0 Tweet of the Day - 1 July 2014

The New Zealand Cricket Museum at the Basin Reserve in Wellington does a marvellous job in preserving the history of the sport. But they also have an excellent grasp of social media:

We add our congratulations to the New Zealand side, which is developing into a very useful test outfit. Kane Williamson was deservedly awarded Player of the Series. Tom Latham and Jimmy Neesham have taken to test cricket like ducks to water. And in Mark Craig, Mike Hesson has unearthed a very handy off-spinner who is also no mug with the bat. 

This is New Zealand's first three-test series win in the Carribean, and Bangladesh apart, the first overseas test series win since 2002. There is a lot to like about the way this team is developing.

0 A debut to remember

The New Zealand cricket team registered just its second-ever test victory in the West Indies this morning. 

And it was a test debut to remember for Otago off-spinner Mark Craig. Not only did Craig have the best-ever match analysis by a New Zealand bowler on debut (eight for 188), but he is, to the best of our knowledge, the first player in the 2123-match history of test cricket to hit a six from the very first ball he faced. Unsurprisingly, he was adjudicated Man of the Match.

Cricinfo reports on a remarkable fourth day at Sabina Park:

Tim Southee and offspinner Mark Craig demolished West Indies for the second time in successive days at Sabina Park to record New Zealand's second Test win in the Caribbean. Craig took four wickets in the final innings to finish with 8 for 188 in the Test, the best match haul by a New Zealand debutant.

West Indies were left to reflect on another abject batting performance. Their second-innings total of 216 was inflated by an 82-run stand for the last wicket between Sulieman Benn and Shane Shillingford, who swung merrily to score the second fastest Test fifty in terms of balls recorded. It only delayed the inevitable defeat.

After West Indies had been set 403 to win, Chris Gayle began the chase with two boundaries in the first over,from Trent Boult, becoming the eighth West Indian to pass 7000 Test runs. He then watched Tom Latham move lithely at short midwicket, diving forward to catch a low flick from Kieran Powell, giving Southee a wicket in his first over. In his second, Southee pitched a delivery on a good length around off and angled the ball away from Gayle. It was a delivery he had beaten Gayle with umpteen times in the first innings before finally hitting the edge. He did not have to wait at all this time. Gayle prodded from his crease with poor footwork and edged a low catch to the wicketkeeper BJ Watling, leaving West Indies on 11 for 2.

West Indies' slump took a break for tea and then resumed unabated. Brendon McCullum brought on Craig in the 12th over and the offspinner struck with his second ball, dismissing Kirk Edwards for the second time in the Test, caught at leg gully after the batsman pushed forward too early. New Zealand's fielding and catching had made West Indies' efforts in the field look lethargic all through the Test, and two outstanding catches gave Craig two more wickets in the space of three balls. The wicketkeeper BJ Watling adjusted to the high bounce of an offbreak and caught the outside edge from Darren Bravo near his shoulder, and Latham dived quickly to his left at short leg to hold an inside edge from Marlon Samuels, who bagged his second two-ball duck of the Test. West Indies were 54 for 5.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin began to form a partnership but there was a sense of futility to their efforts, given the magnitude of the task ahead. Unlike in the first innings, when Chanderpaul was solid all through his unbeaten 84, he played shots and edged a couple of his early deliveries. And when he padded up to the legspinner Ish Sodhi, and the New Zealanders went up in prolonged appeal, umpire Rod Tucker gave him lbw. It was a marginal decision, because Chanderpaul had taken a long stride forward and the ball was turning big, but replays predicted it would have clipped the top of leg stump. A broken innings now lay shattered.

It was left to the new West Indian captain, Ramdin, to avert a four-day defeat, but when he missed a slog sweep and was bowled by Sodhi not long before stumps, New Zealand took the 30-minute extension to knock over the tail. What seemed a certain four-day finish, however, began to seem unlikely as Shillingford and Benn frustrated the bowlers with free-spirited, no-pressure hitting. One over remained in the day, and McCullum gave it to Kane Williamson. He needed four balls to have Benn caught behind; Watling capping a phenomenal match behind the stumps. 

The resistance from Shillingford and Benn was far too little, and far too late. The West Indies' capitulation in the second innings was all too familiar for a long-time supporter of New Zealand cricket, but this time, the boot was on the right foot.

After Tim Southee had knocked over the West Indies openers in his first two overs, it was the spinners who did the job for New Zealand. Craig ripped through the middle order, and Ish Sodhi picked up the key wickets of Chanderpaul and Ramdin.

Surely now, any calls for Daniel Vettori to return to the New Zealand side can end. Yes; the conditions were spinner-friendly. But both Craig and Sodhi were getting enough turn and bounce to suggest that they will develop into very good test match bowlers. We would far rather New Zealand Cricket invest in their development than look backwards.

And for years we have called on New Zealand batsmen to put a high price on their wickets. Peter Fulton apart, that is what the top order did. The cricket on the first day was not pretty, but it built a foundation for the bowlers to flourish today.

The New Zealand side has now won four of its last six test matches. And had it not been for afternoon rain in Dunedin back in December, that would have been five out of six. It is too soon to declare the dawning of a new era for the team, but there are some very promising signs, and the emergence this summer of players like Corey Anderson, Jimmy Neesham, Ish Sodhi, Tom Latham and Mark Craig is giving the selectors the best possible problem; depth.

Here's hoping that the side can carry on its good form when the second test starts at Port of Spain on Tuesday morning (NZ time). In the meantime, the players deserve a celebratory beer, and they can enjoy the opening of the Football World CuP tomorrow morning instead of mopping up the West Indies tail. This was a comprehensive victory by a team on the rise.

 

0 Super-Jimmy

It's a test match that Jimmy Neesham wasn't even supposed to be playing. But a late shoulder injury saw him added to the New Zealand side to fill the key all-rounder role. 

Neesham's test debut was memorable enough. He scored 137 not out in New Zealand's marathon second innings against India at Wellington, supporting Brendon McCullum through to a maiden test triple century. But yesterday he joined an elite group of batsmen who have scored centuries not only on debut, but in their sophomore test as well.

Here's the list that now bears Neesham's name:

Whilst we have no desire to see Jimmy Neesham end up like Mohammed Azharuddin, banned for life from cricket for match-fixing, there are some very good names on that list. Neesham's though stand out; he is the first to achieve the feat over two series against two different oppositions.

The New Zealand selectors now have a very good problem. They now have two quality all-rounders to fill the #6 batting position, and to bowl a quota of overs. As devastating a player as Corey Anderson can be, we reckon Neesham may be the long-term answer for test cricket. He is more technically correct, and paces his innings beautifully. Neesham is yet to make an impact with the ball, but it is early days in his international career.

There is a lot to like about the state of New Zealand cricket at the moment. We're really starting to develop some depth both in the batting and bowling ranks. The side is dominating the West Indies as we type this; the Windies are 118 for five, needing a further 190 runs to avoid the follow-on.

And as the wind blows and the run falls on a winter morning, it's great to wake up to test match cricket; our most enduring sporting love!

0 Photo of the Day - 10 June 2014

New Zealand and West Indies are currently doing battle in the first test at Sabina Park in Jamaica. And New Zealand has produced another strong batting performance on a pitch that promises to help the spinners as the match goes on.

It's also West Indian opener Chris Gayle's 100th test match, and in a lovely touch, the New Zealanders marked the occasion at the start of play:

This was a great gesture from New Zealand cricket and the New Zealand side. Here's hoping that the big fella doesn't feel obliged to say "Thanks" by scoring a century in his 100th test!

0 Corey Anderson earns his keep

The Mumbai Indians paid big money to buy Corey Anderson in the IPL auction earlier in the year. Overnight they got a return on their investment, as Anderson slogged his team into the IPL play-offs; Cricinfo reports:

The scenes at the Wankhede Stadium were scarcely believable as Mumbai Indians' turnaround of a campaign that had begun so disastrously culminated in the most fairy-tale of finishes. As Aditya Tare swung his first ball - James Faulkner's leg-stump full toss - over long leg to give Mumbai the boundary they needed to claw into the playoffs, Rahul Dravid rose from the dugout and flung his Rajasthan Royals cap to the ground as the team he was mentoring completed the most spectacular of meltdowns to lose an un-loseable game.

The shambles that caused Dravid to lose his temper would have broken less-composed men much sooner. Despite the mad-scientist experiments in their last few matches, Royals had gone into this game with a hand full of aces. Mumbai Indians, having decided to chase, needed to achieve whatever target they were set in 14.3 overs to get ahead on net run rate. Royals set them 190.

Corey Anderson, whom Mumbai picked in place of fast bowler Marchant de Lange, played the attack-shredding innings he had been bought to play but had failed to produce so far in the tournament. However, when Mumbai needed nine off three deliveries to win in 14.3 overs and qualify for the playoffs, Anderson could manage only a single off Faulkner's first to move to 95 off 44 balls and take his place at the non-striker's end.

Faulkner had eight runs to defend off two balls, but that equation lurched heavily in favour of Mumbai when he delivered a leg-stump full toss that Ambati Rayudu smacked over the long-leg boundary. Rayudu then mis-timed what should have been the decisive ball of the match into the covers and would have been run out had Shane Watson hit at the bowler's end. But the throw was inaccurate and Rayudu was eventually run out attempting the overthrow that would have given Mumbai all they needed.

That moment in the field capped a horrendous match for the Royals captain. Watson's timing had been incredibly poor during his struggle for 8 off 18 balls after opening the innings, and then he conceded 33 off two wicketless overs. As Mumbai began building the momentum of a runaway train, Watson looked listless and frazzled, and at times Brad Hodge was seen marshalling fielders to their positions.

As Rayudu sank to his knees after his dismissal, gutted because he thought Mumbai had fallen so agonisingly short, chaos broke out around him. Calculators went to work off the field, the batsmen and fielders crowded the umpires for clarification, and play halted for several minutes. Some Royals players had begun to celebrate - 14.3 overs had been bowled and the scores were only tied, Mumbai had not won - but substitutes ran out with the message that it was not done yet. If Mumbai hit a boundary off the next ball, they would make it. And then Faulkner bowled an staggeringly loose full toss, Tare hit it for six, got in Watson's face, tugged his jersey over his head and celebrated like a footballer. Beyond the boundary, Dravid threw down his cap.

The hero on the night was the man striding off the field, chest puffed, and wearing a smile as broad as his shoulders. Anderson had played only because Mumbai were in desperate need of men who could hit a long ball. His team-mates - Lendl Simmons, Michael Hussey, Kieron Pollard and Rohit Sharma - came out swinging but soon ran out of steam. Anderson's guns never stopped firing. 

It's nearly lunchtime, so make yourself a cuppa, and enjoy Anderson's match-winning innings:

 

It's been a big year for Corey Anderson, but it's not finished yet. There's the small matter of a tour of the West Indies beckoning, with the first test match starting on 8th June. It will be great to see Anderson joining his teammates in the Carribean on the back of a significant innings under pressure.

He left it to the last minute, but today, Corey Anderson will be an absolute hero in Mumbai. This time a year ago he was barely known outside domestic cricket circles. What a difference a year makes.