Warming Up for the Long Cup

We've had a few surprises in the practice matches so far. We now know that Piyush Chawla will be more than a mere passenger in the Indian squad, that the pitches should take spin as the game goes on, and the associates - Ireland, Canada, Kenya and the Netherlands - are not there just to make up the numbers.

Otherwise, it's been mostly according to script. England seem fatigued judging by their narrow win against Canada, Australia are a bit ragged (Michael Hussey is a huge loss), Sri Lanka and South Africa reflect awesome form going into the tournament, and New Zealand aren't in the same ballpark as India.

New Zealand's last ODI saw them defend 311 against Pakistan thanks to Jesse Ryder's century, and they repeated the score batting first against Ireland in the first warm-up game. The Irish got within 32 runs of their total in a spirited chase, suggesting that NZ's bowling hasn't got it together. Today's game provided a damning confirmation of that, as Dhoni and co dined out and put together a whopping 360.

The take-away from these two games: the kiwis are better off batting first (and scoring big), as a solid total on the board makes things easier for the bowlers even if they happen to be dishing out crap; the side's recent chasing record is dire, anyway. And, Vettori simply needs to be available for every game, with bowling at the death on the top of his huge priority/responsibility list.

In the meantime, John Wright would do well to set right the mindset of the batsmen when it comes to playing spin. The dismissals today of Styris and Oram - two of the most experienced members of the side - were embarrassing to watch. On that basis, NZ's game against Sri Lanka looks an increasingly difficult proposition, and the Australia game looks a lot more appealing all of a sudden.

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Speaking of Australia, I wonder if India and South Africa haven't played Ricky Ponting into form. I didn't catch the AUS-SAF game, but from what I saw on Sunday Ponting made one of the scratchiest fifties ever, against the Indians. It was ugly batting, but he still reached fifty. This is, after all, the sort of purpose a practice game is supposed to serve, helping top players get their groove back. Has the monster been unleashed again?

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There's been some discussion in the press on the NZ captaincy race to succeed Vettori. I'd like to think both McCullum and Taylor are keeping their respective ambitions aside and focusing solely on the task at hand, as such speculation does the team no good. For what it's worth, I think Taylor should be the next in line, even if his underachieving with the bat continues to disappoint. Baz seemed rather inept the few times he captained NZ, not to mention that disastrous IPL season with the Kolkata Knight Riders. Better he channels his efforts towards becoming NZ's best opening bat in a long time.