HeathDavisSpeed
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Right then, I guess I should post my thoughts on the game.
Firstly the venue. I've been to Eden Park a number of times for the rugby; both before and after the latest redevelopment, but haven't seen cricket there at all (that I can remember). We were supposedly in the cheap seats and I was prepared for a poor view, but reality was much to the contrary. The view was fantastic. Top tier, side on with a perfect view down the crease line - so good, in fact, that I'm pretty sure that I saw a Morkel no-ball that the umpire didn't pick up. My only confusion is as to which way we were facing. This confusion was solved towards the end of the day when the setting sun was in our faces - clearly we were on the East side of the ground. So, fantastic seats. The let down, unfortunately, was in poor crowd management in the rain break. I have some sympathy as modern stadia are designed to allow easy entry and exit, but not for a whole 40,000 to mill around going nowhere. This inevitably led to a crush during which time my wife & baby were separated from the rest of the group and nearly crushed if it wasn't for her receiving some assistance from a random stranger (Cheers to that guy!). The other annoyance was how early the alcohol sales were restricted. Yeah, there were pissed people around but not everyone. I managed to get 1 beer in all day (mainly as I was baby wrangling for the first innings) and then sales were restricted from the start of the 2nd and ceased entirely after about 10 overs.
The crowd was good - and pretty well behaved. There were some amusing drunk guys in front of us who exclaimed "I'm Okay with That!" every time a single was run by the New Zealanders. There was a big group of people of Indian ethnicity to our right, all supporting New Zealand. Quiet as church mice until the last 10 overs when they started to get pretty excited too. In response to someone in the thread who kind of implied that NZ cricket crowds don't attract poor quality fans in the same way the rugby does... Well, there was a guy in a hipster straw hat a couple of rows in front of us (I thought he was in his 20s from behind given his clothes, but he actually turned out to be much older - old enough to go better) basically spent the whole of the Anderson-Elliott partnership complaining that they weren't hitting it hard enough. **** like "They keep hitting it to the fielders. They should go over the top!" or "We need more than singles now!" and more besides. A particular highlight being "If Elliott doesn't start to hit some more boundaries then this loss on his head AND HIS HEAD ALONE DAMMIT". The friend he was with was very quiet throughout and perhaps a little embarrassed to be associated with him. There were some reasonably vocal South African fans nearby who got involved in a friendly way in some crowd banter (but disappeared sharpish as soon as the final runs were scored). So, overall, the atmosphere was great. Even the annoying chap in front turned into an entertaining topic of conversation for the rest of us, so great.
Now to the game. I'd love to see how my blood pressure was. I'm not a great watcher of important matches. The nerves start jangling, the heart starts racing. I don't bite my nails at all, but I just find it hard to watch. This game, I watched the whole thing unfold. Mainly leaning forward, elbows on knees, nervously stroking my chin. Ack. At times, I tried to calm myself down by analysing the field settings - seeing what were the high value shots on offer and then trying to work out what plan the skipper was working on. In particular, I remember in the final 5 or so overs where AB de Villiers routinely left the cover boundary open, looking to invite the drive and perhaps encourage the edge. Towards the end though (I think in Morkel's final over), Elliott was able to exploit this gap and crack a four. One thing I really liked from de Villiers was bringing on Tahir early. I thought Guptill would struggle with him, and he did. Of course, McCullum wouldn't enjoy facing enjoy facing Tahir anywhere near as much as the quicks either. Perhaps he should have kept Tahir on for another over, even though McCullum was dismissed given how much Guptill struggled with Tahir in his first over. The Guptill run out - what was the consensus here? Surely that was Guptill's call to make, so when the papers have been laying the blame at Taylor's door, isn't that a little bit harsh?
Wow. McCullum though. That run chase wouldn't have been possible without that early assault. Without that innings, then Guptill, Taylor, Elliott and Anderson would have had to take many, many more risks in those middle overs. I was very keen for the MOTM award to go to McCullum for setting up the run chase and immediately cancelling out the advantage that Miller's innings had given South Africa. Steyn, Morkel and Philander are all excellent bowlers - regardless of whether you think they bowled to their best in this match. McCullum hit them all. Immediately disrupted the line and length they wanted to bowl. Some people thought that McCullum might dial things down a bit against the South African bowling attack, but oh no.
And coming into that last 10 overs - it was all going too well, so something had to go wrong. Even if it disproved the guy in the straw hat's belief in hitting over the top being the way to winning, Anderson's dismissal still didn't stop him going on about it being the way that Elliott had to bat. And from then on, it was brown trousers time. Until that 6. The side on view sometimes made it difficult to tell immediately whether a ball had been hit straight up in the air or was sailing over the square boundaries, but that winning six - well, we had a perfect view of it and the stand erupted in euphoria.
What a game! Now, I'm not a fan of Auckland, but this time it was absolutely well worth the trip.
Firstly the venue. I've been to Eden Park a number of times for the rugby; both before and after the latest redevelopment, but haven't seen cricket there at all (that I can remember). We were supposedly in the cheap seats and I was prepared for a poor view, but reality was much to the contrary. The view was fantastic. Top tier, side on with a perfect view down the crease line - so good, in fact, that I'm pretty sure that I saw a Morkel no-ball that the umpire didn't pick up. My only confusion is as to which way we were facing. This confusion was solved towards the end of the day when the setting sun was in our faces - clearly we were on the East side of the ground. So, fantastic seats. The let down, unfortunately, was in poor crowd management in the rain break. I have some sympathy as modern stadia are designed to allow easy entry and exit, but not for a whole 40,000 to mill around going nowhere. This inevitably led to a crush during which time my wife & baby were separated from the rest of the group and nearly crushed if it wasn't for her receiving some assistance from a random stranger (Cheers to that guy!). The other annoyance was how early the alcohol sales were restricted. Yeah, there were pissed people around but not everyone. I managed to get 1 beer in all day (mainly as I was baby wrangling for the first innings) and then sales were restricted from the start of the 2nd and ceased entirely after about 10 overs.
The crowd was good - and pretty well behaved. There were some amusing drunk guys in front of us who exclaimed "I'm Okay with That!" every time a single was run by the New Zealanders. There was a big group of people of Indian ethnicity to our right, all supporting New Zealand. Quiet as church mice until the last 10 overs when they started to get pretty excited too. In response to someone in the thread who kind of implied that NZ cricket crowds don't attract poor quality fans in the same way the rugby does... Well, there was a guy in a hipster straw hat a couple of rows in front of us (I thought he was in his 20s from behind given his clothes, but he actually turned out to be much older - old enough to go better) basically spent the whole of the Anderson-Elliott partnership complaining that they weren't hitting it hard enough. **** like "They keep hitting it to the fielders. They should go over the top!" or "We need more than singles now!" and more besides. A particular highlight being "If Elliott doesn't start to hit some more boundaries then this loss on his head AND HIS HEAD ALONE DAMMIT". The friend he was with was very quiet throughout and perhaps a little embarrassed to be associated with him. There were some reasonably vocal South African fans nearby who got involved in a friendly way in some crowd banter (but disappeared sharpish as soon as the final runs were scored). So, overall, the atmosphere was great. Even the annoying chap in front turned into an entertaining topic of conversation for the rest of us, so great.
Now to the game. I'd love to see how my blood pressure was. I'm not a great watcher of important matches. The nerves start jangling, the heart starts racing. I don't bite my nails at all, but I just find it hard to watch. This game, I watched the whole thing unfold. Mainly leaning forward, elbows on knees, nervously stroking my chin. Ack. At times, I tried to calm myself down by analysing the field settings - seeing what were the high value shots on offer and then trying to work out what plan the skipper was working on. In particular, I remember in the final 5 or so overs where AB de Villiers routinely left the cover boundary open, looking to invite the drive and perhaps encourage the edge. Towards the end though (I think in Morkel's final over), Elliott was able to exploit this gap and crack a four. One thing I really liked from de Villiers was bringing on Tahir early. I thought Guptill would struggle with him, and he did. Of course, McCullum wouldn't enjoy facing enjoy facing Tahir anywhere near as much as the quicks either. Perhaps he should have kept Tahir on for another over, even though McCullum was dismissed given how much Guptill struggled with Tahir in his first over. The Guptill run out - what was the consensus here? Surely that was Guptill's call to make, so when the papers have been laying the blame at Taylor's door, isn't that a little bit harsh?
Wow. McCullum though. That run chase wouldn't have been possible without that early assault. Without that innings, then Guptill, Taylor, Elliott and Anderson would have had to take many, many more risks in those middle overs. I was very keen for the MOTM award to go to McCullum for setting up the run chase and immediately cancelling out the advantage that Miller's innings had given South Africa. Steyn, Morkel and Philander are all excellent bowlers - regardless of whether you think they bowled to their best in this match. McCullum hit them all. Immediately disrupted the line and length they wanted to bowl. Some people thought that McCullum might dial things down a bit against the South African bowling attack, but oh no.
And coming into that last 10 overs - it was all going too well, so something had to go wrong. Even if it disproved the guy in the straw hat's belief in hitting over the top being the way to winning, Anderson's dismissal still didn't stop him going on about it being the way that Elliott had to bat. And from then on, it was brown trousers time. Until that 6. The side on view sometimes made it difficult to tell immediately whether a ball had been hit straight up in the air or was sailing over the square boundaries, but that winning six - well, we had a perfect view of it and the stand erupted in euphoria.
What a game! Now, I'm not a fan of Auckland, but this time it was absolutely well worth the trip.
