The canyon and the ditch

I guess it all hurts because it was so near, and in the fuzzy Monday morning of sleep depravation, in the realisation of disappointment of Tuesday, and the re-focus of Wednesday on the next series, there is both grief, and some kind of catharsis that comes from a loss.

Rain and cricket don’t mix, and when the Brisbane firmament went all soggy on Friday night, with Guptill and Diamanti swinging away, it really felt like Lady Luck had put on her galoshes and decided to spend the evening jumping in puddles.

But we had the repechage – the 20/20 on Sunday night. In the context of a 2-2 draw it has became cricket’s version of a penalty shoot out. Unfortunately our goalkeeper went the wrong way and our striker muffed the ball, like – well like John Terry, David Beckham, Stuart Pearce, Gareth Southgate, Paul Ince, David Batty and Darius Vassell and all those other villains of the penalty spot.

I still don’t like 20/20, just for the absurdity of the abbreviation, but I will say here and now, that combining Friday and Sunday’s matches was vastly entertaining, great skill – Adam Voges take a bow (and take a catch while you’re at it) – and exciting. Sunday was incredibly energizing, if frustrating in the extreme. It is impossible to disagree with Dan Vettori that this was an appalling run chase. Brendon McCullum, whether by injury or the self-immolation occurring at the other end, did not play his natural game. Unfortunately Grant Elliott did play his natural game, when he needed to extemporise a bit.

Nathan Bracken bowled a maiden, Fulton scratched around like a chook, Elliott batted at 75 runs per 100, the last over of the Kiwi’s innings had two dot balls, Butler ended a superb spell with the plumpest and most tender full toss served up for some time, and Tim Southee bowled a no ball in the last over – and the replacement ball goes for four. None of these things should have happened.

Oh well. It only feels bad because this was the tie-breaker. If we had won on Friday night I would not have cared about Sunday, and would have tucked up to watch some overplotted and underplayed English murder mystery on telly.

What we can take away from the series is a sense that we are the equal of Australia, that but for one run or one miraculous catch, and but for black sheets of rain in the Queensland sky, and but for Baz’s bat slipping out of his fingers, and but for Steve Bucknor’s random decisions (as Kerry O’Keeffe said – he’s never been as good since Shawshank Redemption) we would have won the series. We are not just competitive, we are often better than Australia in the short forms of the game right as this minute. When you consider Oram and Ryder were sitting at home – and Taylor didn’t play the 20/20 – we should feel satisfied with what we have achieved, even if we didn’t get to add some bling to the NZCC trophy cabinet.

And that goes for the women in the Rosebowl. The results were remarkably similar. The 300 plus scored by Australia at Hamilton was the third highest total in the history of the women’s game and New Zealand responded by gunning for the record – just like McCullum and Elliott trying to pull a rabbit out of an Albion helmet in Sydney.

The 20/20 World Cup is approaching, the Australians are looking frayed, our selectors keep shaking trees and watching talent fall out of them, and we should forget about that canyon of one run that separates us from our nearest and dearest cousins across the Tasman. For when you realise that Ricky Ponting is trying to claim the underdog tag for Australia on their arrival in Africa, everyone should realise that the world order is in flux, and we have every chance of catching a cricketing thermal and rising.

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Grim   #1   10:40 am Feb 24 2009

Hamish, thinking further on Elliot, he's increasingly appearing the 21st century Bevan Congdon- take a look at their averages and strike rates.

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