Black to the Future (NZ story)

[_Ed_]

1st Final

Australia won the toss and chose to bat, and after a bright start from the openers things went terribly wrong. The spinners, Vettori and Patel, were seemingly almost impossible to score off and shared six wickets between them as the home side collapsed to a point at which even 200 seemed a long way off. But a superbly-timed 47* from Katich put things back on track, and with 15 runs coming from the last over he guided his side past 200 and to respectability.

In response, Spearman started in sensational style. Blazing his way to 68 from just 53 balls, he looked to be putting his side on track for a massive win in the first game of the best-of-3 series. But, like in the Australian innings, everything went wrong. A huge collapse followed after his dismissal, and suddenly it was Australia heading for a big win.

Vettori to the rescue, again. Sharing in big partnerships with Oram (38) and Patel (24), Vettori brought New Zealand to the brink of a fantastic victory. Just four runs were needed from three overs, with two wickets to spare. But then...disaster! Brett Lee took wickets in successive deliveries, and for the second time in the tour NZ had been defeated in a crucial match by less than 5 runs.

Australia 210-9
Hayden 62
Katich 47*
Vettori 4-29
Patel 2-23

New Zealand 207
Spearman 68
Oram 38
Watson 3-43
Lee 3-55

Australia won by 3 runs.
MOTM: Vettori (4-29 & 34*)

*sigh*

 

[Atreyu]

Just read through this story and there seems to be plenty of Jeetan Patel Fans :-D

You've done very well so far and one of the best things about this story is seeing the stats at the End.

Keep up the Good work.

P.S. You better win the Next Two Games

 

[_Ed_]

2nd Final

McKay has been poor with the ball lately (including that 15-run final over in the first game) so I've dropped him here. In his place will be the in-form Bradley Scott (who despite being on the tour the whole time has bizarrely still been playing FC cricket), making his ODI debut.

Australia won the toss again and this time decided to bowl first, and that quickly looked like the right decision. The top-order collapsed horribly, with Taylor (46) being the only batsman in the top 6 to reach 15. But big Jake Oram, supported once again by the suprisingly useful batsmen in the lower order, singlehandedly kept us in the game and with some massive late hitting lifted our score from a sub-par 200-210 to a reasonably competitive 238.

Australia suffered a similar fate in their chase, with Hayden being the only top-order player to make a meaningful contribution. But they had no Oram. Lee did his best, but from the time Hayden was dismissed it was a foregone conclusion that New Zealand were going to level the series.

New Zealand 238-8
Oram 68*
Taylor 46
Noffke 3-35
Lee 3-63

Australia 213
Hayden 69
Lee 35
Vettori 3-40
Oram 3-56

New Zealand won by 25 runs.
MOTM: Oram (68* & 3-56)

Thought we were going to get murdered when the top order crumbled, but Oram is a hero. Scott did well enough on his debut, 9-0-38-1.

 

[_Ed_]

3rd Final

No changes to the XI.

Finally we won a toss, and decided to bowl. Hayden continued his superb form and got Australia off to a great start, but Mills made a couple of crucial early breakthroughs with the wickets of Jaques and Ponting.

But then Hussey joined Hayden and it looked like an imposing total was on the cards. Even when Hayden was removed the punishment didn't let up, as Watson joined Hussey and the two just picked up where Hayden had left off. A partnership of 74 at almost seven an over had the New Zealanders on the ropes.

Enter the spinners. So many times in this series it has been these two who took the key wickets and kept their team in the game. This was the case again in the biggest match of all. Patel removed Hussey, and Vettori took the wickets of Watson and Katich.

After those losses Australia fell apart, seemingly lacking a Plan B. Mills and Scott returned and cleaned up the tail, the final total a disappointing 217 on what seemed a useful batting pitch.

Guptill made his talent clear for all to see with a 27-ball 35 to start off the chase, but he played a stupid shot to be caught on the boundary and again his fellow top-order players let the team down as the New Zealanders slumped to 77-4.

Oram again looked to be the hero for New Zealand, but he couldn't find anyone to stay with him - the score continuing to decline to 122-5 and 142-6.

As Oram began to target the ropes he finally found some company in Vettori, and the two looked like they might guide NZ to a sensational four-wicket victory. But then Vettori fell, and Mills followed next ball. 186-8, and a very gloomy outlook for NZ.

Patel went out with the intention of feeding the strike to Oram, and did a magnificent job of it. In a six-over partnership, he faced just nine balls. At the other end Oram slammed his way to 60 at exactly a run a ball, leveling the score with two consecutive fours and nudging a single to clinch a thrilling win.

Australia 217
Hayden 56
Hussey 52
Mills 4-38
Scott 2-31

New Zealand 218-8
Oram 60*
Guptill 35
Watson 3-43
Clark 2-32

New Zealand won by 2 wickets.
MOTM: Mills (4-38)...would have given it to Oram myself.

WE WON!

Stats to follow.

 

[_Ed_]

And here are the stats.

Most runs:
M.Hayden - 463 @ 51.44
P.Fulton - 390 @ 43.33
J.Duminy - 281 @ 46.83
P.Jaques - 276 @ 34.50
J.Oram - 269 @ 53.80

Most wickets:
D.Vettori - 26 @ 12.38
S.Watson - 23 @ 13.87
K.Mills - 21 @ 15.24
B.Lee - 21 @ 20.43
J.Botha - 13 @ 20.43

And for the Jeetan Patel fans: 66 runs @ 22, 11 wickets @ 33.45

Absolutely ridiculous how well some of those guys bowled. Stunning stats. And now...

MAN OF THE SERIES:
Daniel Vettori
204 runs @ 40.80
26 wickets @ 12.38

 

[Athlai]

Jeeves! What a series!

 

[S.P. Fleming]

if only it was reality...

 

[Somerset]

Sensational effort Ed, well done!! Brilliant performance from Vettori in particular.

 

[_Ed_]

Thanks everyone.

I was helped by the ridiculously bad form of the class players in the other teams - Smith batted terribly for SA (who were missing Kallis through injury), and Ponting's highest score in the whole series was 31!

 

[Precambrian]

Well played NZ. Amazed to see Ponting's bad form following his terrific form in the tests.

 

[Flem274*]

if only it was reality...

Yeah.

How do you get this game thingy Ed?

 

[_Ed_]

http://www.childishthings.co.uk

 

[_Ed_]

New Zealand v India - 1st Test, Wellington

Predictable NZ XI:

Guptill
Spearman
Fulton
Taylor
Vincent
McCullum * +
Oram
Vettori
Mills
Patel
McKay

 

[_Ed_]

Taylor and Patel star in big NZ win

Two superb and contrasting hundreds from Ross Taylor, backed up by a 7-wicket match haul by Jeetan Patel, led to a convincing 184-run win for New Zealand in the opening Test against India.

After winning the toss and batting on a pitch that looked like it would be full of runs, things weren't looking quite so good early on for the hosts. Guptill, Fulton, Vincent, McCullum and Oram all fell for single figure scores, but the other two names in the top half of the batting order came to the rescue. Spearman played a scintillating 82 and appeared to have a chance of reaching a century before lunch when he was dismissed with 20 minutes remaining in the opening session.

But it was Taylor who was the hero. Batting largely with the tail, he took New Zealand past what looked a feeble score of around 250 through to a competitive 384 with a magnificent unbeaten 152. This was an innings that would have been worthy of the MOTM award even if he hadn't surpassed it in the second dig.

Like New Zealand, India had a poor start as their star-studded top order failed to live up to expecations. But like New Zealand, there was an exception - Sachin Tendulkar. His chanceless 72 kept India in the game and took them within 100 runs of New Zealand's score. But Mills took five wickets, and the two spinners two each, to restrict India to 298, a first-innings lead for New Zealand of 86.

New Zealand approached their second innings as if it was a one-day game, looking to extend the lead as quickly as possible. Guptill (39) and Spearman (22) gave them a brisk start, but it was Taylor and Oram who stole the show. Their 192-run partnership, with both batsmen scoring centuries, effectively extinguished India's hopes of winning the game. When New Zealand declared, they had scored 375-5 from just 66 overs.

Taylor slammed an unbeaten 166 from just 152 balls, and Oram 101 from 92.

India began their impossible chase quite well, led again by a fantastic innings from Tendulkar, but on a pitch that was starting to take turn Patel and Vettori were at times unplayable. Together they took 8 wickets as India fell for 277 late on the fourth day.

 

[Athlai]

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetssssssss

Sometimes I wonder if you doctor these results to please me. Then I get back to the real world and realise that Jeeves is just a total gun.

 

[_Ed_]

Of course he is. No doctoring involved, although I did bowl the spinners in tandem all day because the pace bowlers were **** in the second innings. So it's not surprising they took 8.

One change to the squad, O'Brien in for McKay. I hope Vincent gets some runs soon, don't want to have to drop him too.

 

[Athlai]

Was actually about to suggest a bit more O'Brien love in your team. BFJ and Flynn to get in there sooner or later too IMO.

 

[_Ed_]

Maybe, although neither are doing great at FC level at the moment. Ryder's averaging 33, Flynn 29. Hay was a failure against England, but is averaging a rather awesome 62.8 this season so he's probably next in line.

 

[Athlai]

Yeah Hay's the man, Spearman and Vincent are such random players to have.

 

[Atreyu]

You should give Flynn a shot. He is amazing in my NZ game.