Friday, 8 December 2006

Day one

What a great start to the home season. I couldn't believe how well the New Zealanders played and was surprised when I turned on the radio this morning and heard the day dismissed with a few words about poor pitch conditions and Sri Lanka's "average" pedigree. Having watched the whole day's play I was rather unimpressed with that assessment. And I am sure the Sri Lankans would have been even less impressed with the assessment of their talent. A side with Murali, Vaas, Sangakkara and Jayawardene can hardly be called "average". Especially when they arrived in the country with such great recent form.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Richard Boock and Jonathan Millmow didn't agree with the idiots on the radio.

From my perspective the New Zealanders bowled superbly yesterday and there wasn't a moment when they let the pressure drop. In contrast the Sri Lankan bowlers threatened only in patches. Malinga and Vaas looked very dangerous at the start of the New Zealand batting effort but it didn't last long. After a couple of overs Malinga went from bowling very fast (hovering around 147 kmph), accurately and with swing to bowling fastish (142kmph) and wildly while Farveez Maharoof didn't look nearly as threatening at first change.

Matthew Sinclair made a great impression on his return. He seemed to have more time than any of the 15 batsmen on display yesterday. Unfortunately his one poor shot of the day led to his downfall. Cumming struggled in the early overs (nicking one no-ball to slip) but began to look more comfortable as the pressure eased.

Sadly the weather forecast indicates that not much cricket is likely today. If play does get under way then expect Sri Lanka to come out more strongly and anxious to make up for yesterday's drubbing.

2 comments:

Tim said...

I was fairly surprised by how poorly Sri Lanka batted, especially given their success in England and the parallels between conditions there and in New Zealand. But I was delighted to see Shane Bond, one of my favourite non-English players, rip out the heart of Sri Lanka's top order.

Anonymous said...

I'll wait until match end before making comment. But good assesment of the action thus far.
Its been said before but ill say it again (are you listening richard boock?!):
Shane Bond is the finest fast bowler NZ have produced since Richard Hadlee. Pity his career wont go as long but its beautiful to watch while it lasts.