ODI World Cup.

[K]

Neesham 4 and out. A leading edge went very high but was comfortably taken.

NZ 4/162 (41). CdG in.

Odds: India 83%, NZ 17%.
Line: 228.5.

Ian Smith thinks NZ would have revised their target total many times in 41 overs: 300 to start, 270 later... and now just as many as they can get.

[K]

Ross Taylor hits a flat slog sweep for 6 to bring up a fighting 50!
That was his fiftieth 50.

Umbrellas are going up in the crowd.

And follows with 2 and 4.

Chahal then bowls a wide.

A four from CdG to end the over. 18 off it. NZ desperately needed that.

[K]

But Taylor is out LBW. He reviews. No edge... but hitting him outside off stump. He'd given up and started walking off and had to turn back!

Good review! He called for it just because he's in and it's the 45th over.

The broadcast predictor says 253.
--------------------------------------

But three balls later CdG edges behind and he is out.

NZ 5/200 (44.4). Latham in.

[K]

7 runs from the 46th over bowled by Bumrah.

On the 4th ball, there were two separate overthrows.

-----------------------------------------------------------

And another misfield first ball of the 47th over gives NZ a second run.

In the 47th over, the broadcast predictor says 247.

Now the umpires take the players off the field because of the rain.

[Donny]

5/211. Off for rain.

[K]

Tomorrow is a rain day, but it probably won't be needed. They'll use DLS before resorting to the rain day.

cricinfo gives us two DLS examples: "India's 20-over score would be 148. And their DLS-adjusted target for 46 overs would be 237".


Fighting innings by Ross Taylor. 67* (85).

What is a good total on this pitch? At this stage, the best NZ can hope for is 250. They then have to hope that's enough to be competitive. India demolished the similarly small target SL set a few days ago.

M. Taylor says the pitch must be not as good as it was 48hrs ago. He assumes the ground staff would have prepared it in exactly the same way as the pitch used for Oz vs. SA.


Odds: India 81%, NZ 19%.

[K]

A team fashioned in Williamson's spirit - not McCullum's image

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27104788/a-team-fashioned-williamson-spirit-not-mccullum-image

"New Zealand were not always so adorable. Their 2011 quarter-final against South Africa - a game in which several present players appeared - was as vicious as any in the genre, even substitute fielder Kyle Mills stopping by in his fluoro 12th-man vest to stick verbal shivs into South Africa batsmen. Before that, Stephen Fleming's lengthy reign featured series so nasty, some New Zealand players were essentially flamethrowers in cricket whites.

There is a tendency to view the current team's pleasantness as an inevitable manifestation of a fundamental Kiwi benevolence, but this is glib. New Zealand's transformation into Nice Guys (TM) was essentially a marketing move, cooked up by Brendon McCullum and Mike Hesson, during a disastrous tour of South Africa.
...

Where in those years of transformation, McCullum set about reconstructing his own public image, going from the guy who conspired to claim the captaincy from Ross Taylor, to one of the sport's most beloved statesmen, Williamson has never been anything other than this...

He is gentle, but that does not mean he is timid. Not a damn chance. Few batsmen bear their team through tougher situations. Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Steven Smith may match him, but no one is more adaptable. Seaming pitches in England? He has tamed them. Dustbowls in Sri Lanka? He defuses those. The bounce at the Gabba? Yes, sir. If the required rate climbs, he hits out. If his team is suddenly nine down chasing a small total, his straight six wins the match. Kohli thrives when oppositions come hard at him. Williamson is a granite wall; simply indifferent. Oppositions barely even bother sledging him any more, so renowned is his ability to absorb pressure in all its forms."

[K]

February 15, 2013.

Taylor's treatment 'unfathomable' - Woodhill

http://www.espncricinfo.com/newzealand/content/story/604982.html

"Former New Zealand assistant coach Trent Woodhill has blamed the New Zealand team management for the "unfathomable" treatment of Ross Taylor, saying he sensed the trouble brewing during the team's tour of the West Indies last year. Taylor took temporary leave of absence from New Zealand cricket after losing his Test captaincy in December 2012, and returned to the national side for the T20 series against England.

"During the West Indies tour I was really frustrated with the way Ross Taylor was being treated, not by anyone other than the manager and a few of the senior players who weren't giving him the support that he needed," Woodhill told Sydney Morning Herald.
...

Following his removal from Test captaincy, Taylor said he "never" received support from Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, during his time as captain and that he was "surprised" by the timing of the decision that came after he had led New Zealand to victory over Sri Lanka in Colombo."

[K]

Martin Crowe, December 7, 2012:

"When an organisation like New Zealand Cricket starts stripping the self-worth (and I don't mean monetary worth) from talented athletes, when a young player enters the system and leaves it disillusioned and dispirited, the the sport becomes worthless.
...

Over the last week NZC destroyed the soul of Ross Taylor, easily our best player. They have apparently apologised for the way his sacking from the captaincy was handled. Nevertheless they have amputated his spirit and there is no prosthetic for that. And yet NZC goes unaccountable. They continue to strip the worth from players and, therefore, as an organisation, they have definitely become worthless.

The leadership has been poor in the past, but the fish head couldn't smell any worse now. From the chairman to the CEO to the coach to the manager, they have all played their collective part in what is arguably the most botched administration in New Zealand sporting history.

Some are saying that the removal of Taylor as captain was an orchestrated coup, stemming back to when John Wright resigned in April. No one will know, and who really cares whether it is by design or by incompetence? The fact is, the execution is rotten enough for accountability to be demanded and for all four positions be given to more transparent, more competent and more worthy men.

Taylor is such a resilient character that he will bounce back. But he will probably never trust NZC again. Coaches will come and go and it won't affect his batting, which has been amazing while he has been captain.
...

No matter what happens, who comes or goes, NZC has shown that it is not safe for a young person to risk the journey knowing that the likelihood of his or her worth being stolen away is odds on. If there is one thing in life that is always valuable and important, it's your feeling of self-worth. With cricket in New Zealand I wouldn't risk it; it's just not worth it."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/596106.html

[K]

It's still raining... More time to indulge further in historical NZC politics. (No surprise that Buchanan was involved. Everything that man touches turns to )%(#)^)%(#.)


24 Oct, 2016.

Taylor did not communicate with his team - Brendon McCullum

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/17872856/taylor-did-not-communicate-team-brendon-mccullum

"In his book Declared, McCullum has devoted a whole chapter to "the coup that wasn't", describing in some detail Taylor's failings as a captain and the circumstances that led to the souring of their relationship, and clarifying that he had no role to play in the axing of Taylor as captain.
...

After Daniel Vettori gave up captaincy following the 2011 World Cup, Taylor edged McCullum as the next captain after a "public" process in which both of them were asked to present their cases. In the book, McCullum speaks of not being satisfied with that process, and of how the public nature of rejecting one of the candidates was not good for "our relationship, or any team with the two of us in it".
...

"It seemed to me that, right from the start, Ross was suspicious of Hess's motives," McCullum writes. "So instead of taking Hess on his merits, Ross seemed already closed to him. I knew there had been a bit of talk behind the scenes after Hesson's appointment, and that some were seeing a conspiracy.

"It wasn't a very complicated scenario they were pushing: that my mate Stephen Fleming had influenced the selection board to give the coaching job to my other mate Mike Hesson, whose ultimate goal was to replace Ross as captain with me. One problem with that narrative was that I had recommended Matthew Mott to the selection panel..."
...

"Ross would say nothing. Not a word. What the hell was he thinking? I had no idea.

"Ross is a reasonably trusting guy in most circumstances, so someone must have been telling him to watch his back. Whatever, he put the shutters up against Hesson. A quiet guy at the best of times, going further into his shell didn't help -- he'd surface with angry outbursts, instead of a coherent plan."
...

"Within days of the public announcement of Ross's captaincy, Greatbatch was a guest at Ross's wedding," McCullum writes. "That would have been a long, awkward day for Greatbatch had his panel appointed me captain!

"And the fact that I hadn't been astute enough to work out that applying for the captaincy wasn't the right thing to do -- and, worse, I'd willingly engaged in that process -- proved I wasn't ready for it. But neither was Ross. He'd made the same mistake. He was younger than me and, I believe, no more ready for the captaincy than I was. And he was just as compromised by New Zealand Cricket's decision to have a public selection process. What happened next made us both a lot wiser -- and certainly older -- but it gouged a rift between us that will probably never heal." "


[Isn't it amazing how Baz waves away any concerns Ross may have had about Baz's friend, Mike Hesson, being coach, but then makes a big deal about Ross's friend, Mark Greatbatch, being on the captaincy selection panel?! ]

[K]

Two hours and counting into the rain delay.

Odds: India 79%, NZ 21%.


Update: It looks like there'll be no further play today, so tomorrow will very likely be needed, when they'll continue from where they left off. If it's a washout after tomorrow, India go through as the higher-placed team, so NZ will have to hope that the pitch is spiced up by the weather but that there's enough time for a game.

They say tomorrow's weather could be worse. They just need to squeeze in 20 overs of India's innings.

[K]

Update: Play has been suspended and will resume on tomorrow's reserve day, with NZ 5/211 (46.1).


You wouldn't want a game to be washed out (but in this SF that would suit the team that was ahead before the rain, anyway), but the rain sure does add an element of intrigue that is totally lacking from a sun-drenched flat-track slogathon. This is like F1 motor racing, which has long had a problem with little opportunity for overtaking, but comes to life when there is rain (e.g. at Silverstone) and brings out pure driving skill.

[K]

Back on Oz:

Handscomb to debut against England but Australia face a late selection twist

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/handscomb-to-debut-against-england-but-australia-face-a-late-selection-twist-20190709-p525nu.html

"Peter Handscomb will make his World Cup debut and Marcus Stoinis has proven his fitness but Australia could yet have a late selection twist...

"I'll tell you the truth, Peter Handscomb will definitely play, 100 per cent. He deserves it - he was really stiff not to be on this tour," Langer said.
...

Stoinis passed his fitness test on an overcast afternoon at training where he batted, bowled and fielded and was declared fit...

Asked if Stoinis or Maxwell were guaranteed of playing, Langer replied: "We’ll pick our 11 and you’ll see it at the toss, I reckon." "

[Pies4shaw]

So, if there’s enough rain, India will go through to the final as the higher-ranked team. Pity if that happened in the Australia-England game. Seriously, imagine if the English got away to, say 4/359 from 48 overs and the rest of the much was washed out. What hilarity would ensue.

[K]

Reports are that the weather is clear at Old Trafford, with some rain expected in the afternoon. NZ would prefer it to be the other way around: rain for a few hours now, clearing in the afternoon. That would kill off the remaining 23 balls of the NZ innings (as everyone says, Bumrah still has two overs left) and, they'd hope, continue to act on the pitch to give the bowlers something in the afternoon.


The weather forecast for Edgbaston last time I looked still had rain a 50% chance on Thursday. Torrential rain would be great.


J. Pierik's new The Age article claims:

"Rain could yet play havoc with Australia's World Cup semi-final against England on Thursday, again sending officials scrambling for the rule book.

The forecast for Birmingham is a top of 22 degrees with showers expected through the day, particularly in the afternoon in what is a day-only game.

"A mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers on Thursday. Dry with sunny spells on Friday and Saturday," Britain's Meteorological Office said.

However, the early indication is that the rain won't be as heavy as what was seen in Manchester on Tuesday..."

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/showers-threaten-australia-s-world-cup-semi-final-20190710-p5260c.html


If yesterday was the start of a whole week of torrential rain, then Oz and India will be declared joint winners of the WC.