Editorial: Hoping for a little ray of sunshine

There is a masochistic streak to the New Zealand cricket fan, The Dominion Post writes.

Accustomed, in winter, to feasting on an unrelieved diet of All Black victories, in summer he or she must make do with humiliating defeats, brave defeats and defeats snatched from the jaws of victory. This gruel is leavened only occasionally by a victory over Bangladesh or Zimbabwe.

Yet, season after season, cricket fans turn on their radios and television sets and settle in for another summer of humiliation. It will be a minor miracle if the pattern does not begin again on Thursday when the Black Caps walk on to the Gabba in Brisbane for the first match of their two-test series against Australia.

Some pundits have speculated that the Australians are vulnerable after being defeated by India in India. Black Caps bowler Chris Martin has perceptively noted that the New Zealanders need only do what their Indian counterparts did to trouble the Australians.

But that would require our bowlers to collectively bowl faster, straighter and with more venom than they have ever individually managed and our batsmen to routinely knock up totals in excess of 500 runs.

There is a yawning gulf in class between the two sides that cannot be bridged by brave talk. Between them the New Zealand top order batsmen muster just four test centuries - two to Ross Taylor and two to Brendon McCullum. Australian captain Ricky Ponting has 36 of his own and his teammate Matthew Hayden another 30.

The gap between the fielding sides is not quite as wide. Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori is the best slow bowler on either side of the Tasman and only Australian speedster Brett Lee has taken more test wickets. But there is an important difference between the two attacks. Australia's pace bowlers are quick; the Kiwis, on a good day, are brisk.

But that does not mean that there is not pleasure to be had from watching the cricket. It is just that it comes in small doses. A testing over here, a resolute partnership there, perhaps a good session.

Cricket watchers know that supporting the Black Caps is a little like enduring a Wellington spring. Unseasonable squalls and howling northerlies are the norm, but occasionally the wind quiets and the sun breaks though.

The Australians will dominate, but there is always the hope that, for an hour or two, Jessie Ryder - older and wiser after his run-in with a toilet window - and the erratic Ross Taylor will stand tall at the crease and do tothe Australian bowlers what they used to do when they played together for Central Districts at age-group level - smash them to all points of the compass.

And if they don't, there are other consolations. Just as there is a strange satisfaction to be taken from watching one's washing spin at dizzying speeds on the clothes line and a perverse delight to be had from retrieving socks from the neighbouring backyards into which they have been whirled, so it is possible to appreciate the brutality of Australia's batsmen and the athleticism of their bowlers.

The lot of the New Zealand cricket fan is not an easy one, but the Black Caps have a habit of providing their supporters with moments to remember. Go the Black Caps.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Sanchez   #1   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I find it quite strange to see my life as a cricket supporter put down in text so accurately and beautifully. The secret to being a NZ cricket supporter is finding great joy out of seemingly soul destroying defeat. Things like "HA made them come back and play on the forth day suck on that Watson there goes your day in the surf" or "YES Martin got 3 runs, that's more than his average and looks like you will have to bat again to chase down our 2nd innings lead of 16 so in theory we're still in this game"

Lose or draw GO KIWI!

Oh and win.

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