Wellington v Central Districts, 50 overs, Basin Reserve, 23 March 2014

http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/576/576383.html

This was not a gripping game of cricket. From early on it was apparent that Central would not make a score that even Wellington’s notoriously unreliable win-detection radar could fail to trace. But it was a perfect day at the Basin, on the cusp of summer and autumn, rather like it had been half a world away at St Lawrence six months ago, so pulse-quickening cricket was not essential for the day to be thoroughly pleasurable.

Central’s innings began and ended badly. Ben Smith was first to go, leg before to Brent Arnel in the third over to one that nipped back. It looked a little high. Jamie How was caught at first slip by Franklin off Gillespie for six, and Carl Cachopa was caught behind by Papps off Arnel for a duck: 28 for three after nine overs.

Was this Gillette Cup Final syndrome at work? English cricket’s knockout competition used to culminate in a final at Lord’s on the first Saturday in September. It was a 60-over competition, so had to be under way by 10.30 in the morning to allow a finish in daylight. With early-autumn dew still around during the opening overs, the team winning the toss would put the opposition in with the expectation that simple seam-up bowling would see off the top order. This did not happen every year, but did so often enough that knowledgeable spectators would ensure that they were in their seats half an hour before the start on the basis that the toss might be the biggest influence on the outcome.

A fifty partnership for the fourth wicket between David Meiring and Corrie van Wyk cheered Central up. I had not come across Meiring before. He was born in Worcester, but has a sound New Zealand cricketing heritage; his grandfather is Tom Pritchard, the fast bowler who played the majority of his cricket in the County Championship for Warwickshire (and a few games for Kent in 1956).

Meiring drove a half volley to cover to be caught by Grant Elliott on 35, just when he looked set for a big innings. He was replaced by Dane Cleaver, who is also well connected; he is Kane Williamson’s cousin (does the whole family have rhyming first names?). Cleaver went wandering across his crease and was leg before to Woodcock. This left Central at 91 for five, facing the familiar quandary of having to speed up without losing wickets.

Van Wyk and Central skipper Kieran Noema-Barnett proceeded to do precisely that. At the start of their partnership it seemed that Central would struggle to reach 200. When the hundred partnership came up just under 20 overs later, 250 was in prospect.

However, van Wyk was out without addition to the partnership for 70, caught by substitute Jeetan Patel from a mistimed chip on the onside off Elliott, and a collapse of Reichsmark proportions ensued. The last five wickets went for just nine runs. The innings ended with a spectacular piece of fielding. Last man Panda (that’s what Cricket Archive calls him) Mathieson sent the ball high into the air off the top edge. Racing in from fine leg, Stephen Murdoch had to cover the 30 metres or so from his starting position to where ball would return to earth while persuading two of his colleagues, converging on the same location, to leave it for him to deal with. He pulled it off with wonderful one-handed catch after a full-length dive.

With four for 26 Arnel was the pick of the bowlers, but all performed respectably or better. Elliott’s crafty trundling produced one for 25. Even so, it was sad to see Jeetan Patel reduced to carrying the drinks. He is heading back to Warwickshire shortly and may feel that he is better valued in Birmingham than in New Zealand.

Michael Pollard was out in the first over of the reply, cutting Seth Rance to Mathieson at third man, but that was as high as Central’s hopes got. Michael Papps saw the innings through, finishing with 83 not out. He put on 87 for the second wicket with Murdoch and 93 for the third with Tom Blundell. I have written in the past that 34-year-old Papps is occupying a place that might be better given to a younger player. His form has been so good over the past two years that now I’m not so sure. New Zealand’s search for an effective opening partnership remains unsuccessful, and letting Papps have a go as an interim measure for a year or so is a more sensible proposal than some on offer.

Though the outcome was never in doubt, there was interest in whether Wellington could reach their target of 201 within 40 overs, thus gaining a potentially valuable bonus point. The top four go through to the knockout stage, the byzantine nature of which means that there is considerable advantage to being placed as high as possible on the qualifying table.

Good slow bowling by Tarun Nethula and Marty Kain slowed the pace through the middle of the innings, but little attempt was made to attack them. Kain, in particular, was allowed to settle into a containing rhythm. Noema-Barnett rightly retained an attacking field, so if the batsmen wanted to force things they would have to take risks to do so.

Sixteen were needed from the 40^th over to secure the bonus point. Blundell was bowled middle stump from the first ball as he attempted a desperate dilscoop. This brought in James Franklin who took twos off his first three deliveries before settling the matter with two sixes from the final two balls.

In the final round of games Wellington yet again contrived to lose when it appeared less trouble to win, thus conceding home advantage in the minor semi-final to Auckland, so this was the last game at the Basin this season, and the least spectacular day of those that I have seen, though that is more a measure of the luck I have had with of the rest of the cricket that I have watched there since October. As cricket watchers say to each other on these occasions, winter well.

Wellington v Central Districts, Plunket Shield, Basin Reserve, 7 – 10 November 2013

The holidays are here at last, providing the opportunity to catch up with unfinished business. Here’s an account of the final two days of a Plunket Shield game earlier this season.

http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/576/576393.html

The southerly was back at the Basin like a secret policeman enforcing a ban on summer, and kept me away until lunch on Saturday, the third day. In my absence the Wellington batting had collapsed from 149 for two overnight to 217 for eight, 72 behind Central Districts’ 289.

But a fightback was underway, and I took my seat just after the ninth-wicket partnership of Jeetan Patel and Andy McKay passed 50. Patel hit ten fours in his 76-ball 62; he is back to his best batting form this season, aggressive but rationally so. McKay has always looked better than his perennial last-man status would suggest. Even so, 35 against his name on the scoreboard can turn a tailender’s head and have him believing in false deities like the God of Knowing Where Your Off Stump Is. So it was with McKay, who made the usual sign of veneration—lifting his bat high above his head—and had his off stump removed by Doug Bracewell. Even so, the ninth-wicket partnership of 76 gave Wellington a two-run first-innings lead.

It is unusual these days for neither side to pass 300 in the first innings at the run-happy Basin, so I was keen to work out why. By the end of the afternoon I was none the wiser but able to state with some certainty what the reason was not. Wellington’s strategy at the start of Central Districts’ second innings consisted completely of short-pitched bowling, unusually with both the boundary fielders behind square on the legside fine of 45 degrees. This was spectacularly unsuccessful. After 15 overs Central Districts were 68 without loss, and the men in the deep might as well have kept their hands in their pockets so undeployed were they.

When Brent Arnel pitched the ball up he was immediately rewarded by trapping Jamie How leg before. Thereafter, Wellington concentrated on containment and waited for the declaration. Ben Smith scored a competent maiden hundred, Arnel took four wickets and Patel was the pick of the bowlers, conceding just 51 from 28 overs.

The declaration came at lunch on Sunday and, left Wellington 310 to win in a minimum of 64 overs, which seemed just on the generous side of about right. It would have been less munificent had Jesse Ryder still been a Wellington player. Josh Brodie was run out after a mix up and Michael Papps was bowled by Bracewell, but the afternoon was one that will make members of the Central Districts team wake screaming in the night years hence.

It was as inept a defence of a target in a run chase as I have seen in many a day. For a start Doug Bracewell, leader of the Central Districts attack, was terrible. Some have expressed surprise that Bracewell is not in the international team at the moment; they wouldn’t if they had seen him bowl that day. His line and length were all over the place, and he gave the batsmen far too many safe scoring opportunities. And dear God, the no-balls. Ten of them in 17 overs.

Tarun Nethula was even worse in this respect, bowling eight no-balls in 11 overs, from which he conceded 74 runs. And he’s a leg spinner! Murdoch was bowled by one of the illegal deliveries. Given that Wellington reached their target with just three overs to spare, the no-balls alone were decisive. That very morning I had heard Craig Cumming, a sound judge, touting Nethula for selection for the Test team. Again, nobody at the Basin for the fourth day would have selected him for anything.

The captaincy of Kieran Noema-Barnett was also odd. Early in the innings pacey Andrew Mathieson had caused some problems for the Wellington batsmen and had forced Stephen Murdoch to retire hurt on 30 with an egg-sized swelling below his eye. Yet Mathieson was kept out of the attack as Pollard, Franklin and Woodcock scored at liberty off Bracewell and Nethula. When a change was made it was Weston-super-Mare’s finest, Peter Trego, who was brought on to bowl a few overs of assorted nonsense, mostly down the legside, that did nothing to staunch the flow.

When Mathieson finally returned—into the wind, mark you— he removed both Franklin and Colson, but it was just too late to make a difference. Also, despite an economical early spell, left-arm medium-fast bowler Ben Wheeler was left in the outfield for most Wellington innings, being brought back with only 15 needed.

Noema-Barnett’s handling of his attack was unimaginative and inflexible. His field placing was no better. With fewer than 30 needed there were no close catchers for Woodcock even though by that stage there was no question of Central Districts being able to restrict Wellington in the time remaining. Jeetan Patel was aggressive and, despite numerous edges and lbw appeals, along with Woodcock he took Wellington home.