Out In The Middle With Scott

One ODI to go

Since I last checked in we’ve managed to fit in three One Day Internationals and come Tuesday we’ll be on the plane and heading for India for the World Cup.

It hasn’t been a great week in terms of results.

The series was there to be won before the game in Hamilton and I thought if we put in two good performances we’d walk away with the spoils.

With the world cup just around the corner this hasn’t been the best way to get ready but at least we’ve been able to clock up some game time against some very good opposition.

There’s no denying that all of us have got the world cup on our minds, it’s a huge tournament, but we have also been focused on winning this series against Pakistan.

They are a world class team and they have really come on after the first game.

We had a job to do in this series and in all honesty we all know that if we don’t play well there’s a chance we won’t get the chance to take part in the world cup.

So let’s take a look back at where things have been going wrong.

In Christchurch I thought we played pretty well but Pakistan gave us a lesson in how to bat and bowl in the last 10 overs.

The power of Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Umar Akmal was very impressive.

We lost that game because they showed more skill and also some death bowling that we were pretty disappointed with.

That meant we had to chase a score that I thought was probably 30 or 40 more than what we would have considered a pass score on that ground.

It just proved too much in the end.

I know at the time we had a plan where Kane Williamson and I were to get through to 150 after 30 overs at three down and we did that.

So we were right on target for where wanted to be chasing 290 odd but then unfortunately we lost three wickets in about five overs which pretty much killed us.

We did a lot of good things but in the last 10 overs we just blew.

It is hard to plan for players who are in full flight and smashing it to all parts.

All you can really do is figure out the areas where they like to hit, their go to areas where they need a boundary – that’s the basic gist of it.

What we found with Afridi was that he was able to go over most of our fielding positions and really went to town.

In Napier we thought we were 20 or 30 runs shy of where we should have been.

We had a team that was batting heavy so we thought we had a team that could go out there and score enough to make up for the fact we were a seam bowler light.

I thought we dug in pretty well for most of the game but again we were beaten by the brilliance of one player in particular.

Misbah-ul-Haq played a fantastic innings. He created his innings and hopefully it’s something our batsmen can take a lesson or two from.

He didn’t go out there and try to hit it to all parts he just worked it round, hit the boundaries when he needed to and made sure the run rate stayed within their grasp.

With one game left in this series in Auckland we have some work in front of us.

We’ve been hearing rumours that the team that plays the last two games is more than likely going to be the first 11 but we’re yet to see that confirmed.

And for a bit of insight into the make-up of the team I’ll tell you now we go into these games not really knowing if we’re playing or not.

You have to be prepared to walk out on to the field if your name is called in the 11.

I’m obviously not that happy about only picking up nine runs last night and it’s not going to help the sledging I’m copping from a few people over twitter about how many centuries I’ve scored lately.

It would be nice to play a big hand and get a century soon.

I’ve got a problem, and it’s certainly not the worst problem to have, but I think I’ve had as many as nine scores between 40 and 60 in the last 12 months.

But I’d rather be doing that than going out for a duck every week.

But what 40’s or 50’s don’t do is win you games.

I need to start turning those into 100s and I’m trying to tell everyone on Twitter that’s what I’m after.

Rightfully a few people have been having a bit of fun at my expense and pointing out where I’m going wrong.

But that’s what it’s all about.

I enjoy talking to the people out there who are cricket fans and hopefully they enjoy interacting with me as well.

And while we’re talking about Twitter I guess most people will know that a few of us, myself included, have been making headlines this week.

To be honest with you I think it’s being blown up by the media for whatever reason.

They feel they can maybe make something up out of nothing.

The whole purpose of us using Twitter is for us to be able to interact with the fans and for them to read about how I was feeling out in the middle or what’s

been going on off the field.

I enjoy that, a lot of the people who follow me are from the sub-continent and other parts of the world, and it’s a great way for us to keep all of the fans in touch.

I think it’s a good thing, it’s disappointing that some parts of the media have made a point of picking up on things they see as negative or something they think they can make a story out of.

It’s up to the players to make sure they say the right things but also that they feel like they can say what’s on their minds and not be slammed by some of the media.
 

Cheers, ScottY