CricDigs Blogs

I have not been able to see a lot of these matches (being on vacation for about 10 days with limited internet access) but quite honestly I just love to see all these teams with a fantastic mixture of international stars playing against each other. No one team seems to have lob-sided advantage. They all have reasonable fire power in batting as well as bowling and we should see a very tight finish for semi-final births towards the end.

It is fun and great site to see Dhoni and Michael Hussey batting together, Ponting and Ishant Sharma playing for the same team, Symonds and Afridi representing the same team, Shane Warne and Graem Smith in a huddle and many many more interesting combinations (including Bhajji smacking Sreesanth ).

I hope to catch more of those matches (may be some live ) and hope that IPL continues to flourish.

All Group Matches are over and so are the so called Super 8s, which effectively turned out to be Super 6s. The stage is now set for the two Semis and the big Final on April 28th. Who can predict what will happen from here on? Any takers? My prediction relies on the theme of Sweet Revenge. Here is what I mean….
Tomorrow New Zealand takes on Muralitharan and the rest of the Sri Lankans. As we will all remember, SL defeated NZ in their Super 8 match with great amount of ease, almost lazily. So NZ would be all set to take the Revenge of that defeat. The second semi-final is between the Aussies and their so-called bunnies, the South Africans. South Africa have lost some memorable (or forgettable depending on your point of view) matches and have won a few memorable ones, including one where they chased 434. In this WC, SA lost their group match against Australia despite threatening to chase the 370+ target for a fair number of overs. Having lost that match and upon hearing all the taunts and more from ALL of the Australian team members, I believe South Africa is on the verge of upsetting the favorites and hence completing their Revenge.

So, following this theme, South Africa would meet NZ in the Finals and there too, the South African prevail by virtue of Avenging their defeat to NZ in the earlier Super 8 match.

Now the only thing that needs to happen is for the Cricketing Gods to buy into my theory of Sweet Revenges.

Destruction. That one word aptly describes what happened to Australia at Wellington against New Zealand. Not only were the mighty Australians defeated, a feat which only a few teams can boast of these days, but they were humbled by collective efforts from all players in the New Zealand team. It will be difficult to find an instance when the world’s number 1 team was defeated in such a one-sided contest.

New Zealand won the toss and put Australia in on a typical New Zeland bouncy track. Shane Bonds wrecked havoc with 5 wickets for only 23 runs, including three clean bowled and one stunning caught and bowled. Australia were 45 for 3 at the 18th over stage. But what usually happens did not happen this time. Australia were never able to recover from that situation, folding at a score of 148 all out. It took them almost 50 overs to achieve that.

Well, if Australia cannot make 150 on this track, the pitch must be terribly bad and Australia can surely get the opponents out on a lower score. But guess what, neither of the NZ opening batsmen were in a mood to make history repeat itself. Instead, they were determined to rewrite some of the history. Fleming and Vincent chased down the target in just 27 overs, without getting out. Each of them made scores in excess of 70 and completed one of the worse days in Australian cricket in style.

Agreed that Australia were without a few of their regular players. Symonds, Ponting and Gilchrist have not come on this tour and Brett Lee and Michael Clarke were ruled out due to injuries. But wasn’t Australia’s bench strength which made this team the world’s number one one-day team for the entire current decade? Losing a match is not the problem here. The worrying aspect for Australia, and it hasn’t really experienced anything like this for a long time now, is the fact that the bench was not able to deliver when given a chance. Fringe players like Shane Watson, Phil Jacques, Brad Haddin and Nathan Bracken did not perform at all. Only the regular work horses like McGrath, Hussey, and to a certain extent, Brad Hogg provided something to cheer for the Australian supporters.

Australia have lost their last three matches. This hasn’t happened since the 2002/03 season against the West Indies on the road. And given the current team composition and the fragility of the bench strength, I will not be surprised if Australia loses at least one of the remaining two matches against New Zealand. For Australia, there is much at stake than just losing another match. If they lose any of the remaining two one-dayers against NZ, they will lose their world number 1 ranking to South Africa.

These flurry of defeats could have not come at a more inopportune moment for them, with the defence of the World Cup looming large. Other teams, especially India and Pakistan, who have lost to them in the previous two editions of the World Cup Finals, would be taking encouragement from their current form. Their recent one-day results have thrown open the World Cup. It is anybody’s game now! Any one wanna bet as to who will win the world cup ?

One of the most underrated teams in world cricket, New Zealand is also one of the least talked about, partly because of its uncontroversial, clean image and partly because of always being in the shadow of its more illustrious cricketing neighbor, Australia. In a country where there are more sheep than people and with rugby being very big, cricket doesn’t enjoy the fan following of the teams in the sub-continent. In spite of this, New Zealand has produced many cricketing greats and players with immense talent.

Ever since New Zealand became the fifth test playing nation in 1930, it has been counted as one of the minnows. The situation has changed a bit now, but the team is still on the cusp. While they have the ability to be world beaters on their day, those days come few and far between. It took 26 years for them to win their first test and 30 years to win their first major ODI tournament – the Champions Trophy in 2002-2003 when they beat India in Nairobi. Their failures, however, mask the immense talent and cricketing acumen possessed by some of the players.

Sir Richard Hadlee was the biggest name to come out of New Zealand after Sir Edmund Hillary and before Peter Jackson and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He once held the world record for the most test dismissals and also was the first bowler in history to take 400 test wickets. Chris Cairns and his father Lance Cairns before him both have more than 100 test wickets. Chris Cairns was also the best all rounder of his time in world cricket. Martin Crowe captained his side admirably to reach the semi-finals of the 1992 World Cup and Stephen Fleming has turned out to be their most successful captain. Nathan Astle has scored the fastest double century in tests and Shane Bond enjoys the best strike rate in ODI bowling.

Now, to answer the question in the heading, if you look at the current ICC rankings, New Zealand are ranked 7th in tests and 3rd in ODIs. So, it could be inferred that they are one of the best in ODIs and best amongst the rest in tests!