Guest Barista Shaun
That’s what we were. Lank. We had good reason to believe that we could win the Cup, and an unofficial ranking of third represents both a creditable outcome and a fair reflection of the team’s ability. Meh.
To have lost in the manner we did really does make you want to puke. This team is not the All Blacks, and of course we should not demand success in the same way. But we had the reasonable expectation that we would be better than England. Our final two performances were of a standard right down there with the worst put in by Vaughan’s team.
It is impossible to dismiss the effect of Australia ’s destruction of the Black Caps in their final Super 8 match. The team tried to downplay it afterwards, but to claim that they were still realistic contenders after losing by 215 runs just sounded hollow. Alongside this, the fact was that Sri Lanka had thrashed New Zealand in their previous two encounters – once during the tournament, and once at Eden Park. We have a team psychologist, not a magician.
Jayawardene produced a fantastic innings all right, but we should have had him three times before he got to 70. We are continually told that the Black Caps are an excellent fielding side, but this has been disproved time and again this summer.
To the chase, and 290 was just so difficult against this attack…
… Fleming gamely tried to get his feet moving against Vaas, but couldn’t do the same against Malinga
… Taylor will win many games for this team, but he was made to look inept in this contest
… Styris was as good as he could be in the Caribbean, and in the form he was in the shot that he played was on. You can bet that feels more sick than anyone that it didn’t clear Jayawardene’s head and go to the boundary
… Oram, well, maybe it wasn’t a catch, but he should have stuck around and waited for the umpire to decide
… McCullum needs to learn the difference between positivity and impetuosity
… A sad farewell to Macca, but a minor victory for him in the fact that we believed that it was still possible while he was there
… Fulton showed that he deserves a place in this team, but this was a flaccid dismissal
… Daniel will find his batting in the same way that he rediscovered his bowling three years ago
… Franklin showed his true place in the side – a middle order bat who bowls when the conditions are in his favour
… Patel should always be in this team, unless we find better seamers than we have now. This, truly, is the problem.
Anyway, it’s all going to be different under John Wright and Dan isn’t it? Supporting this team is nothing if not a lesson in life’s undulations…