Archive for ‘Cricket New Zealand’

6 results.
Feb12

Vettori revs up troops for decider

by wasim on February 12th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket New Zealand

A verbal rev-up from New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is ringing in his players’ ears as they target one of their most significant one-day international cricket results today.

Vettori admitted stern words were uttered to certain individuals after their six-wicket defeat to Australia in Adelaide on Tuesday saw them hand up a 2-0 Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series lead and make game five the decider (4.15pm NZT).

For a young side, five of whom are playing their first ODI series in Australia, there is little understating the importance of tomorrow’s match at the Gabba. New Zealand have never won an ODI series or tournament in Australia.

“It’s always timely when a captain speaks, and talks about the responsibility a player needs to take for his own actions and to help a team win,” Vettori said at a grey, rain-soaked Gabba today.

“For all the guys who let themselves down with the bat, and also with the ball and even in the field, need to know they have to lift for this game because this is the most important game a New Zealand cricket team’s played for a long time.

“For these guys it’s the best chance we’ve seen (to win an ODI series in Australia)… they’re few and far between for a lot of players and this could be the start of something great for what is a very young team.”

New Zealand have never progressed passed the World Cup semifinals, but their record in recent major ODI finals abroad is good.

They’ve tasted wins in the 2000 Champions Trophy (against India in Kenya), and three separate tri-series finals from 2003-05; against Pakistan in Sri Lanka, West Indies in England, and India in Zimbabwe.

But their momentum slowed after a magnificent start with the ball in Perth and Melbourne, with a torrid schedule of five matches in 12 days.

Inspired by promoted opener Brad Haddin’s aggressive approach, Australia showed more intent with the bat in Sydney and Adelaide as New Zealand’s standards slipped in the field.

Fitness doubts over vice-captain Michael Clarke might tip the scales New Zealand’s way, with captain Ricky Ponting rating him doubtful with back spasms. A decision won’t be made until the morning.

If Clarke is absent his opening partnership with Haddin, tactical input in the field and tight spin bowling will leave a big hole.

Vettori said he would play through his hamstring twinge and vice-captain Brendon McCullum would brave his shoulder injury which required a painkilling injection and hampered his batting in Adelaide.

There was a minor hiccup today when in-form batsman Ross Taylor suffered a knock to the face during a game of touch rugby and left the ground with his mouth bleeding, but he wasn’t rated doubtful.

Vettori was also leaning towards recalling spinner Jeetan Patel for Craig Cumming to offer more bowling options after an unhappy night for the Otago batsman in Adelaide.

A weather-shortened game is a chance with showers, then persistent rain forecast for later in the evening.

A crowd of around 30,000 is expected in the 39,000-capacity ground.

Vettori said better execution of their bowling plans was the key must-improve aspect here, on a ground where New Zealand has only played Australia once in an ODI; a five-wicket defeat in 1988.

Ponting also stressed the significance of the match amid an unhappy home summer where his side lost test and ODI series to South Africa then went 0-2 down against New Zealand.

“It’s very important to us. We want to win every game we play and this summer hasn’t gone the way we would have liked,” Ponting said.

“Tomorrow is everything, we want to finish the Australian summer on a good note.”

Ponting, whose team hold the trophy, will surpass former skipper Allan Border’s Australian record of 178 ODIs as captain.

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Feb28

Magnificient McCullum wins two in a row

by wasim on February 28th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket India, Cricket, Cricket New Zealand

New Zealand made India bite dust again, Indian top order batsmen batted quite in contrast to the way they batted in the first match after being criticized for their recklessness, their start was cautious but eventually didn’t helped India either in preserving wickets or with the run rate as most of the top order batsmen fell one after another because of poor shot selection.

India in recent times have rarely won if both Sehwag and Gambhir fail in a match, both of them have failed thus far in the swinging conditions in New Zealand. Whereas New Zealand mostly wins when McCullum Scores, McCullum won his second man of the match in a row when he saw his team through to victory.

India’s much hyped pace attack failed to deliver the goods, in fact it was their spinners who brought them back into the game.

The Pathan brothers failed miserably in this series, India could have done better with one more regular bowler and one regular batsman instead of Pathan brothers.

New Zealand by their professional performance has taken the wind out of the Indian sails, all the hype surrounding the Indian team has evaporated. Indian players must have started to realize that at the end of the day hype counts for nothing and on field performance is what really matters and there is a difference between swagger and recklessness.

India will go into the ODi series with a big dent on their confidence and with all the demons of old failures in NewZealand.

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Jun15

ICC should fine Vettori

by wasim on June 15th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket New Zealand, Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Daniel Vettori made a fool out of himself when he launched an official complaint against Umar Gul for ball tempering with match refree Ranjan Madugalle.

According to reports, the Kiwi captain had lodged a complaint with the match referee Ranjan Madugalle asking him to hold an inquiry into how Gul had obtained so much reverse swing.

Madugalle had declined Vettori’s request insisting there was no evidence to suggest that the Pakistan team might have tampered with the ball.  

Vettori in an effort to substantiate his claim said that” he had not seen anyone reverse swing the ball so much in the 12th over of a match. ”

Well dumb ass your team has always been a borderline minnow, your team comprises of bits and pieces players who are not as talented as the Pakistanis, try to learn the art rather than levelling baseless accusations.

Vettori is renowned to be a sore loser and has a history of lodging these complaints against opposition players after losing. ICC should hold an inquiry as to what led him to believe that Umar was ball tempering other than the fact that Vettori in his pathetic career has never seen anybody move the ball in the 12th over. It should be made an example out of him so that nobody employs such tactics in future to put an opposition player under pressure. ayer.

Vettori’s team was humiliated and their performance against Pakisan ranks worse than the minnows.

If SriLanka will knock them out of the tournament

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Dec03

New Zealand will miss Bond

by wasim on December 3rd, 2009 at 12:25 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket New Zealand, Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

The loss of Shane Bond was a huge one for the Kiwis, but the Kiwis are used to playing with scarce resources, Bond’s replacement Tuffey has a good record against Pakistan but the last test he played was in 2004. The absence of Bond has tilted the balance in Pakistan’s favor at least on paper.

Pakistan has a good record at this venue they have never lost a test at Wellington and have won the last two played on this venue quite comfortably, Pakistan is still struggling to fix their top order, Salman Butt and Misbah Ul haq are almost certain to play in this match, but it’s not sure who is going to open with Butt.

Most probably it will be a make shift opener, another worry for Pakistan is their fielding too many catches were dropped in the first match, the cold weather is making it hard for the slip fielders, one solution is to play Sarfraz Ahmed the reserve wicket keeper who is also a decent batsman and place him in the slips.

Shoaib Malik has rightly come under severe criticism from different corners for not batting higher serious questions have been raised about his utility in the team, he as a senior batsman in the absence of Misbah and Younis khan has been unable to share the burden of batting with Mohammad Yousaf, he got a perfect opportunity in the first test to finish the match and redeem himself but he squandered it.

Pakistan needs a dependable player in the middle order, if Malik can’t open or bat up higher he might as well should be left out we do not want reluctant players in the team. It will be great injustice with Fawad Alam if he is dropped instead of Malik as Fawad has been used as a sacrificial goat by Younis and Yousaf.

It’s time that the senior players should show some grit.

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Dec04

It will be hard to lose from here

by wasim on December 4th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket New Zealand, Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

The love of Father in Law prevailed over justice, honor and integrity. To everybody’s utmost surprise Imran Farhat again made it to the playing eleven after single handedly causing the loss in the first match. I saw it coming Mohammad Yousaf didn’t had the balls to remove Farhat from the slips in the first match it was highly unlikely that he would drop him from the second test altogether.

Both openers batted with extreme caution and gave the team a solid start, but these days it doesn’t seem normal if Pakistan’s top three don’t collapse cheaply, Salman Butt was the first one to go trying to pull O’Brien but only getting the top edge, Imran Farhat soon followed attempting a lazy cut shot to Vettori, it was a nothing shot and he wasted all the hard work he did earlier, Vettori delivered another blow in the same over when he trapped Mohammad Yousaf in front of wickets on his deadly arm ball, within a span of 3 overs and six runs Pakistan lost three quick wickets.

When Butt got out everybody was expecting either Malik or Misbah to come out to bat at # 3 but that didn’t happen it was Umar Akmal who walked out to bat at # 3, Umar who was majestic in the first test looked very nervous and edgy he was fortunate to survive a few edges and was beaten outside the off stump on many occasions but luck favors the brave he scored a brave 46 until Tuffey found the gap between his bat and pad and rattled his stumps. The funny thing is that even though Yousaf, Misbah and Malik tried to avoid batting higher but they all had to come early because wickets kept tumbling.

This probably should be the last test ever played by Malik, he started of his innings with two aggressive strokes but played a horrible stroke a few balls later to throw away his wicket, he can’t make a sacrifice for the team, he can’t bat, he can’t bowl and he is not even that cute so why the fuck he is in the team it is anybody’s guess.

Misbah looked solid when he came to bat in, it looked he was all set for a big innings but then everybody has their personal demons, Misbah couldn’t resist a slog sweep of Vettori just before the close of play last night and threw away all the hard work he did earlier on. But the composure with which he batted earlier should give some hope to the fans and should clear off some uncertainty in the Pak dressing room.

Pakistan were reeling at 166/6 when the play was called off due to bad light, with Aamer and Akmal senior at the crease.

Daniel Vettori hoped to finish off Pakistan tail quickly but that didn’t happen Kamran Akmal first had a partnership of 37 with Aamer and then had a 64 run partnership with Umar Gul and the Kiwis started missing Bond sorely.

The tail wagged for Pakistan and almost added100 runs.

The pitch appears to be a bit quicker than the one at Dunedin a total of 264 was decent enough on this track.

Aamer for the third consecutive time struck for Pakistan in the first over, both openers got removed rather cheaply, Salman Butt dropped Flynn when he was at 0.

The real damage was inflicted by Umar Gul who removed the dangerous Ross Taylor,  Umar Gul made one swing into the right hander late and Taylor made the fatal decision to leave it.

New Zealand had no answer to the late swing and perfect line and length of Asif, Asif took another four wickets to take his series tally to 12 from three innings. Danish Kineria also made his presence felt by taking three quick wickets, Danish looked quite fit and in form an in form Danish was the only missing piece in Pakistan’s near perfect bowling attack.

New Zealand conceded a lead of 165 runs which might prove to be decisive on this wicket. Although Vettori claimed that his side is capable of scoring 400+ runs in the last innings but that seems highly optimistic.

The openers again gave Pakistan a fairly decent start at least by Pakistani standards, there is still a lot to be desired in the runs column but at least Butt and Farhat are seeing off the new ball. In test matches this is the most important job responsibility of an opener.

Pakistan lead by 229 runs Misbah and Yousaf are on the crease, Yousaf who decided to come at # 3 after facing a lot of criticism for sending Umar Akmal at # 3 in the first innings survived a few anxious moments the first session will be very important for Pakistan tommorrow if they manage to score 100 runs without losing many wickets Pakistan will win this match.

Lets not get too optimistic, if Pakistan team’s recent behaviour is of any indication then we might see another batting collapse tommorrow before lunch.

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Mar04

Windies rout hapless Bangladesh

by wasim on March 4th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket New Zealand, Cricket, Cricket West Indies

Two matches were played today and both ended in no time, WestIndies and NewZealand gave no chance to their opponents Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and just decimated them.

The match between WestIndies and Bangladesh was an important one as both teams were fighting for a spot in the quarterfinals. The fans expected tough competition but WestIndies just routed Bangladesh for 58 in 18.5 overs and showed them their real place in world cricket.

A resurgent WestIndies is at #2 of the group B, their performance today must have sent chills down in the English camp who are hoping to beat WestIndies and secure a quarterfinal place.

WestIndies if it plays to its potential can beat any team in world cricket but o their off days the can be beaten by a minnow team even Pakistan can’t match their inconsistency, they will have to keep up this momentum and if they want to secure a place in the quarterfinals.

Before the world cup in warm up matches and in bilateral series Zimbabwe’s team promised to pose a big challenge to the big teams but they haven’t lived upto that promise. If they had a chance to upset any test team in group A it was NewZealand but it didn’t happen. New Zealand just rolled over Zimbabwe and defeated them by 10 wickets. Batting first Zimbabwe scored 166 in 46.2 overs. The total was chased down by NewZealand in 33.3 overs without losing any wickets.

NewZealand were routed by Australia and many believed that they will struggle against Zimbabwe, the next two games for them are big one against Pakistan and the against SriLanka, they will make it to the QF’s I don’t think there will be any upsets in group A.

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