Tag: New Zealand

Cricket: Hit and Giggle gives NZ youngsters a chance

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Resting and rotation are sacrilegious words in New Zealand sport after disastrous Rugby World Cup efforts in 2003 and 2007. However, the New Zealand cricket team has opted for exactly that by resting Brendon McCullum, Trent Boult and Tim Southee. This has immediately seen their odds worsen amongst bookmaekrs. Rotation does though allow for a lot of tinkering and testing. New Zealand will get to check the progress of both speed merchant Adam Milne and beard merchant Anton Devcich who have been drafted into the squad for those leaving.

Pakistan will not underestimate their opposition. They too are looking to incorporate new faces into their squad. Although these aren’t exactly ‘new faces’ rather than old faces rejoining the squad for the first time. Umar Gul has been injured for long periods, Wahab Riaz returns, as does Ahmed Shehzad who was last sighted suffering a frightening head injury.

The transition from test cricket to T20 cricket will be even more fascinating for the inclusion of a host of new faces.

The Last Time These Two Met

Notwithstanding the recent drawn test series, the sides most recently met in a T20 cricket match in 2012 during the ICC World Twenty20. In that game Pakistan won by 13 runs.   They also lea the overall head to head 6-3.

The Teams

Pakistan (likely): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Awais Zia, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Saad Nasim, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 7 Shahid Afridi (capt), 8 Anwar Ali/Umar Gul, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Raza Hasan, 11 Mohammad Irfan

New Zealand (likely): 1 Kane Williamson (capt), 2 James Neesham, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Corey Anderson, 6 Luke Ronchi (wk), 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan, 11 Adam Milne

The Key Players

Umar Akmal – At his best Akmal is a destructive middle order dasher capable of taking any international cricket attack apart. Conversely, at his worst he is terrible. He has failed to register a half-century in his last 11 first class innings. Pakistan will be hoping the best comes out against NZ as it did on test debut when he scored 129 and 75.

Kane Williamson – Captaining the side in McCullum’s absence will be a challenging prospect for the top order batsmen, but with former captains Daniel Vettori, Ross Taylor and Kyle Mills to help out, he should have all the support he needs. Williamson will be hoping the leadership doesn’t get in the way of his run scoring that peaked at the recent Champions League T20 Cricket Tournament.

The Odds*

Pakistan – $1.62

New Zealand – $2.25

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Ladbrokes Australia.

The Prediction

This is crazy good money for New Zealand. The Kiwi’s are quality limited overs crickets. The following are all reasons why we’re predicting them to prevail: fielding, Vettori’s economical four overs, Six hitting from Taylor, Anderson, Neesham, Guptill and Ronchi.

Actually put money on NZ to hit the most sixes ($1.83) too.

Cricket: New Zealand secure surreal record-breaking win

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In a match delayed and deeply affected by the loss of Phil Hughes, New Zealand played with the kind of freedom that coincided with the feeling that there is more to life than cricket.   Led by their imaginative and aggressive captain Brendon McCullum, the Black Caps played their cricket without pressure, rather with fun as the predominant aim.

The result was a startling display of record breaking batting feats, even after losing a crucial toss and being well behind after the first days play. New Zealand’s innings and 80 run win was built around a monumental first innings effort of 690. The total, New Zealand’s best ever, featured massive hundreds to McCullum (202) and Kane Williamson (192), and half-centuries to Ross Taylor (50), Corey Anderson, Mark Craig (65), and Tim Southee (50). It was an emphatic response to Pakistan’s first innings of 351, which for all intents and purposes should have been even better considering their position of 281-3 at the end of the first day’s cricket.

The returning Mohammad Hafeez, who scored 197, spearheaded Pakistan’s effort when the majority of his colleagues fell for the guise of left-armer Mark Craig. Craig’s 7-94 is comfortably his best bowling figures in Test cricket; the figures also overshadowed the return of Daniel Vettori, who managed a solitary wicket in each innings.

New Zealand’s emphatic response to losing the first test and drawing the second was to pepper the boundary while scoring at just under 5 runs per over in their first dig (in fact, NZ managed their largest number of innings boundaries in their short test cricket history). McCullum’s positivity was undoubtedly at the heart of that response (he managed 21 4’s and 11 6’s in his knock) and obviously contagious amongst the other players as they began the task of taking ten wickets on the flat deck.

Trent Boult was the catalyst for the ten Pakistan wickets that fell on day four and completed NZ’s victory. His opening spell of 3-19 was menacing as it was skillful and removed any chance Pakistan had of holding out for a draw. Only Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed offered anything resembling fight, and even there efforts include luck and endeavour rather than resistance.

The cricket test will be remembered not necessarily for the fantastic individual performances that were abundant in each of the teams turns at bat, but for the spirit in which it was played. Throughout the game, very few bouncers were bowled, wickets were not celebrated, and tributes flowed for a fallen superstar.

New Zealand 690 (McCullum 202, Williamson 192, Rahat 4-99) beat Pakistan 351 (Hafeez 197, Craig 7-94) and 259 (Shafiq 137, Boult 4-38) by an innings and 80 runs.

 

Cricket: New Zealand seek unlikely series-leveling victory

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Daniel Vettori’s inclusion in a three pronged spin attack is the major talking point of the third and final match of the New Zealand v Pakistan cricket series beginning tonight.

As one of New Zealand’s most experienced cricket players he’ll be expected to impart his significant nous on developing spinners Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig, in addition to increasing the side’s chances of taking twenty wickets.

Vettori who has indicated this test is simply a sojourn, will be asked to bat at number six in place of Jimmy Neesham and get through about 10-15 overs with the ball per day.

The surprise inclusion comes about due to the barren looking Sharjah pitch – the lack of grass has New Zealand questioning their ability to take wickets with the bowling attack that was used in the first two tests.

Pakistan won’t mind dry pitches though. Despite playing the majority of the second cricket test from behind, the number three ranked side still lead the series 1-0. To keep hold of their ranking in the ICC Test Cricket charts Pakistan require a series win and will look to series leading wicket-takers Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar to achieve it.

The Last Time These Two Met

In Dubai’s drawn second test, New Zealand acquitted themselves much better than in the first test and than most of their sub-continent performances. However the second innings again showed slow blowing frailties and their top order’s susceptibility to collapse.

The Teams

New Zealand (likely): 1. Tom Latham, 2 Brendon McCullum (capt), 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Corey Anderson, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 Mark Craig, 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Tim Southee 11 Trent Boult

Pakistan (likely): 1 Shan Masood, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Yasir Shah, 9 Ehsan Adil/Imran Khan, 10 Zulfiqar Babar, 11 Rahat Ali

The Key Players

Kane Williamson – The New Zealand number three has had a wretched series thus far, however his three previous sub-continent centuries prove his enduring class. Betfair have him as a $4.40 favourite to top score in the New Zealand first innings and he shapes as a key contributor.

Misbah-ul-Haq – It’s not often the Pakistan captain plays a cricket match and scores less 30 in both innings, but that was the case in Dubai. Look for the skipper to bounce back strongly using either of his batting tempos. At Betfair, Misbah is at $5 to top score in the first dig.

The Odds*

Pakistan – $1.96

Draw – $2.5

New Zealand – $6.25

*International Cricket odds courtesy of Luxbet

The Prediction

We’re expecting Vettori to bring solidity to all aspects of New Zealand’s game. That won’t be enough to have them winning on a pitch without a single blade of grass, but we do think they’ll manage another fighting draw.

Strong Finish Sees All Blacks Home

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It feels like the same tagline could have been used to describe each of the All Blacks Northern Tour matches.  Terms like “scrape home’ and “survived a scare” could have been paired with “brave opposition” and “last minute show of class” to illustrate exactly what occurred against England, Scotland, and now Wales.

As it was, a brave Welsh defensive effort that last all of 60 minutes was eventually broken down by moments of individual brilliance from Beauden Barrett, Kieran Read, and Aaron Smith.  There were times, two to be exact (when the Welsh led by a single point), where the Welsh faithful would have dared to dream a first win against the All Blacks since 1953 was possible, only to have the dream quickly turn into nightmare as tries to Barrett (2) and Read rudely interrupted the local hope.

Both tries were typical moments of skill and composure.  Barrett’s effort to take the All Blacks into a 70th minute lead was an excellent individual chip and chase with a cruel bounce of the ball seeing him past an incoming Leigh Halfpenny.  Read’s on the other hand was a close range charge down and gather, upsetting a Mike Phillips box clearance.  Read showed tremendous nous and patience close to the line in scoring the decisive game winner.

Before the late breakaway, the contest was dominated by strong defensive efforts from both sides.  The Welsh effort to keep the All Blacks scoreless in the first half was as impressive as it was slightly negative.  Without really threatening the All Blacks, and using a large number of stoppages to give running repairs to their forward pack, the home side clearly felt a disruptive rather than expansive game plan gave them the best chance of victory.

The approach worked for most of the first half as the Welsh flat defensive line squeezed the All Blacks and prevented them from finding any consistent width or space in which to play at their fast paced best.  Barrett and Halfpenny were the only point scorers in what made for relatively dour and error prone rugby.

The half time break at least provided a hint of inspiration for the sides as both crossed for early second half tries (Julian Savea and Rhys Webb) that entertained the 77,000 strong crowd but quickly reinstated the deadlock.  As the pressure began to tell, the kicking games of the sides started to reflect the ambition of the teams, and would eventually prove the difference.  The Welsh chose a territorial game and continuously booted quality ball away in attempts to drive the All Blacks into their own half.  The men in black however, opted for more positive kicking often behind the fast approaching rush defence.  The ploy was successful with a cross field Barrett kick leading to a Jerome Kaino try and a chip and gather effort from Barrett sending the Kiwi’s back to NZ with another test win.

Wales should take some heart from a defensive effort that definitely unsettled the All Blacks but will also rue missing out on a treasured win against the All Blacks, a win that at half time seemed entirely plausible.

All Blacks: 34 (Julian Savea, Jerome Kaino, 2 Beauden Barrett, Kieran Read tries; Beauden Barrett con, pen; Colin Slade 2 con) 

Wales: 16 (Rhys Webb try; Leigh Halfpenny con, 3 pens)

Below Par All Blacks Barely Avoid Scotland Defeat

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Question marks remain over a host of fringe All Blacks players after a disappointing performance against a brave Scotland side at Murrayfield on the weekend.  Barring a couple of stunt performances from Jeremy Thrush and Charles Piutau, the back-up group failed to take the opportunity to press their claims for starting spots against Wales next week, or longer term, spots in the 2015 World Cup squad.  The skittish effort was full of rust; untidiness; and confusion, and despite assurances from coach Steven Hansen that the side needed a hotly contested match, will have damaged the reputations of some of the All Blacks also-rans.

TJ Peranara, Ryan Crotty, Dominic Bird all failed to shine, and the increasingly fragile Dan Carter returned to action with plenty of kinks that need to be ironed out.   As a result of individual frailties and team inaccuracy, the All Blacks only scraped past the determined Scots, eventually eking out a 24-16 win.  Tries to forwards Victor Vito and Thrush helped the All Blacks cancel out a Tommy Seymour intercept try that had stirred a passionate Murrayfield crowd into daring to believe in a first ever win against the All Blacks.

For all the heart of the Scotland side, there didn’t appear to be a huge chance of upsetting the All Blacks.  The All Blacks superior territorial game near the end, in addition to their powerful bench, meant they were always likely to overpower the improving Scottish side.  They deserve credit, however, for coming within ten points of the All Blacks for the first time since 1991, and unearthing a couple of future stars in the locking Gray brothers; Sean Lamont’s cameo was encouraging too.

The one regret for Scotland will be reliable captain Greg Laidlaw’s penalty miss that would have pushed them in front of, and heaped pressure on, the All Blacks with ten minutes to go.  The attempt sailed wide and with it the chances of an unexpected win.

Attempting to go one better than the strong Scotland effort this weekend will be Wales at Millennium Stadium.  To do so Wales will need to find an extra gear from the one they traditionally use against the Southern Hemisphere sides.  We’ll preview that match later this week.

Kiwi’s Claim Four Nations Title in Thriller

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A sodden and windy ‘Cake Tin’ was the venue on Saturday night for a thrilling match completely befitting of the high quality Four Nations tournament where the Kiwi’s were the worthy winners, withstanding a late kangaroos onslaught to win 22-18.

The Kiwi’s led by an impressive display by their forward pack, and in particular Simon Mannering and Mattin Taupau, were well on their way to their first consecutive over Australia in 61 years when Mani Vatuvei crossed to give them a ten point lead with twenty minutes to play.

But as is their want the Australians never went away. An incredible team try finished off by Ben Hunt saw them close the gap to jut six points and when they had a full as of six inside the opposition twenty, heart break seem entirely possible.

As it was, referee Paul Bentham spotted a forward pass in a play that rule out a Sione Mata’utia equalizer, and the Kiwis escaped.

However, it was all the Kiwi’s deserved given they were the better side throughout the Four Nations finale.  Showing rare poise the Kiwi’s have potentially ushered in a new area of increased competitiveness against the traditionally superior Kangaroos.  The young side will undoubtedly take tremendous heart and belief from the four week series where the roles of Pita Hiku, Dean Whare, and Shaun Johnson have become more defined.

The result was not always inevitable, especially after Australia made the faster start.  Benefitting from two early penalties the visitors heaped pressure on the NZ goal line and that told when Whare and Johnson collided and failed to defuse a fairly innocuous bomb to allow Michael Jennings to score.  As the penalty count evened up, Shaun Kenny-Dowall was able to find open space and put the wheels in motion for NZ’s first try through  Jason Nightingale.  When Vatuvei scored his first try by isolating young winger Mata’utia the Kiwis ran out to an impressive half time advantage and finished strongly to nullify the shaky start.

Despite anxious moments at the beginning and end of the second half Shaun Johnson glorious solo effort was enough to crown the Kiwi’s Four Nations champions for the second time.  The memory of Johnson’s blistering speed and skinning of Greg Inglis will long live in the memory of Kiwi fans as they cling to a new hope of a golden era of New Zealand Rugby Leaue spearheaded by Johnson and Kieran Foran.

Observations

  • Australia missed Jonathan Turston enormously in this Four Nations tournament.  Cooper Cronk’s frailties were brought to fore, and the entire squad lacked Thurston’s spark and creativity, not to mention his extreme desire to win.

 

  • Jason Taumalolo deserves all the hype.  The fleet footed forward is the real deal; a destructive metre eater who last night added some cute offloads to his game.  Steven Kearney will do well to focus the Kiwi’s future game plans around him, Jesse Bromwich, and Taupau.

 

  • Australia will bounce back strongly.  Giving 11 debutants from a squad of 24 a taste of Four Nations rugby league was never going to be easy.  Ultimately, it proved too tricky for Tim Sheens, but the depth that has now been built in the wider squad will hold the team in good stead for the 2017 World Cup.

 

  • The one referee concept made a mockery of the 10m offside line.  Despite allowing a focus on decision making consistency the system didn’t necessarily settle the debate on whether the NRL should move back to one ref.