Middlesex CCC
Middlesex wickets column breaks WI at Nelson
Man of the match
By London Leprechaun
February 17 2015
The first report from MTWD special reporter in NZ. Part tourist report, part match report, part Middesex love in. With added attractions of sightings of Lord Nelson, radio in New Zealand and some explanation of why over rates are so bad in this tournanment. You might need some stamina for this one so if you want the full deal read the whole article. If you just want the match report it is about halfway down!
Sunday 15th February
A trouble free trip thanks to impeccable service from Korean Air and a much more efficient Auckland airport then two years ago. But NZ is a long way away twenty hours flying across the world – a whole lot of it desert. Having used my bio UK passport to swing through immigration in five minutes; wait less then five minutes for my bag and even have a trouble free path through the bio security system I found myself at the domestic terminal on a lovely sunny warm (sorry!) morning with lots of time to spare. The only downside to that was finding out the details about the huge England loss. Sounds like everything went wrong in this match – maybe flying over the desert for ten hours was preferable! And I’m glad I’m not seeing England only in this whirlwind tour! Tomorrow need to get my Irish supporting hat on. I do have a Leprechaun with me.
Wandering round the domestic terminal with lots of time to spare it was nice to see the UAE squad a number of whom have rather more Antipodean accents then Arabian. I thought they might be on my flight as they are playing in Nelson on Thursday but they hopped off to Napier maybe for a bit of sightseeing. Perhaps they have more confidence in their match against Zimbabwe then I do with England against the Kiwis on Friday.
A few cricketing type people wandering round – Gulliver sports bags rather give them away – it will be interesting to see if people are following specific teams or doing what I am doing – wandering round nice places in NZ as well as watching matches.
Nelson itself is a very pretty town with lots of art deco style buildings, a good looking river and a striking Cathedral in Trafalgar Square. It is a bit ironic that the British name for the town celebrates a great military victory, while the Maori name is Haven of Peace. I think the latter suits it better. There are all the now familiar trappings of major sports events in town – signs at the airport, branded buses, banners on lampstands, and dressed up shops. But I get the sense that this town is so relaxed that it is unlikely to get world cup fever. A mild rise in temperature seems more likely.
If you want some more touristy pictures including the stunning harbour and coast go to this Google link. If you just want to hear about how West Indies failed to pull off an upset read on.
Monday 16th February – West Indies v Ireland.
The day started cloudy and a bit cool – a good day for bowling; a Murts type of day. But even on the short drive to the ground the sun started coming out and it is one of those days when you wander what to do at the toss.
Having braved the Nelson rush hour – about three cars at one set of lights was the worst it got, I got to the ground about an hour early. Parking was a doodle, security efficient and friendly and the ground itself was a picture. Most of it is a grassy embankment, with a few temporary stands but like most New Zealand grounds its setting is spectacular, ringed by mountains.
The ground filled up pretty fast – there are obvious Irish supporters – very green; outnumbering the obvious WI supporters, but the locals seem split – seemingly based on whether there is Irish heritage in their background or they have enjoyed holidays in the WI. I got chatting to an expat Englishmen who is representing his Irish wife.
There were also lots of people in bright orange T shirts. In case you have missed what this is all about, a local beer company has put up a $1M pool to be shared by anyone dressed in that shirt who catches a six single handed. Good marketing that – people have to buy the shirt to enter the competition! There have been two catches so far, so I guess those two people are willing everyone else to drop them from now on.
The ground had done its best to create a festival atmosphere; there were volunteers everywhere with snazzy shirts and foam fingers, they were giving away flags for Ireland and WI; calypso and Irish music was playing, Lord Nelson was wandering around, and just before the start they even had groups of drummers cranking up the atmosphere. Now we know from a little UK event in 2012 that drums are the perfect instrument for drumming up atmosphere and this was no exception. The two flags were paraded by school kids before the anthems – more people joined in with the Irish anthem then the calypso WI one. And in case you were wondering how Ireland deals with the fact that it is an all Ireland team, including the North, they play the Republic anthem but the flag is a Cricket Ireland one and the ones they were giving away are green clover ones. It struck me during the ceremony that this was a match between two constructed nations. Not that that lessens their credibility!
As for the match you have probably watched it, listened to it, seen highlights and possibly listened to an interview with Ed Joyce. This was being trailed during the NZ/Scotland commentary but only for the BBC. Over here we got the farming programme in the lunch interval. It is an oddity that Radio sport NZ (the equivalent of talk sport) seems to also be the farming channel and whenever there is no sport we are learning about national Lamb Day and arguing about whether there will be a drought. But I digress.
I meant to say that I will not go into ball by ball detail of the match. But the essence of the game was that Ireland on the whole bowled better and fielded outstandingly except for dropping Simmons on nought – minor error! So the WI should not have been able to recover from 93/5 especially as Gayle was so subdued and took up so much time. But Simmons and Sammy played especially well- carefully at first then took the fielders on. They showed how much time there is in 50 over matches to recover from poor starts; something England could learn from maybe.
Ireland’s death bowling was not especially good – too many wide full tosses dispatched. It almost seems as people are trying to bowl yorkers but getting them wrong. Maybe not just a problem for England.
But there were a few other interesting moves by Porterfield: he had spinners bowling in the power plays and did not always have all the fielders he could out on the boundary. Having more fielders in, all keen and committed and good, smothered the singles so the WI could not rotate strike and probably led to the daft run out. Ireland had three spinners playing and Andy Balbirnie did not even bowl. All of them bowled well including our own Paul Stirling looking pretty trim – why does he now bowl more for us? As the commentators said having one of your key batsmen able to bowl consistently helps the balance of your side. Young Andy McBrine looked very composed bowling to Gayle in a power play – wonder if he has a County yet . . .
Because of the spinners the Irish over rate was particularly good but we still only finished just in time. There are numerous delays in these games: official drinks breaks, unofficial drinks breaks; even lengthy injury treatments – for both sides. Not to mention having to wait for the over enthusiastic DJ to stop the music, which he seemed to feel was necessary at every slight stoppage. Some of it was quite clever: when Niall O’Brien changed his bat, we had Batman playing. After one sumptuous Paul Stirling off drive we got Smooth Operator; a spectacular six from Ed Joyce was greeted with I’m having a party. But some of it was unneccesary.
The Irish innings was a joy to watch with the added bonus of the heavy Middlesex contribution. (You will need to know that for the purposes of this tournament I have officially adopted Ed Joyce back into the Middlesex fold.)
From the first ball of the innings, which went for 4 wides, Ireland never looked in trouble. Both openers were careful to start but ran well and punished every bad ball of which there were too many. Paul Stirling looked in wonderful form – playing most of his shots along the ground and when he went aerial he went big – very big. The orange t shirts did their best to catch them but they were pretty rubbish. One chap nearly got one of them but instead crashed into a group of people just in front of me. In a nice touch when it was returned Darren Sammy took it one handed showing how it should be done. Mind you that was probably the best bit of WI fielding. They were poor in the field and radio Kevin would have been very concerned with how quiet they were in the field.
When Porterfield was out we had the big Middlesex contribution to the win plus the privilege of watching Ed Joyce at his sublime best. Even thumping blows for six look silky! The innings was perfectly paced. Even a few tight overs never got the run rate beyond six. There was one moment of slight concern when Stirlo top edged a ball into his helmet. New helmet needed but sensibly the team doctor came on as well to check him out. No problem though as he hit the next ball but one almost over the embankment. Everything looked in order for a thumping win, when to everyone’s surprise Paul was out caught behind to a ball not doing very much. A shame that he could not get his 100 but it was a beautiful innings.
But Ed Joyce continued his merry way and Niall O’Brien showed that quick scoring runs in the family. Ireland were galloping to victory when Joyce was out trying to force a quick the end of the innings. It then looked as is Andy Balbirnie might complete the Middlesex connection by being in at the end but after two thumping off drives he was also out trying to force the pace and Ireland had their little wobble. But it was left to the O’Brien brothers to make sure nothing silly happened.
Most of the ground by then had become Irish supporters – I think the manner they played the match from the start endeared them to the neutrals. Sadly the WI look shot.
I’m almost tempted to hop up to Brisbane to see the next Irish match. But instead it’s off to Wellington after a spot of exploring this beautiful part of the world. Can England match the intent and positivity of Ireland?
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:03:04:14:05:23 by BarmierKev.
I think most nations could be said to be constructed. In some cases constructed, dismembered and reconstructed again, sometimes migrating (as in Poland, westward!) in the process.
Paul Stirling had back problems last season and didn't bowl much, if at all, once he got into the Championship team. If he can stay fully fit and bowl a decent number of overs it would indeed help the balance of the team, though it would not help Ollie.
Adelaide
Barmy Kev
I'm only here for the tele
By the way- the head of Nelson Cricket Association is Richard Hayward, who played many second XI matches for Middlesex in the 70's as well as fc cricket for Hants, Somerset, and Central Districts.
[www.stuff.co.nz]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:02:17:13:15:30 by chunkyinargyll.
This is the third time in as many World Cups that Ireland have beaten a major Test nation, so hopefully Sky will not take the view that the novelty is wearing off and will repeat the match at some point on a Sky Sports Classics programme.
Lovely report Viv, enjoy NZ and the cricket.
National Lamb day? Thats a new one!
Enjoy the rest of your adventure,look forward to the next instalment
