The Pink Report

Game Over

There’s a little gap in the mountains surrounding the Queenstown Events Centre and through it the hardcore that turned up for the 2011 semi-final playoff between the Volts and the Yahoo!Xtra Northern Knights could spot the next wave of low grey clouds marching in. Five minutes’ notice, it gave us, of the drizzle and rain that turned the sudden-death match into a tense, slippery, stop-start game of 100 per cent congealed frustration.

From my possie alongside the Otago Volts in the pavilion, I only had to look at their faces to know where they were on the Duckworth-Lewis. When the groundsmen raced out with the covers for the fourth time, they went dark. Darren Broom and Derek de Boorder, the rescuers who had come together when Otago were on dodgy ground at 80/5, had just belted 10 runs from the first five balls of the 36th over, off Graeme Aldridge. They’d creamed 10 off Arnel the previous over (four were leg byes) and walloped Daniel Flynn out of the attack in the one before that: 31 runs off 18 balls in the five minutes before the rain touched down - knowing they had to go big to get ahead of the Knights on the almighty sheet of paper that both captains were fidgeting with in their pockets. The covers now in place, the Volts were still five runs short on the Duckworth-Lewis. If this rain set in, they knew they were gone.

I don’t know what they were worried about. The mountain pass was solid grey, but the weather has had it in for the Knights all summer. Sure enough it cleared, and back out the Otago batsmen went - freshly rebriefed on the mathematics, how many overs certain bowlers had left and when to take their remaining batting power play, and fired up all over again to cane the ball. Their Otago record sixth wicket gig had been vital after their top order had dropped like Maniatoto flies and now they were wresting control. By the time the next wave of rain came through, they’d been pinned down by Trent Boult for a handful of overs but then milked the power play and only had to sit on the sidelines and watch the drizzle ghosting across the ground for 10 minutes for the game to be called in their favour.

This time it was the Knights’ camp that had gone all quiet while the Volts, gathered up in a huddle in the stand, could barely contain their glee as they waited impatiently. Suddenly the umpire signalled and they raced en masse down the steps to shake his hand. Stupid weather. If the front had just obliged by blowing through five minutes earlier, the Knights would have been the ones celebrating.

So it’s the southerners who go through to play Auckland for the right to contest this year’s final against Canterbury, who have certainly been the form team. It was the best the Volts have played all year, but the Knights had still had them under pressure through some of the key periods and, as in the Whangarei tie between the two sides, had done well to work themselves into a position to be first across the line before being ankle-tapped on the last lap.

As I said last week, close games always deliver a load of mournful “what ifs”. Earlier, the Knights themselves had done well to put a defendable total (271) on the board after their own top and middle order struggles - and while I could go on with the microscopic analysis, the summary is simple. Game after game it’s been the same story. Tense, oscillating matches give the other lot a chance. It’s no substitute for putting the pressure on the other team with a power of runs and tight work collectively with the ball. The lesson: don’t even give the opposition a look.

It’s sad and gutting for the defending champs to miss out on the business end of the comp and the chance of a rare one-day three-peat after winning the last two seasons, but on this year’s form the team doesn’t deserve to be there. We’ve kept coming up with new and horrible ways not to win. It was frustrating to watch so many good players - whom you know are terrifically talented individuals when they’re on song - grappling and struggling to fully unleash that talent.

Form’s a funny thing. You can’t see it coming and when it disappears, you’re not quite sure exactly how or where it’s gone. Getting it back is often just a question of spending some time hitting or bowling balls until you’re feeling free and easy again, the pressure eases, you stop thinking about it and your place in the side and your confidence flows back. Just as in the HRV Cup, my gut feel is that the weather breaks that struck mid-campaign weren’t helpful to those guys in the team who have been searching for their best and needed more game-time.

So now, with the Northern Districts A team playing their Auckland counterparts in a three-dayer in Weymouth this week, a couple of players are now under pressure for their spot and the selectors will have to make that hard call between faith and change. Always a tough one. I’d still like to see how they go in the context of the Plunket Shield for a couple of games, where there’s more continuity for players and opportunities to get back on track, but there’s a big opportunity dangling before those A players and a great performance in Weymouth could force the change.

Meantime, the Knights squad now has a mental health week, regrouping for practice two days before next Thursday’s Plunket Shield resumption in which they meet the top-of-the-table Stags in Whangarei. There’s one trophy left to win and no matter who’s in, the Knights will need to play like a side reborn.

Hopefully you will all have caught up with the fact that the Queenstown mission delivered at least some consolation for outstanding contributor Graeme Aldridge. “G” broke the New Zealand record for the highest tally of domestic one-day wickets when he nailed his second wicket of the day, getting the edge of Neil Broom’s bat at the end of his first spell, with Pete McGlashan completing the paperwork behind the stumps.

G started the summer equal with former ND team-mate Alex Tait on 128 wickets, and has now surpassed the one remaining bowler that was ahead of him - former international Chris Harris, who took 138 wickets from 145 matches over his long Canterbury career. G finishes this season with 146 wickets from 104 matches and it means that Knights players now hold both the major one-day domestic records, with Michael Parlane having scored more runs than anyone else in the New Zealand game, 4,454 from 167 matches. Truly impressive stuff from a couple of heartland legends still putting it on the park for the boys.

Last thought as we leave behind the one-dayers. While the guys were batting in Queenstown, we watched Air New Zealand’s new black A320 touch down across the fence at Queenstown airport. On board was Richie McCaw on an Air New Zealand/All Blacks promotional visit, showing off the new plane and paint job to fans. There were more people lined up at the airport gate to meet Richie than came along to the semi-final playoff in our national summer sport, which tells you a lot about the lack of promotion put into the domestic one-day game these days.

Nationally, the bulk of the marketing push and budget has gone into drumming up the Twenty20 format, which is great for the many people who enjoy the three-hour show - many of whom are new converts to watching cricket. But I still think the one-day format has a lot to offer in the entertainment stakes (especially since the introduction of the optional power plays, which has added to the tension) and tends to be more instructive on the sporting level. It’s a shame that the thousands of people who used to enjoy coming along to the old Shell Cup games (I can remember crowds of over 5000 in the 1990s, when Canterbury had a team of rock stars and were winning everything in sight) with a picnic and chilly bin are no longer there to create the atmosphere that really makes a match.
 

Yahoo!Xtra Northern Knights 2011 One-Day Season Averages

BATTING

BOWLING