Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final
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@majorrage said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:
In the cold light of the next day, it's perhaps worth a recap of yesterdays events.
There is a patch of carpet in my house, just to the right of coffee table which is now a little more worn. That was my spot. That's where I stood. It's right in front of the corner of our L shaped couch, which is my favourite spot to sit. However, between 4:30 and 7pm yesterday, the All Black forward pack couldn't have pushed me into the seat. If I stand there, we do ok.
It's amazing the superstitious bullshit that comes into one's head during a tense sporting match. Stand in the same spot, don't log off work, don't turn off the coverage, don't drink any water, don't change ANYTHING. We lost both wickets yesterday as I checked the score & Taylor was dropped when my family got home and they sat on the couch. I swear to god, if I'd sat down, Bumrah would have held the catch. Even as of this morning, I can't say I don't truly believe that.
I woke up yesterday with that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Timmy's couple of wickets the night before giving us a sniff. I'm always much better watching us bowl, than bat, but I couldn't do it yesterday. Went out for a 30 min bike ride at 10, which lasted nigh on 2 hours trying to keep my head off the cricket (sorry boss, not an overly effective day for me yesterday). By the time I got back, India were 5 down I still thought we had a sniff .... so I turned it on, put the laptop in front of me & settled in. And they walked off for lunch. Shit. 45 mins later, I settled in again, meeting coming up at 2pm, what could we do in that hour ... not much for a while. Head accepting the draw. BOOM, Wagner! Back in it. 2pm comes and goes, sit down. A few mins in, "so thats setup, Matt could you please ....FUCKING YESS!!!!!!" ... Oops. Supposed to be working. Trent in the wickets! Time for the inevitable slog from the tail enders. Come on guys, these runs are gold to India .... c'mon .....Timmy! Again, Timmy!
Breather. Shit. I promised the wife we'd go and get some clothes for her sisters 50th this weekend. I don't think I can watch it anyway. Resting heart rate is about 256 as it is. Off we go. 45 mins odd later. Gotta check. 19 without. Tea. Phew, negotiated that first session. At the picture framers now picking up the gift. "What do you think of it hon", she says "sorry, what, just checking the sco...FUCKKKKKKKKKK". Latham's out. Here we go. Phone away, pay attention. Drive home ... unpack car. TV on ... 44/1 .. awesome, under 100 to go. Big appeal and .... shit. Conway. Literally first ball of turning the TV on. What do I do?? Hit up the fern, and offer my predicament. Whilst doing this, an over passes with no drama. It's obvious now isn't it. Leave the TV on & we'll be fine. Hang on ... I've been watching the cricket from this spot, and then checking work / TSF in the over breaks. OK, thats what we do from here on in. Commentator is going on and on about run rates / dot balls. And it's working an absolute treat on me. Nervous shit needed. Can't do that, could cause a wicket. So stick with the plan. Getting fidgety. Drinks. What does that mean? Can I have a drink? Can I sit down? Not sure. Decide to change nothing. Wife leaves to get the kids. And suddenly the runs are flowing. Half way there. What the fuck is a mallet on the pitch for??? What does this mean? Can I drink some water now and have it offset by the mallet? Don't come back wife/kids, we are doing great. Oh, you're back. "Edged and ..... dropped". Jesus Christ. Do I need to kick the family out?? Not sure. Dot balls again. Dot ball commentator is back. Need a shit again ..... and we're scoring again. Under 50 to get. Surely our tail can get this now? Under 40 ... Under 30 .... ... Kane Dropped! It's in the stars, it's happening, nothing can stop us. 50 for Kane! only 7 or 8 to go. We're going to win! Can I have a drink now ... NO!!!!! Ross on strike, it's in the air ... it's 4! IT's over! We've won!! We've won!! We've won!!!
There is enough praise for the team above that there is little I can add honestly. It's a colossal moment in time for NZ cricket & it's so fitting that Ross & Kane had the unbroken partnership at the end. What a team. Perfect balance of youth, new players, legends, and team men. Although arguably they are all legends now.
Jamieson was officially MOTM and this arguably should be shared with Kane. Anchor in both of our innings. However, for me, its the players in the moments which really count, those who step up when the heat is on who should get this accolade. Think Carters drop goal / penalty in 2015 RWC, think Wilkinson for England in 03. Think Stokes for England. It's can be only person for me in this match. 3 times in the one test he had those moments. The value of his 30 runs in the the first innings cannot be underestimated. No lead, no psychological edge. India innings 2, both openers out lbw. No wickets, India without loss going into the last day with a handy lead. Different gravy. Remember I mentioned above India into he tail slog. Who cleaned up the last 2? Extra 20-30 runs on 4/5 less overs. Different gravy.
MajorRage MOTM of the WTC Final - Tim Southee.
What a day.
Chapeau! đź‘Ź
Can’t compete with that. I thought I was doing my bit by aligning my feet with the wooden floorboards so I didn't
touch the cracks. -
@majorrage Timmy came up with some big moments with both bat and ball. Had the odd “big” moment in the field that let us know our hearts were working too!
Really was a strange test but what a great result. The fact that the 4th innings was the best to bat in adds to the mystique of it. Whoever said it, low run tests tend to deliver the drama.
Also on Virat, I reckon he’s a class act. Think that we had to endure Ganguly and others. In fact it’s hard not to like this Indian side. They are a professional outfit with hard workers. Not unlike our beloved Blackcaps. Fitting final in my view.
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@act-crusader said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:
Whoever said it, low run tests tend to deliver the drama.
A bit like the difference between the US golf open and the other American majors. There is something compelling about watching test level batsmen having to struggle to get 50s.
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I watched the 1st session live and called it a night, hoping for some good news this morning. I then woke up in time to listen to the 6 am news on the radio and they played "We are the Champions" to start the sports bulletin. Good enough for me! Perfect timing to watch the presentation live. I've watched a replay of the rest of the day tonight.
I'm sure there have been plenty of praise for the players in this thread, so I'll make a special mention of Shane Jurgensen and Chris Donaldson. The latter seems to have done a great job with the S&C as one of the main attributes of this fast bowling attack is their fitness. We don't see the bowlers breaking down as much as previously and they don't fatigue during their spells.
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@act-crusader said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:
@majorrage Timmy came up with some big moments with both bat and ball. Had the odd “big” moment in the field that let us know our hearts were working too!
Really was a strange test but what a great result. The fact that the 4th innings was the best to bat in adds to the mystique of it. Whoever said it, low run tests tend to deliver the drama.
Also on Virat, I reckon he’s a class act. Think that we had to endure Ganguly and others. In fact it’s hard not to like this Indian side. They are a professional outfit with hard workers. Not unlike our beloved Blackcaps. Fitting final in my view.
Absolutely. A lot of their team seem like bloody good guys so a shame they had to lose in one sense.
Of course this is tempered by the feral Bobs and Vagene crew having barely coherent meltdowns on line about how their previous team has somehow lost to a bunch of journeyman players, many of whom haven’t even played in the subcontinent.
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Jesus, just read @majorrage post a moment ago just after i'd read this piece by Jarrod Kimber:
Not luck, not fluke - New Zealand deserve to be the World Test Champions
Cricket's second favourite team has fought hard and come a long way to become world No.1
I watched NZ win their first test against England in 1978, just scrape past the Windies in 1980,win with the Ilford Seconds in 1986, Marty & Andrew Jones bat for eons at the Basin, then the apocalypse that was 1995-2012 where we celebrated mediocrity and prostituted our test game for limited Overs - including match fixers.
Then after the nadir of South Africa, the captaincy change debacle, we saw the rise of McCullum (Captain's Knock Edition) - the glory that was the UAE no bumper test , McCullum making doubles and a triple, Southee, Boult, Wags, Rosco , Kane and Latham...s
and all I could think of while they were getting each single run was Bert Sutcliffe never playing ina test win, Martin Donnelly and Stewie Dempster having to make their money playing for County and invitation sides , the 49 tourists playing in England to force 4 day tests, the 73 tourists forcing 5 day tests, and finally thinking how Marty would have reacted to this one.
@MajorRage you said it far more eloquently than I ever could. This one means everything to people like me.
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I think ICC rankings are updated each Wednesday so I would expect Kane to take back top spot from Smith. Should be some other big moves from Jamieson and Conway. Southee is 3 on the bowling list but don’t think he’ll overtake Ashwin (Cummins is streets ahead in the lead).
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Just some final thoughts before I get some sleep.
Spirit of the Game:
From the very start, when Virat made a point of acknowledging and congratulating BJ on his career, this game was played in the best way, with moments of camaraderie, respect and appreciation.
I've just been watching the final days highlights and little things have struck me, Kohli's tap on the shoulder after Rosco got hit in the head, the bromance hug at the end of the game between Kohli and Kane, Rosco and Kane walking off like Tenzing and Ed, the graciousness of Kohli's comments including the good humoured smile regarding Kylo having the wood on him. All these things plus the obvious emotion in Doullie's interview with Rosco.It was a very special match. An advertisement for Test cricket where technique and mental application were at the forefront. Two bowling attacks that operated at as close to 100% as dammit, where a 40 or 50 was worth a century in most other matches, on a pitch that wasn't unplayable but was in that great understatement of test Cricket; a "sporting" wicket.
Now the emotions are more under control, and the stress is gone, this really did live up to the branding. There was imperfect play, but that's to be expected given the stakes and the occasion. And Frankly I'm glad it wasn't at Lords just because I realkly don't like the quality of the actual playing surface with the slope (it's about as flawed a playing surface as Eden Park is for tests). ut both sides have refused to give it away during the two years of the tournament, NZ having to win all 4 tests of their final programmeto qualify, India fighting back in Australia and grabbing victory over England after falling 1-0 down at home.
I've been able to ignore the Bobs and Vags segment of fandom today because they are irrelevant. Just seeing the world wide reaction from test cricket fans, former players and administratorshas reinforced just how good this match was. There's been some quality writing and analysis before during and after this match, for sure,
I really hope that the WTC and the quality of this match keeps Test cricket as the pinnacle of the sport. Sure, improvements need to be made, but no one expected much of the 1930 or 1987 world cups for football and rugby respectively at the time. Thankfully Virat and Kane are absolute champions of the improtance of test Cricket. And yes, I see Virat's POV regarding a best of three final, I just don't agree with him. But at least he's thinking about Test cricket .
I'm probably going to bask in this game for a while at least until the India -England series starts. But tonight I'm sure that there's a smile on Hogan's face and he's at peace. -
I had been sporadically watching the test. Every update was dour. Rain, light, no play. Only one game! They're going to find a way to fuck us again aren't they??!
Then the 6th day. I had lost touch with cricket living in Australia, because of the w@nk fest that is big bash and the complete lack of reporting other nations outside of who Australia is playing. I wasn't aware reserve days were now a thing. I went to work and said "6th fucking day!" to my poor unassuming but fairly interested boss. He said he was aware and he hoped NZ knocked it off.
I have found that a lot of Aussies think that the NZ team is magic and not in a big brother little brother way. They know our players and the rate them. Not so long ago if you asked a smart arse Aussie who our best current player was, they either didn't know or answered the guy with the moustache. Hadlee obviously. But now more and more people I talk sport with, here, respect them. It's not lip service to keep the kiwi guy happy either.
I am so proud of what they have done in the last few years. I think of the super over game as a triumph of sorts. Just the absolute class shown afterward in what was a incredibly difficult result to accept. Go further back to the embarrassment of the 2015 ODI final. The foundations were really starting to take shape around that period. We knew despite the result that we had players that could dictate their own terms. We didn't need to play like anyone else. We had a NZ style and I believe today was another occasion where we put it on show. The system they have now and the pathway to achieve is amazing. It highlights that if sports in NZ can get a system not unlike the one we have with rugby, that we can be great elsewhere. In other sports as well.
Great stuff Black Caps.
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Dig deep, get down and dirty - no one does it better than New Zealand
Delayed gratification comes to those who push on through the suffering - just look at Williamson's men | ESPN.com.au
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@rotated said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:
Just in case any of you nodded off and missed the pivotal moment of Day 6.
A guy in a team that got soundly beaten hitting a solitary four. Yeah fuck right off with that shit. Even Chris Martin managed a few of those from time to time.
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@mn5 said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:
@rotated said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:
Just in case any of you nodded off and missed the pivotal moment of Day 6.
A guy in a team that got soundly beaten hitting a solitary four. Yeah fuck right off with that shit. Even Chris Martin managed a few of those from time to time.
Straight back down the ground to Harbijan Singh IIRC
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Possibly mentioned on here already but anyone saying Test Cricket will die can get absolutely fucked. Low scoring and tough to bat on but this final was a fantastic advertisement for the game.
Great for bowlers and there’s nothing wrong with that. Massive scores can get boring after awhile.
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@rotated said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:
Just in case any of you nodded off and missed the pivotal moment of Day 6.
India!
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@rotated said in Cricket 2021: NZ in England and WTC Final:
Just in case any of you nodded off and missed the pivotal moment of Day 6.
In context this was a phone in type poll, like the Vodafone man of the match going to David Warner in a losing team vs nz in Hobart that time.
And yes, both are an abomination on sport and all things decent.
