia inevitably beats NZ in the Chappell–Hadlee?

So Andy Moles is confident that we can take it to the Aussies in next week’s Chappell–Hadlee. As well he should, it is our turn:

04/05: drawn (1-1)
05/06: Australia (1-2)
06/07: New Zealand (3-0)
07/08: Australia (0-2)

And I reckon we can do it. Australia are a team on the slide. They’re being creamed by South Africa (222 all out in the 4th ODI). Their lineup is in upheavel (only 7 of the squad from the last Chappell–Hadlee remain in the current squad). Their fans are turning against them. And, y’know, my 3-year old gets a lot of Aussie DVDs out of the library – the Wiggles, Raggs, the Hooley Dooleys – and if they’re anything to go by, your typical Australian is childish and annoying and likes dressing up like a goofy animal… Ah, who am I kidding?

The Aussies will be all over us in the Chappell–Hadlee. We’ve slid at least as far the Aussies – I mean, we’d love to be as competitive with South Africa. And only 5 of our squad were in the last C–H series.

Still, it should be a great series to follow. There’ll be 5 whole matches. Australia will have a few weaknesses to exploit and we’ve got some players who we still haven’t had the opportunity to see perform under pressure.

Players to watch

Kyle Mills: Has had a very disappointing season in the test series, but remains very strong in ODIs. Has something like six times as much experience as Southee, the next most experienced strike bowler, so will be the pivot of our strike bowling team.
Martin Guptill: McCullum, Ryder and Taylor should be the most entertaining batsmen to watch, but Guptill’s performance will be interesting as he could be playing for a long-term position in the team.

Mitchell Johnson: Playing terribly against SA, but destroyed us in the tests last year. Which Mitchell is going to show up?
The new openers: Shaun Marsh and David Warner; they have a difference of 35 in their strike rate (in Warner’s favour) and abut 15 in their averages (in Marsh’s favour). I’m intrigued to see which approach better pays off.