Bowlers Day At Bristol?

If one could go through the third ODI between England and New Zealand at Bristol on 21st,it is a rare feat in today's cricket,which is completely filled with big six hitting-where only batting records are being bettered and more harsh rules being imposed on bowlers.Only the huge sixes being cheered by the fans/crowd watching out there.And only home team taking a wicket being given a clap.People only want a batsman in Sachin Tendulkar and not a spin wizard in Shane Warne or a line striking bowler in Glenn McGrath.

The recent encounter between England and New Zealand provided some relief to atleast me if not others watching the match.The only irritation came from the cable operator- who gave an scratchy signal,rendering an unclear vision.But,thats another issue.So chuk it!The match was a fantastic one,for it kept the audiences guessing everytime a ball was bowled and a wicket was found tumbling.

And as far as the discussion regarding the match goes,all credits for the New Zealand team-who were found to play their entire quota of 50 overs allotted.Despite losing wickets at regular intervals,when they were found reeling at 110-7.Kudos to Kyle Mills who at over a run-a-ball was found making 47 runs with no one to back him at the other end.With 2 biggies and 5 fours in his 40 ball knock.And later went on to take 2 wickets giving 42 runs.An economy of 4.2 runs an over- when the overall run rate was somewhere around 3+.Bad!!

The match saw an all invincible batsmen running for covers.Trying all that extra bit to play their full 50 overs.Guessing each and every time a bowler took to his heels.And what is the fun in a team scoring a 300+ total every now and then and that total being chased down by its opponent.In the last four to five years the record has been bettered three times-after Australia successfully chased down 329 runs against South Africa,to be bettered by New Zealand four years later and after that one comes the daddy of 'em all.The greatest ODI in the history-the maiden 400+ total by Australia chased down by South Africa.Hmm..thats was really a treat to watch.

And in between the aforementioned matches,there were two instances where New Zealand overtook Australia's 330+ total,twice did Pakistan chase down a mammoth total by India.But,in the recent past,how many of you people witnessed matches involving defending small totals?The match in the closest proximity that I can point out is the second finals of the CB series 2008 where India successfully defended a comparatively small total in 259.

Finally concluding,I would like to wind off this post by suggesting the a perfect series or a match would be that in which there is an equal tough fight between both the batsmen and the bowlers.And not to forget the fielders.It should be a display of the players' talent rather than the odds favouring only a bunch of them irrespective of weather they are talented or not.

England vs New Zealand 3rd Test-

With me missing out on some cricket action after the Commonwealth Bank Series which got over some two weeks ago,there was absolutely no option than to go in for the test matches between Sri Lanka and West Indies on one side and simultaneously the test series involving England and New Zealand on the other.

And much to my amazement,these were not boring.These test matches set up the stage for the viewers as do the test matches involving their mother land.With England winning the third test against New Zealand,it not only was a treat for England fans,but also a treat for cricket lovers,because even New Zealand came close to chasing the world record score of 553 runs set by the English batsmen.

With this fact going unnoticed by mot of the fans over the world,New Zealand's total was the highest total put up by any team in the fourth innings of a test match.the previous best being 418 by West Indies way back in 2003 against Australia.The highlight of the innings being the 40 ball 77 by T.G.Southee at the fag end of the New Zealand innings.

And not the less for England,who had found a match winning bowler in Ryan Sidebottom-who finished with a wickets tally of 24 including a rare hat-trick in the first test.And much delightment for the only spinner-Monty Panesar-who picked up 6 wickets for 126 runs.At the end,it was a great save for England,which would have been a nightmare had Southee continued his heroics for a couple of minutes.Well-is this the likely England squad for the upcomming Ashes in England coming up in a year??Lets wait and watch!!!

Must Watch Video:Ryan Sidebottom taking 7 wickets.

England:Gearing up For The Next Ashes?

In the morning when I picked up the newspaper,I just turned to page 21 of the times to read about the second round of ICL.But,I also found something special that bought delight in my eyes.That was England's test win over New Zealand.

The two teams met each other after a span of almost four years,after whitewashing the touring team 3-0 in England.One of the strongest oppositions then,England had white washed New Zealand 3-0 during its last tour down under,but after the Ashes victory, England were totally relieved until they lost 5-0 in the next Ashes to be reminded to the depth they have fallen.Next came the 1-0 series loss to India at home followed by the same result against Sri Lanka.

But after the second test win by England,it looked as though there was some hunger to win more test matches by England,when they beat New Zealand by 126 runs.it was then that I came to know that even England can win test matches outside.Well with the next Ashes due in England,keeping in fact Australia's dismal show in the recent series against India,it looks like England have a better chance now than compared to in 2005 of beating the Aussies provided they keep up the winning momentum as it did in the second test against New Zealand.

Well,a better picture of England would be clear after the third test against the same on March 22nd.

Ryan Sidebottom-A Hattrick In Vain..

Very rarely does one come across a test match or any match for that matter where the team has a bowler taking hattrick and ending on the losing side.Ryan Sidebottom is one of those lucky guys I can say.The hattrick however helped the team a lot,for they could manage to restrict the hosts for a score of 177/9 before the New Zealand captain-Daniel Vettori declared the innings.

But,the damage had already been done by the New Zealand team,first by putting up a score of 470 before bowling out the England team for 348,taking a lead of 122 runs.A target of 300 was supposed to be too much for the English batsmen,who were found to crumble to 110 all out.The result-New Zealand won by 189 runs.

Is there any other situation where a team player has a hattrick and ends on the losing side.One such case that comes to my mind is the third test between India and Pakistan at ,Irfan Pathan being the bowler.Then we have Alok kapali who took a hat-trick against Pakistan to see his team lose by 9 wickets.

The other such instances that I can give is:
1)J.Lawson against Australia-WI lost by 9 wickets
2)Darren Gough against Australia-England lost by 98 runs
3)Petherick against Pakistan-New Zealand lost by 6 wickets

End Of A Formality!

This post refers to the fifth and final ODI match played between England and New Zealand at Christchurch.A golden opportunity was once again lost by England to level the 5 match series,after the fighting tie at Napier on Feb 20th.The English batsmen once again showed us that they are hardly interested in playing decent cricket.

A disappointment was the factor that none of the English batsmen were able to put up a score of 50 or more.The highest run scorer in the England team being the no 7 batsman Luke Wright.The next success was from the blades of opener Alistair Cook-who took 70 balls to score 42 runs.And the rest of the English batsmen just followed suit.

A delightful innings in the England batting came towards the end of the session when Luke Wright blasted 47 off 42 balls that included 2 fours and four sixes.And one more delight of the innings being Dimitri Mascarenhas who belted the New Zealand bowling towards the end to score a 12 ball 29 including 2sixes and 1four.But,still ending up with a modest total of 242.

Any target imposed by the England team was welcomed by the New Zealanders, especially after the first four ODI matches.The English bowlers were not at all under their hit list of their(New Zealand's)batsmen I believe.No trick was found to work out for the English bowlers as the big hitting Brendon McCullum was found to be in a punishing mood altogether.The man once again belted 77 off 43 balls that included 5fours and 6sixes,including a 103 run opening partnership along with Ryder.

England were never found to be in the match from the beginning of the series.All that they could afford was a role of being an onfield spectator,just clapping their hands at whatever good work that was done by the New Zealand team.It was like there were 11 ball boys dressed in Blue uniform on the field.

I think the England team are still in the 90's arena where even a score of 250 was considered to be a decent one.When there are more than ten scores over 300+ being chased down,it looks like England are still in the belief that a score of 250 would be enough to challenge the opposition.Or is it that the English players have forgotten about winning matches after their recent T20 and ODI losses?

With the rain interfering inbetween the match,the England bowlers were relieved I believe that the match got over well before the stipulated time,providing the English players to take a tour of Christchurch.

But still guys!All is not yet over!There's still the test series to come.So lets look out for some good action from English players in the cricket at which they are good.An ODI win being out of question for the England team as of now,atleast let there be a performance similar to the Ashes 2005 from the England team before the fans give it up...

Related Videos:
England Batting
New Zealand Batting

oooooops!A Last Moment Tie.......

The day since the England vs New Zealand ODI series started,there have been unexpectations throughout the series.There has been ups and downs for both the teams.Like the two T20 games were won by England.Then came the five match ODI series.As expected,New Zealand won the first two.But,all of a sudden, much to everyone's surprise,England sprang up by winning the third ODI at Auckland, to a captain's knock by Paul Collingwood.

And once again,England surprised everyone over there by putting a mammoth 340 runs on the board in the fourth ODI at Napier.This time the effort being dedicated to the entire English batsmen,viz Alister Cook(69,88b,8x4),Mustard(83,74b,11x4,2x6), Ian Bell(43,41b,5x4),Pietersen(50,47b,4x4,1x6)and captain himself who belted six sixes to reach 54 off only 30 balls.

But,after watching the New Zealand batting since the last world cup or so,and in the first three ODIs off late,especially Brendon McCullum,nothing was ruled out.And a New Zealand win was always thought to be on the cards.And much to the excitement, New Zealand batsmen showed just the same when it came to batting.

The openers Jesse Ryder(39,32b,3x4,2x6) and Brendon McCullum(58,65b,6x4,1x6) started the batting explosively by smashing the England bowlers all over the fence. Then came James How(139,116b,10x4,3x6) and Ross Taylor(48,47b,4x1,1x6) who added fuel to fire.The team's score was like,70/0 after 10 overs;128/1 after 20 overs; 196/2 after 30 overs.The team needed 36 runs off the last five overs.

But,this was the time when England came back harshly at the New Zealand batsmen, restricting victory only to their dreams and illusions.All New Zealand could manage was to lose wickets and along with it also the hope of their fourth 330+ score chase. Finally,the match was a thrilling draw.All cheers to England team,for their "Never Say Die" attitude.Keep it up England...

Related Videos:
England Innings 1
England Innings2
England Innings3
New Zealand Innings

Paul Collingwood:A Captain's Knock

"Better Late Than Never"->It looks like these were the words what England's captain Paul Collingwood was assumed telling himself.Because after the first two defeats against New Zealand,and that too without a good fight,England had no other go other than to go for a win to keep their hopes alive in the series.And much to everyone's amazement,Paul Collingwood did just that.

Paul Collingwood scored an unbeaten 70 off just 50 balls which consisted of 6 fours and 3 sixes to guide England to a 6 wicket victory at Aukland.After being 2-0 before this match,it seemed that Paul Collingwood had learnt his lessons from the two defeats.He once again showed us that even England can afford to win matches-when there were hardly anyone betting on England.

England have always been on their toes when it comes to grabbing an upset win against any opposition.Like they won the ashes 2005 after being pounced by a 239 run defeat in the first test.The second instance of England fooling the opposition is in the Commonwealth bank series 2007.England were not even considered to be there in the race to book a place in the finals,when it snatched an upset win against Australia-by beating them convincingly in the first two of the three finals.

But,most of the times,it is England who are rated as underdogs when it comes to ODIs.The team could win only a match against West Indies in the World Cup 2007, just one win against Zimbabwe in the T20 championship.But,came as a surprise against New Zealand by winning the first two T20 matches.When all expected England to lose the home series to India after India successfully chased a 300+ score at The Oval.As all expected England lost the first two ODIs against New Zealand, bounced back by winning the third convincingly.

This shows that England is no less talented when it comes to the big stage.But,the question as to why the team,on most of the occasions puts up a dismal performance is still unanswered.Is it the players' laziness...?God Knows!

Well..after studying this stats,I feel that one has to watch a match involving England only after it puts up one or two dismal performances.Thats how English cricket could be exciting I beleive...

Brendon McCullum:A New Age Entertainer

After writing the coloumn titled "Back to the Pivilion",I had totally lost faith on England cricket team and had pledged not to watch or discuss about the same anymore.But,this man didn't allow me to do so.The New Zealand innings in the third one dayer against England was really a treat to watch.It was as though I was watching a T20 game on my television sets.

After England team got bundled out for a mere total of 130,it was as though another boring encounter would witnessed here.But,thanks to Brendon McCullum-who blasted a whirlwind 80 off just 47 deliveries that included 5 sixes and 8 fours.

That was the second time I saw a McCullum of that calibre.The last time was against Bangladesh when he scored 80 off just 28 balls(9X4,4X6)-finishing the match in just 6 overs chasing a total of 93.But,that match was not considered to be one of those-coz it came against Bangladesh.

But,the man showed his power against a decent team like England on tuesday.The other recent highlightes of Brendon McCullum being a 21 ball 52 against Canada in WC 2007,With big hitters in the side like Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum,the New Zealand cricket should not be complaining at all. Great going New Zealand.Cheers!!!

Back To The Pivilion

After the T20 wins by England against New Zealand-at Aukland and Christchurch,I was a bit relieved that there is something to watch out for in English cricket.The two T20 wins made so much impact on me that I was forced to write a coloumn headed "A Silver Lining In England's Cloud" But,not to a greater extent.I'm sorry.

The team showed no signs of being a noted opposition when it came to the one dayers.I was totally mistaken about England's ability in ODI cricket.With winning or losing being a different topic altogether,it is always the effort & performance that deserves much praise.England didn't even a little bit of that it seemed.A modest total of 130??This total was overshadowed by New Zealand with as many as 20 overs to spare.

The match reminded me about the fact that the T20 and the one dayers being different forms altogether.In the recent past,after the series loss to India and Sri Lanka,England dosen't seem to play even test cricket as seriously as it used to in the period between 2003-05,with victories against Australia,New Zealand,South Africa,Zimbabwe,West Indies and Bangladesh.

After the first match loss to New Zealand,I wish England stand up and show some teeth,by putting up a better performance in the upcomming ODI matches in the series irrespective of the match result."Its always next time"