Tag Archives: daniel vettori

It’s Bond. Shane Bond.

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In case you are wondering, I have always wanted to use that title.

Anyway, one of my favorite players, Shane Bond, is back playing international cricket. He almost messed it up by conceding 16 runs in the first over against a rampaging Dilshan, but pulled it back to concede 27 off 4 overs, including just four runs in the penultimate over. New Zealand eked out a 3-run victory. All’s well that ends well.

I wonder if we will see Bond back to playing Tests. He might add some strength to a bowling order that is among the worst in the Test business. The Kiwis have a lot of promising players, but they have been promising for a long time without delivering anything consistently. That said, Bond is 34 years old and that is really old in fast bowling years.

There was some commentary today on how the Sri Lankan lower order is brittle, but I think that is silly. A 20-over match with 142 runs to get. Your top order should do the work, which they kind of did by reaching the half-way mark by the 8th over. But then they should consolidate, which they didn’t by throwing away wickets.

Not a bad match. Daniel Vettori continues to surprise me. Any other captain would have been beaten down by the repeated failures of his team. But this man keeps going on and on.

When will the Kiwis Stop Making Excuses for Their Top Order?

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New Zealand were saved from a terribly embarrassing score by being rescued from the depths of 6 for 60 to a respectable, if hardly intimidating, total of 279. Daniel Vettori and Ryder played well, scoring centuries each, though the latter with little help from the clueless O’Brien who almost sold his partner down the river by getting stumped out. Apparently O’Brien was looking for a single, though why he felt the need to leave his crease blows my mind.

The Kiwi’s habit of having Vettori be the superstar batsman in addition to leading the team and bowling the most overs is, to be very kind, crazy as bats. It reminds me of India in the early 1990′s, boasting the supposedly best batting lineup in the world, but having to be rescued each time by Kapil Dev and the tail to worry the scorers. New Zealand seems to be in the same state now, with Vettori and McCullum the best batsmen in the team.

The problem with these kind of rescue innings is that it diverts attention from the ineffectiveness of the players who are supposed to perform. If New Zealand wins this match, which is a real possibility, the batting collapse will be brushed under the carpet and the team never improves. And one day, the lower order does not rescue the team, there is an ignominious collapse (England’s 51), all hell breaks loose and there are no ready replacements.

In the Kiwi’s favor, maybe we should say that perhaps the wicket was sticky and India did put them in. Still it is an old story that keeps repeating, and New Zealand has to recognize that to improve as a team. Now, if they could only get Shane Bond back…