September 30, 2024 • 44 mins
This week on On The Front Foot, Bryan Waddle and Jeremy Coney were joined by Peter Holland to review the failure that was the Sri Lanka tour and discuss the changes that will be needed for the upcoming Indian tour. Plus, they pay tribute to a distinguished administrator who died this week.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk, said b.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
Take it.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It's Hendrick, it is out, The Test is over. Couldn't
smokes a beauty?
Speaker 4 (00:29):
It is out and.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Here he goes this delivery has any years as to go.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
On the front foot with Brian Waddell and Jeremy Cody,
powered by News Talks head b at iHeart Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Hello, here we are on the front foot. Well we
might be on the back foot for a while. The
Test Championship has gone still a mathematical chance, but I
can't find anybody prepared to give odds on three wins
over India and three over England, a game decided by
the toss. What's required to make Test cricket appearing spectacle?
Speaker 5 (01:08):
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I want to see an even contest. It hasn't been
a good week for Test cricket either, just thirty five
overs in the first three days and the Test match
and come pour between India and Bangladesh. Goodness gratus me
a slight glimmer of hope for the white ferns. Finally
a win a warm up fifteen the side match, but
a win's a win on the front foot with Brian Model,
(01:30):
Jeremy Canney and Peter Holland with us once again, boy
talk about basball. What are the black Caps facing up to? Jerry?
Speaker 5 (01:39):
The Indians.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
Fifty in three overs, that's right, that's right. I mean
Bangler Desh got about two thirty on the first day,
didn't they And then there was two days rain and
then on day four India came out and smashed it
two hundred and eighty five at eight point two runs over. Yeah,
(02:09):
thirty four hours, they had a lead of about fifty odds.
You can imagine how the spinners and the bowlers are
looking forward to that tour.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Hey, Peter Holland's Peter, are you here three overs, fifty
runs the way you used to bat mate?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yes, yeah, well quite as I remember it, Brian.
But I just I one I watched it with It
was fabulous and I love their attitude. But also I
can I just comment on the fact that I thought
that the contrast and between say the India and what
(02:48):
what we have to offer looked rather stark and somewhat concerning.
That said, though, I was looking at the way the
shots that were being played did suggest that the wickets
were conducive to to one a bit of a bit
of past bowling. And two the fact that you could
add actually drive on the up and do those sorts
(03:10):
of things that the Indians were doing says to me
that New Zealand should go with pace when they go
over there. Will they? I hope so?
Speaker 5 (03:18):
But I.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Worry what Jaswell is going to do to the captain
Salvey when he opens the bowling in the first Test.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, we can talk about that in just a moment,
because that Test series, a rather embarrassing loss, has left
the New Zealand team stew games down in the Sri Lanka.
Pretty poor performance really and post match well the captain
Tim Salvey assessed the team's performance.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Yes, it's a very tough place to come, Schlanka a
very good site here and particularly here in Cool. We
had our moments in their first tests. Look back at
the first and ends in the first Test and if
we're able to push on there and then gained a
bit more of a lead than things may have been
different in that series. But I think the second set
and the second match we are on the wrong side
of a toss and then we're to make those early
(04:09):
early breakthroughs, and yeah, it's tough to tough to come
back from that. Yeah, I think the second innings was
was much more the way we want to play. Guys
played a positive white in a positive manner and was
a big shift from the first innings. I think, Yeah,
a little bit probably hesitant in the first innings and
second in these guys went out and played with with
(04:29):
confidence and we're able to I guess, put on a
decent score in that second innings. Yeah, a number of
guys stood up at different times, guys obviously in this
In the second innings, now with the bat, there were
a lot of guys made made contributions, So I think,
I guess for them to have done that and then
to build on that, we know it's going to be
(04:51):
going to be tough and in you as well. Obviously
conditions we will favor spin there as well. So I
think learn as much as we can from these two
but but still believing and still being being a confidence
side moving forward to the next series, No one means
to drop catches. I felt like the energy in the
ground field wasn't too bad, but obviously a couple of
chances to go down and it can hurt you in
(05:13):
this part of the world, but no one means to
dropped them. Guys are working hard on it and like
you said, it's something that us as a key sidey
pride ourselves on. So we're looking to improve in that
area as well.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
A press conference was that Tim Salvey is it his
last Chriss conference? We're talked about and you mentioned Jeremy
a couple of times he should not have been playing
in terms of selection in the last Test match in
particular that Matt Henry probably would have been better value
a little bit of extra pace and we've got that there,
and I think the call is widening.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Is it widening to the.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Fact that they want to dump Southy all together? Should
he go to India? Goodness me, that's tough.
Speaker 6 (05:54):
Well, I think was only a week to go before
New Zealand head to India. Watts. I can't really see
them removing him from the touring party. Whether he plays
is another issue, But personally, can any of us think
that New Zealand aren't a better side, you know, by
(06:15):
leaving Henry out? You know, I can't see that as
a logical kind of way. With the forty wickets he's
had in the last few games in the last couple
of seasons, and I think Tim Saudi might have maybe ten.
So I just I just think that was a mistake
(06:37):
in the selection. And I think that the fact that
the part time Phillip's got three wickets of the five taken,
one was a runout of course, and then the other
one was Saudi. I wonder what Bracewell might have done
in that game. Pieris got a lot of wickets, didn't
(06:57):
he the new off spinner on debut, and I just
I think that was another possibility the ones that we
talked about. Really, I think we Ida defied some areas
that New Zealand might improve, but they have made no changes.
As is the case, they're a very conservative kind of
(07:17):
selection team, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well, they gets to the stage where the call goes
out for Tim Southy's head. If it's not Tim Southy's head,
should it be Gary Stead's. But whatever, I think you're
right they're probably not going to make that change now, Jerry.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
But the.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Need to get the bowling resources sorted out is pretty clear,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It seems to me to be an obvious point, but
it seems to me one that is not being dealt with.
I may be the observation that it was interesting that
Sri Lanka one, oh, it's a comfortably the first Test
and then still decided to drop to two players and
bring two in.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
One.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Of course it was this rather rather good and experienced
off spinner which played out beautifully. Now compare that with
what New Zealand did and when I first morning of
the match and I was watching them and thinking, you've
picked the same team really after that. So it's just
interesting that to look at what Sri Lanka's doing, they're adapting,
they're moving, but we're not. It says a lot, doesn't it.
(08:20):
And it worries me about how we will go into
the Indian series if we carry on more of that
sort of view, in that attitude of conservatism. I think
we're going to go for the future.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Well, I said to you guys last week that he
who won the toss was going to win the game.
I think I was right, And the bookies had the answer.
They were offering one dollar one cent.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
For every dollar.
Speaker 6 (08:47):
Right, it's a good bet.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I mean, yeah, I don't think it was worth taking.
But the pitch didn't explain New Zealand's Wae will player
in the first two and a half days. But you know,
there are a lot of things that you've got to consider.
That fact that they didn't change the team, and we
suggested that met Henry should have been there.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
They didn't look for an obstion.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Set was relatively economical because batting was okay, but he's
not there to bat, he's there to bowl. And those
things all added together along with some abysmal fielding. Jeremy
Coney left us, you know, behind the eight ball all
the way, won't we.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
Yeah, the fielding is a concern, isn't it, Especially when
New Zealand are in Asia. It does take us a
little longer to get because we don't run through sides
and so every catch, in other words, that arrives, we've
got to be taking it, don't we, or have a
good chance of taking it anyway. And I thought in
(09:48):
this game, when at the end of day one Sri
Lanka were three hundred and six for three, that the
game was kind of gone unless New Zealand really had
a very good first session on day two, which they didn't,
and it was not a surprise. So yeah, I think
(10:09):
I think the catching, particularly slip, is an issue. Brian
and I just want to talk about. I'm not against
Mitchell at all. I think he's an interesting player, and
he's an aggressive batsman, and he's added something in the
middle when he's going nicely. But as far as a catcher,
there are some things I think he could look at,
(10:31):
and I'm a bit concerned that players or poaches off
the fields aren't noticing some things and which they should be.
The first thing was Karuna Ratna, wasn't it. Sowdy already
had a wicket of Masanka and about his second over
something like that, good start taken by the keeper. And
(10:54):
then in about the sort of must have been the
fifth or sixth over, o'ro got the edge of Karuna Ratna,
didn't he, And it supplied a fairly regulation mit straight
through to first slip, and you know it beat him
with pace, so it hit the heel of his hands
and then bounced forward from him. Now you know you
(11:17):
need I think through as a slip. Even though it's
early on and you've only had in this case five overs,
the ball has gone through to the keeper a few
times and that has given you a chance to see
the pace and clues about the pace of the pitch,
and therefore your debts is determined and adjusted. By watching
(11:40):
and listening to where the ball is taken by the keeper.
You get an idea how quick it's going through to
the keeper, and you sort of practice that catch and slips.
You always see the catch before it arrives. You've rehearsed
it over and over in your head so that it
(12:01):
doesn't surprise you. Even I used to click my tongue,
you like that, and that was the mick as it
went through, and then I'd be taking the ball from
my hands together and getting the timing of the catch
that it would arrive. I don't think that Mitchell does that.
He doesn't listen and pick up quite the sort of
(12:21):
the little things that he's being given by the pitching,
by the game. The other thing I would say about
him is that he's his actual stance. He's too wide apart,
His legs are too wide apart. You want to be
on the balls of your feet, you know, like a dancer,
because you're balanced like a boxer, so you're not hit
(12:44):
and so when your feet are wide apart, and he's
a big lad Mitchell, so he would have quite a
lot of weight on not the balls of his feet,
but on the whole foot or on the outside of
the foot, and that means you can't move quickly to
the catch, and in essence it means he's slower to
catches that are wide of him and it takes longer
(13:07):
for him to get there. And more importantly, with Commindu
Mendous's cat Joe O'Rourke in the last session, he didn't
get his head in line with the catch. You hate
it as a slip. When you are swinging your arms
away from in front of your eyes. You are relieved
(13:28):
a little sort of bressong of relief if you hang
on to that. So you want to get your eyes
totally in line with the ball. Well, his was outside
his eyes and the ball burst through from reverse cups
so and to spin. Of course, he spreads for a
start the unit, which is two hands together as one.
(13:53):
You're always wanting to take the ball with two hands,
and he spreads it by putting them on the knees,
like a lot of slips do nowadays. And then halfway
is the bulls coming down towards the batsman has been delivered.
He then moves his hands from his knees up to
his waist. He's too high, can't go down. Look at
(14:13):
Dunn and Ja Da Silva. He took five catches and
he was low low. So there you go. Just some
little points. I think they're not about against Mitchell, but
he's dropping too many. You've got to get ninety percent.
I think in Asia most that's right.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Technique is important.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You would have fielded in the slips and first class cricket,
you'd have fielded in the outfield. You've got to take
those chances. You can't just dismiss them the way Saudi
did a little bit earlier when.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
He was talking, Oh look, there's there's no question. I
remember actually fielding and slits with Jerry, and Jerry kindly
took catch for me and he said you wouldn't have
caught that wood of you, and he was quite.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
But on.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
But on that point I thought that the Sri Lankans,
they their fielding was was pretty good. That catch at
short leg by Nirsanka from for Mitchell, where he hit
it pretty much off the face of the bat, very
sharp catch. Yeah, that says a lot. Can I just
want to make it a little observation. I was watching
(15:18):
the guys on the second day, and frankly they looked tired.
So when you're coming in you field it all day
day one and their second day, and then I'm looking
at Blundle and I'm going, you're you're feeling it, aren't you?
Srilanda of course had just come in having played you know,
two or three tests, three tests in England. They were
(15:38):
a lot fitter than we were. I think that our
guys suffered, particularly in day two, about being lethargic, and
then you could see that in the way that Bloodall's
performance which was not tidy at best and therefore couldn't
support it. You know, he put a couple of stumpings
down or it was missed missed chances which which made
(16:00):
things difficult for a jez to tell.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
So I just saw this.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
There's a number of factors playing out here. One, I
think we were underdone. We were looking tired and short
and short of a gallop. So I think that all
contributes to where we ended up basically on the back
foot from day one to thirty pointed out, and then
day two it only got worse. I can't even explain
what happened in the first innings of our batting. I mean,
(16:25):
that's just extraordinary.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Well, that's something that we have to look at in
terms of the upcoming Test matches against India. It took
four innings two in the first Test and then the
second to get some quality to the top order batting
and get some consistency and getting players scoring and to
me adjusting.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Their mental approach to what they were doing.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, they looked all at sea against the spinners,
but they played them better in the second inning. Three
hundred and sixty of you know, seventy odd overs was
good cricket when you're under the pump.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yeah, But again, I'm watching the second innings and I'm thinking,
you've got time, time, as your friend, you got time
on your hands. And then and then I start think,
you know, some of the shot selections, reverse sweeping from Blodell,
you know, and he played quite quite quite beautifully up
until then and look really assured. Didn't need to do it.
(17:21):
Came Williamson the way he got out and then looked
and looked really good. Sort of a nonchalan clip off
his legs to be caught at deckmud wicked. That's that's
not King Williamson sort of stuff, especially when we've got
that much time on our hands, and the wicked clearly
wasn't that bad. You could score, You could score on it,
couldn't you. And that that goes back to the fact
(17:41):
that I think these guys come day four, we're tired.
They ran out, ran out of gas, which is a
bit of an indictment. I could be wrong.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
Well, first of all, about the pitch. I don't think
the pitch changed dramatically overnight. We're not so slightly cooler
from day two to day three. We're talking about the
leading into the first innings here by New Zealand that
you would be bowled out in thirty nine overs. Was
it unplayable?
Speaker 5 (18:07):
No?
Speaker 6 (18:07):
Was it a bit difficult. Yes, the ball was still new,
and it turns a little sharper, and it bounces just
a little bit more and it gets that grip and
there's a wee bit of drift and so on. There's
quite a breeze at Gaul. But a Jaz Pateel batted
for forty one deliveries and sent and a batted for
fifty one. So it was a tough game position when
(18:29):
you're chasing six hundred and two for half the team out.
But a lot of that was New Zealand's fault, as
we've just been talking about. They gave Karuna Ratna two lives,
which is three innings for forty six he made chunder
Marl got a life, so he had two innings, he
got one hundred, and Kamindu got a life, he had
two innings, he got one hundred and eighty five not out,
(18:51):
So the chances were there. Everyone expects the pitch to
deterior eight over five days, and so it should, but
we know in Gaul it does. But in the second
innings of a match, there's a better chance than batting
in the third, which New Zealand had, and it's a
better chance than batting in the fourth which we didn't
(19:12):
get to. And of course it was costly. They gave
away the chance New Zealand by getting that eighty eight
for our New Zealand spinners to show, to show their worse.
Patel got his six for ninety in the third innings
of the first Test of the match, you know, and
I just thought that, you know, maybe New Zealand, in
(19:33):
some small way it could have if they had batted better,
they might have got into the game a little bit more.
Who knows. But and in thirty nine over, of course,
we said goodbye to the World Test Championship. And I
don't see how people can argue eighty eight in the
second innings and then three sixty in the third innings.
At four point four they were going for it. You
(19:55):
can't say it's a terrible surface. I don't think it
can get away with that. I mean, I'd like to
be able to deflect some of it onto the surface,
but I don't think we can. What we witnessed was
the top order failing in defense. In the first innings. Latham, Conway,
Revendra and Williamson all made little mistakes. They tried yep.
(20:19):
But then the middle order then came out and said,
well you can't play on here, and so then we
saw three wickets fall. Basically we saw who was the
first guy to go. I think it was it Blundle.
Blundles a number six. He was out three times reverse
sweeping in this series. And I'm not sure you can
(20:41):
do that at number six when you are a batsman,
so that needs to be sought about. And then then
out came Phillips. Phillips decided just to slash at the
second ball he faced. He wasn't interested in defending to
get a look at it, and he got caught first slip,
a very good catch by Dunna Jail.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
And then Mitchell with long on set back, thought I
can hit a six, and he was caught at a
regulation long on quite comfortab. So those middle order players
all came out and said, I'm not going to defend
to get myself in, then I can play my shots.
They just decided they were going to go from the start,
(21:20):
and that's to me, shortcutting, shortcutting the game. Blundle went
on his fifth ball, Phillip's on his second, and Mitchell
on his fifteenth. They were blown away in the middle
part and around them. Then Sawdy of course came in
and he's got about ten, doesn't He surely fellas he
can't bat ahead of ajs p Tell anymore. And then
(21:42):
of course the batted fifteen balls for two not out,
so they kind of did their work, the lower boys.
I don't know what you feel about that, guys, but
I just thought, you know, we were poor thinking, poor thinking.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
There's the phrase that I think he used before, the
lack of patience, this sort of seeming the obsession of
needing to get on with it and dominate, dominate the bowler.
There's a reason why it's a Test match. It's got
time get yourself settled, and which is what they weren't doing.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Can I also just comment the trainer. That looked a
pretty good side and well organized and got some rather
useful players, haven't they. I don't think we've spoken enough
about them. There's some very tidy players in there, and
and we we failed in comparison. Any thoughts there, Jerry.
Speaker 6 (22:37):
Well, well they did. They provided our side with a
great chance to look how to bat on that pitch. Certainly,
let's let's make the sort of the point that it
was slightly easier batting because the pitch deteriorates. But they
they played sensibly. I don't think we saw wild stroke
(22:57):
making from any of the Sri Lankans really, and they
slowly they got the nice rhythm to their game. They
offended when they had to. They then put the bad ball.
They got singles and kept the score, you know, moving along,
and then when they got the bad ball they put
(23:18):
it away. It seemed it seemed inevitable in a way,
didn't it. The way that they were batting, they were
going to carry on. And in that day too, they
just gently dismembered the New Zealand side when they went
forty seven runs in the first hour forty nine and
the second that's ninety six. And the first session not
a bad little start to the second day forty three
(23:41):
in the first hour after lunch, seventy four in the
second hour after lunch Kusal Menders came in and then
after sin they didn't lose a wicket there and then
five hundred and nineteen for five they you know, they
got seventy four in the next hour as well after tea.
So they they just established a lovely tempo throughout their innings.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Which was the point I was trying to draw out, Jerry.
That compares with the way that that that our guys
went about it. And in the stark contrast, kim Indhu
I think, didn't didn't play a reverse sweep until he
was well and maybe maybe eighty or ninety. Again, Yep,
quite methodical about how they went about it. You know,
(24:25):
they could push it, you know, they pushed it around
a bit. They looked assured, we look rushed, So I,
you know, I commensal like that.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
Podds. Do you feel that their spinners were better than ours.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, quite clearly that's the case, because they're experienced in
those conditions. That's why I say that these pictures, to
my mind, don't meet the specifications that I want from
Test cricket.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Here's the guy.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Jayasuria who plays just about all his Test matches in Gare.
He's taken ninety five Test wickets. Sixty nine of them
have been at Gaul. He's taken ten at SSC and Column,
so seventy nine out of ninety five all been taken
in his home patch. When he gets away from home,
(25:16):
he's hardly noticeable. He doesn't take wickets to that extent. Yeah,
he got a wicker or so at the Test series
in England, but you know that quite expensive. The end
result from my mind is that I want to see
a cricket pitch where seam bowlers bowl more than thirty
four overs, which was what happened when New Zealand bowled
(25:39):
in their innings and the rest of the time it
was spinners. In the Sri Lankan bowling to New Zealand.
I think a Cida Fernando bowled a couple of overs.
The bloke they brought in to rough.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
Up the pitch.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
He bowled four overs and that was the end of it.
We just saw a diet of spin bowling. I don't
mind a diet of spin bowling, but I want to
see quality spin bowling. I don't believe these guys are
quality until they've been able to deliver outside their country.
Nathan Lyon takes wickets all over the world. Shane Warn
took them all over the world. All these other spin
(26:13):
bowlers who've done wonderfully. Well, here's the guy. He's got
ninety five Test wickets and seventy nine of them have
been in conditions that he enjoys. Great.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Go out and do it.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
You'll get wins. But I don't know that it does
anything for spin bowling. That's my opinion. I might get
duffy On to have a chat with him about it. Well,
take me apart most take me apart.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Well, I'm not sure I can do that because I'm
kind of sitting here nodding somewhat and that goes against
the grains for me a little bit.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
But I.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Would hazard guess to say that I think they are
better spinners. I thought this debutante they bought and he's
not young by any stretch of imagine Bob beautifully, the
Bally got the Russian Avenger out, and the second Eggs
was an absolute peach. So I didn't see as bowling
(27:07):
any of those in those conditions. And when you have
to go there, you've got to adapt to the conditions,
and I frankly our guys don't because mostly the part
timers and they very rarely get to bowl the number
of overs that you need to bowl. How guys just
don't do that. They don't get it, so again they
(27:28):
come in underdone. And I also don't think the captain
really knows how to handle spinners and which gens to
bowl them from. I think Kay Williamson was somewhat similar
as well, So I don't think that helps you know
which end should it be bowling from. There was a
few comments on the commentary from the structure lank and
(27:48):
commentators that maybe I just Bettell should be from the
other end and not this end. Those sorts of things
that all plays into it.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
So I.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Think they in their conditions are just better, clearly, But
I don't think we help ourselves.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
Yeah, I'm not sure where the Wards answered my question.
My question was better spinners and you talked a lot
about the pitch words and it's the pitch that's making
them dangerous. Well, yeah, they take wickets there, and that's
the usual things that happen when you travel around the
(28:24):
world bowling. You know, units have become accustomed the same
as in New Zealand, we play, we don't even play.
Patel goes missing in New Zealand. I think I reckon.
He just changes his whole face somehow and no one
can find him, you know. And then suddenly when there's
(28:44):
an Asian tour coming up, he pops out from somewhere
like a forest and they say, look, go to Asia
and win us a Test match. You know, these are
very silly things to be doing. We've we've got to
play a spinner all the time of some sort, and
I just feel they're spinners. They turn the ball harder
(29:09):
and they bowl into the surface a lot better than
we do. Patel, for example, User's flight, but I get
the feeling as the ball drops, which is great. It's
not actually biting quick turn once it hits the ground.
Whereas Paris that you're talking about, he got quick turn.
(29:32):
He beats the defense of bat and jas Suri is
a wee bit the same as well. They hardly have
a run up, do they. They kind of walk into bowl,
but they get a lot of work with their body.
There was a shot at one stage of the guy
piis bowling and you could see his non bowling arm
had gone from up. He uses it quite nicely and
(29:54):
then it goes right out and extended behind him. He
was up on his front toe to get nice and
high and he was bowling into the.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Pitch that guy Paris was basically there was a comparison
between him and the bloke he'd replace, and the way
he uses his arm and his action, and you couldn't
argue with that. I mean, I'm not arguing that they're
good in their conditions, but I think I would like
to judge the quality of spin, and they're better than
New Zealand spinners. As you say, Jerry, But I mean,
(30:24):
you look at a guy like Nathan Lyon who's developed
his game over a long period of time, takes work,
it's in all conditions. He came out here and you
know on the Basin reserve last year showed us how
to bowl spin, didn't he and we used Phillips, didn't
we to the same degree, and that's why perhaps what
(30:46):
you're saying is that we should look to Phillips type
Bracewell type rather than the nice flighty type that you
talked about.
Speaker 6 (30:57):
Well, flighty type bowl as wads will deceive you in
the air, won't they as a batsman, So don't get
you out before you've played your shot because they've it's
the ball is actually pitched shorter than you think. Then
you need the second part of the equation, which turns
the ball past the outside edge of your bat if
you can, if you're a right hander, and we're talking
(31:18):
about Patel, so you need to have both those components. Certainly,
on a good pitch, the flighty bowlers come more into play,
and I'm talking about we're calling that a good pitch,
but it doesn't necessarily mean that. It just means it's
flatter and it doesn't turn quite so much. But there
are going to be pitchers around the world that do turn.
(31:41):
And we've got to expect that every country has its
own weather systems, its own part of soil and so on,
and they are going to be and that's a good thing.
I think. Actually that's the one of the beauties of
the game. In New Zealand we play four seamers. We
grow grass, we have farms. We're good at growing grass,
(32:02):
and so we don't pick spinners, and so we have
four seamers bowling. But that's what we do. When they
come we we we push poor old ages. Per sell aside,
he just got ten wickets and earnings, So I find
I'm not surprised that New Zealand find it a bit harder.
(32:23):
We our biggest turner as Bracewell, and we didn't use
them on a pitch that responds to turn. I thought
that was unless he's got the yips and the nets.
I couldn't understand that.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
But isn't it noticeable though that you look at Australia
they go in with line. Well you would, wouldn't you.
I mean, he's just just world, world, world class bowler.
But I'm also seeing England they know that persisting with
a spinner, and McCallum's bringing on a couple of new
ones and they go in with a spinner, and and
(32:55):
that's in England. Contrasts that with us and we're not
doing that. We go on with a part timer. That's
what we do. Therefore, he's never an opportunity to develop
those skills. I just think that we we don't help
ourselves in that regards with this over alliance on the mediums.
It exposes us as a result.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
When we go and we don't have a We don't
have a spin bowling coach, do we. That's interesting. We
have a bowling coach who's basically a seamer. They've always
been seemas, but we don't have because that's what we
use in New Zealand. But we don't have a spin
bowling coach, do we? Why aren't we sending Ages Patel
if he's going to be regarded as our best spinner,
(33:37):
send him to rung in our hair outs or get
hair ath to come over and and spend a bit
of money in trying to develop a spinner who's going
to be bowling in different conditions. Hair aths got markets everywhere.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
We've got a favorite of time to look at that
over the next few weeks, because we're going to see
the same bowlers I would imagine in India for the
three Test matches we're going to win over there, and
then the three we're going to beat England and we
qualify for the final of the World Test champions.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
That's true, yell.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
We have to rolls off. The towards came along easily.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
We've we've just got into the final.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
Well done, no problem at all.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Sadly, guys, this week we end on a sad note.
A good mate of all three of us in cricket,
Ian Taylor, passed away just after our last edition. Tales
a man who committed his life to cricket. He was
a player and administrator, mister reliability. You could ask him
to do anything and he would get it done. And
that was over sixty five years. A true caring friend
(34:45):
and Jerry, You and I will remember him foremost as
manager of the team to Pakistan in nineteen eighty four,
although you traveled with him other times and other pop Australia.
Speaker 6 (34:56):
Yeah yeah, as a manager, he's he was a good
man and a friend. Yeah, Pakistan was for forty years ago.
We didn't have Richard Hadley. We did and have Jeff Howarth.
Hard Tour a decent team to play against Zahira bas
Motion Khan, Javid Me and Dad Sulim Mullock, Abdul Tadamber
(35:22):
him Ikbal Khazine. No neutral umpires that became a bit
of an issue. In fact, Tales Tales, Tails was the
one who met me at the rope as I was
leading the team off and the third test after another
mich had been given not out and it was Jarvid
(35:42):
Uh and Braces was talking to him at the time
and said, Javid said to him, I will I will
meet you, Bracewell, I will meet you, Yes outside the pavilion,
yes after play. Brace's no now. But but Taials met
(36:04):
me and pushed me back and said, no, we're not
doing this, Jeremy. So that that was good, a sensible
thing to do, and we went back onto the field.
In those days, the jur as we used to call them,
the manager was always a board member and you were
either rewarded for service or you know, long service, or
it was a jaunt for you. And as such they
(36:27):
were a little remote from the players. They fulfilled the
role as the board rep, you know, talking to other
prominent sort of members once that you got away, and
they looked after all the finances and all that sort
of travel and motels and hotels. KALs did all that,
but importantly he closed the gap between the player and
(36:49):
the administrator, and the team really enjoyed that. I remember
being he he had ansh sense of humor. I remember
in rol Pindi it was the start of the tour
in Pakistan and the military officer and the president Mohammed
zil Hak who was willed a few years later, actually
(37:11):
he want he wanted to meet the team. So we
lined up and Tales was moving along the line introducing
all of the members of the team. But he used
all our nicknames. So he came to Farmer, Chatfield, Spring Creek,
cans Pirate, McEwan, shake a right, Rocky Boch so I mean,
(37:39):
but by the time President Zia departed, he was a
bewildered man. We we had loads of functions on that tour,
didn't we was We used to attend them, probably three
a week, night after night. Yeah, Tales, you know, used
to speak and he had very cleverly bought a large
(38:02):
bag of plastic tickies before he left New Zealand, and
he gave these and dispensed them to all the dignitaries
at each of these functions, and they became quite a hit.
And I remember overhearing a wife of one of these
notables beseeching her husband to go and get one of
(38:25):
those New Zealand green frogs. But look, I mean there's
so many stories with tales. But he was such a
friend to the players without losing any authority, and he
was approachable. He felt for the players. He listened and
(38:50):
he laughed, and he had his gin and he debated.
You know. He was another ear when the mail hadn't
come through and when you weren't selected. He was a
player's manager, you know, in the real sense of the term.
And we were lucky to have him. And I'm so
pleased that I saw him in februry at the basin,
(39:13):
you know, and heartfelt feelings to his wife Christine or
miss Tiles.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Yes, indeed, most you would have been involved in playing
for Wellington. When he was an administrator at Wellington.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Oh remember him well. And finally as well, and a
gentle person was how it struck me. I had time
for people, and it's I think of a fine person
and you know, a great administrator. Meanwhile, having a pretty
successful career I recall, as well as in business.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Yes, he certainly worked in business in the Carogatory motel
in I just finished off with one story about that
tour of eighty four Jerry, and you remember it well.
I think you were asleep in bed at the time.
It was the night we were do to leave, and
there was me, Billy Stirling and I think Boki were
having a few drinks to finish off. What left was
(40:10):
the fifty thousand dozen cans of dB that they had
in the in the.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
Team room, and.
Speaker 6 (40:20):
Most of them are stolen. Words.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Tails was packing his bag and he bought these carpets,
you know, some really nice carpets, and he was rolling
them up and getting them ready to tie so that
they could come home with all the gear. And then
all of a sudden he was looking through his bag
and he looked and he couldn't find some money. He said,
I've lost ten thousand jewish. I think it was about
(40:45):
ten thousand ten thousand uish. I said, no, that must
be somewhere Tales, No, he said, I've lost it. It
was here. It's the player's money. And this was all
the payouts to the players and the exchange of rupees,
et cetera, et cetera, and here, yeah, it was your money.
And he was he was rolling up these carpets, and
(41:06):
I thought, have you not spent them on the not
spent the money on the carpets?
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Tails?
Speaker 3 (41:11):
It looks as though they're pretty good, Nona, it's a past.
He closed or he got them to close the hotel down.
They put guards on the doors and no one could
get in and out of the hotel. And this was
about one o'clock midnight, and we were flying out at
six in the morning, and the players had to be
woken up. And I went round to the rooms and
we knocked on all the rooms, so everybody got woken up,
(41:34):
and you had to check and see that they were
awake and ready to go, and Billy Stealing did exactly
the same. We get down the Sned's room and I said, oh,
the massive panic upstairs, massive panic. Tales has lost ten
thousand US of the players money and Snitz's not the
money you gave me to distribute to the players. And
(41:54):
everybody sigh of relief, and I said, you don't tell
Tales when you get upstairs. He'd forgotten that he'd get
Sneers because Sneers was the team treasurer.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
Yeah, and that was a mad moment, and Tales and I.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Have talked about that just about every year for forty
years since, because, to my mind, the funniest moment from it,
and I saw him hurting there at that time, and
of course we had a long history through club and
domestic cricket around Wellington. So very very able administrator and
a bloody good blow and you'll be missed. Which brings
(42:35):
us to an end of this program and we will
join together at some stage in the near future. Most
thank you very much once more for your time. We've
got the Indian series coming up and we'll be looking
at that with a very close eye, and you too, JC.
You can and just brush up on some of those
(42:57):
Indian names and we'll have a long discussion at some
stage about spin bowling in Sri Lanka. Perhaps that could
be a fun topic.
Speaker 6 (43:07):
Well, yeah, no, it's it's going to be an interesting
three tests. You're really going to have to really lift
their game, aren't they.
Speaker 5 (43:14):
We all know that, Yes, definitely.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
I just think you're looking at Boomra, who I think
is in ahead of a few of our players. You've
got s Yeah, you've got deep and they're all bowling
up round one forty clicks and those two fabulous spinners.
That's going to be a.
Speaker 6 (43:34):
Got a good watch. Yeah, well, we we may have
to play Sears, We may have to play Henry we
may have to play, or who knows, we'll see ye.
Speaker 5 (43:44):
Interesting word, probably against.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
One summer.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
For more from news Talks at b Listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk, said b.
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Take it.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It's Hendrick, it is out, The Test is over. Couldn't
smokes a beauty?
Speaker 4 (00:29):
It is out and.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Here he goes this delivery has any years as to go.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
On the front foot with Brian Waddell and Jeremy Cody,
powered by News Talks head b at iHeart Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Hello, here we are on the front foot. Well we
might be on the back foot for a while. The
Test Championship has gone still a mathematical chance, but I
can't find anybody prepared to give odds on three wins
over India and three over England, a game decided by
the toss. What's required to make Test cricket appearing spectacle?
Speaker 5 (01:08):
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I want to see an even contest. It hasn't been
a good week for Test cricket either, just thirty five
overs in the first three days and the Test match
and come pour between India and Bangladesh. Goodness gratus me
a slight glimmer of hope for the white ferns. Finally
a win a warm up fifteen the side match, but
a win's a win on the front foot with Brian Model,
(01:30):
Jeremy Canney and Peter Holland with us once again, boy
talk about basball. What are the black Caps facing up to? Jerry?
Speaker 5 (01:39):
The Indians.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
Fifty in three overs, that's right, that's right. I mean
Bangler Desh got about two thirty on the first day,
didn't they And then there was two days rain and
then on day four India came out and smashed it
two hundred and eighty five at eight point two runs over. Yeah,
(02:09):
thirty four hours, they had a lead of about fifty odds.
You can imagine how the spinners and the bowlers are
looking forward to that tour.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Hey, Peter Holland's Peter, are you here three overs, fifty
runs the way you used to bat mate?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yes, yeah, well quite as I remember it, Brian.
But I just I one I watched it with It
was fabulous and I love their attitude. But also I
can I just comment on the fact that I thought
that the contrast and between say the India and what
(02:48):
what we have to offer looked rather stark and somewhat concerning.
That said, though, I was looking at the way the
shots that were being played did suggest that the wickets
were conducive to to one a bit of a bit
of past bowling. And two the fact that you could
add actually drive on the up and do those sorts
(03:10):
of things that the Indians were doing says to me
that New Zealand should go with pace when they go
over there. Will they? I hope so?
Speaker 5 (03:18):
But I.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Worry what Jaswell is going to do to the captain
Salvey when he opens the bowling in the first Test.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, we can talk about that in just a moment,
because that Test series, a rather embarrassing loss, has left
the New Zealand team stew games down in the Sri Lanka.
Pretty poor performance really and post match well the captain
Tim Salvey assessed the team's performance.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Yes, it's a very tough place to come, Schlanka a
very good site here and particularly here in Cool. We
had our moments in their first tests. Look back at
the first and ends in the first Test and if
we're able to push on there and then gained a
bit more of a lead than things may have been
different in that series. But I think the second set
and the second match we are on the wrong side
of a toss and then we're to make those early
(04:09):
early breakthroughs, and yeah, it's tough to tough to come
back from that. Yeah, I think the second innings was
was much more the way we want to play. Guys
played a positive white in a positive manner and was
a big shift from the first innings. I think, Yeah,
a little bit probably hesitant in the first innings and
second in these guys went out and played with with
(04:29):
confidence and we're able to I guess, put on a
decent score in that second innings. Yeah, a number of
guys stood up at different times, guys obviously in this
In the second innings, now with the bat, there were
a lot of guys made made contributions, So I think,
I guess for them to have done that and then
to build on that, we know it's going to be
(04:51):
going to be tough and in you as well. Obviously
conditions we will favor spin there as well. So I
think learn as much as we can from these two
but but still believing and still being being a confidence
side moving forward to the next series, No one means
to drop catches. I felt like the energy in the
ground field wasn't too bad, but obviously a couple of
chances to go down and it can hurt you in
(05:13):
this part of the world, but no one means to
dropped them. Guys are working hard on it and like
you said, it's something that us as a key sidey
pride ourselves on. So we're looking to improve in that
area as well.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
A press conference was that Tim Salvey is it his
last Chriss conference? We're talked about and you mentioned Jeremy
a couple of times he should not have been playing
in terms of selection in the last Test match in
particular that Matt Henry probably would have been better value
a little bit of extra pace and we've got that there,
and I think the call is widening.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Is it widening to the.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Fact that they want to dump Southy all together? Should
he go to India? Goodness me, that's tough.
Speaker 6 (05:54):
Well, I think was only a week to go before
New Zealand head to India. Watts. I can't really see
them removing him from the touring party. Whether he plays
is another issue, But personally, can any of us think
that New Zealand aren't a better side, you know, by
(06:15):
leaving Henry out? You know, I can't see that as
a logical kind of way. With the forty wickets he's
had in the last few games in the last couple
of seasons, and I think Tim Saudi might have maybe ten.
So I just I just think that was a mistake
(06:37):
in the selection. And I think that the fact that
the part time Phillip's got three wickets of the five taken,
one was a runout of course, and then the other
one was Saudi. I wonder what Bracewell might have done
in that game. Pieris got a lot of wickets, didn't
(06:57):
he the new off spinner on debut, and I just
I think that was another possibility the ones that we
talked about. Really, I think we Ida defied some areas
that New Zealand might improve, but they have made no changes.
As is the case, they're a very conservative kind of
(07:17):
selection team, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well, they gets to the stage where the call goes
out for Tim Southy's head. If it's not Tim Southy's head,
should it be Gary Stead's. But whatever, I think you're
right they're probably not going to make that change now, Jerry.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
But the.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Need to get the bowling resources sorted out is pretty clear,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It seems to me to be an obvious point, but
it seems to me one that is not being dealt with.
I may be the observation that it was interesting that
Sri Lanka one, oh, it's a comfortably the first Test
and then still decided to drop to two players and
bring two in.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
One.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Of course it was this rather rather good and experienced
off spinner which played out beautifully. Now compare that with
what New Zealand did and when I first morning of
the match and I was watching them and thinking, you've
picked the same team really after that. So it's just
interesting that to look at what Sri Lanka's doing, they're adapting,
they're moving, but we're not. It says a lot, doesn't it.
(08:20):
And it worries me about how we will go into
the Indian series if we carry on more of that
sort of view, in that attitude of conservatism. I think
we're going to go for the future.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Well, I said to you guys last week that he
who won the toss was going to win the game.
I think I was right, And the bookies had the answer.
They were offering one dollar one cent.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
For every dollar.
Speaker 6 (08:47):
Right, it's a good bet.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I mean, yeah, I don't think it was worth taking.
But the pitch didn't explain New Zealand's Wae will player
in the first two and a half days. But you know,
there are a lot of things that you've got to consider.
That fact that they didn't change the team, and we
suggested that met Henry should have been there.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
They didn't look for an obstion.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Set was relatively economical because batting was okay, but he's
not there to bat, he's there to bowl. And those
things all added together along with some abysmal fielding. Jeremy
Coney left us, you know, behind the eight ball all
the way, won't we.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
Yeah, the fielding is a concern, isn't it, Especially when
New Zealand are in Asia. It does take us a
little longer to get because we don't run through sides
and so every catch, in other words, that arrives, we've
got to be taking it, don't we, or have a
good chance of taking it anyway. And I thought in
(09:48):
this game, when at the end of day one Sri
Lanka were three hundred and six for three, that the
game was kind of gone unless New Zealand really had
a very good first session on day two, which they didn't,
and it was not a surprise. So yeah, I think
(10:09):
I think the catching, particularly slip, is an issue. Brian
and I just want to talk about. I'm not against
Mitchell at all. I think he's an interesting player, and
he's an aggressive batsman, and he's added something in the
middle when he's going nicely. But as far as a catcher,
there are some things I think he could look at,
(10:31):
and I'm a bit concerned that players or poaches off
the fields aren't noticing some things and which they should be.
The first thing was Karuna Ratna, wasn't it. Sowdy already
had a wicket of Masanka and about his second over
something like that, good start taken by the keeper. And
(10:54):
then in about the sort of must have been the
fifth or sixth over, o'ro got the edge of Karuna Ratna,
didn't he, And it supplied a fairly regulation mit straight
through to first slip, and you know it beat him
with pace, so it hit the heel of his hands
and then bounced forward from him. Now you know you
(11:17):
need I think through as a slip. Even though it's
early on and you've only had in this case five overs,
the ball has gone through to the keeper a few
times and that has given you a chance to see
the pace and clues about the pace of the pitch,
and therefore your debts is determined and adjusted. By watching
(11:40):
and listening to where the ball is taken by the keeper.
You get an idea how quick it's going through to
the keeper, and you sort of practice that catch and slips.
You always see the catch before it arrives. You've rehearsed
it over and over in your head so that it
(12:01):
doesn't surprise you. Even I used to click my tongue,
you like that, and that was the mick as it
went through, and then I'd be taking the ball from
my hands together and getting the timing of the catch
that it would arrive. I don't think that Mitchell does that.
He doesn't listen and pick up quite the sort of
(12:21):
the little things that he's being given by the pitching,
by the game. The other thing I would say about
him is that he's his actual stance. He's too wide apart,
His legs are too wide apart. You want to be
on the balls of your feet, you know, like a dancer,
because you're balanced like a boxer, so you're not hit
(12:44):
and so when your feet are wide apart, and he's
a big lad Mitchell, so he would have quite a
lot of weight on not the balls of his feet,
but on the whole foot or on the outside of
the foot, and that means you can't move quickly to
the catch, and in essence it means he's slower to
catches that are wide of him and it takes longer
(13:07):
for him to get there. And more importantly, with Commindu
Mendous's cat Joe O'Rourke in the last session, he didn't
get his head in line with the catch. You hate
it as a slip. When you are swinging your arms
away from in front of your eyes. You are relieved
(13:28):
a little sort of bressong of relief if you hang
on to that. So you want to get your eyes
totally in line with the ball. Well, his was outside
his eyes and the ball burst through from reverse cups
so and to spin. Of course, he spreads for a
start the unit, which is two hands together as one.
(13:53):
You're always wanting to take the ball with two hands,
and he spreads it by putting them on the knees,
like a lot of slips do nowadays. And then halfway
is the bulls coming down towards the batsman has been delivered.
He then moves his hands from his knees up to
his waist. He's too high, can't go down. Look at
(14:13):
Dunn and Ja Da Silva. He took five catches and
he was low low. So there you go. Just some
little points. I think they're not about against Mitchell, but
he's dropping too many. You've got to get ninety percent.
I think in Asia most that's right.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Technique is important.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
You would have fielded in the slips and first class cricket,
you'd have fielded in the outfield. You've got to take
those chances. You can't just dismiss them the way Saudi
did a little bit earlier when.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
He was talking, Oh look, there's there's no question. I
remember actually fielding and slits with Jerry, and Jerry kindly
took catch for me and he said you wouldn't have
caught that wood of you, and he was quite.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
But on.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
But on that point I thought that the Sri Lankans,
they their fielding was was pretty good. That catch at
short leg by Nirsanka from for Mitchell, where he hit
it pretty much off the face of the bat, very
sharp catch. Yeah, that says a lot. Can I just
want to make it a little observation. I was watching
(15:18):
the guys on the second day, and frankly they looked tired.
So when you're coming in you field it all day
day one and their second day, and then I'm looking
at Blundle and I'm going, you're you're feeling it, aren't you?
Srilanda of course had just come in having played you know,
two or three tests, three tests in England. They were
(15:38):
a lot fitter than we were. I think that our
guys suffered, particularly in day two, about being lethargic, and
then you could see that in the way that Bloodall's
performance which was not tidy at best and therefore couldn't
support it. You know, he put a couple of stumpings
down or it was missed missed chances which which made
(16:00):
things difficult for a jez to tell.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
So I just saw this.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
There's a number of factors playing out here. One, I
think we were underdone. We were looking tired and short
and short of a gallop. So I think that all
contributes to where we ended up basically on the back
foot from day one to thirty pointed out, and then
day two it only got worse. I can't even explain
what happened in the first innings of our batting. I mean,
(16:25):
that's just extraordinary.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Well, that's something that we have to look at in
terms of the upcoming Test matches against India. It took
four innings two in the first Test and then the
second to get some quality to the top order batting
and get some consistency and getting players scoring and to
me adjusting.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Their mental approach to what they were doing.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, they looked all at sea against the spinners,
but they played them better in the second inning. Three
hundred and sixty of you know, seventy odd overs was
good cricket when you're under the pump.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yeah, But again, I'm watching the second innings and I'm thinking,
you've got time, time, as your friend, you got time
on your hands. And then and then I start think,
you know, some of the shot selections, reverse sweeping from Blodell,
you know, and he played quite quite quite beautifully up
until then and look really assured. Didn't need to do it.
(17:21):
Came Williamson the way he got out and then looked
and looked really good. Sort of a nonchalan clip off
his legs to be caught at deckmud wicked. That's that's
not King Williamson sort of stuff, especially when we've got
that much time on our hands, and the wicked clearly
wasn't that bad. You could score, You could score on it,
couldn't you. And that that goes back to the fact
(17:41):
that I think these guys come day four, we're tired.
They ran out, ran out of gas, which is a
bit of an indictment. I could be wrong.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
Well, first of all, about the pitch. I don't think
the pitch changed dramatically overnight. We're not so slightly cooler
from day two to day three. We're talking about the
leading into the first innings here by New Zealand that
you would be bowled out in thirty nine overs. Was
it unplayable?
Speaker 5 (18:07):
No?
Speaker 6 (18:07):
Was it a bit difficult. Yes, the ball was still new,
and it turns a little sharper, and it bounces just
a little bit more and it gets that grip and
there's a wee bit of drift and so on. There's
quite a breeze at Gaul. But a Jaz Pateel batted
for forty one deliveries and sent and a batted for
fifty one. So it was a tough game position when
(18:29):
you're chasing six hundred and two for half the team out.
But a lot of that was New Zealand's fault, as
we've just been talking about. They gave Karuna Ratna two lives,
which is three innings for forty six he made chunder
Marl got a life, so he had two innings, he
got one hundred, and Kamindu got a life, he had
two innings, he got one hundred and eighty five not out,
(18:51):
So the chances were there. Everyone expects the pitch to
deterior eight over five days, and so it should, but
we know in Gaul it does. But in the second
innings of a match, there's a better chance than batting
in the third, which New Zealand had, and it's a
better chance than batting in the fourth which we didn't
(19:12):
get to. And of course it was costly. They gave
away the chance New Zealand by getting that eighty eight
for our New Zealand spinners to show, to show their worse.
Patel got his six for ninety in the third innings
of the first Test of the match, you know, and
I just thought that, you know, maybe New Zealand, in
(19:33):
some small way it could have if they had batted better,
they might have got into the game a little bit more.
Who knows. But and in thirty nine over, of course,
we said goodbye to the World Test Championship. And I
don't see how people can argue eighty eight in the
second innings and then three sixty in the third innings.
At four point four they were going for it. You
(19:55):
can't say it's a terrible surface. I don't think it
can get away with that. I mean, I'd like to
be able to deflect some of it onto the surface,
but I don't think we can. What we witnessed was
the top order failing in defense. In the first innings. Latham, Conway,
Revendra and Williamson all made little mistakes. They tried yep.
(20:19):
But then the middle order then came out and said,
well you can't play on here, and so then we
saw three wickets fall. Basically we saw who was the
first guy to go. I think it was it Blundle.
Blundles a number six. He was out three times reverse
sweeping in this series. And I'm not sure you can
(20:41):
do that at number six when you are a batsman,
so that needs to be sought about. And then then
out came Phillips. Phillips decided just to slash at the
second ball he faced. He wasn't interested in defending to
get a look at it, and he got caught first slip,
a very good catch by Dunna Jail.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
And then Mitchell with long on set back, thought I
can hit a six, and he was caught at a
regulation long on quite comfortab. So those middle order players
all came out and said, I'm not going to defend
to get myself in, then I can play my shots.
They just decided they were going to go from the start,
(21:20):
and that's to me, shortcutting, shortcutting the game. Blundle went
on his fifth ball, Phillip's on his second, and Mitchell
on his fifteenth. They were blown away in the middle
part and around them. Then Sawdy of course came in
and he's got about ten, doesn't He surely fellas he
can't bat ahead of ajs p Tell anymore. And then
(21:42):
of course the batted fifteen balls for two not out,
so they kind of did their work, the lower boys.
I don't know what you feel about that, guys, but
I just thought, you know, we were poor thinking, poor thinking.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
There's the phrase that I think he used before, the
lack of patience, this sort of seeming the obsession of
needing to get on with it and dominate, dominate the bowler.
There's a reason why it's a Test match. It's got
time get yourself settled, and which is what they weren't doing.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Can I also just comment the trainer. That looked a
pretty good side and well organized and got some rather
useful players, haven't they. I don't think we've spoken enough
about them. There's some very tidy players in there, and
and we we failed in comparison. Any thoughts there, Jerry.
Speaker 6 (22:37):
Well, well they did. They provided our side with a
great chance to look how to bat on that pitch. Certainly,
let's let's make the sort of the point that it
was slightly easier batting because the pitch deteriorates. But they
they played sensibly. I don't think we saw wild stroke
(22:57):
making from any of the Sri Lankans really, and they
slowly they got the nice rhythm to their game. They
offended when they had to. They then put the bad ball.
They got singles and kept the score, you know, moving along,
and then when they got the bad ball they put
(23:18):
it away. It seemed it seemed inevitable in a way,
didn't it. The way that they were batting, they were
going to carry on. And in that day too, they
just gently dismembered the New Zealand side when they went
forty seven runs in the first hour forty nine and
the second that's ninety six. And the first session not
a bad little start to the second day forty three
(23:41):
in the first hour after lunch, seventy four in the
second hour after lunch Kusal Menders came in and then
after sin they didn't lose a wicket there and then
five hundred and nineteen for five they you know, they
got seventy four in the next hour as well after tea.
So they they just established a lovely tempo throughout their innings.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Which was the point I was trying to draw out, Jerry.
That compares with the way that that that our guys
went about it. And in the stark contrast, kim Indhu
I think, didn't didn't play a reverse sweep until he
was well and maybe maybe eighty or ninety. Again, Yep,
quite methodical about how they went about it. You know,
(24:25):
they could push it, you know, they pushed it around
a bit. They looked assured, we look rushed, So I,
you know, I commensal like that.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
Podds. Do you feel that their spinners were better than ours.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, quite clearly that's the case, because they're experienced in
those conditions. That's why I say that these pictures, to
my mind, don't meet the specifications that I want from
Test cricket.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Here's the guy.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Jayasuria who plays just about all his Test matches in Gare.
He's taken ninety five Test wickets. Sixty nine of them
have been at Gaul. He's taken ten at SSC and Column,
so seventy nine out of ninety five all been taken
in his home patch. When he gets away from home,
(25:16):
he's hardly noticeable. He doesn't take wickets to that extent. Yeah,
he got a wicker or so at the Test series
in England, but you know that quite expensive. The end
result from my mind is that I want to see
a cricket pitch where seam bowlers bowl more than thirty
four overs, which was what happened when New Zealand bowled
(25:39):
in their innings and the rest of the time it
was spinners. In the Sri Lankan bowling to New Zealand.
I think a Cida Fernando bowled a couple of overs.
The bloke they brought in to rough.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
Up the pitch.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
He bowled four overs and that was the end of it.
We just saw a diet of spin bowling. I don't
mind a diet of spin bowling, but I want to
see quality spin bowling. I don't believe these guys are
quality until they've been able to deliver outside their country.
Nathan Lyon takes wickets all over the world. Shane Warn
took them all over the world. All these other spin
(26:13):
bowlers who've done wonderfully. Well, here's the guy. He's got
ninety five Test wickets and seventy nine of them have
been in conditions that he enjoys. Great.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Go out and do it.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
You'll get wins. But I don't know that it does
anything for spin bowling. That's my opinion. I might get
duffy On to have a chat with him about it. Well,
take me apart most take me apart.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Well, I'm not sure I can do that because I'm
kind of sitting here nodding somewhat and that goes against
the grains for me a little bit.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
But I.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Would hazard guess to say that I think they are
better spinners. I thought this debutante they bought and he's
not young by any stretch of imagine Bob beautifully, the
Bally got the Russian Avenger out, and the second Eggs
was an absolute peach. So I didn't see as bowling
(27:07):
any of those in those conditions. And when you have
to go there, you've got to adapt to the conditions,
and I frankly our guys don't because mostly the part
timers and they very rarely get to bowl the number
of overs that you need to bowl. How guys just
don't do that. They don't get it, so again they
(27:28):
come in underdone. And I also don't think the captain
really knows how to handle spinners and which gens to
bowl them from. I think Kay Williamson was somewhat similar
as well, So I don't think that helps you know
which end should it be bowling from. There was a
few comments on the commentary from the structure lank and
(27:48):
commentators that maybe I just Bettell should be from the
other end and not this end. Those sorts of things
that all plays into it.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
So I.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Think they in their conditions are just better, clearly, But
I don't think we help ourselves.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
Yeah, I'm not sure where the Wards answered my question.
My question was better spinners and you talked a lot
about the pitch words and it's the pitch that's making
them dangerous. Well, yeah, they take wickets there, and that's
the usual things that happen when you travel around the
(28:24):
world bowling. You know, units have become accustomed the same
as in New Zealand, we play, we don't even play.
Patel goes missing in New Zealand. I think I reckon.
He just changes his whole face somehow and no one
can find him, you know. And then suddenly when there's
(28:44):
an Asian tour coming up, he pops out from somewhere
like a forest and they say, look, go to Asia
and win us a Test match. You know, these are
very silly things to be doing. We've we've got to
play a spinner all the time of some sort, and
I just feel they're spinners. They turn the ball harder
(29:09):
and they bowl into the surface a lot better than
we do. Patel, for example, User's flight, but I get
the feeling as the ball drops, which is great. It's
not actually biting quick turn once it hits the ground.
Whereas Paris that you're talking about, he got quick turn.
(29:32):
He beats the defense of bat and jas Suri is
a wee bit the same as well. They hardly have
a run up, do they. They kind of walk into bowl,
but they get a lot of work with their body.
There was a shot at one stage of the guy
piis bowling and you could see his non bowling arm
had gone from up. He uses it quite nicely and
(29:54):
then it goes right out and extended behind him. He
was up on his front toe to get nice and
high and he was bowling into the.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Pitch that guy Paris was basically there was a comparison
between him and the bloke he'd replace, and the way
he uses his arm and his action, and you couldn't
argue with that. I mean, I'm not arguing that they're
good in their conditions, but I think I would like
to judge the quality of spin, and they're better than
New Zealand spinners. As you say, Jerry, But I mean,
(30:24):
you look at a guy like Nathan Lyon who's developed
his game over a long period of time, takes work,
it's in all conditions. He came out here and you
know on the Basin reserve last year showed us how
to bowl spin, didn't he and we used Phillips, didn't
we to the same degree, and that's why perhaps what
(30:46):
you're saying is that we should look to Phillips type
Bracewell type rather than the nice flighty type that you
talked about.
Speaker 6 (30:57):
Well, flighty type bowl as wads will deceive you in
the air, won't they as a batsman, So don't get
you out before you've played your shot because they've it's
the ball is actually pitched shorter than you think. Then
you need the second part of the equation, which turns
the ball past the outside edge of your bat if
you can, if you're a right hander, and we're talking
(31:18):
about Patel, so you need to have both those components. Certainly,
on a good pitch, the flighty bowlers come more into play,
and I'm talking about we're calling that a good pitch,
but it doesn't necessarily mean that. It just means it's
flatter and it doesn't turn quite so much. But there
are going to be pitchers around the world that do turn.
(31:41):
And we've got to expect that every country has its
own weather systems, its own part of soil and so on,
and they are going to be and that's a good thing.
I think. Actually that's the one of the beauties of
the game. In New Zealand we play four seamers. We
grow grass, we have farms. We're good at growing grass,
(32:02):
and so we don't pick spinners, and so we have
four seamers bowling. But that's what we do. When they
come we we we push poor old ages. Per sell aside,
he just got ten wickets and earnings, So I find
I'm not surprised that New Zealand find it a bit harder.
(32:23):
We our biggest turner as Bracewell, and we didn't use
them on a pitch that responds to turn. I thought
that was unless he's got the yips and the nets.
I couldn't understand that.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
But isn't it noticeable though that you look at Australia
they go in with line. Well you would, wouldn't you.
I mean, he's just just world, world, world class bowler.
But I'm also seeing England they know that persisting with
a spinner, and McCallum's bringing on a couple of new
ones and they go in with a spinner, and and
(32:55):
that's in England. Contrasts that with us and we're not
doing that. We go on with a part timer. That's
what we do. Therefore, he's never an opportunity to develop
those skills. I just think that we we don't help
ourselves in that regards with this over alliance on the mediums.
It exposes us as a result.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
When we go and we don't have a We don't
have a spin bowling coach, do we. That's interesting. We
have a bowling coach who's basically a seamer. They've always
been seemas, but we don't have because that's what we
use in New Zealand. But we don't have a spin
bowling coach, do we? Why aren't we sending Ages Patel
if he's going to be regarded as our best spinner,
(33:37):
send him to rung in our hair outs or get
hair ath to come over and and spend a bit
of money in trying to develop a spinner who's going
to be bowling in different conditions. Hair aths got markets everywhere.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
We've got a favorite of time to look at that
over the next few weeks, because we're going to see
the same bowlers I would imagine in India for the
three Test matches we're going to win over there, and
then the three we're going to beat England and we
qualify for the final of the World Test champions.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
That's true, yell.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
We have to rolls off. The towards came along easily.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
We've we've just got into the final.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
Well done, no problem at all.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Sadly, guys, this week we end on a sad note.
A good mate of all three of us in cricket,
Ian Taylor, passed away just after our last edition. Tales
a man who committed his life to cricket. He was
a player and administrator, mister reliability. You could ask him
to do anything and he would get it done. And
that was over sixty five years. A true caring friend
(34:45):
and Jerry, You and I will remember him foremost as
manager of the team to Pakistan in nineteen eighty four,
although you traveled with him other times and other pop Australia.
Speaker 6 (34:56):
Yeah yeah, as a manager, he's he was a good
man and a friend. Yeah, Pakistan was for forty years ago.
We didn't have Richard Hadley. We did and have Jeff Howarth.
Hard Tour a decent team to play against Zahira bas
Motion Khan, Javid Me and Dad Sulim Mullock, Abdul Tadamber
(35:22):
him Ikbal Khazine. No neutral umpires that became a bit
of an issue. In fact, Tales Tales, Tails was the
one who met me at the rope as I was
leading the team off and the third test after another
mich had been given not out and it was Jarvid
(35:42):
Uh and Braces was talking to him at the time
and said, Javid said to him, I will I will
meet you, Bracewell, I will meet you, Yes outside the pavilion,
yes after play. Brace's no now. But but Taials met
(36:04):
me and pushed me back and said, no, we're not
doing this, Jeremy. So that that was good, a sensible
thing to do, and we went back onto the field.
In those days, the jur as we used to call them,
the manager was always a board member and you were
either rewarded for service or you know, long service, or
it was a jaunt for you. And as such they
(36:27):
were a little remote from the players. They fulfilled the
role as the board rep, you know, talking to other
prominent sort of members once that you got away, and
they looked after all the finances and all that sort
of travel and motels and hotels. KALs did all that,
but importantly he closed the gap between the player and
(36:49):
the administrator, and the team really enjoyed that. I remember
being he he had ansh sense of humor. I remember
in rol Pindi it was the start of the tour
in Pakistan and the military officer and the president Mohammed
zil Hak who was willed a few years later, actually
(37:11):
he want he wanted to meet the team. So we
lined up and Tales was moving along the line introducing
all of the members of the team. But he used
all our nicknames. So he came to Farmer, Chatfield, Spring Creek,
cans Pirate, McEwan, shake a right, Rocky Boch so I mean,
(37:39):
but by the time President Zia departed, he was a
bewildered man. We we had loads of functions on that tour,
didn't we was We used to attend them, probably three
a week, night after night. Yeah, Tales, you know, used
to speak and he had very cleverly bought a large
(38:02):
bag of plastic tickies before he left New Zealand, and
he gave these and dispensed them to all the dignitaries
at each of these functions, and they became quite a hit.
And I remember overhearing a wife of one of these
notables beseeching her husband to go and get one of
(38:25):
those New Zealand green frogs. But look, I mean there's
so many stories with tales. But he was such a
friend to the players without losing any authority, and he
was approachable. He felt for the players. He listened and
(38:50):
he laughed, and he had his gin and he debated.
You know. He was another ear when the mail hadn't
come through and when you weren't selected. He was a
player's manager, you know, in the real sense of the term.
And we were lucky to have him. And I'm so
pleased that I saw him in februry at the basin,
(39:13):
you know, and heartfelt feelings to his wife Christine or
miss Tiles.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Yes, indeed, most you would have been involved in playing
for Wellington. When he was an administrator at Wellington.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Oh remember him well. And finally as well, and a
gentle person was how it struck me. I had time
for people, and it's I think of a fine person
and you know, a great administrator. Meanwhile, having a pretty
successful career I recall, as well as in business.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Yes, he certainly worked in business in the Carogatory motel
in I just finished off with one story about that
tour of eighty four Jerry, and you remember it well.
I think you were asleep in bed at the time.
It was the night we were do to leave, and
there was me, Billy Stirling and I think Boki were
having a few drinks to finish off. What left was
(40:10):
the fifty thousand dozen cans of dB that they had
in the in the.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
Team room, and.
Speaker 6 (40:20):
Most of them are stolen. Words.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Tails was packing his bag and he bought these carpets,
you know, some really nice carpets, and he was rolling
them up and getting them ready to tie so that
they could come home with all the gear. And then
all of a sudden he was looking through his bag
and he looked and he couldn't find some money. He said,
I've lost ten thousand jewish. I think it was about
(40:45):
ten thousand ten thousand uish. I said, no, that must
be somewhere Tales, No, he said, I've lost it. It
was here. It's the player's money. And this was all
the payouts to the players and the exchange of rupees,
et cetera, et cetera, and here, yeah, it was your money.
And he was he was rolling up these carpets, and
(41:06):
I thought, have you not spent them on the not
spent the money on the carpets?
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Tails?
Speaker 3 (41:11):
It looks as though they're pretty good, Nona, it's a past.
He closed or he got them to close the hotel down.
They put guards on the doors and no one could
get in and out of the hotel. And this was
about one o'clock midnight, and we were flying out at
six in the morning, and the players had to be
woken up. And I went round to the rooms and
we knocked on all the rooms, so everybody got woken up,
(41:34):
and you had to check and see that they were
awake and ready to go, and Billy Stealing did exactly
the same. We get down the Sned's room and I said, oh,
the massive panic upstairs, massive panic. Tales has lost ten
thousand US of the players money and Snitz's not the
money you gave me to distribute to the players. And
(41:54):
everybody sigh of relief, and I said, you don't tell
Tales when you get upstairs. He'd forgotten that he'd get
Sneers because Sneers was the team treasurer.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
Yeah, and that was a mad moment, and Tales and I.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Have talked about that just about every year for forty
years since, because, to my mind, the funniest moment from it,
and I saw him hurting there at that time, and
of course we had a long history through club and
domestic cricket around Wellington. So very very able administrator and
a bloody good blow and you'll be missed. Which brings
(42:35):
us to an end of this program and we will
join together at some stage in the near future. Most
thank you very much once more for your time. We've
got the Indian series coming up and we'll be looking
at that with a very close eye, and you too, JC.
You can and just brush up on some of those
(42:57):
Indian names and we'll have a long discussion at some
stage about spin bowling in Sri Lanka. Perhaps that could
be a fun topic.
Speaker 6 (43:07):
Well, yeah, no, it's it's going to be an interesting
three tests. You're really going to have to really lift
their game, aren't they.
Speaker 5 (43:14):
We all know that, Yes, definitely.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
I just think you're looking at Boomra, who I think
is in ahead of a few of our players. You've
got s Yeah, you've got deep and they're all bowling
up round one forty clicks and those two fabulous spinners.
That's going to be a.
Speaker 6 (43:34):
Got a good watch. Yeah, well, we we may have
to play Sears, We may have to play Henry we
may have to play, or who knows, we'll see ye.
Speaker 5 (43:44):
Interesting word, probably against.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
One summer.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
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