25 February 2011
It was not merely that the entire Kiwi top order committed hara-kiri with a succession of atrocious shots; even during their brief stints at the batting crease, the batsmen appeared to have completely forgotten the basics of their craft.The charitable explanation is that the Kiwis were distracted, mentally numbed, by the tragic events back home. But then, newspapers and online sites such as Cricinfo had carried extended stories about the focused, determined training sessions of the Kiwis the day prior, so that one doesn't quite
wash.
Numbers tell the story. Martin Guptill faced 25 deliveries for his ten. Of these, 22 were dot balls (His first runs came after 18 successive dot balls). Brendon McCullum faced 12 deliveries. 10 were dot balls, there was one single. Jesse Ryder lasted 31 deliveries for his 25; 25 of those 31 deliveries were dot balls and there was just one single. Ross Taylor batted 22, scored 7, played out 19 dot balls and had three singles. James Franklin faced three deliveries; none were scored off. Scott Styris faced four; all were dot balls.
In sum, the top six New Zealand batsmen --- and while watching them, you got the feeling that every single one of them, without exception, was batting a notch or two above his pay grade --- managed a total of 5 singles against 83 dot balls. And in context, it is worth noting that Taylor, the 6th wicket to fall, went in the 17th over. In other words, those batsmen lasted a grand total of 102 deliveries, of which 83 were not scored off.
In practical terms, what this meant was that batsmen stayed becalmed at their respective ends and allowed the Australian bowlers to bowl as they liked. Also, the collective inability to work the ball around the park meant there was no pressure on the Australian fielders; pressure meanwhile escalated on the batting side, forcing them into desperate strokes that in turn led to fatal errors.
Look at how the wickets fell: Brendon McCullum slashed at a wayward ball from Shaun Tait that was wide of off stump and fullish in length; he ended up carving it high in the air for a comfortable catch to Jason Krejza at third man.
Shane Watson replaced the wayward Tait as early as the 6th over --- and to a ball on or around good length, Martin Guptill stayed rooted to the top of the crease, prodding hesitantly at a straight ball that stayed low and snuck under the bottom edge of his bat onto the stumps.
Having hit Mitchell Johnson for successive fours in the previous over, Jesse Ryder aimed a wild drive, with feet nowhere close to the pitch, to a ball on off that shaped away off the seam to present Brad Haddin with a regulation catch.
Having watched Ryder get out in asinine fashion, James Franklin did him one better --- just two deliveries after the previous wicket, Franklin aimed a wild heave at a Johnson ball shorter in length and much wider of off stump, and again got Haddin into the act.
Tait came back on, and Styris promptly slashed at a rubbish ball from the quickie --- a short, wide offering that the veteran all-rounder, who hadn't even had time to get a feel of the track, wafted at to get an edge to Haddin.
What did either the wicket or the bowling have to do with any of this?
Brett Lee, whose comeback is one of the human stories of this World Cup, was outstanding in a first spell where he began with a maiden and had 4-1-11-0 to show for a spot on first spell. What worked for the experienced quick was his adherence to a tight line on or just outside off and a very good length, coupled with his sparing use of the short ball to push batsmen back every now and again.
Shaun Tait, at the other end, was just plain bad. He had the pace, but that was about it --- the temperamental quick sprayed the ball around in his brief first spell, prompting his captain Ricky Ponting to constantly speak to him. It took just two overs of that for Ponting to give up and take him off the firing line.
Mitch Johnson started as always with a good line to the right handers but looked less comfortable bowling to the left-hander. Once Ryder gifted him with a wicket, however, Johnson got the wind beneath his wings, and stepped up his performance closer to what he can be at his best. Shane Watson was workmanlike at best; Jason Krejza did enough to show why he is highly rated, but on a track that did not afford any startling degree of turn and bite, he did just enough to keep the pressure on without ever threatening to blow away the lower order.
Had the Kiwi lower order crumbled with the alacrity shown by the top, we would have been left with the impression of this Australian attack as an irresistible force, capable of doing to a New Zealand what the New Zealanders had done the other day to Kenya.
Mercifully, such misconceptions were erased by the likes of Jamie How and Nathan McCullum, who put their heads down and added 48 for the 7th wicket; by McCullum (52 off 76) and Daniel Vettori, who put on 54 for the 9th; and by Vettori (while on the former Kiwi captain, who today made 44 off 43, why on earth is he batting this low in the order when, in terms of skill and temperament both, he is far better than almost all in the top six?) and Southee, who managed 31 for the 9th.
Another way of looking at it is that the last four wickets added 133 when the top six wickets had managed just 73. Also worth noting in context of what happened earlier --- How played out 29 dot balls, but also rotated strike efficiently with 16 singles; Nathan McCullum had 30 singles to his 40 dot balls; the veteran Vettori had 22 singles to his 17 dot balls.
Lee, the pick of the bowlers on view, had just one wicket to show for his troubles --- but that was the wicket of Vettori, who alone of the Kiwi batsmen took the fight to the opposition. Johnson, who was a few notches short of prime form but managed to get his basics right, ended up with the flattering figures of 4/33, while the wayward Tait managed 3/35.
206, however, was never going to be enough --- not with this Kiwi bowling, against this Aussie batting lineup.
In what is rapidly becoming the meme of this World Cup, spin opened the attack in the form of Vettori at one end. But for that ploy to work, pressure needed to be equally tight at the other end --- and Tim Southee sprayed the ball around a bit too much for that to happen.
Bennett, the big-built fast bowler with the awkward action and sharp pace who took over from Vettori, was if anything worse, offering a mix of half-volleys and juicy full tosses on the pads to batsmen who didn't need a second invitation (the eighth over, Bennett's second, produced 19 runs inclusive of two fours and a gift of five wides when the bowler sprayed one so far down the leg side the keeper had no hope of cutting it off).
Presented with opportunity, the Watson-Haddin firm showed just how it is done. Haddin took on the role of aggressor; Watson subdued his attacking instincts and played pivot. When they began their reply, the asking rate was a moderate tick over four an over; by the time ten overs (shared between Southee, Vettori, Bennett and Nathan McCullum) were bowled, Australia had raced to 74/0, and reduced the asking rate to 3.3.
Since we harped on the Kiwi batting numbers, here's the comparison: Brad Haddin had 17 dot balls, 7 singles, 2 twos, 1 three and 8 fours; Watson had 17 dot balls, 9 singles, 2 twos, 1 three and one four. No bowler got to bowl to either of the batsmen for a sustained spell; the contrasting batting styles and strike rotation forced the bowlers to keep altering lines and lengths, leading to a proliferation of freebies...
One way of putting it is, the Aussie batting was day to the Kiwis' night, cheese to their chalk.
Haddin, who raced to his 50 off 42 balls, looked for all the world like a diminutive Matt Hayden --- the same arrogance of execution, the same contempt for lengths and lines, the same tendency to hold the pose and admire the aftermath of his more destructive shots...
Watson bided his time, consciously playing second fiddle. He was on an uncharacteristic 23 off 37 when his opening partner registered his own 50, before exploding into a brutal display of power hitting. A four and clubbed six off Nathan McCullum in the 14th over; three smashing fours off Vettori in the 16th... 37 runs flowed off the next 22 deliveries he faced.
At the start of the 19th over, Australia needed 74 more runs, at 2.3, with all wickets intact. Bennett, bowling the 19th, injected some artificial excitement into the game with a double strike. The first ball was a slow bouncer gone horribly wrong --- the kind of effort that can embarrass a bowler even in the nets. Bennett banged it down way shorter than he intended; the ball comically rose, hung in the air, then gently drifted towards a bemused Haddin who thought of and discarded several options before picking the worst possible --- a swat at a ball that by then had climbed too high, resulting in a looping catch to Franklin at a deepish midwicket (Haddin 55 off 50; Australia 133/1).
Two balls later, Watson joined his partner in the hut. Bennett yet again took the pace off a ball short in length and outside off. Watson attempted a half cut, half swipe seeking to muscle the ball into the outfield, but was beaten by the lack of pace and managed only to inner edge it onto his stumps (Watson 62/61; Australia 133/2).
The Kiwis opted to take the bowling power play at that point; Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke combined to make us think the task was far more difficult than Haddin and Watson had indicated. It was almost as if the Aussies wanted to get the commentators mouthing off about how "no game is over till the last ball is bowled".
Both scratched around against pace and spin alike; Ponting was lucky the Kiwis, having just lost a referral on a caught behind appeal, opted to not ask for a referral the very next ball when Southee nailed him in front. After a labored partnership of 31 runs in 8.1 overs, Ponting stepped out to flick a Southee delivery angling down the leg side, missed, and Brendon McCullum pulled off one of the niftiest stumpings you'll see in a long time. A rueful Aussie captain departed, possibly to go to war with the replacement TV in the dressing room (Ponting 12 off 28; 23 dot balls and 4 singles; Australia 167/3).
Tedium continued unabated, with the Aussies apparently opting for an extended net session. By the time winning runs were finally eked out (the first 136 runs came in 18.3 overs; the next 71, after the fall of the openers, took a tick over 15 overs. Couldn't they have simply taken the batting power play and finished this thing off?), the only appropriate remark that fitted the sentiments of those of us watching a match devoid of competitive interest after the first 15 overs of either side was "A pox on both your houses".
My colleague Akshay suggested that maybe the Aussie batsmen were looking to bat themselves into form. I don't know, though, if scratching around in the middle against an attack that by then had all but given up is the best way to do that --- surely a forceful finish would do far more for a batsman's confidence than a painfully attritive stint?
A "World Cup" deserves much better than this. Hopefully, tomorrow's game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka will bring life back into the competition, before India and England raise it a notch on Super Sunday.
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