I almost got stuck out in the middle when the covers came from all corners, I had to get a bit of a sprint on to avoid being trapped in the middle in the pouring rain! © Cricinfo Ltd

On Day Two, Dan [Vettori] joined a very, very special club. He became just the eighth player to reach 3000 runs and take 300 wickets. I know this meant a lot to Dan but you wouldn’t have known that by any of the actions Dan makes. He goes about his business, reaching his own milestones, sometimes some of them go unnoticed, and doing his job without the ego lesser players carry. He doesn’t carry on after taking wickets like some; he doesn’t run about pumping the air after scoring a ton. He is Dan, he is what you see; strongly motivated to be the best player he can be and take this, and the next NZ team to the top of our sport. And while being a great player, team-mate and captain, has made me a better bowler and it’s still a great thrill to walk out alongside him.

This morning, again, didn’t go to plan. Five down overnight and we needed to bat and bat and bat. We were back in the field just before lunch 182 behind. I was pretty angry, angry at getting out how I did and also about having to be back out fielding before lunch. I took the new ball straight after lunch and went as hard as I could. I put my anger into the ball and bowled a good spell. No wickets but the intent I was trying to bring was something I hoped we could keep going with.

157/2, 339 runs in front when the rains came. I almost got stuck out in the middle when the covers came from all corners, I had to get a bit of a sprint on to avoid being trapped in the middle in the pouring rain! We could sure do with a bit more of it!?

It’s been a while and I don’t really know where to start.

Firstly, I guess, we lost the first Test. Old news really, but it wasn’t a strong enough performance from us. To go down as we did in the fourth innings was, well, weak.

While in Galle, 12 of the 15 guys got sick. It seemed like it was just a matter of time before the whole travelling party got sick. Over the course of the match a few of the guys were so ill that they couldn’t even get themselves to the ground. It wasn’t pretty. The thing about whatever we got was that it lasted less than 24 hours but the side-effects of being sick meant that energy was hard to find for the next few days afterwards.

Continue reading "A tale of two Tests"

The rain this morning was amazing. If you had of said we would have got through 70-odd overs today at 10am this morning I would have laughed at you! There was no way that was going to happen; but it did. The groundstaff have done a great job with the ground; covering and uncovering. They’ve worked as hard as we have in the middle and it’s paid off in us being able to play.

Continue reading "Picking Murali's doosra"

We walked off after day one at 293 for 3, as I said, not the best day in the field; that’s obvious. Day two was better though. We picked up the remaining seven wickets for 159 with Dan (Vettori) and Tommy (Chris Martin) both thoroughly earning their four wickets each. Dan bowled tightly throughout the innings and it was just a matter of time before he’d pick up wickets. Dan and I normally, in the past, have bowled well together, we’ve both been able to control the runs and then put scoreboard pressure on the batters to score. The ends we like to bowl from normally works that it suits us both too. I couldn’t hold up my end in the way I’ve been able to do enough in this first innings. So it took a change of ends for Dan so that he and Tommy could bowl together. And it worked, perfectly; the last four wickets for just eight runs, all of them off Muralitharan's bat. We love the way he bats, we all wish we could be that free.
It’s raining right now, it’s almost 9am and we’d normally be at the ground by now.

An amazing storm came through around 5am this morning, thunder banging about and lightning as bright as I’ve ever seen; with it, torrential rain. The rain has eased but is still steady and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon. We’ve watched the covers go on and come off, an amazing mission by the lads at the ground. The whole ground gets covered; I don’t know if there are that many covers in New Zealand, I’ve never seen anything like it. As we’ve watched them being taken off we know that it’s about a 90-minute even so there is no point going to the ground until the rain stops completely. There’s nothing we can do about it so it was a longer breakfast than normal and most of the boys will be in their room resting up some more.

Continue reading "Gazing at the covers"

This will be a quick one as I’m pretty tired after a tough day on the park.

We arrived at the ground with rain in the air and the covers still on. And I mean covers still on; the whole outfield was covered. They were battening down the hatches yesterday afternoon while our training session was wrapping up and there must have been almost a hundred ground helpers out there putting the sheeting down on the wicket, the block, the surrounds and the whole outfield.

Start was delayed till 11.30 and we got first opportunity to bowl first on it after Dan won another toss. It had been mentioned that he wanted to lose the toss as we really weren’t sure what to do first. The pitch felt a little tacky after being under the covers, but how long would that last; we weren’t sure but Dan decided to have first use of it. And it paid off straight away. Tommy (Martin) with his third ball picked up Tharanga Paranavitana and then in his second Kumar Sangakkara flicked one to Flynn at square leg for two wickets inside three overs. That, alas, was where the wickets ended for that session. Tillakaratne Dilshan was outstanding. I felt like I was bowling very close to our plan for him although, unfortunately for us, it was to be his session. I bowled four overs in my first spell and it really was like a highlights package. I went for 40 in those four overs; not good enough but also there was some very good batting.

Continue reading "Sehwag redux?"

The second warm-up match, played at NCC finished in a tame draw. Three days is really not enough time to secure an outright win unless one team has at least one very poor innings with the bat. That said, the SL XI took a first-innings lead into the second half of the match.

We’ve now travelled to Galle, further south and smack bang on a currently rampant coastline. We were supposed to train this morning but that has been put off due to the ground-flooding rain that hit here at about 6am. So it’s going to be a long day stuck in our hotel without the weather we were expecting. A day like today isn’t the worst thing for us though. It gives us a good chance to get another gym session in and most importantly a very good opportunity to watch more footage and study our plans for this upcoming Test series.

I finished the match back at NCC with feeling pretty good about my form. I got through 16 overs (2 for 60) and scored 18 (off 52). Not the worst game, not the greatest game but pretty good in the conditions. I could have, maybe, had another couple of wickets had things gone my way, but overall I am happy with where I am at.

Continue reading "On to stormy Galle"

We all arrived here a week ago yesterday. So eight days here to acclimatise, train and play some warm-up games. We had three days before the first warm-up match to try, as much as possible, to get used to the heat and humidity. We all struggled to a certain extent with overheating, some more than others. Guppy [Martin Guptill], at the first training, was the first one to feel the effects, his fair skin and ginger hair not helping, I’m sure. It wasn’t anything serious but he did have to stop training and get the ice bags on to cool down. It was my turn yesterday to have a few issues during training.

The combination of the heat and humidity is so hard to combat. Getting enough water on board is hard. It often feels like you are sweating as quick, if not quicker, than you can drink the water. It is so important to keep a water bottle nearby.

Our first warm-up match, at the Colombo Colts ground, pretty much went to plan. I wasn’t to play; I had this game off, mainly because my bowling loads have been good while at Leicestershire. We lost the toss and were asked to bowl first; not the worst thing as the pitch felt a little tacky. We bowled well and knocked them over for 159. Tuffey, in his first match back in the NZ shirt, picked up three and it was good to see him bowling quick picking up wickets. Our boys in reply racked up 493 with some real good looking innings in hard conditions, Dan’s [Vettori] century being the highlight. Dan came in when the score was 258 for 6, the innings in the balance, and put together a couple of strong partnerships with Baz [McCullum] and then Jeets [Patel].

In the overs left in this three-day match we couldn’t quite knock them over for the full win. A good outing first up especially as we don’t have a great record in warm-up matches.

Continue reading "Sweating it out in Sri Lanka"