Paint it, Black

The Trans-Tasman turnaround over the last few days has been simply astounding. At the end of the second game at Eden Park, which I followed online in my cramped and messy apartment, I finally felt like rushing out to pop a celebratory beer. It was a little too late in the night and I had to be content with ice cream instead. Nevertheless, I felt like joining the Auckland crowd and screaming my lungs out, int he knowledge the pessimism I expressed in the last post was unfounded. After an extended period where our clashes with Australia were mostly of the 'close but no cigar' variety, and psychological carry-ons seemed to count for everything, there couldn't have been a better way to claw back at the old rivals.

Sure, Australia were without their stars..Ponting, Gilchrist, Lee et al. But over the last few years I can recall several clashes where New Zealand were forced to play Australia without Cairns or Astle, Bond, Oram, Styris and other first choice players all injured at the same time. And this was a pretty solid Aussie lineup, one which the cricketing world would have hitherto believed was more than the equal of NZ's first choice side. It must be a great relief for Stephen Fleming, who's been on the threshold of beating Australia several times over the last few years and can finally boast a series victory against them, though it's been a long time coming.

The first game was played on the kind of pitch NZ are notorious for exploting to their advantage. I was reminded of the tri series in Sri Lanka a few years ago which the kiwis won, thanks to similar conditions. It certainly wasn't an unplayable wicket, as Fleming and Vincent showed later on, but the Aussies sensed a devil in it and were surprisingly negative in their mindset. They were convinced a low-scoring dofight was in the offing and tried to grind their through the innings - very un-Aussie like I must say. And Shane Bond was magnificent - playing Oz seems to bring out the best in him but the truth was he was extremely well supported by Gillespie, oram and Vettori who kept it tight throughout. The ten wicket was well deserved in the end, because Fleming saw a definite opprtunity for a strangulation job when he put Australia in. NZ won't have the same fortune with conditions in the World Cup, but as a means of regaining confidence and lost pride, you must play to your strengths. Flemigns half century was a pleasing one as well.

The second game was a more improbable victory despite NZ having chased down 331 in the last Chappell Haddlee series. Australia's batting was finally back to its positive best and did make the kiwi bowling look pedestrian. The difference while chasing this time was the batsmen had a lot of self belief going for them, and the state of the pitch must've convinced them that 336 was gettable. The 331 chase was more of a desparate lunge by comparison. Best of all was the fact that the less established batsmen - Taylor, Fulton, and comeback man Macca - were the ones who hunted down the target in the end.

More on the series in a later post, with still one game to go at Hamilton. For me, the main thing the kiwis will take out of this is some real confidence going into the World Cup - the knowledge that they are indeed back on track for the premier event.

It's hard being a kiwi fan for there are trying times, and the desperate ones too. The present seems to be somewhere in between. Is it really as bad as that? Suddenly the hitherto well organised one day unit has been bastardised by alleged self doubt and cracks in the machine, thanks to a string of close defeats across the Tasman recently. All the while I thought the side played competitively at worst, but this sure isn't the best appetiser to savour before a World Cup. I've been looking at the WC predictions that have been pouring in online from people all over the cricket world, and everyone feels the kiwis are the weak link among the 'big eight', and in fact will have to play well to even make it past the first round (Kenya have been tipped to cause an upset in their group). And I too have a bad feeling about it. Then again I'm not sure if I'm being my pessimistic self, because back in 2003 I was thinking the same thing. The kiwis were beating India comfortably on horrendous home pitches, and I had a feeling the side would be shown up in the World Cup. They did start with a loss to Sri lanka, but went on to make the super six where two irresponisble defeats to Australia and India denied them a semifinal spot, but only just.

The build up this time has been frustrating to say the least. We now have three games at home against the Aussies (not again!) which could either turn out to be ideal preparation (given the high standard of opposition) or plain demoralising (given our well publicised track record aginst Oz of late). We've played the Aussies so many times over the last two years the opposing players must be sick at the sight of each other by now. Much has been made of the injuries to key Aussie players, but I remember in November 2003 when we were up against the in the tri series in India, how a second-choice Aussie team was enough to beat us. In the third game, Australia rested Gilchrist, Hayden and a quickie called Brad Williams who had the wood on us at the time. Instead they called upon Jimmy Maher and Ian Harvey to open, Michael Kasprowicz as a replacment for Williams, and still won on a two paced Guwahati pitch. Well, OK this might be Fleming's final chance to assert any pretences of superiority over the Aussies for half a decade, so i shouldn't complain much about the staging of this series.

As for this series, I was really disappointed to see Chris Harris overlooked again, probably for the last time (more on that in another post). Anyway, it will be interesting to see Daryl Tuffey's return. In the meantime, I can only hope this summer of frustration is turned around.

Haven't been blogging for a while and a fair bit has happened in the CB series since game 5, which was the last I reported. New Zealand bounced back to notch up two wins against England, thanks in no small part to Jacob Oram's return. Oram also came up with that stunning century at the WACA which was not enough to take his side past the Aussies' 344. Australia cleaned up England in one game but floundered chasing against them last Friday, conceding a bonus point in the process. Which all means this is the end of the wire; two games in three days, and NZ have to win at least one of them to progress to final. In the midst of all that, Nathan Astle called it quits and was replaced by Lou Vincent, who resumed his love affair with Perth by notching up a couple of half centuries. He also talked a fair bit about Australia's relentless sledging and alleged that 'some of them think they're bigger than the game.' The Australians predictably responded with some controlled comments, asserting that Vincent's words only confirmed the uncompromising way they play the game and they were happy with that. It makes for an interesting lead up to Sunday's trans-Tasman clash at the MCG.

The situation which the kiwis find themselves in, brought about by England's resurgence, was unforseen a while back but the reality is if they can't win one of these two games they probably don't deserve to be in the final. It is remarkably similar to the scenario at the 2003 WC, when the Black Caps needed to win one of two super six games against Australia and India to make it to the semis. The batting floundered in both games, and not even Shane Bond's six wicket haul against the Aussies was enough. This time Fleming will be relieved he has more or less his strongest pool of players to call on. But who he decides to play, among the bowlers, will ultimately be critical to the results of both games. Kyle Mills has returned to the frame but he did not look at full fitness at Perth, going for too many and lacking the pace and control he showed in the champions trophy. With Oram's bowling having been disappointing in stark contrast to his batting, the combination becomes crucial. Add to that the question of which game to play Shane Bond in (the kiwis have let it be known that they're not willing to risk him in both games) and whether to include Scott Styris in the lineup.

My personal opinion is the kiwis should probably treat the Australia game as a knockout one and play Bond. I'd also rather see Franklin and Gillespie support him instead of Kyle Mills because they seem to have improved a fair bit through the tournament when given added responsibility. It's a tough call on whether or not to include the second spinner in Jeetan Patel; it might come down to the wicket, and whether the kiwis decide to bat or bowl first. As for the batting, I would probably be tempted to give Styris the go ahead on experience, since Fulton and McMillan have turned out mostly disappointing scores. Scotty is a vital part of the world cup plans and NZ need to get him back into the middle of the action.

It'll be a heart wrenching couple of games, but my feeling is NZ have improved enough over the course of this tournament to make the finals though the big match temperament of the players will well and truly be on trial. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that it's not Deja Vu 'all over again'.