Toothless New Zealand are battered again in the Twenty20
June 13, 2008
England (127-1) beat New Zealand (123-9) by 9 wickets.
New Zealand’s tour of England is beginning to resemble Daniel Flynn’s mouth- damaged, partially ruined and in need of surgery. The momentum that England generated through the 2-0 test series victory flowed through their veins in Manchester today as they confidently asserted themselves and trounced the depleted Kiwis.
Paul Collingwood won the toss for the home side and elected to field, with a few menacing clouds lurking overhead as the coin hit the dry, hard wicket. It was hoped that Collingwood would have a chance to regain some lost form with the bat, but in the end he wasn’t needed.
Stuart Broad and James Anderson, still only 22 and 25 years old respectively, opened up the bowling with pace and vibrancy. They restricted Brendon McCullum to barely any strike during the power play overs, hitting him hard on the helmet along the way. McCullum was unusually subdued and muffled, which says a lot for the bowlers, with Anderson even bowling him a maiden.
The normally prolific wicket keeper batsmen had already seen his opening partner, Jamie How, edge to 1st slip from Anderson’s first delivery, and then James Marshall snick one behind to give Broad a piece of the action as well.
A little fightback surfaced through Ross Taylor’s clean hitting in his 25 from 18 balls, but a beauty from Collingwood accounted for him and it turned out the Taylor-McCullum partnership of 31 would be the biggest of the innings.
Luke Wright, another young bowler, yorked McCullum to really quash any hopes that New Zealand would register a competitive total and after that it became a procession of black suited batsmen heading back to the dressing room.
Graeme Swann’s intelligent off spin brought two more wickets, including Peter Fulton who to be brutally honest, resembles a walking wicket. Fulton wasn’t scheduled to play, as Jacob Oram missed out at the last minute through injury, and will surely be replaced on Sunday for the first 50 over international.
England’s reply could have been set to background music, maybe someone like The Eagles, such was the ease and tranquility of it. The song clips that greeted each boundary came thick and fast anyway, with Ian Bell playing some stylish cricket shots in his unbeaten 60. The Warwickshire man made New Zealand’s ordinary attack look well, very ordinary, and you began to see why the tourists haven’t won any of their last seven Twenty20 games.
Luke Wright did look a little tetchy and nervous early on in his innings, but managed to get to a brisk 24 before trying one aerial shot too many. Kevin Pieterson then joined Bell, and despite struggling with Vettori’s spin, as he did in the Test Series, was there at the end with 42 on the board from 41 deliveries and few risks.
Vettori will feel that he has a big say on how Pieterson will do in the upcoming one day series however, as he sometimes looks like he really troubles the England number 3.
The end came two and a half overs shy of the allotted amount and it wasn’t the spellbinding, dramatic climax that the bumper crowd had hoped for. This may prove to be a problem with Twenty20 cricket. As teams learn the nuances and skills required to succeed, many games may not be quite as exciting as the supporters want. With all the money and interest being ploughed into the format, it is important to remain watchful in case people become a little tired with the product, such is the saturation of coverage at the moment.
In the two reports I read for the Derbyshire- Yorkshire and Gloucestershire-Worcestershire games on Thursday, both commented on how low the crowds were. It was noted that the attendances were well down on last year. Just an important reminder to everyone involved in cricket who are getting excited about the Twenty20 format- bubbles can burst, and people can lose interest as quickly and easily as they gained it.
The 1st One Day International from Chester Le Street starts this Sunday at 10.45 am.
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