No news is good news

I was supposed to find time over the weekend to rant about the manner of NZ's exit from the tri-series on this blog, but by then the moment had passed. In any case, Wes had already done my work for me without mincing words. Then News of the World came in with allegations of spot-fixing.

There's not much I can say which other bloggers haven't. As for how I feel, the usual applies - initially shocked, sickened, worried for Mohammed Amir. Of particular note is that a test match (the test match, the Lord's test, if you're the sentimental sort) should be the setting for these alleged dirty doings, given the conventional wisdom that bribing bookies tend to focus on the shorter forms of the game. But this is spot-fixing, and anyway the cases of Waugh-Warne and Cronje at Centurion (when he got Nasser Hussain to agree to them forfeiting an innings each) have shown us that the five-day game is as susceptible.

For now, only a feeble "wait till the truth comes out and hope everything will be all right". But it all looks rather damning so far. What a sordid end to a fascinating test series.

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It's been a bad week for New Zealand as well, minuscule as these problems may seem compared to Pakistan's, and I'm not even talking about the tri-series defeat. Jacob Oram has been ruled out of the Champions League, and with Ross Taylor turning out for Bangalore it pretty much leaves the Central Stags languishing in complete anonymity. Given Oram's recent lack of form and inability to string two consecutive games together, this may not make much difference after all. More critically, South African import and top-order hopeful Johaan Myburgh is packing his bags for County Cricket. Myburgh had scored heavily in his three seasons with Canterbury and in all probability would have walked into the test side upon qualification next year, but that is that. Hopefully we still get to keep the other Saffers Kruger Van Wyk (wicketkeeper) and Neil Wagner (paceman), but it's batsmen we most need.

To top it all, John Bracewell (now coach of Gloucestershire) has managed to lure away a supposedly promising Otago paceman, James Fuller. I hadn't heard of this kid earlier, but it seems Otago (and NZC) are paying the price for not offering him a domestic contract.

Ah, Braces. Two years have passed since your coaching stint with the national side ended, but you're still doing your bit for NZ aren't you?