Saturday, August 29, 2009

New Zealand v Sri Lanka

The test series gets almost no attention in the Sunday papers today. Seems they just can't get interested in this poor level of cricket and who can blame them?

One of the papers suggests Vettori may not be just our best bowler - but also our best batsman? Of course he has more freedom batting at number 8 than say an opener - but that this can be seriously discussed is an indictment on our batting.

Blogging

I love cricket and hope to have heaps to say on this blog. Of course you don't know, maybe my cricketing thoughts will expire more quickly than I expect.

I don't see many great cricket blogs around.

There was one - briefly. The Black Cap bowler Iain O'Brien blogged for a while on a blog he set up himself. When he began it, about two years ago, it was raw and real. He said what he really thought, he was honest about the team's ups and downs, about his opponents, the crowds. He swore and quoted others swearing. He was funny and revealing.

Then there was a comment about crowds that got picked up in the press and made a fuss about. The cricket authorities then ruled he had to run his blog posts past the media manager. They said it would make no difference to his posts. But suddenly the blog was cleaned up. No revelations, no swearing, no criticism of anything. Just the sort of bland talk about nothing that is typical of what the players say when interviewed in the media. Just banalities and cliches.

Iain O'Brien is clearly capable of independent thought. But don't worry - they soon bashed that out of him.

New Zealand v Sri Lanka

As I write this the Black Caps are about to lose again to Sri Lanka.

What a depressing tour it has been for NZ fans. Really there hasn't been a single performance to be cheery about. Poor batting, poor bowling.

The 2-0 result will probably put New Zealand second to bottom in the ICC test rankings, ahead only of Bangladesh. And deservedly so.

Hard to be anything but down about that.