Kiwi cricket in disarray as Aussies move in for the kill
Columnist By Spiro Zavos, 18 Mar 2010 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Australian Cricket, basin reserve, Cricket, Daniel Vettori, Michael Clarke, New Zealand cricket, Test cricket
New Zealand Captain Daniel Vettori appeals unsuccessfully. AAP Image/Andrew Cornaga, Photosport
A storm of driving wind and rain hit Wellington a couple days ago and fieldsmen at the Basin Reserve for the New Zealand-Australia Test can expect stinging hands if they are unfortunate enough to have to catch a hot chance.
I was chatting to an old cricket hand who said to me that both teams would need a couple of work-horse bowlers to battle away into the wind. I nominated Nathan Hauritz as one of the Australians. But we couldn’t think of anyone else, unless poor Dougie Bollinger was co-opted into this unforgiving role.
The New Zealand side, now that Shane Bond has given away Test cricket, is full of medium-pace bowlers, Chris Martin being the best of them, who can labour away into the wind.
But even if Daniel Vettori, another into the wind specialist, can pick up a bag of wickets, it’s hard to see this mediocre New Zealand bowling side picking up the 20 wickets needed to win the Test.
The fact is that, on and off the field, New Zealand cricket is in a mess.
The Test side has won only three of its last 20 Tests, and Australia hasn’t been defeated by them in a Test series since the golden days of the early 1990s.
The chairman of selectors, the rather testy Glenn Turner, has been told he can’t talk to the media. Apparently he has been too out-spoken about the failings of the administration and the players.
Mark Greatbach, the media voice of the team, has been promoted to the batting coach position and he has immediately co-opted Martin Crowe to help him turn a set of mediocre batsmen into quality Test players. This raises the question of why Greatbach has been appointed in the first place.
Crowe, who can be just as cranky as Turner when talking about cricket in New Zealand, was forced out of his television broadcasting role (a pity, I thought, because he has interesting things to say) by officials from New Zealand Cricket.
There is a very good young player, Kerin Williamson, who some think should be promoted right now into the Test side. He’s 19 and in his last first class match scored 190 or so and then took five wickets. Perhaps he might get a chance if New Zealand does poorly in the opening Test.
Right now, though, about the only thing New Zealand might have going for it was the Michael Clarke-Lara Bingle business.
There was potential here for the Australians to be disrupted. But Clarke gave a polished media statement, taking no questions, which seemed to appease the easily-pleased New Zealand media.
And then Chris Martin, speaking for the New Zealand cricketers, said that Clarke was such a good chap they’d be reluctant to sledge him over the messy brouhaha.
This seeming gentility (which is unlikely to be reciprocated by the spectators, who will need something to warm themselves up) gets to the heart of the New Zealand problem when it comes to playing and winning cricket matches.
As the ODI demonstrated, and is now confirmed by the approach being taken to Clarke, New Zealand cricketers lack the killer instinct.
Does anyone believe that if the boot were on the other foot and it was, say, Daniel Vettori who was being chased by the celebrity media over an alleged tempestuous private life, Ricky Ponting and co wouldn’t be sledging him mercilessly?
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March 18th 2010 @ 5:10pm
Tom said | March 18th 2010 @ 5:10pm | Report comment
I wouldnt be over-confident. The current Aussie outfit have been made to look significantly better than they actually are by virtue of home series against fairly ordinary WI & PAK teams. Kiwis rely too heavily on too few but at home, in a series which has already had plenty of spice, they could surprise. Even as an Aussie, I hope they do. The trans-tasman test rivalry needs it.
March 18th 2010 @ 8:22pm
Sylvester said | March 18th 2010 @ 8:22pm | Report comment
Spiro, you make it sound like the winning and losing of the test will be dependent of NZ sledging Clarke off his game. Even if it did disrupt him, which I doubt anyway, there’s still the small matter of the other six or seven world class players in the Aussie team.
Agree with Hammer, NZ sports media could probably care less what C-grade Aussie celebs are up to.
March 19th 2010 @ 3:30am
itsuckstobeyou said | March 19th 2010 @ 3:30am | Report comment
I believe the point behind his sledging remarks was that the Kiwi’s lack the killer instinct we’ve seen in the dominant cricketing sides throughout history. The fact that they don’t sledge isn’t the problem, but it is symptomatic of the larger problem.
March 18th 2010 @ 9:52pm
JohnB said | March 18th 2010 @ 9:52pm | Report comment
Leaving Clarke/Bingle issues in the who cares basket where they belong, NZ in NZ have to be more of a show than Spiro allows. If the ball moves around, Aust are just as vulnerable as anyone. If it doesn’t, the slow pitches don’t suit Australian bowlers, giving the NZ-ers the chance to hang around. Their batting may be light on for class at the top, but it’s deep if nothing else. Australia should win, but no way it’s a walkover.
March 18th 2010 @ 11:26pm
jus de couchon said | March 18th 2010 @ 11:26pm | Report comment
Cant think why they couldnt broadcast the sledging live , giving the sensitive viewer/listener a warning first. It would add to the spectacle.
March 19th 2010 @ 7:15am
Viscount Crouchback said | March 19th 2010 @ 7:15am | Report comment
Nonsensical article. The New Zealanders don’t lack “the killer instinct” – they lack talent. The Australians didn’t dominate 90s and 00s cricket because they were the best sledgers – they dominated because they had the best players. Someone ought to puncture these juvenile myths before we see any more damage done to the already low reputation of Australian sportsmanship.
March 19th 2010 @ 7:16pm
Sylvester said | March 19th 2010 @ 7:16pm | Report comment
Viscount, you’ve summed it up perfectly.