No excuses for not having blogged in a long while, but what better note to sign back on than a Black Caps victory over Australia.
Even if it needed Tim Southee to outbowl Shaun Tait in the super over which followed the tie, to achieve the win, this was some comeback after the thrashing inflicted upon NZ in the first game.
When an Australian side is on a long winning streak, it usually takes something of a freakish performance to snatch one away from them - Laxman's 281, and the Windies chasing down 418, are examples which come to mind. While Brendon McCullum's 116 will likely not be remembered in the same way, it was a blinder, just the sort of blinder needed to end Australia's unbeaten run this summer.
Tillekeratne Dishan may have pioneered the scoop over the keeper's head, but I somehow can't envision him doing it repeatedly to the 150-plus Shaun Tait with the kind of precision that McCullum managed. It was high-risk cricket at its most extreme; the narrow margin for error would've kept any onlooking dentists very interested.
It's fair to say that McCullum can be regarded as an underachiever (for someone of his ability), and his attitude inevitably gets called into question every now and then. Sometimes, however, that confidence-bordering-on-arrogance works for him.
As far as Australia are concerned, the encounter showed that raw pace without the necessary control is counter-productive. Tait and Dirk Nannes did not respond well to getting clobbered, and sprayed it around a fair bit. They seemed strangely reluctant to employ the bouncers which had proved so effective in the first T20. Expect Doug Bollinger and Mitchell Johnson to be a more difficult proposition in the one-day series.
3 comments:
Suhas, I am not sure if you saw the earlier game. New Zealand was positively nervous handling Tate, Nannes and Mitchell Johnson, all bowling in the 150 km speed bracket and no one was more nervous than Ian Smith who is worse than Bill Lawry. I think some New Zealander has to play out of his skin if they are to beat Australia and despite McCullum doing that they just managed to win on the superover. Good game, hope the one dayers are as close.
sridhar
Just discovered your blog, very enjoyable and novel to see an Indian cricket fan following the Black Caps! In the media here and around the world in the last few years there has been a lot of talk about Dilshan inventing the scoop shot, but as you mentioned it seems McCullum has perfected it. However I do remember him playing it in Australia several years ago, maybe even before Dilshan! Then again as a Kiwi, maybe im reinventing histroy to suit myself.
@Sridhar: Yes, NZ were nervous during that first game, but the Aussie bowlers seemed to lose the plot completely in the second; I noted that they didn't employ the bouncer as much in the second, and I think that was a crucial difference. The kiwis did win the first ODI, so clearly the super-over win did a lot for their confidence, hope it's a close series.
@Collkiwi: Thanks for stopping by! Now that you mention it, I do recall McCullum employing that shot as long back as 2003 in India. I think Douglas Marillier was the guy who pioneered it, but it disappeared for a while till Dilshan amde it fashionable again. A bit like how pinch hitting was around in the 80's, but only became really popular thanks to Greatbatch and Jayasuriya maybe?
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