Southee pins England to ground ~ McCullum thrashes them out !!!

At home on leave and watching WC, over 7.1, Chris Woakes to McCullum, bottom edges a low full toss on to his stumps.  Waits for the Umpire to check whether it could be a ‘waist high’ no ball; no it isn’t …. McCullum walks, England players are not exactly jubilant – and the match is almost over !

Don’t be surprised – some mad hitting just over McCullum walks back after scoring 77 off just 25 – 8 fours and 7 sixers – strike rate of 308 and yet he may not be the Man of the Match !!!!

There has already been some good contests – though this one at Wellington is  only the 9th match.  Some brave performances by minnows already ! that includes an upset, which Ireland do not want to be termed so. "The World Cup itself, the premium event, without exception should be played between teams that are evenly matched and competitive." So said the ICC chief executive David Richardson in the lead-up to this tournament. It was his way of justifying the decision to trim the World Cup from 14 teams back to 10 at the next event in England in 2019. No more Associates, no more one-sided thrashings, no more boring, meaningless pool matches. That was the ICC's theory.

Yesterday, UAE playing  their first ODI against a Full Member nation in nearly seven years, went close to a win.  A few fielding mistakes crept in, in a few loose balls, just the odd nervy moment. Williams, in his 71st ODI, steered Zimbabwe to victory. UAE, in their 19th as a team, fell short.

We have seen some great bowling performances that include McGrath, Bichel and Winston Davis – 7 for.   Winston Davis’s 7-51 came against Australia at Headlingley.  Today Tim Southee rocked England with 7/33.  He snared Bell out,  had Mooen Ali, then Taylor, Jos Butler, Chris Woakes,  Chris Broad and then Finn to finish with a 7 wicket haul.

Tim Southee  burst upon the international scene in great style when still only 19. Handed his Test debut against England in Napier, Southee responded with 5 for 55 before smashing 77 off 40 balls in the second innings with nine sixes to hint at a bright all-round future- and still England won that match in Mar 2008 by 121 runs. He bettered that performance with 7 for 64 against India in Bangalore in 2012.

So going to be  an excellent win by New Zealand – another 12 runs needed actually and Crowd booed as there is supper break – 12 required of 41 overs, should they not have completed before breaking  !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

20^th Feb 2015 @ 10.30 am