How’s that?
Incredible game at the Oval yesterday and for the only time in my life I can say: I was there. It was beautiful weather, a little too beautiful actually. The sticky feeling a sun-cream was a bit uncomfortable. Especially when it mixes with hot sweat. It was quite an experience. One of the main things I noticed was how small the cricket pitch looks in real life. On television it looks absolutely huge, but in reality hitting a six wouldn’t be too difficult with the right ball. The fans were rather strange though. Most of the game they seemed to be the antithesis of supporters with some imaginative individual calling Ian Bell a bell-end, whilst one fan implored Ryan Sidebottom to “hit the stumps you f***ing hippie!” The ”sing-when-your-winning” attitude that some “fans” take towards their players amazes me, especially when the opponents are no slouches as New Zealand were. It was interesting to see how the stewards responded to any sign of activity in the crowd, almost as if we were just waiting to become riotous in an hot-headed drunken rampage. Of course, I had to remind myself that though I found this “babysitting” amusing, the possibility of such an incident was admittedly plausible considering the way that some people drink throughout the day. Now, considering play started at 10:45 in the morning and finished at nearly 7, most people were yelling slurred sentences by the end of the day.
Now you may be wondering how on earth people sat through 8 hours of cricket. Some tried to start a Mexican wave, booing those who wouldn’t join in, some bounced a ball around, beer spilling everywhere until a steward confiscated one ball. The story of the game however was an interesting one. England were in bat first and started well, batting at a good rate until Wright went out bringing in Kevin Pietersen, who no one seems to like for some reason. He went for a second ball duck (i.e. zero runs after two balls) hoisting a ball aimlessly into the air for a catch. That was when Ravi Bopara came in and along with unlikely hero Owais Shah built up a good total for England. However when Bopara recklessly skied a well-caught effort the England tail (people in team for their bowling ability) didn’t stand up. Matters weren’t helped when Shah insisted on taking a needless second run and promptly got run out. However, Sidebottom and Andersen were unlikely heroes and held out to bring England’s total to 245 before being bowled out on the 3rd ball of the 50th over (that’s the last over for non-cricketers, One day cricket, not to be confused with test cricket, each side have one innings, a turn at batting, that lasts 50 overs, 50 sets of six balls).
England bowled well to start with getting out New Zealand’s best batsman Brendon McCullum for just 1 run. Sidebottom then got Taylor caught to take New Zealand to 17 for 2. That was when Scott Styris came in and really turbo-charged New Zealand’s innings. However, he could have gone for a duck immediately when Jimmy Anderson, normally inconsistant but on a good day today, bowled a fast one that Styris edged for a routine catch for Owais Shah, England’s batting hero earlier. However, somehow he dropped it and Styris went on to make more than 60. He was dropped off another bowler Stuart Broad twice more. When Styris was bowled out, he had already formed good partnerships with Jamie How who went for just under 30, and Flynn, both got out by spin bowler (a bowler that relies on guile and trickery instrad of out and out speed) Graeme Swann. Following this Styris had created an explosive partnership with Jacob Oram who catapulted New Zealand into a winning position. Once Oram was caught by England sub Alastair Cook, Styris was run out and this created a tight finale. England, having bowled badly and not kept a maiden (an over with no runs) all game, suddenly found some tight bowling and managed to get dangerous captain Daniel Vettori out with not much trouble. A Controversial run-out where England rather unsportingly stumped Elliott who was down on the floor injured following an accidental collision with Sidebottom brought England needing two further wickets, whilst another Tim Southee run out meant that England needed one wicket to win, whereas New Zealand required 12 to win off three overs (18 balls). From this point every ball was clapped and there were no distractions from the game, except for the cheering of fans between each ball. Cue the first maiden of the game bowled by Swann, to make it 12 to win off 12 balls. England captain Collingwood took this over and bowled a few dot balls before being crashed for a six by New Zealand bowler Kyle Mills to bring the score to 6 off 8 balls. Three more runs brought New Zealand to two behind England on 243 with one over (six balls) remaining. Having run out of bowlers (as each bowler can only bowl 10 overs maximum) Luke Wright, England opener and all-rounder, was called in to keep it tight. Kyle Mills scored a single off the first ball, to bring the Kiwis to one behind England. Then Wright bowled superbly to keep New Zealand on 244, 1 behind, until the last ball. All three results were still possible after 8 hours of play. A maiden or wicket would see an unlikely England win, a single, a tie, where as two runs or more would see the Kiwis victorious. It was extremely tense and I could feel myself shaking in the heat. The ball was good to tail-ender Gillespie who could only block it a short way. However, because they knew that they needed a run to avoid defeat the Kiwi pair began haring off desperately. Swann, a hero just three overs earlier gathered the ball and aimed for the stumps for a run out which would win the game for England. Everyone in front of me stood up in jubilation and my view was blocked, then subdued cheering. It was then I realised that the men in front of me were now holding their heads in disbelief and as they dropped dejectedly to their seats, some New Zealand fans a few rows in front, one of whom was Elvis reincarnated, were celebrating. Paul Collingwood stood their with his hands on his head on the field. I had to wait for the main screen to confirm my fears, “Congratulations New Zealand”.
Let’s freeze frame for a minute. Let’s focus on Swann aiming for the stumps. It was an absolutely pivotal point of the game. If he had hit the stumps, England win, if he had simply held onto the ball, England would have tied and the series forced to a decider. On the other hand, as he missed the stumps, the ball trickling away from the fielders gave the New Zealanders time to gain the time they needed to gain the second run which resulted in the game being a victory. You could ask why didn’t a fielder back up the throw to protect a draw, but if Swann had hit the stumps that argument would have been redundant. It was heat of the moment, this wasn’t an audit, it was a moment of destiny, of chaos. How fine was the margin of victory that day? Sometimes I see fans simplify sport down to winning mentalities and losing mentalities, but when something like this happens surely you can’t put it down to this. This was a penalty miss in a penalty shoot-out. This was getting the bullet in Russian Roulette. Sometimes, though humanity doesn’t like to admit it because it gives them a lack of control, fate and luck can play a bigger role in the outcome of an event.
