SUNDAY SPECIAL: A feel-good classic on a feel-bad day

Black Caps' batters conspire to pop Ajaz Patel's balloon

Ajaz Patel eyes up the Wankhede Stadium honours board. Photo / NZC supplied

All newspaper editors have a journalistic belief system they use to influence the tone and style of their editions. What is less important yet more diverting, is the pet-hates they have, which they foist upon their minions in the form of “thou shalt not” commandments.

One of the better editors I worked for was Tim Murphy. His pet hate: the sporting cliche. He couldn’t abide by them. It was drummed into you pretty early that there were certain words and phrases to be avoided. As I recall, the headline that wound him up more than any was “the agony and ecstasy”, a common fallback of the sports hack used to describe an event of wildly fluctuating fortunes.

I have been thinking about that since last night because the only phrase that neatly sums up what happened in Mumbai is a similar chestnut: The Black Caps went from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Oof.

One of the great days in New Zealand cricket history was also one of its most pathetic. Ajaz Patel’s 10-119 ecstasy was a forerunner to his team’s agony.

Sunny skies → black clouds.

Sweet → bitter.

Triumph → disaster.

Cliche, cliche, cliche - yet so very true.

Patel’s story is wonderful and unique among New Zealand’s finest sporting moments, yet it is so difficult to separate it from what happened next: technical and mental batting disintegration.