To the Basin for the first time this season for an
intriguing T20 match. With the league stage of the competition reaching its
conclusion, Wellington, second in the table, hosted leaders Otago. On Sunday
third-placed Northern Districts visit the Basin, so by the end of the weekend
the line-up for the knock-out phase will be sorted out (the top-placed team hosts
the final against the winners of playoff between the second and third-placed sides).
No matter what the sporting code, Wellington teams have a long tradition of
blowing it when this close to success, so the local mood going into this game
was guarded at best.
Rumours that Chris Gayle had been signed for the two games
this weekend proved unfounded, a pity as the prospect of Gayle peppering the
rush-hour traffic around the Basin with sixes was alluring. Gales of a more
familiar Wellingtonian kind were more happily absent on a beautiful late
afternoon, though most of the pohutukawas had lost their scarlet bloom.
Otago won the toss and elected to bat. Hamish Rutherford and
Neil Broom opened the batting, Ili Tugaga the bowling. Tugaga is the only No 10
batsman I have seen make a century in first-class cricket (http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/259/259070.html),
and is a male model in his spare time (or possibly, is a cricketer in his spare
time from being a male model). He took the first wicket when Broom hooked
straight to long leg.
This brought in Derek de Boorder (Kiwi born-and-bred despite
the South African-sounding name), who batted through until the penultimate ball
of the innings for 67 without looking completely at ease until the last couple
of overs, particularly when the blade of his bat separated from the handle
during a straight drive. It hurtled towards the bowler, Jesse Ryder, who of all
the Wellington team has a life experience that means he the least likely to be
perturbed by a large piece of wood coming at him.
Rutherford’s 32 constituted precisely half of Otago’s total
when he was brilliantly caught by Ryder at cover point. Ryder’s wonderful
hand-eye co-ordination is worth any number of gym sessions; an athlete despite
his girth.
Scott Kuggeleijn dropped de Boorder from a sharp diving
chance at mid-wicket but atoned with a direct hit that ran out Nathan McCullum
later the same over. This brought Ryan ten Doeschate of Essex and the
Netherlands to the middle. He has the reputation of being one of the finest
exponents of T20 in the world, a hitter, so I was keen to see him get going. But
he had scored only nine when he fell to a fine catch by Tugaga, strutting the
boundary catwalk.
A surfeit of boundaries through the middle of the innings
meant that after 17 overs Otago had an unimpressive 132 for four. It was a
dating website of an innings: singles only, though effective hitting at the
death raised to 170, a par score but no more at the Basin.
As the Wellington innings began a spasm of anticipation ran
round the crowd, for Jesse Ryder was at the wicket. Ryder is New Zealand’s only
clear-the-bar batsman, someone who can generate excitement just by stepping
onto the field. The appearance of the Black Caps Test batsmen sends supporters
to the bar, drinking to forget. Ryder despatched the first ball of the third
over to the long-off boundary with the insouciance of a restaurant critic
sending an overcooked turbot back to the
kitchen. But he hit across the line of the next delivery and was bowled, to the
sound of three thousand people emitting a wistful sigh.
At the other end was Bangladeshi batsman Tamim Iqbal. The
appearance of the name of the scoreboard made me think what a fine T20 player
Kent’s Asif Iqbal would have been, full
of movement and unorthodox shots, and a greyhound between the wickets. Tamim
Iqbal has been quite successful in his spell for Wellington, but did not find
the pace of the pitch today; much of his 41 was accrued from mistimed shots and
he found scoring more difficult the longer his innings went on. Yet he was Jack
Hobbs reincarnated compared with Australian import Cameron Borgas.
Borgas scored 50 in his last appearance for Wellington in
November, but has scored only 26 in five innings for the Sydney Thunder since,
and today had less touch than the Venus de Milo. His 35 came in 39 balls, a
glacial pace of scoring in this form of the game. Had his innings been a dog it
would have been mercifully euthanised at an early stage.
Luke Ronchi (another Aussie, but qualified for New Zealand)
took just eight deliveries to overtake Borgas, who had been in for almost
three-quarters of an hour, but was out for a nine-ball 20, by which point
Wellington’s hopes faded away like an ageing starlet.
Some hitting in the last two overs reduced the final margin
of Otago’s victory to 12 runs, which did not reflect the ease of the win. The
local supporters retreated into the Wellington evening disappointed, but not in
the least surprised.
Update: Wellington
made a spirited attempt to lose Sunday’s game against Northern Districts by conceding
72 runs in the last six overs of the run chase, but won nevertheless and host
Friday’s semi-final, probably against the same opponents.
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