Redders, at the other end, was looking more and more comfortable both at the crease and with himself. He went past his previous best today, but I know he's not happy with the end of his innings. Before lunch Redders had looked fantastic. At one point, when Haurtiz came on to bowl, he hit him for four, six, six of consecutive balls taking him from 37 to 53, all this while Jesse, who is known for his big hitting, sat at the other end watching on. Entertaining stuff.
Lunch, and we're sitting pretty handy. And then comes one of those sessions we just don't want. We lose three wickets in the session, on a deck that the nature of the dismissals is disappointing and by the end of the day, really only Flynn and Taylor being undone by good balls. Four guys gave up opportunities to score big on a very good deck. I'm sure they're hurting for themselves and the team.
Over the last couple of days I've been feeling quite tired in the afternoons. Really haven't been able to put it down to anything. As I said yesterday, I've been doing all the right things but still been lethargic. This afternoon was not great. By about 2pm I was literally sleepy. By 2.40pm I though it was time to maybe do something about it. I hunted down the doctor and had an examination from him, nothing stood out, things were normal. He suggested a blood test, and as tea was coming up, I thought I could slip away and get that done before the 20 mins was up. Nothing is ever that easy. Our Liaison was already at the clinic with one of the partners who hasn't been feeling well herself, so he had to come back to pick me up so I could get my 'bloods' done. We were four down at the time, this means that if we lose two wickets I need to start to get ready, start getting ready to bat. It's a five min drive to the clinic, I was guessing that it would take about 10 mins to get the sample done and then five min drive back. That's half an hour, anything can happen in half an hour! While I was in getting the blood taken, we lost a wicket. Our Liaison got a phone call checking on how much longer I'd be. No more wickets fell while I was away, so back in time with no worries regarding a small reshuffle of the order.
Still tonight I don't feel that flash. Salad for tea tonight, trying to get as many 'good things' into me as I can. Plenty of water and another early night is on order.
So, that's where I'll leave it, as it's now 9pm and I'm going to hit the sack after a quick chat to my wife. Thank God for Skype!!
12 comments:
You never are 'in' in Adelaide even if you scored heavily in the first innings as England and India have found out over the last 2 Tests there. With only 260 on board with the tail to come in, it ain't good signs for you folks. I thought you guys were doing grand at lunch when I left home for office. But then you had a poor afternoon session.
How can any one throw wickets to Hauritz and Symonds? Surely, you got to be kicking yourselves for that.
Still, good luck with your health and bowling for tomorrow.
It's always nice to see someone using the word "literally" properly.
agreed, How's block, and indeed the rest of his game, looks very good, except for when he completely screws up, which is happening a bit too often. I have hopes of him being a consistent getter of 40s and 50s - don't think he can do the 100s, but even 40s and 50s would be very useful for the team.
can you please get HJH back? You need him, seriously. Cumming too. I don't see either Redmond or (eeeeehhhhh)... Flynn... coming to much. Fulton could be good but I don't think he's got his head in order, batting wise. Get those two back, and get Hopkins in too, as a batsman. NZ used to be about grit and you need a bit of that back.
Good luck for the game today Iain. Three of Toni's uncles will be at the game and behind you 100%
get well iain, hope you can make some runs today before snaring ponting.
love the blog
Lots of genius coaches who think they have magical cures to NZ's batting problem...yeah right.
I don't think it's all doom and gloom. While 4 batsmen threw their wickets away, if Dan and Baz can put on 100 together (yeah I know, a pretty tall ask) we will be in relatively healthy shape. Baz looked really good last night...defending with intent and not going for anything too wild, set up well for an onslaught this afternoon.
Hopefully the tail can stick it out with either McCullum or Vettori once a wicket falls also. Southee has it in him, though he looks a million bucks when he's slapping it out of the ground. While your test batting record is poor Iain, I have faith you can scrape out 20 runs in 80 balls. Do us proud Iain!!!
Hope you feel better tomorrow..if the batting doesnt come off you guys are going to have to bowl out of your skins on that pitch. We believe :)
Yes , I hope you last out there Iain, for a long time. (Spoke too soon.)
Iain I'm not sure if you read these comments, I only found your blog recently but it's really a good read =)
I'm a big fan of New Zealand cricket, but I've just been getting so annoyed at our batting. Not refering to you, but it's sad to see the team lose all those wickets due to poor shots. The batsmen should try and put a "price" on their wicket, do their best to keep it intact and not play so many shots. They should look to rotate the strike and not attack or defend so much.
Hope you get 10 wickets and feel better soon, your bowling of recent times has been fantastic.
Getting worried though that our bowlers will just give up if our batting has no chance.
Oh well, do us proud Iain.
Even though you didn't score any runs, you still got Ponting. Good stuff.
Hi Iain.
Well, I'll be honest, upfront I thought you were a poor selection choice for the English tour because like oh so many of our bowlers here in New Zealand, you just seemingly "place" the ball on a spot, waiting for the pitch to do the work.
I've been impressed with what you've done in Australia and England because you're putting real effort through the ball, it's just a shame you're potentially 10kmh too slow to really be an impact bowler at this level. In fact, all of our bowlers seem to be the 125-135kmh range instead of the 135-145kmh like the Aussies and any other team, especially for pitches like this.
Do you guys work on building pace? Maybe kettlebell and plyometric training to boost explosive muscles and look to really heat up the opposition.
Anyway, all the best and hope you guys find some pace in the next few years, then you'll be a world beating attack.
Well I'm glad, I thought I was the only one, other than Richardson, who thought How's defensive blocks were sexy.
You are great, to be blogging here. Hope you get ten wickets here.
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