Smudge
Hall of Fame Member
Firstly, I don't mean Elton John and David Furnish... these are some thoughts I threw together for my weekly column... please, share your favourite partnerships with CW. Come on in, the typing's fine.
A batting marathon by the Indian batsmen over on the roads masquerading as pitches in Pakistan sent me down memory lane tonight.
Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid decided to respond to Pakistan's monstrous first innings total of 679/7 by batting.
And batting.
And batting.
As I listened to updates of their partnership and heard they were getting close to a few batting records, my mind wandered to some of New Zealand cricket's great partnerships in recent years.
Anyone who takes more than a passing interest in the Black Caps - or "The Team Formerly Known as the Young Guns" if you're a fan from the 1990s - will know that massive matchwinning partnerships aren't really New Zealand's "thing".
Ones that immediately come to mind are one of the rarities in cricket - tailenders actually batting the team through to a win.
Possibly the most famous effort of all New Zealand partnerships was probably one of the smallest winning partnerships you'll read about - Gary Troup's and Stephen Boock's four-run partnership against the West Indies in Dunedin. Fans with shocking haircuts and terrible pairs of Stubbies shorts sprinted onto the field after the pair scrambled through for a leg bye that ultimately won New Zealand the series over the West Indian juggernaut (with a little help from umpire Fred Goodall).
Dunedin's shocking fashion sense was on display a few years later when everyone's favourite courier driver and batting bunny Ewen Chatfield must have pulled some batting talent out of his van. He and the Mantis, Jeremy Coney, managed to put 50 runs together to win the test against Pakistan, despite facing up to a youthful Wasim Akram, who had earlier knocked out Lance Cairns.
I'll skirt past Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones' partnership of 467 against Sri Lanka in 1991, mainly because it doesn't quite have the folk hero status of the others.
Now, if you want a partnership that showed more bravado than a certain local cricketer who was in the Globe on Saturday night in cricket spikes, how about Danny Morrison's wonderful supporting role to Nathan Astle against England in 1997? Morrison's batting was more famous for its brevity previous to this match, but he showed a wonderful rearguard action against the, ahem, "might" of an English bowling attack containing the likes of Dominic Cork and Alan Mullaly.
And what did he get as thanks from the selectors? A "don't come Monday" message - and that was the end of Morrison's international career.
Geoff Allott gave his best shot at reaching tailender fame with his unbeaten 0 off 77 balls against South Africa in 1999. Yes, 77 balls - you read that right. He does lose style points, however, for the contrived nature of his 0, as he was turning down singles towards the end of his innings.
Possibly my favourite New Zealand partnership though, was also at Dunedin - this time in a one-day match against Australia. A name formerly mentioned in this column, Danny Morrison, was joined at the crease by Willie Watson with the score at a disgraceful 97. Obviously, a win against the odds was not on the cards as Australia's total was 160 runs away.
We had been allowed to leave school early to go and watch the match, so needless to say, we were more than a touch disappointed by New Zealand's feeble showing.
But Morrison and Watson put some warmth into the chilly Dunedin day as they dispatched Australian offspinner Tim May for a six each, and a few fours for good measure. Sure, the innings was over at 129, but at least we left the ground with something.
And at least Watson finally had something else to be remembered by, instead of being the guy who admitted he felt like he was "bowling in the highlights" when he was dispatched over the Eden Park grandstands by Viv Richards.
A batting marathon by the Indian batsmen over on the roads masquerading as pitches in Pakistan sent me down memory lane tonight.
Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid decided to respond to Pakistan's monstrous first innings total of 679/7 by batting.
And batting.
And batting.
As I listened to updates of their partnership and heard they were getting close to a few batting records, my mind wandered to some of New Zealand cricket's great partnerships in recent years.
Anyone who takes more than a passing interest in the Black Caps - or "The Team Formerly Known as the Young Guns" if you're a fan from the 1990s - will know that massive matchwinning partnerships aren't really New Zealand's "thing".
Ones that immediately come to mind are one of the rarities in cricket - tailenders actually batting the team through to a win.
Possibly the most famous effort of all New Zealand partnerships was probably one of the smallest winning partnerships you'll read about - Gary Troup's and Stephen Boock's four-run partnership against the West Indies in Dunedin. Fans with shocking haircuts and terrible pairs of Stubbies shorts sprinted onto the field after the pair scrambled through for a leg bye that ultimately won New Zealand the series over the West Indian juggernaut (with a little help from umpire Fred Goodall).
Dunedin's shocking fashion sense was on display a few years later when everyone's favourite courier driver and batting bunny Ewen Chatfield must have pulled some batting talent out of his van. He and the Mantis, Jeremy Coney, managed to put 50 runs together to win the test against Pakistan, despite facing up to a youthful Wasim Akram, who had earlier knocked out Lance Cairns.
I'll skirt past Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones' partnership of 467 against Sri Lanka in 1991, mainly because it doesn't quite have the folk hero status of the others.
Now, if you want a partnership that showed more bravado than a certain local cricketer who was in the Globe on Saturday night in cricket spikes, how about Danny Morrison's wonderful supporting role to Nathan Astle against England in 1997? Morrison's batting was more famous for its brevity previous to this match, but he showed a wonderful rearguard action against the, ahem, "might" of an English bowling attack containing the likes of Dominic Cork and Alan Mullaly.
And what did he get as thanks from the selectors? A "don't come Monday" message - and that was the end of Morrison's international career.
Geoff Allott gave his best shot at reaching tailender fame with his unbeaten 0 off 77 balls against South Africa in 1999. Yes, 77 balls - you read that right. He does lose style points, however, for the contrived nature of his 0, as he was turning down singles towards the end of his innings.
Possibly my favourite New Zealand partnership though, was also at Dunedin - this time in a one-day match against Australia. A name formerly mentioned in this column, Danny Morrison, was joined at the crease by Willie Watson with the score at a disgraceful 97. Obviously, a win against the odds was not on the cards as Australia's total was 160 runs away.
We had been allowed to leave school early to go and watch the match, so needless to say, we were more than a touch disappointed by New Zealand's feeble showing.
But Morrison and Watson put some warmth into the chilly Dunedin day as they dispatched Australian offspinner Tim May for a six each, and a few fours for good measure. Sure, the innings was over at 129, but at least we left the ground with something.
And at least Watson finally had something else to be remembered by, instead of being the guy who admitted he felt like he was "bowling in the highlights" when he was dispatched over the Eden Park grandstands by Viv Richards.
