A sneaky great test in prospect
Notes from the Oval #4 and a treasure trove of other stuff.
Sri Lanka 355 & 302
NZ 373 & 28-1 (target 285)
Some quick-fire jottings from day four of a slow-burn classic.
In days of yore, yesterday would have been considered an excellent day’s cricket. A perfect set-up for what could be, weather depending, a cracking day five. As a sign of how greedy some of us have become for constant action - “moving the game forward” to use the modern vernacular - it still felt like a day that rarely got out of third gear.
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It’s comically premature but I can’t help but fell that 19-run unbeaten partnership at last night’s close of play between New Zealand’s two most experienced run gatherers has tilted a finely balanced test in favour of the hosts.
That was an insanely tricky period to bat, with Asitha Fernando and in particular Kasun Rajitha getting it to swing around corners. Kane Williamson (7*) looked like he could be dismissed every ball and looked happier at the non-striker’s end, watching Tom Latham (11*) use his left-handedness to excellent effect. Quality bowling meets gritty, heady batting: that’s an equation for great test cricket.
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Angelo Mathews (115) loves batting in New Zealand. The pugnacious former captain scored his 14th test century, battling some good bowling along the way. Mathews is a fine player and averages 45.6 overall, but he’s rare for a subcontinental player in that he averages more in New Zealand (60.45) than he does at home.
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Rain in the first session today might be frustrating for the players, but it could be excellent for the test. The forecast is for rain this morning, clearing in the afternoon. At the moment they need less than a three an over, lose a session and it becomes more than four. Unless you’re a tailender swinging for the fences, this hasn’t been an easy wicket to score quickly on.
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Blair Tickner (4-100) brought up another ton but he’ll feel a lot better about this one, having taken the first four to fall and for the first time at this level showing there is more method to his bowling beyond just running in and trying to hit the deck hard. God loves a trier.
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Doug Bracewell is a better bowler though, and he’s been brought into the squad for the second test to replace the luckless Will Young who has been released to play Plunket Shield. Neil Wagner will also miss the final test of the home summer after a scan today revealed he has a bulging disc in his back and a torn right hamstring. The injuries will require an estimated six weeks of recovery time.
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Matt Henry was also playing hurt, having munted his thumb in the first innings. His run out of Lahiru Kumara was comical, particularly the reaction of Kane Williamson who thought Henry had blown it (which he very nearly had).
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Neither Wagner nor Henry will be incapacitated for as long as South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj, who ruptured his Achilles while celebrating. Damn.
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With Young jettisoned, Nicholls is again batting without consequence. You don’t score eight test centuries without being a fine player and the law of averages insist he will score runs again, but his selection protection has reached bizarre proportions.
WEEKEND SHORTS
Life comes at you fast. Late last week the ‘bigs’ in rugby coverage were touting a Joe Schmidt bid for the All Blacks job.
By the weekend it was clear they’d been sold a dummy.
“I have really enjoyed being back on the grass coaching with the Blues and the All Blacks,” Schmidt said. “I very much appreciate those opportunities, but presented with a condensed time frame this year, I won’t be applying for any coaching roles that extend beyond the Rugby World Cup.
“In the shorter term, I will work hard to support the All Blacks in 2023.”
Perhaps he had been putting his toe in the water to see the reaction. Perhaps it had been made clear to him towards the end of the week that he wasn’t a contender. Or perhaps someone was just dispensing bad information.
Whatever way you slice it, it was a very short period of excitement for the Schmidt fan club, but spare a thought for David long, the one remaining New Zealand-based member of the Warren Gatland fan club who, to be fair, makes a decent point.
It was an interesting weekend of Super Rugby, with the Blues holding on to beat the sloppy Hurricanes, and the Crusaders humbled by the Drua in Lautoka.
The biggest story in Britain falls at the junction of sport and politics and regards the fallout from Gary Lineker tweeting his objections to the Tory Government’s proposed asylum policy. It’s threatening to topple the BBC bosses who suspended him, including chairman Richard Clarke, who was already under fire for the role he played in securing an £800,000 loan for then-PM Boris Johnson at a time when Sharp himself was applying for the post of BBC chair.
Lineker was suspended for refusing to apologise for the tweet which critics say breached the BBC’s guidelines of political neutrality.
What his bosses did not anticipate was his Match of the Day co-presenters such as Ian Wright and Alan Shearer and those who present other shows on the Beeb’s radio and TV platforms would stand by Lineker and refuse to work.
Suprise, surprise, the Sunday Mail, a proxy Conservative Party pamphlet, has taken the side of the the BBC bosses and their “steely resolve”.
No less surprising, the left-leaning Guardian is full of praise for “brave” Lineker in this op-ed headlined: “It’s taken a brave football star to inject morality into our shaming debate on migrants.”
England got hammered by France in Le Crunch. Like, really hammered.
Is it Eddie Jones’ fault? Is it the RFU’s fault for letting Fast Eddie go?
North of the border, Ireland quietly and methodically moved towards one game of a Grand Slam with a dismantling of Scotland. The only thing standing in their way of a clean sweep is England at Lansdowne Road.
Chalk it up, already.
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it twice: Zoe Hobbs is the real deal. She ran sub-11s (10.97s) in the weekend. Wow. Click on the picture below to see the run.
The Australian NBL finals series is going the distance after the Kings were held to just 70 points in there game four loss to the Breakers. It wasn’t champagne basketball by any stretch, but Sydney coach Chase Buford’s reaction to a fairly benign post-match inquiry was worth toasting if you’re a Breakers fan.
The winner-takes-all decider is in Sydney on Wednesday.
Bit of time on my hands waiting for play to start. Only NZ can lose now given the time lost but looking like a dull end to an interesting test. Few interesting comments on Cricinfo today mulling over selection prospects. I’m pleased to see Bracewell come in, he hits a hard length over and over and his only crime in recent stints with NZ has been to get fractionally too full and fractionally too straight (at least you can set a field to that though!) but Matt Henry had the same problem and has made the necessary adjustment. On alternative selection prospects I’m not sure the cupboard is bursting open but a few thoughts on the batting / Nicholls situation because I agree Dylan that this is becoming bizarre. Firstly on a Nicholls himself he’s always been a poker & prodder but watching him get out pulling when his back lift resembles something out of backyard French cricket was awful to watch. As for replacements the damage to Will Young must be material now - sure he didn’t grasp his one test vs England but he was hardly alone there. I’m hoping he is given a decent run at it and succeeds but I’m not holding my breath. Perhaps from left field but how about Tom Bruce? Second highest scorer in the Plunket Shield this season. I shared a lift with members of the England team when they played NZ A in Hamilton after they’d had a long day in the field - most of the NZ A guys put some runs on the board that day but it was Bruce that impressed them the most. He’s been outperformed by Young in CD colours for years but perhaps worth a thought.
Post script - never mind me, starting to look like an exciting finish!