An extraordinary exposition of fast-medium bowing by Tim southee allied to his ability to produce swinging yorkers at will felled Team England even before they may have woken up fully on the other side of the world, down in Wellington in the land of the long white clouds. Long before England could fathom what was happening in the middle, they were felled to the canvas for the second time in the day by an innings of such brutality that a pre-supper break finish was very much on the cards.
It rained boundaries as one of world cricket’s finest captains and attacking batsmen, Brendon McCullum, bludgeoned the celebrated England quicks with eight fours and seven sixes. Never could so few have done so much damage to so many so quickly as on this Friday at the Westpac Stadium. On an afternoon of such utter humiliation, England were not down and out because of their regular ‘analysis paralysis’.
They retained the same XI that had lost to Australia, which is a rarity for a team known to agonise over each result and think of a million changes. They chose to bat first in the afternoon, which again could be justified seeing how the World Cup has gone so far. The wicket was looking particularly flat in its brownish hay-like colour appearance in the midst of an expanse of carpet green and the sun was shining in Wellington. Everything screamed ‘bat first.’
They were in for a shock as Boult and Southee rocked them with the two new balls, which did not dart here and there so much as move around in controlled fashion, shaking just enough in the air to upset the batsmen’s plans. Even Morgan, the captain under most analytical pressure in a so-called cerebral game, was beginning to come good with a spotless drive off Anderson before an overambitious lofted drive with the spin against Daniel Vettori was taken splendidly in the deep by a diving Milne.
England could blame those who drew up the schedule for this World Cup with a wicked slotting of the first two matches against two host teams, both in smashing form this season. While that must have been done to give the World Cup its early boost of quality encounters of strong teams, it hardly suited Team England who are known to be slow starters and generally reluctant ODI cricketers. The other grouse they could nurse is bowlers are not supposed to dominate limited-overs cricket like this.
All the rules of the one-day game may be skewed in support of the batsmen. Even so, there is always place for good old quality swing bowling. Southee, with the third best figures in the World Cup and the best by a Kiwi in all ODIs, put in a classy performance that would have settled a Test match decisively in favour of a bowling team. Only here it made for such a lopsided contest that will surely give way for some talk about whether England should automatically qualify for the World Cups when even the minnows are putting up spirited performances before going down to more fancied teams.
