Cricket is the winner in the 3rd Chappell-Hadlee Series (oh and New Zealand did okay)
After game 2, John Bracewell pulled out that old chestnut "cricket was the winner". Now it's our turn to roll out the loser's cliches as New Zealand have pulled off a stupendous, world-record chase of 332 runs to win the 3rd Chappell-Hadlee Trophy match. The match was almost a carbon copy of the 2nd game. Australia began by notching a huge score, particularly hurting New Zealand at the death with a barrage of boundaries and consecutive sixes. This time, the batsmen shared the runs around although it was Hussey who was the standout. He scored an unbeaten 88 off just 56 balls and now boasts the enviable average of 151. Every match, I keep waiting for his Bradmanesque average to dip but extraordinarily, it keeps going up. Soon big scores will be described as Husseyesque (although that doesn't roll of the tongue quite so nicely).
Just like on Wednesday, at the halfway point I assumed the match was sewn up by Australia. Even more so today - game 2 was extraordinary but lightning couldn't strike twice in one week. Super-sub Stephen Fleming turned out to be a super-dud, notching a 9 ball duck - perhaps his return was premature. But throughout the innings, New Zealand again just hung in there and each batsman did his part before handing the baton onto the next guy. Scott Styris blazed away early in his innings but peetered out towards the end, barely crawling over the 100 mark. But even towards the end, he did his job and rotated the strike as Jacob Oram started smacking boundaries. But when Oram and Styris fell in the one over with 80 runs to go and 2 wickets in hand, you had to assume it was over. On Wednesday night, New Zealand were 8 down with only a dozen runs to go and they couldn't get over the line. But Brendon McCullum produced an incredible innings, scoring 50 runs off 25 balls, belting six after six over cover. It made me wish I'd got Foxtel just so I could watch it instead of listen to the radio commentary. Somehow they made it with an over to spare as Daniel Vettori smacked several boundaries in the 49th over to clinch it. If he'd just hit one of those boundaries on Wednesday night, well, he would've captained New Zealand to an amazing upset series win. As I said on Wednesday, there are worse things than a dead rubber! :-)
So looking back at the series, Gilchrist was disappointing (you get the feeling his heart was back across the Tasman). Daniel Vettori was a class act with the ball, consistently taking wickets and going for much less than Australia's final run rate. Brett Lee may be spectacular at times but if only he could bowl as consistently as Vettori. In the end, you get the feeling Australia dodged a bullet. There's not much difference between glory and oblivion in cricket. To harp on the Ashes (it's always at the back of an Australian cricket fan's mind), we were 2 runs away from victory at Edgbaston which would've pretty much sewn up the Ashes. Instead, Australian cricket was turned upside down. Here, we were 2 runs away from losing the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. If that had occurred, there would've been serious questions about why we lost. Should Glenn McGrath have stayed behind and what are we going to do when he retires? Did Ricky Ponting make the right choices with his bowlers at the end of the New Zealand innings? What the hell has happened to Adam Gilchrist? Instead, we scraped a series win and everyone returns to Perth congratulating themselves on an entertaining series, papering over the ever widening cracks in Australian cricket. As for the Chappell-Hadless Trophy, originally I wasn't a big fan of the series happening every year. Especially next year where somehow we have to fit the Champion's Trophy, a 5 Test Ashes series and the World Cup into a summer. But if it continues to produce matches where 660+ runs are scored in a day with nailbiting finishes, well, I may just turn around on the subject.
| Posted by JC on Sat 10 Dec |  1 comments |
Can i watch it
Posted by Hiren patel on 2008-04-25 11:06:50
Posted by Hiren patel on 2008-04-25 11:06:50
Post New Comment
You need to be logged in to post a comment. If you're new, register here. Existing users, login via the right margin.
