New Zealand savours Chappell Hadlee clean sweep

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While Australia dresses in sackcloth and ashes (purloined from the urn perhaps), New Zealand are savouring the sweetness of a cleansweep. Jonathan Millmow at stuff.co.nz fondly recalls the manic scenes after Tuesday night's improbable run-chase:

"Grown men hugged, others simply flung an arm around a mate and marched to the nearest pub, thousands stayed for the post-match presentation, the Black Caps did a victory lap. Cricket has not seen scenes like those on Tuesday night in Hamilton since the 1992 World Cup when Mark Greatbatch was belting balls into nearby suburbs.

Some New Zealand team members stayed in the dressing room till 1am before returning to their hotel house bar to find Australia captain Mike Hussey still dressed in his one-day kit. Then there is the story of the family in Newlands standing in their living room for the final chaotic overs as Mark Gillespie and Brendon McCullum put the finishing touches on the unthinkable run chase. Afterward came the revelation that Gillespie had been told by McCullum to give him the strike but somewhere between receiving his instructions and scratching his guard he forgot.

An Australian journalist filed his story at the fall of the eighth New Zealand wicket believing victory was in the bag only to make the dreaded call back to the desk 10 minutes later saying 'can you hold that piece please, I'm going to have to do a re-write'."

Meanwhile, Richard Boock at the NZ Herald tells us do not adjust reality: it's true:

You could imagine the bedlam outside the medical clinics yesterday morning as thousands of New Zealanders lined up to have their eyes tested. "I think I just saw New Zealand beat Australia 3-0, doc." "Really? Well, take two of these with a glass of water and everything should be fine in the morning."

Like a scene from H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, it wasn't hard to tell who'd been up all night staring and shouting, unable to take their eyes off an event that was never expected to happen. There were the ones who were staggering around with wild eyes, preoccupied with their thoughts, and looking as if they'd been visited overnight by Martian talking fish.

Then there were the ramblers, the gesticulators, still so thoroughly affected by the experience they kept blurting out snatches of the action to themselves, and to any unfortunates within earshot. There were the doubters, the ones who kept pinching themselves, and the perpetually happy - the ones who infuriated non-sporting types by walking around the office with fixed smiles.

Someone must tell the New Zealand cricketers that they could at least give us a bit of warning before they pull a stunt like that again. It's all very well to knock over England or Sri Lanka occasionally. That's to be expected. But sweeping Australia 3-0? It's a wonder people didn't panic, grab a few essentials and flee the city overnight.

Naturally, the Black Caps are talking up their World Cup chances. But now even Scotland are smelling blood in the water as coach Peter Drinnen fancies Scotland's chances of upsetting Australia (despite the 500 to 1 odds):

"If we can take early wickets, which I'm sure we can with the way we've been bowling, we might set a few nerves jangling and cause the likes of Australia and South Africa a few problems. You hear a lot about our amateur status but that doesn't wash with me or the players. The players set themselves professional standards and if they stick to them they are going to have a good tournament.

We don't fear anyone at this World Cup. The last month's fixtures in one-day cricket all over the world have been interesting to say the least and we won't be losing any sleep over playing the world champions. We aren't going to the Caribbean to play exhibition cricket. Yes we will be massive underdogs in the most difficult group, but I'm confident we will justify our place with the elite and who knows what we could do? Nobody is getting carried away here and we know we've got jobs to do and we will be giving it everything to cause a shock."

In England, Simon Barnes is trying hard (and failing) to contain his glee at Australia's demise:

"The luck has deserted Australia along with the confidence and sureness of touch. It always does when a side starts to lose. One crucial injury has followed another: that’s the way things happen with losers. When the force is with you, an injury seems to become a positive advantage, forcing a new and brilliant player into the front line. Australian are at present a team deserted by the force. This is a terribly sad thing to have to write, but all the same, I expect that most English people will be able to take it in stride. I must admit that I felt sorry for Australia when I heard the news, but I think I can say that I am over it now.

Don’t expect the rest of us to be sad when the bully gets his comeuppance. Excellence always has a kind of beauty about it; authority may be admirable but it is seldom very lovable. So when the giant falls, it is necessary for the midgets to jump up and down on the body."

I just hope the giant can drag itself up from the ground and squash a few gloating midgets a few weeks from now.

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Posted by JC on Fri 23 Feb

14 comments

Hmmm. Why don't I believe this?

An Australian journalist filed his story at the fall of the eighth New Zealand wicket believing victory was in the bag only to make the dreaded call back to the desk 10 minutes later saying 'can you hold that piece please, I'm going to have to do a re-write'."

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Posted by Tony.T on 2007-02-23 10:42:48

I think a lot of the gloating is due to the fact that all the other teams would have liked to have been in Australia's shoes in the past few years. Oz was dominant for so long, and they were sick of being beaten. It didn't help to have a stupid coach writing insults about the other teams of course! I think Australia will pull themselves out of the hole, but they still might not win the world cup. It's a transition time, you can't expext to lose that many players without setbacks. I think a lot of talk about the so called depth in Asutralia's side is just more hubris, you can't expect young players to step up from domestic cricket to international level without some adjustment.

On the other hand, it sure makes the World Cup more interesting!

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Posted by MT on 2007-02-23 11:09:33

Nice one JC. I don't really mind if Australia chokes in the big games. It is no real embarrassment for Australia to make 350-odd in consecutive games and still lose. But...

PLEASE DO NOT CHOKE AGAINST SCOTLAND.
PLEASE DO NOT CHOKE AGAINST SCOTLAND.
PLEASE DO NOT CHOKE AGAINST SCOTLAND.

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Posted by TA on 2007-02-23 11:53:33

I don't think the minnow games have attracted so much attention as now with Australia coming off a 5 match losing streak. I wouldn't want to be Zimbabwe on the March 6 warm-up match.

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Posted by JC on 2007-02-23 12:12:11

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