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New Zealand won their first match in the World Cup today. After being set 210 for victory, the Kiwis reached the target with 54 balls and 6 wickets in hand. The star performers for New Zealand were Scott Styris (87 not out and 2 wickets) and Jacob Oram (63 not out and 1 wicket).
After winning the toss, and after their successful run chases against Australia recently, Stephen Fleming had no hesitation in electing to field first. The result was early English wickets falling and the score reduced to 52-3, before Pieterson and Collingwood came up with a much needed partnership of 81 runs. However, both departed quickly and the England suffered a major middle order collapse as Flintoff went for a duck. In a matter of a few balls, England scorecard went from 133-3 to 138-7. And then came Nixon and Plunkett, two unlikely saviors. Both remained unbeaten and took the final score to 209-7.
New Zealand, on their part started disastrously, with Vincent, Fleming and Taylor departing in quick succession to leave the Kiwi middle order a huge task to win the match. At 19-3, Vaughan must be thinking that England have an excellent chance to win this match. However Styris and McMillan had other ideas. They kept the scorecard ticking and just when New Zealand looked like they were gaining momentum, Panesar got McMillan to heave a catch at deep cover. In came Jacob Oram and shared an unbeaten stand of 138 runs with Styris to seal the match.
They have always been the underdogs in any world cup that they played. And this one is not going to be any different. New Zealand has never had any “STAR” players in their team, and this squad holds no surprises as well. OK, a lot would disagree with me here, so I will mention Shane Bond as a STAR player. Although New Zealand does have a lot of bits and pieces players. And this is where the Kiwis excel in. Where they lag in star power, they more than make up for in players who do their jobs day-in and day-out. McMillan, Vettori, Oram, Styris and Fulton to name a few. Its always a collective effort for the Kiwis and thats what really works for them.
2. England
The country that created cricket has never won a World Cup. To a stranger this would be almost unbelievable, but to the cricket followers this should not come as a surprise. England has never had an invincible ODI squad and this one holds no surprises either. However, after defeating the Aussies with a depleted attack, England must surely be soaring high in confidence. The key to the English performance will be Flintoff and Pieterson. These two can rip apart any team when its their day. The rest of the team will have to play around these two guys.
3. West Indies
Last but not least, the host nation. And who else but Brian Lara will hold the key to the West Indian campaign in this World Cup. I believe that West Indies have a terrific squad who will definitely spring a few surprises and might make it to the semi-finals. They have had a far better one day record in 2006 and playing at home might just give that little bit of edge. Chanderpaul, Gayle and Sarwan need to support Lara in the batting. The bowling is very inexperienced and will be the weakness for West Indies.
After watching yesterday’s batting effort by Australia, I thought that its about time that they batted like World Champions. However, that was only the beginning of the drama that followed for the next 50 overs. If Australia cannot defend 346 in a limited overs match then no other team has any hope of defending any total. A complete whitewash has never happened in the last decade for Australia. But being defeated in this manner is a shame. And that too to a team that was a couple of weeks demolished in the CB series. As they say revenge is sweet and nothing can be sweeter to the Kiwis than the result of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
This result once again proves that Australia are not the invincibles that they used to be. And if losing the 2 matches in the CB Cup final series was “supposedly” a fluke, then this 3 - 0 loss should put all that to rest. Australia are human again and this will definitely lead to a terrific World Cup where anybody has a chance of winning. The grounds are going to be small, the pitches are going to be dead and there far more dangerous batsmen than McMillan or Fulton or Oram. Australia better be prepared for a sound thrashing which is definintely due to them.
Oh how the mighty have fallen. How the arrogant have been taught a lesson in their own backyard. I cant forget the recent spate of ads that were showing on Channel Nine during the CB cup. The ads showed the backyards of Aussie players and the Kiwis and Poms. It went something like this, the backyards for the Aussie players were terrific with plenty of grass and open space to play cricket. The backyard of the English was a shabby area with the shape of wickets drawn on a wall and there were garbage bins everywhere. Well if that kind of a backyard is needed to defeat the Australians, then I dont think any cricketer would mind to have something like that. It has been a massive collapse from the top for the Aussies. This was in the making for the last 12 months since their Ashes defeat in England. The question is are they good enough to defend their
World Cup title. Only time will tell.
We also should not forget the terrific fightback by the Kiwis. In the first match they restricted Australia to a measly 149 and just when people had any doubts about the wicket, they went ahead and won the match by 10 wickets. In this second match Australia came real hard at the New Zealand bowlers and went ahead to score 336. New Zealand went one step further and chased down this massive total with 5 wickets and 9 balls to spare. The question that Australia need to ask itself is how come with one of the best bowling attacks in the world, they have been the victims of 3 highest run chases. And until they can answer this vital question, this World Cup would extend the nightmare that the selectors must be having.
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New Zealand won their first match in the World Cup today. After being set 210 for victory, the Kiwis reached the target with 54 balls and 6 wickets in hand. The star performers for New Zealand were Scott Styris (87 not out and 2 wickets) and Jacob Oram (63 not out and 1 wicket).
Oh how the mighty have fallen. How the arrogant have been taught a lesson in their own backyard. I cant forget the recent spate of ads that were showing on Channel Nine during the CB cup. The ads showed the backyards of Aussie players and the Kiwis and Poms. It went something like this, the backyards for the Aussie players were terrific with plenty of grass and open space to play cricket. The backyard of the English was a shabby area with the shape of wickets drawn on a wall and there were garbage bins everywhere. Well if that kind of a backyard is needed to defeat the Australians, then I dont think any cricketer would mind to have something like that. It has been a massive collapse from the top for the Aussies. This was in the making for the last 12 months since their Ashes defeat in England. The question is are they good enough to defend their