A ninth successive one-day game without a win, as Gautam Gambhir pounds us into submission. It was the bowlers' turn to be crap today, as what was thought to be a competitive target of 258 was achieved in the matter of 43 overs.
The batting performance, despite the decent total, showed once again why the Ryder-McCullum combo is badly needed at the top. 100 for 3 in 25 overs with a zillion dot balls used up is poor going on a flat subcontinent pitch. For all their recklessness, the one thing those two ensure is the scoreboard ticking over. Though it was interesting to see Guppy play a most un-Guptill like innings, scoring slowly and lasting all the way to the 37th over.
The outcome of the other ODI on the day would have been pretty hard to stomach for the NZ think tank, I imagine. I'm happy for Zimbabwe and quite kicked at the thought that they are slowly getting back to being a competitive one-day side at least, though I was hoping for a bit more of a fairytale in Grant Flower's international comeback.
On the other hand, this victory suggests the extent of Bangladesh's improvement isn't what we thought it was; which in turn puts in perspective NZ's one-day performances in the last couple of months.
Top Cricket From The Second Tier
13 years ago
1 comment:
NZ need top-order batsmen to get big scores. Even McCullum is just getting 20's or 30's which isn't good enough.
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