Crucket

Wellington score a respectable 161/8 but are still beaten by 68 runs (chasing Auckland’s 229). Gah!

But despite Wellington being on the receiving end, it really is heartening to see a team score over 200 in a match. And good to see Lou Vincent amongst the runs, even if only in his games against Wellington. And Guptill’s 62 off 35 was heartwarming. It would be my hope that Auckland get through to the Champions League so that Vincent and Guptill can be unleashed against the world. (Also want to see Victoria get through, so that Ross Taylor gets a run.)

In championing Auckland in this way, I suppose I have lost hope for Wellington. With 5 games still to play in the Cup, Wellington are going to have to outscore two out of Central, Otago and Auckland by 3 wins and Northern by 1 to make the final. A hard task and possibly numerically impossible. Oh well. Beating Canterbury is as good as making the finals though.

What is this? Make fun of Wellington season?

Awesome evening at the Basin on Friday. Huge crowd – frickin’ huge. Bouncy castles for the kids. Decent weather. A few sixes hit onto the bank. Lou Vincent unveiling his Mongoose and leading Auckland to a competitive score. Then Franklin bringing the game back after early wickets.

The kids were melting down a bit by the end though, so we snuck out with a couple of overs remaining, confident in a Wellington win. About a run a ball required.

Little did we know what was transpiring while we were driving home. Franklin gone two balls after we left and no firepower left in the lineup. Those early wickets really cost us.

Another victory handed over to the opposition. Wellington just can’t catch no breaks this season.

There have been several hopeful stories of NZ’s ICL rebels possibly being welcomed back to the fold due to a reconciliation between the ICL and BCCI. In all of those stories, the hope turned out to be despairing. There would be no reconciliation between the two.

The only credible end to the impasse with the BCCI refusing to recognise the ICL was for the ICL to fold. With the ICL’s cancelling of its March “World Series”, the collapse of the ICL seems to be on the cards. Another strong indication that the ICL is at least shrivelling up is the report that an offer has been made to the New Zealand members of the league that they can be released from their contracts if they choose.

If this report is true, it is a very interesting development. While it might be optimistic to think that gaining release from their contracts would automatically remove the rebel stigma from them (Hamish Marshall has left the ICL but is still treated like a pariah), it is still a necessary step in their rehabilitation.

The NZ players in the ICL are Shane Bond, Darryl Tuffey, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Chris Harris, Andre Adams and Lou Vincent. Astle, McMillan and Harris are all effectively retired or beyond selection. They would have no good reason to ditch their contracts. The other four however are interesting cases. Adams and Vincent would remain potential selections for New Zealand (considerably more so with Bracewell moving on), though they would have to fight hard for places in the squad. Shane Bond is a bit of a mystery. Almost everyone involved in cricket in New Zealand would want to see him back playing for New Zealand. However, he has stated many times that he would not come back even if the opportunity arose. It might also invalidate a lot of the content of his tell-all autobiography. Of course, he hasn’t absolutely ruled it out, to my knowledge, and he could always add a happy-ending final few chapters of leading the Black Caps bowling at the 2011 World Cup and some IPL glory.

If anyone is going to make best use of this opportunity it is Darryl Tuffey. While he is by no means NZ’s best bowler, our heavy artillery is so depleted, he would be welcomed back enthusiastically.