Just 76 overs in the second Test at Perth yesterday, New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum all but raised the white flag. By introducing two of the rankest of part-time bowlers you will ever see, he seemed to have given up hope.
The Kiwis were fielding no less than five specialist bowlers in their side. The new ball was just four overs away. David Warner, who has made a habit of gifting his wicket once past 100, was looking nervier than he had all day as he approached his first ever double ton.
McCullum had to know that Warner had a mental hurdle about converting his scores into big ones. He must have seen that the normally bombastic Australian was fidgety. It was a gilt-edged opportunity to ratchet up the pressure on Warner and perhaps draw a loose stroke.
What did McCullum do? He brought on his seventh and eighth bowlers for the day – two of the worst bowlers I have ever seen in Test cricket, Martin Guptill and himself – to let Warner off the hook.
Combined, Guptill and McCullum have played 24 years of first-class cricket. They have taken just eight first-class wickets in that time at an average of nearly 100.
So they have taken just one wicket every three years yet McCullum figured they were better options than any of the five frontline bowlers in his side?
Neither of them have any place rolling their arm over in a Test match which is actually being taken seriously. Late on Day 5 of a Test which cannot be anything but a draw? Okay, maybe give them a bowl. On Day 1 of a Test against your fiercest foe in a series which is still alive? You have got to be kidding.
If anyone unfamiliar with cricket had tuned in to watch at this point, they would have been confounded that what they were seeing was actually professional sport.
With Guptill and McCullum serving up the drossiest of dross for five overs in tandem, Warner was allowed to reach his double hundred under zero pressure.
This meant that when the new ball arrived, minutes after he reached that milestone, his mind was free. Warner promptly hammered Trent Boult for three boundaries as the first over with the new ball went for 16 runs.
Rarely in history can the first over with a new pill have been more expensive. And McCullum’s utterly strange tactics helped play a part in that.
Well before he degraded the match by trotting in to bowl, McCullum had already helped engineer the ease with which Warner and Usman Khawaja scored. By setting defensive fields and just waiting for a mistake from the batsmen, he allowed the two Aussies to constantly pick off singles as they waited for loose balls they could send to the boundary.
Before lunch yesterday New Zealand already looked like they were just going through the motions. On a true batting deck like the WACA, it is paramount that bowlers create pressure and string together dot balls.
McCullum’s defensive field settings often offered his charges no chance of doing so. Warner, a batsman famed for his boundary hitting, collected an extraordinary 85 singles for the day.
Most of those easy runs were collected by simply bunting the ball into the huge gaps in the infield which opened up from the first session of play.
For an Australian supporter, it should have been a joyous day. Your side has just racked up 2-416 on the first day of a Test against a well-respected opponent. What could be better? Yet there was a hollow feeling to much of yesterday’s play.
I had such high hopes for this series, as I have written repeatedly, as far back as last year.
Having watched the Black Caps closely over the past two years I had witnessed them blossom into a confident, daring and highly gifted side whom I admired greatly.
They were resilient too, as evidenced by their spirited fightbacks to draw series in England and Pakistan. But this is not the same New Zealand side.
Hopefully these imposters swiftly disappear and are replaced by the bold and determined men who had restored the pride in New Zealand Test cricket.
Jacko
Guest
Come on Ronan where is your great retraction and apology for a crap article from a so-called ROAR expert. Some expert you proved to be. A small piece of advice Ronan, write and article critisizing the opposition team and captain when the match is done and dusted not when only one side has batted. Where is your follow-up article saying how Smith has "raised the white flag" or perhaps some critique of the useless Kookaburra balls which prove to be crap every season? Maybe even the useless pitches which are only suitable to bowlers who cant swing a ball. No lets just write crap about the opposition touring captain cos that's so much easier than having to do any real research or any real thoughts. Pathetic
richo
Guest
what game were you actually watching? cricket analysis at its worst mate
Sylvester
Guest
Kiwis on track to surpass Australia's first innings. Priceless.
Sylvester
Guest
You have to start relying on hope and prayer when your unsuccessful DRS review is hitting as much of the stump as any of the four LBWs your team were dismissed by.
AlanKC
Guest
So a double ton - well done Ross, I'm happy to have egg on my face.
AlanKC
Guest
Given I've questioned his place I assume he'll go on to score a match saving ton today Ronan - ah well!
Eski
Guest
You also said the Gabba would be a draw
13th Man
Guest
A few things did go right for NZ today. Boult bowled better. They got to bowl at Nevill and the bowlers for the first time this series, they are in a pretty decent position at stumps and Khawaja got injured. But its all to late. At the very least for NZ this test will be a draw most likely an Aussie win. Gotta feel sorry for Khawaja, just announced himself with 2 hundreds and looks to be locking down a spot in the side then he does his hammy. Who replaces him? Bancroft, Klinger or S Marsh? I think its the perfect time to blood Bancroft, I know he is an opener but I wouldn't break the Warner Burns partnership now. Bancroft can bat at 3. Scored another hundred in the shield. I would give him an opportunity.
13th Man
Guest
Agree with Don Freo here. Both are fantastic bowlers yet Kumble played far more games on surfaces that suited him in the subcontinent. Vettori was mostly playing on green seamers or roads in NZ, England or Aus. Lets also not forget that Vettori's career was cruelled by injury as well. A fantastic bowler and as good as Kumble and I believe these two are the next best spinners ever after Warne and The Chucker.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
"A mental hurdle of converting his scores into big ones" has he scored like 600 runs in 3 innings? He's no watto.
Republican
Guest
I thought the WACA was being touted as a fast bowlers paradise in the lead up to this test.
rasty
Guest
It's kind of you DS to spend the time to tell us how much you don't care... posting a response indicates something totally different but ahh well you are a Kiwi are you not?
rasty
Guest
Intelligence is not one of yours either Joe me old mate.
Jokerman
Guest
What's next SP? Copy and paste Spiro's words and then pretend you're a Rugby guru? Weird!
Jokerman
Guest
Well well, SP. You copy n past my words that were on you and then turn them to me..oh and you tell no one! I'm flattered but perhaps you can find your own voice? I said it before. You see your puzzle pieces everywhere and some faint memory tells you where they all meant to go. You try, but all your moves are from your ego and you make your own maze where the pieces never fit. Work on your own board, SP.
Jameswm
Guest
Yeah, cause Adelaide is usually so much more of a bowler's wicket.
Jameswm
Guest
My understanding was the soil came in from a town between Far and King-Bouncee.
Jameswm
Guest
Whatever you say Joey
Zim Zam
Roar Rookie
Not sure what you mean, Nick - basically, I'm just saying that if you shoot your mouth off, the actual words you say only matter so much. Actions speak a lot louder than words: what people remember most is the action of shooting your mouth off in the first place. It leaves you on thin ice when what you actually do isn't up to scratch.
Joseph
Guest
Mate, you dont get 619 wickets by flight alone of course he spun the ball, he made it do enough to earn the wicket even if he wasnt a guy who made it rip like Warne Its utterly preposterous to suggest that Dan was in the same class, he'd have a more wickets if he was. He played enough tests