The Blackcaps have been playing a five-match T20 series against Australia over the last two weeks. After winning the first two matches in Christchurch and Dunedin – the first by a convincing 53 runs, the second by 4 runs, the action moved to Wellington.
And then the covid dickheads struck, and the country was moved into Level 2 and Auckland Level 3. The upshot of this was that the Wellington match, which we had wanted to see, was played behind closed doors. But the following match was due to be played in Auckland, and the final in Tauranga. The decision was taken to play these all in Wellington, but also without crowds. Boo!
The first two matches played, and the Blackcaps lost both. Clearly, they can only win if they have supporters. But wait…what’s this? On Friday afternoon, with no new community transmission cases for five days, St. Jacinda announced that we would be moving to Level 1 with effect from 6:00am on Sunday morning – the day of the final match! The decider could be played in front of a crowd.
Ticketek swung into action, and tickets were available immediately. Unfortunately, I’d already signed up to a tour at Zealandia for Sunday morning, so I made my way down to the stadium as quickly as possible afterwards, but missed the first nine overs of Australia’s innings, joining when they were at 77/3. Australia were scoring slowly at this point, and never really picked up the pace or managed to get a partnership going. Helped along by Sodhi’s double in the 18th and Southee’s two in the final over, they set an eminently gettable target of 143.
Guptill and Conway opened for New Zealand, and, unlike on previous occasions, utterly dominated the Australian bowling line-up. They reached 106 before Conway was out for 36. Time for Captain Kane to step up to the crease…and immediately step down again. Out for a golden duck. Poo. Despite that, and the loss of Guptill three overs later for 71, the work had been done (Guptill putting one six on the roof of the stadium), and the total was reached in the 15th over. Another convincing win for New Zealand, and a series win over Australia, which is always a good thing.
After a short break, the second part of the day’s entertainment was the White Ferns against England. This was the third of a three-match series, and was already a dead rubber, with England 2-0 up in the series. Never mind, could the Ferns salvage some respect with a win?
No.
England are a class apart from the White Ferns, and took them apart again with relative ease. Having set a modest target of 128, England bowled the Ferns out for 96 in 18 overs. They’re really going to have to up their game before next year’s world cup.
There’s more international cricket later in the month when
Bangladesh tour New Zealand for three ODIs and three T20 matches. We’ll be
along to the Basin Reserve to see one of those, covid permitting. Meanwhile we’re
back in Level 1, apart from Auckland, so life is again returning to normal.
Tasman and Cook Island bubbles are being talked about again, although our
roll-out of the vaccine seems to be progressing at snail’s pace. So far, 75% of
border workers have received it, but for the rest of New Zealand it will be “in
the second half of the year”, according to Chris Hipkins. Sorry, could you be a
bit more vague?
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