I’d just like to start by referencing the pathetic journalism from the SABC last night when reporting the loss of Jonty Rhodes to the World Cup. Altaaf Khazi needs a fat slap for his gratuitously schlock statements like: ”South Africa’s dream is in tatters”. What a load of horseshit. It was cheap sensationalism, and once again highlights the glaringly poor standards of the national broadcaster when it comes to anchor people.
Sorry. I was about to begin this article when Khazi and his self-worshipping, bored drawl forced me turn around and watch his inept report. I’ve had enough of idiots ruining what should be good sports coverage, and at the moment Khazi is my Enemy Number One.
But on to the cricket. It was a sad day as Jonty Rhodes was withdrawn from the World Cup with a broken metatarsal bone in his right hand, an injury he sustained when dropping a catch against Kenya on Wednesday. But the day was immeasurably brightened with the news that Graeme Smith is on standby, and while I’m sorry for Rhodes, and will be the first to sing his praises, I feel Smith was left out of the World Cup unfairly, and justice appears to have been served in his case.
I’m not going to eulogise about Rhodes — his career speaks for itself. The man who put South Africa on the cricketing map. The man who has won more games for South Africa than I’ve had cups of tea. The greatest fielder ever to have set foot on a cricket field (sorry Colin Bland — it just wasn’t as tough back then). And one of the nicest guys of the game.
The only thing that distresses me here is that he won’t get to play his swansong, and his career is probably now at an end. It had to come sometime, but it could have held off for a few more weeks. Dropping a catch against Kenya and never playing again has got to rate up there with all time worst ways to end your ODI career.
But, as they’ll tell you, that’s cricket.
What happens now is Graeme Smith comes into the side, providing not just an extra solid bat at the top of the order, but another left-hander as well. It will be interesting to see what happens with the batting order, as some are suggesting putting Smith in at three, Kallis at four and Dippenaar at five, but although he’s played superbly in his customary position thus far, Gary Kirsten has showed that he can do the job as well — if not better — at three. Having Gazza come in with a wicket down is such a bonus it makes my head ache, and then you’ve still got to get through Kallis and Dippenaar.
Sadly for Rhodes, the batting looks a lot stronger. Even the, dare I say it, fielding looks better, as now you have Smith in the slip cordon, where he excels. Smith also offers the option of some surprisingly good off-spin, and if Nicky Boje’s performances are anything to go by, then I’m sure it will be greatly needed.
On the news front, Pakistan’s Rashid Latif has withdrawn a statement in which he said he was going to sue Australian Adam Gilchrist for smearing his good name, by implying he (Latif) had made racist comments on the field. A heated moment, it would seem, which has cooled.
But on to the cricket, and an excellent victory it was for the Black Caps over the Windies, setting up a red-hot encounter on Sunday when they face South Africa in a crunch clash which both sides desperately need to win. The win for the Kiwis yesterday was significant in that they’d never previously won an ODI on South African soil.
Here’s what happened.
Game 8: New Zealand vs West Indies, Port Elizabeth, day
In Game 8 at Port Elizabeth the West Indies won the toss and sent New Zealand in to bat, on a wicket that steadily deteriorated from ball one. I reckon it was the toss which lost the Windies the game, as they would have found batting first a far easier experience than the one they suffered batting second.
Which makes the decision to send the Kiwis in a strange one at best. Perhaps Carl Hooper had no indication that the pitch would start breaking up and providing variable bounce, or I’m sure he would have decided to bat.
New Zealand dispensed with their regular opening bats in a surprise move, bringing bespectacled spinner Daniel Vettori and captain Stephen Fleming on instead. The gamble almost came off as Fleming raced to 25 off 25 balls, and the partnership to 42 off less than seven overs, but Mervyn Dillon got him when Fleming spooned one back to him, giving him the first wicket.
Vettori didn’t last much longer, and neither did first game hero Scott Styris, but demoted opener Nathan Astle and big hitter Chris Cairns came together and forged a slow 66 run partnership, which while not spectacular at least steadied the innings, which, at one point was teetering on the brink of disaster.
But after Astle was unfairly given out caught behind by umpire Rudi Koertzen (he didn’t nick it), and Cairns attempted one over long off only to find the huge Mitts O’ Merv (Dillon), it looked as if the Kiwis were headed for an early shower in the context of the World Cup. Lou Vincent and Chris Harris didn’t stick around long, at a time when Wavell Hinds was wreaking havoc in the Kiwi middle order, but then the rescue came in the form of wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum and eventual man of the match Andre Adams.
The two put on a World Cup record stand of 53* off 43 balls for the eighth wicket for New Zealand, with crisp, clean, long hitting which ultimately took the game away from the Windies. The two came together with the score at 188/7, with less than seven overs to go, and had the Windies bagged one of these two it would have been over in a matter of balls, with all possibility of being bowled out before the end of the fifty overs, or for less than 200.
Instead New Zealand ended on a creditable 241/7, which proved to be 20 runs too much for the West Indies.
The Windies got off to a good start, but not a spectacular one — they were kept pegged down by some tight bowling from paceman Shane Bond and seamer Andre Adams. Chris Gayle had just started to get into his stride, hitting three consecutive boundaries off Adams, before getting a nick to Stephen Fleming off Adams for just 22.
This started the rot, with the next four wickets going down in the space of ten runs, knocking the Windies out of the game. Brian Lara was a victim of his own greed and a superhuman throw from Chris Cairns which hit one stump, when Lara turned for a third. Lou Vincent chased it down initially to within a few feet of the rope, and bizarrely threw it back to Cairns at square leg instead of at the stumps. Lara saw the interchange and hared off on a third run, but Cairns threw a bullet in which had to hit to get Lara out — and it did. The danger man was gone, and the Black Caps could breathe again.
From there it was a procession, with Adams and Jacob Oram bowling out of their skins and being greatly assisted by balls keeping low, or rearing their nasty heads off a length, and Hinds, Hooper, Chanderpaul and Ricardo Powell all dropped like heat-drugged flies.
But the Windies were rescued from total disaster by Ramnaresh Sarwan (75) and keeper Ridley Jacobs (50) putting on a record World Cup seventh-wicket partnership of 98, beating the previous best set by Stephen Fleming and Chris Harris against Pakistan in the last world cup. The going was slow, and superb, gut-wrenching fielding prevented many boundaries, and with the wicket slowing and the Kiwis tightening the screws with Daniel Vettori the task proved too much, and the Windies capitulated quietly in the end.
Requiring 24 off the last over, they scraped three, with Mervyn Dillon the last man out to a full ball from Adams, giving him his fourth wicket and a return of 4/44, and elevating him to top wicket-taker of the World Cup so far. Jacob Oram weighed in with 2/26 off his ten, and the only bowler to get pasted was Chris Cairns, who came on for just one over which got hit all over the place by Sarwan and Jacobs for 21 runs, and he wasn’t seen again.
To their credit the Windies got it close, but it was the dramatic top order collapse that saw them lose the game in the first fifteen overs. The difference was only 20 runs, but the Kiwis took a step closer to qualifying for the Super Six, and the pressure is definitely on South Africa now to beat them on Sunday.
Summary
In all it was not a spectacular match, but there were plenty of boundaries and wickets to keep the (rather small) crowd of just over 9 000 happy in the Windy City.
The most significant thing to come from the game was the fact that the Kiwis now have a sniff, and it has all levelled out at the top of the Pool B table. South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand have all got one loss and one win, although South Africa is far ahead of the other two on net run rate (the nasty little bitch who put South Africa out of the ’99 World Cup, if you recall).
Sri Lanka still have a game in hand, and seeing as they’re playing it against Bangladesh today, you would have them as favourites to top the table after the first two games. So it’s a real scrap amongst the other three at the moment, and one which both New Zealand and South Africa will be hoping to sort out on Sunday.
It’s going to be a Jozi runs fest if you ask me, and if you’re anywhere near you’ll want to be there.
On to the next.
Cheers,
The Twelfth Man