Sunday 14 December 2008

NZ vs West Indies – University Oval, Dunedin – Day Four

As I always say, it’s great to be off the park.  Seeing that last wicket fall is one of the best feelings there is, only beat by actually taking that wicket yourself.  Something that didn’t happen for me today, but it was Dan’s honour and by bowling Shiv Dan picked up his 6th wicket for the innings and his 50th wicket for the calendar year.  An outstanding performance from just an outstanding bowler, player and guy! 

Today just wasn’t my day.  Things just didn’t work for me.  I tried as hard as I could to bowl my maidens, to string together dots.  For some unknown reason, I wasn’t up to it.  I wasn’t trying too hard and getting tense; I wasn’t too relaxed and had no intensity.  It just wasn’t my day.  It’s easy to say that, but I have to sit down tonight and have a good think about the day, what happened and why.  These are often the toughest nights; a bit of soul searching and every effort to turn it around for the next day.  Although we don’t have to go out and bowl straight away, hopefully not for quite a while actually, I will hit the nets in the morning and work some things through. 

I did have a look at the computer tonight that records the proceedings of the day to have a look at my action.  There was one thing that wasn’t quite how it should be.  My front arm wasn’t maybe doing the work it should have been.  I’ll have a bowl tomorrow and work though it in preparation for the second Test.

So, a day in the park in windy and cold Dunedin.  It wasn’t that bad actually, if you could keep the hands warm that is.  It could have been a whole lot worse too.  We could still be bowling for a start, Taylor (Jerome) could still be batting with Shiv and, I guess,  it could have been colder.  Taylor had one of those innings that I’m sure he had only dreamed about before today.  Everything hit the middle of his bat.  His previous high score was around 30 and today he pumped us around the park for 106 off 107 balls.  A special innings, well played.   Shiv, on the other hand, took his time.  His 76 took 200 balls.  Now that’s a weird technique, it obviously works, but when you’re standing at cover fielding and you can see the whole of the back of his bat, it just seems strange. 

Millsy came out today with a couple of points to prove, and had a great day.  Kyle did the job that I was trying to do, but couldn’t do today.  He bowled in the areas the pitch asked for and kept it tight and was rewarded with three very good wickets; including a stunning catch at square leg by me.  Ok, it lobed to me and was the easiest catch I’ve ever had in a match.  I did have enough time to think about a pretty straight forward catch I dropped off Kyle here in Dunedin last summer against Bangladesh while it was travelling to me.  The brain is a crazy organ!  It plays so many silly games with you.

I hit the hot colds tonight after we got off, and then to the dining room for a meal once the days play was over.  A quick chat reflecting on today’s efforts and a preview of tomorrow in the changing room and then straight back to the hotel and on here to get this done before my massage at 10pm.  It’ll be straight to bed after that too.  

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good work from Taylor yesterday but we really need to get on top of the lower order more. It's happening a bit too often...

On a different note, there's a bit going on in the media about the new look jerseys. Personally I'm not a fan of the big black band. I'd prefer the 3 stripes. What do the players think?

Ross Calverley said...

Read an interesting article about Chris Martin yesterday. Apparently has reaction to his sight is quite poor. Makes you realise how brave he was against Lee, Clark and Johnson...

Anonymous said...

Stumbled across this, looks like you've finally made it in the blogging world ;)

http://blogs.cricinfo.com/iainobrien/

Anonymous said...

good catch Iain,
and also well done on taking another big wicket. Ponting, Gayle... you've got a habit.
You've also got a habit of pulling some wierd faces when you bowl and bat (at leats to my thinking). When you bowl, the sheer strain on your face looks a bit like you're constipated. As for the batting, jesus you looked absolutley terrified when getting touched up...
Can anyone confirm what Powell said to Jamie How when he dismissed him? Didnt have sound on my tv at that point...

Anonymous said...

shame the match was ruined by rain. could have been a really close one.

hopefully one day you can have a dream day like Jerome Taylor and score a century. All the best for the 2nd Test Iain.

Anonymous said...

Iain, you should cease with the Wallace and Gromit facials when you are getting touched up with the short ball.

Anonymous said...

why don't you go out and face Edwards, Taylor and Powell bowling bouncers at your head and see what faces you make ...

Anonymous said...

you dream of scoring a Test 1oo some day, may be, a repeat miracle of JE Taylor's know from you willow?

Anonymous said...

What's happened to the last days comments. Interested to hear what you have to say about the electronic appeals.