This last game was against Canterbury; we had been given a sound hiding by them at their place early in the competition and we needed a win, let alone revenge win, to stay a chance in the competition.

We batted first on a track that we had already used twice in the previous two matches at the Basin. It was looking a whole lot dryer and tired than it had done in the last match against Northern Districts, where it was a very good one-day track! We really needed to score huge and hope the pitch got harder and harder to score on as the match went on and, hopefully, give us a chance for a bonus point by keeping them to 80% of our score; neither of those was to happen. We scored 217 off 49 overs which was Duckworth-Lewis-ed up to 220 as we lost that over in the middle of the innings because of rain.

Continue reading "Six and out"

	Matthew Bell flicks to leg during his 23 © Getty Images

Ahh, that's better. Back on track with a very good win against a very good team. The papers call it an upset although I just happy with it being a game where a couple of us (Wellington Firebirds) played better than they did. We are a good team, we've just been playing some average cricket.

Belly won the toss. I felt it was an important one as it looked like a deck that certainly would help the bowlers. It did, we just didn't bowl to well to start with. It swung and did a little off the track and it looked like, to start with, we really tried to bowl quick and swing it big. Sometimes those things just happen without trying too hard as you get carried away with the conditions, wind up and it comes out all wrong.

I was into the attack in the seventh over; a little earlier than I have bowled when coming on as the 3rd seamer. I was quite excited about this actually. I wanted to get into it on. First over went for 6, next went for 4 with two wides in it. Ten off two, not the best start. It was pretty good from there though.

I had got out to warm ups in the morning with a bit of a sore shoulder. Had bowled at training the day before and everything had been fine, but the morning of this match there was a little twinge there, to the point where I thought I might have been doubtful for a start. I got into my bowling warm ups a little earlier than normal to test it out and give the 'all clear' to the captain. It wasn't 100%, but it certainly wasn't hurting as much as it was before warming up or feeling like I was doing more damage to it. Was pretty happy with the bowling first too as I wouldn't have to cool down and then warm up again 3½ hours later.

I bowled my 10 overs in two spells, first one of eight and then two towards the end. I finished up with 2-33 with a couple of decisions that could, on another day, gone the other way, also had Howza dropped before he scored and he went on to get 88*; good players make you pay. I was pretty happy with how it came out. I have been working on bowling a bit straighter than I have done in the past and from the stats, in this match, I am pretty close to what I think is about the right amount of balls in the right 'lines' category. It swung for me and it came out as quick as I certainly could have hoped for. It just felt really good, in saying that I did bowl my first extras of this one-day campaign. I bowled three wides yesterday after bowling none in the previous four matches. I can't even tell you why it did swing, but from where I was trying to bowl it should have been fine. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, just as long as I don't over step and get no-balled, that's a real no-no!

Set 264 to win, CD had batted well and got more than I would have estimated at the start of the innings, but maybe less that they could have from 120-2. They did also score 55 off the 'batters' power play, 52 of them in four overs and I managed to sneak in the other over that went for three. That may sound like a bit of 'trumpet blowing' but I'm pretty proud of how things go sometimes and so why not show it.

We knocked 264 off in the 46th over with six wickets still in the shed. There was even talk of possibly going after the bonus point by getting there by the 40th over. Now that would have been cheeky and probably not a risk we needed taking after not batting so well, especially, in the previous two matches. Belly and Naps opened. A change at the top of the order with Nap's heading up there to give the start of the innings a bit of a kick start, it worked. Off to a bit of a flyer and when this happens it makes bowling a whole lot harder; the nerves and mind start going, you start thinking about what happens when you bowl a bad ball, or even good balls disappearing past and over fielders. The pressure is back on the fielding captain, his job becomes tough. Belly batted through until we needed just two runs to win; a great knock and one that obviously won it for us. It wasn't a classical innings but that don't matter when you have success and win.

I wrote all that about 3 days ago, just prior to the match we have just played against Auckland and haven't had a chance to post it because of travelling and playing and also moving. I've now got a place to live! More frequent updates shouldn't be a problem now

Days like yesterday hurt. It doesn't matter that I had a reasonable game, as it's the end result that really matters.

We got destroyed by a team that has, over the last couple of years, played some impressive one-day cricket. Otago have never, generally, been considered favourites in cricket for a long time. We (Wellington Firebirds) went into the match as one of the two stronger teams in the country (us and CD) aware of what kind of cricket Otago can play. If they get their tails up then they are as strong as opposition as there is around. And yesterday they had more than just their tails up.

We had just come off a good close win against a strong Auckland team a couple of days earlier; that was the first win I had been a part of since the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong, it had been a long time! From there and into the gym the day after and training at 10am on New Year's Day.

Continue reading "Outdone by Otago "

	At the moment with the bowling I've had behind me and the training I'm doing I really feel good about being able to execute deliveries and my plans © Getty Images

It's New Year’s day and I'm on the couch resting up for tomorrow’s one-day match against Otago.

A quiet night last night, went out and had a couple of beers with some of the Wellington boys, home by 12.30 very sober and very much looking forward to sleep. I'm not one for the late nights too often, especially when I know I have to get up and train the next day. I just can't operate tired, let alone, with a hangover, at all!

Training today at 10am, but before we start training we debriefed the Auckland match from two days ago.

The first half of this game went according to plan, the second half, not so. We bowled Auckland out for 197 in the 50th over. We'd bowled really well and really denied Auckland scoring opportunities through the innings. Nap's (Graham Napier), again, was brilliant. Another four wickets to his name while Woody (Luke Woodcock) picked up three, including a double-wicket maiden to start his first spell. Genius!

Continue reading "Getting into the one-day groove"