That was Quick Pt. 2

Over the past fortnight, the Covid authorities have been dealing with a new outbreak based around Papatoetoe High School in Auckland. The source of the original infection hasn’t been positively identified, and there were increasing numbers of cases being found through testing. But it was nothing to really worry about, as the outbreak was contained, all the affected people were self-isolating, and proper protocols were being followed – the school had been closed, deep-cleaned, sites of interest investigated, and casual contacts traced and tested.

 

At least, that’s what was reported in the news. But, it turns out, people who said they were self-isolating were doing just that: saying they were self-isolating, whilst going about their business as usual. Yep, another case has popped up, related to the high school, and it turns out this individual has been spreading it about the place like nobody’s business. Genius level: Einstein.

Auckland has returned to Level 3 for one week, and the rest of New Zealand will return to Level 2, whilst the consequences of this are traced, tested and isolated.

Once again, events are being cancelled across the country. The international cricket we were hoping to get to this week will still go ahead, but without crowds, so that’s one event crossed off the list already.

Last time this happened, we were able to return to Level 1 quite quickly. Let’s hope this stays true this time. Bill Bailey and Crowded House are both only two weeks away…

That Was Quick

 ...As the actress said to the bishop.

Yes, our latest change to Covid-19 alert level 2 lasted just three days outside Auckland. Auckland, which was at alert level 3, is still at level 2, with a review on Monday 22nd. Seven cases have been identified to date from the latest outbreak, all connected. 

Now we're back to "normal" again, it looks like those events I was worried about last week are back on. Let's just hope there's not another outbreak before then. Bill Bailey is already in New Zealand for his upcoming tour, so chances of this going ahead are good.

In an act of outrageous optimism, I've bought tickets for next year's Cricket World Cup. Six of the games are to be played in Wellington's Basin Reserve, so there's an earlybird bulk deal to be had. 

Super Smash

We’ve been following the two Wellington teams, Blaze (women) and Firebirds (men), throughout New Zealand’s T20 competition, Super Smash. Both teams won last year, and are hoping to do a repeat this year as well. Each team plays the other five twice, once at home and once away. We’d missed a couple of games over Christmas as we were off doing the Milford Track, but were around for the later stages of the tournament, attending four of the matches.

The match format this year has been double-headers throughout, i.e. women’s and men’s matches on the same day. Some fixtures have put the women’s match first, others have put the men on first. This seems to have been dictated by whether the ground has lights to allow play in the evening as well as during the day. At the Basin Reserve, the women’s matches have gone first. The matches have all been at weekends, and attendance has been pretty good, especially for the Wellington Anniversary weekend, when there were matches on both Sunday and Monday. The weather has been reasonable as well – sometimes a bit cloudy, but none of the matches have been shortened due to poor weather conditions.

At the end of the round robin, the Firebirds were top of the table. This means automatic qualification for the final, and also that the final would be held in Wellington. The Blaze weren’t quite as successful, having topped the table throughout most of the competition; a couple of late losses knocked them down to third, and they went into the play-off against the Auckland Hearts to determine who would face the Canterbury Magicians. Fortunately they came through that with relative ease, and we therefore had a double Wellington/Canterbury final at the Basin.

It was a lovely day. Nicola had orchestra in the morning so wasn’t able to make it for the opening of the innings, but arrived shortly after. First up, the Blaze came out to bat. On what proved to be quite a difficult wicket they amassed a total of 125 – not a convincing display, and Sophie Devine in particular was playing far more cautiously than we’re used to seeing; this possibly due to the fact that her previous two innings hadn’t been quite as electric as we’re used to from her. Once she’d gone for 47, most of the remaining batters tumbled in quick succession, and no-one was able to put together a really good partnership. Melie Kerr held on until almost the end, finishing on 31, but lacked any support.

The Blaze started well in bowling to the Magicians, however, and for a while it looked like the game was in their hands. The required run rate was climbing higher and higher, hitting 13 at one point, and wickets tumbled with regularity – including a hat-trick to Melie Kerr in the 10^th over – but meanwhile, Kate Ebrahim began quietly building a total, and when she was joined by Lea Tahuhu it seemed the pair were immovable. Still, they weren’t on top of the run rate, until over 17, when Tahuhu started to let rip, with two sixes. Suddenly, the target looked eminently gettable, and Ebrahim helped out in the 18^th with successive fours. They needed nine off the last over, and when Tahuhu hit another six off the second ball, it was pretty well all over. A poor decision by the captain kept all the fielders on the boundaries with the score one behind, and four balls to go. They finished easily with a couple of singles, and took the title.

After a short interval, on came the Firebirds. They’d sown up their position at the top of the table weeks earlier, and it was only a matter of who their opposition would be. It turned out to be the Canterbury men’s team, the Kings. The Firebirds won the toss and decided to bowl. They took an early wicket, but then struggled to contain the Kings. Eventually they broke through in the eighth over, and then it was Canterbury’s turn to struggle, as they failed to make much progress in the middle overs. In Over 14 they lost two wickets to successive balls to Michael Bracewell, and managed to pick up the pace a little before stuttering to 175/8.

The Firebirds came in with a required run rate of 8.8, and put down a statement of intent with 14 off the first over. Losing two wickets in the third and fourth overs caused a bit of a stumble, but afterwards Devon Conway steered them along, making notable partnerships with Troy Johnson and Jimmy Neesham. It was my turn to leave early as I had a night tour at Zealandia, and at that point it was anyone’s game. But Conway batted on, almost reaching a century, and brought the total home with two balls, and five wickets, to spare.

So, one apiece. The Firebirds retain their dominance, but the Blaze have been knocked from their perch. 

Next up (hopefully) there’ll be international cricket, Covid permitting...as this all happened before the latest lockdown was announced. We’re still waiting to hear about a relaxation of the levels, but with two new cases today, any thoughts of moving back to Level 1 have been dampened somewhat.

 

Here We Go Again

Three new cases of Covid-19 have been discovered in the community, i.e. outside MIQ. They’re the new UK strain. So we’re back to the Covid levels again, and as with last time, there’s a higher level for Auckland (Level 3) than for the rest of the country (Level 2). At the moment this is a 72-hour lockdown, presumably so that they can try and trace the source of transmission and check all other contacts for it. This is different to previous cases where a community case has been found because it is (a) the UK strain, and (b) not linked to MIQ or historic cases.

How does this look to my overseas readers? Are we in a panic over three cases? Last time this happened was in August last year, when the new cases quickly spiralled into New Zealand’s largest cluster of nearly 200 cases. On the other hand, no-one’s died from Covid for ages here, and we’re not reporting daily cases and deaths in the hundreds or thousands.

Again, looking at August 2020 as the most recent comparison, what started out as a 3-day lockdown ended up being 41 days at Level 2, with Auckland spending even longer before they returned to Level 1. So let’s not count our chickens.

What does this mean for us? It’s back to wearing masks on public transport, and hopefully more people will start to re-use the app again – now with new, improved, Bluetooth! Also, the Old Bailey will have to reconfigure their tables for pub quiz and resume table service only. Other events for which we had high hopes are no doubt under review – theatre, international cricket, Bill Bailey and Crowded House are scheduled in the next month. Hopefully we’ll get to at least some of these.