Wellington
v Northern Districts, 50 overs, Basin Reserve, 4 November 2018
At
full strength Northern Districts would be favourites to beat any other domestic
team in the world, Surrey included. They have five bowlers in the top 15 of the
world rankings in at least one format—Boult, Southee, Wagner, Santner and
Sodhi—as well as one of the world’s best batsmen, Kane Williamson, other established
internationals De Grandhomme and Watling, and Anderson and Seifert in T20.
“At
full strength” is the key thing there. All the above except the injured Santner
are on international duty in the UAE at the moment, where the Black Caps are
taking on Pakistan in all three formats.
Wellington
are without Blundell, van Beek and Rachin Ravindra, all with New Zealand A in
the same location. Ravindra’s absence is particularly noteworthy as he is yet
to play for Wellington’s senior team in first-class, list A or T20, but has
been accelerated into the national A squad because of exceptional promise shown
in international age group cricket, another straw in the wind that blows away
the significance of the domestic first-class game.
What’s
more, Jeetan Patel has opted out of the shorter forms for Wellington this year
so as to preserve his aging bones for the next English season, for which nobody
blames him in the least. Luke Woodcock has also decided to restrict himself to red-ball
cricket, having made more first-class appearances for Wellington than any
player has for any New Zealand province.
This
is the New Zealand present, and the UK future: the national 50-over competition
without the top talent, and with a fair portion of the middling talent
unavailable too. This is what it will be like from 2020 when the Hundread (feel
free to use that) gets under way.
Today’s
match was an illustration of what the game becomes in these circumstances—a
contest in who can best disguise their inexperience. Of course, a fine game of
cricket can be the outcome, tolerable in the New Zealand spring, but lacking
something as the main attraction outside the big grounds in the high English
summer.
Andrew
Fletcher and Malcolm Nofal opened, ND having won the toss and put Wellington
in. Fletcher, who has earned his first professional contract at 25 with a lot
of runs in club cricket, has been Wellington’s 50-over star so far, with two
centuries in three games. He didn’t start like a man in peak form. One handsome
cover drive apart, he was fortunate not to touch at least one of the deliveries
that Brett Randell sent down the off-stump corridor.
As
so often, a wicket fell after the release of pressure when good but unrewarded opening
bowlers were replaced. The deceptively amiably paced Daryl Mitchell came on and
had soon accounted for the first three Wellington wickets.
Nofal
played casually across to be leg before, Conway feathered a catch behind (from
his disappointed reaction the bird was already plucked), and Michael Bracewell
top-edged a hook to fine leg.
Mitchell,
by the way, is no relation to the Worcestershire player of the same name but is
the son of John Mitchell, the former All Blacks coach who seems to be doing a
fine job as England’s defensive coach, judging from the difficulty teams from
this half of the world have had in crossing the line in the last couple of
weeks.
For
all Mitchell’s success, there was a right-arm-medium sameness about the Northern
Districts attack. Fletcher was given far too many opportunities to play off his
pads, which seems to be a strength of his.
Off
spinner Joe Walker provided a little variety. He is one of several Northern
Districts players whose off field time (there being little else to do in
Hamilton of an evening) is the cultivation of big, bushy beards. A field-setting
discussion between Walker, Devcich and Brownlie resembled a meeting of the crowned
heads of Europe in the years before the First World War.
At
81 for three, Fletcher was joined by Jimmy Neesham, perhaps the best player
left in New Zealand this weekend. At once, he was on the attack with great
reserves of timing and power. The extent of his domination can be measured by
the fact that when he reached 50, the fourth-wicket partnership was worth no
more than 67.
Fletcher
edged a catch behind off the slow left-arm of Anton Devcich for 64, but with
ten overs to go Wellington were 203 for four, looking to set a target not far
short of 300. At that time I wrote a cautionary note saying “all depends on
Neesham”. So when he was out chasing a Devcich down the legside in the 42nd
over, estimates of the final total tumbled like those for the post-Brexit pound.
It
was a smart piece of keeping by Bocock. Everybody around the boundary thought
that Neesham had been stumped, but the clue was that no wide was given. It took
the online replay to confirm a sharp catch, the bails whipped off in affirmation. Neesham made 86 from 67 balls with eight fours and four sixes.
That
Wellington got as far as 269 was due to some loose bowling and optimistic
hitting, particularly from Ollie Newton, whose innings was the cricketing
equivalent of the golfer who keeps driving into the trees only to have the ball
rebound into the middle of the fairway.
Devcich
cleaned up the last three wickets to give him a career-best five for 46.
In
the break between innings I called into the Museum, where I was delighted to
find that they were having a half-price Wisden
sale. I settled on an unusual 1950 edition, bound in hard covers, but dark
red with a navy blue spine. I have never seen one like this before. Perhaps it
was an individual collector salvaging a dilapidated copy with their own design;
one or two of mine could do with some help. It cost NZ$30, which is about £15
at current rates.
That’s
No 73 on the shelves in Scorecards Towers, with 1951 the most recent gap. I
must get round to writing something in each edition about how I got it and where
it’s been so that when they end up on other shelves one day, their story will be
known.
Wellington’s
opening bowlers Bennett and Newton started well, conceding just five runs from
the first four overs. Bennett had Cooper leg before with a full pitch. For the next
15 overs, Northern Districts made decent progress, but it was clear that much
rested on the partnership between the Tsar and the King, who, with Mitchell, comprised
the bulk of their team’s experience.
At
86 for two in the 21st over it was pretty even, but Devcich’s slog-sweep
to long on was the first of six wickets to fall in the next 12 overs, with just
44 added to the total. The last two wickets added a further hundred, with
Randell, Gibson and (especially) Bocock striking the ball well and with spirit.
But the rate required expanded throughout, so for those of us who stayed, the experience
of the last hour was akin to knowing that your car has passed its warrant (=
MoT for UK readers) but having to hang around for the paperwork to be completed.
With
four for 34, Hamish Bennett was again outstanding. Nofal took three with his
slow left-arm, with the word “occasional” now deleted from that description.
With
four of ten rounds completed, Wellington were top of the table. The winner of
the group stage hosts the final with second and third playing off for the other
place.