I am sorry Black Caps - calling for a hero

The Black Caps recent tour to the West Indies has almost confirmed for me that I have fallen out of love for this team. To say that I watched more than an hour of this series would be an overstatement, replays and live coverage combined. The timezone factor is not relevant - I have stayed up to watch the Olympics - it is just that I have little, if any, desire to watch our national team play cricket anymore.

For the record, the Black Caps managed just one win from 9 matches, that included two Twenty20 games, five one day internationals and two tests. 

 New Zealand is now ranked 8th in Tests, 8th in One Day Internationals (ODIs), and (hooray) 6th in Twenty20s, which I have little time for anyway.

In the last test, New Zealand lost their last 8 wickets in the second innings for 74 runs. 7 out of 10 wickets were lost to spinners, with Guptil and BJ Watling being dismissed by a part timer. The Indians, who the Black Caps will tour to next, have spinners of higher quality so there is a lot of concern here. Trent Boult has my backing since he seems to swing the ball a bit. Wagner, after all the waiting to get him into the team, has not impressed me so far after his success with the Otago Volts. 130 kmph is not exactly going to scare the likes of Chris Gayle, let alone the upcoming Indian batsmen.

I concur with former New Zealand cricketer Craig McMillan when, on a radio talkback show, he pointed out that our batsmen cannot seem to learn from their mistakes. McMillan used the example of Ross Taylor, who was dismissed after going for a cut shot in the first innings, only to go out in the same fashion in the second innings.

Vettori, although he did not take part in the second test and is unlikely to go to India because of injury, is a great economy bowler and remains useful for limited overs cricket. But his inability to take wickets, which is more important in test cricket, puts the other bowlers under intense pressure. Therefore, it is vital that we develop some world-class spinners, possibly starting with Tarun Nethula or Roneel Hira. 


What I am longing for is the performances that win games. Where are the heroic performances that I witnessed during my childhood? The epic moments that send a chill down my spine and make me proud to call myself a New Zealander. The only one in recent memory I can think of is Bracewell who, in December 2011, took 6/40 against Australia in Hobart to lift the Black Caps to their first test win on Australian soil since 1986. But apart from that nothing (in the last 4 years) stands out. It's not that I'm not thinking deep enough, because I can clearly remember moments from the early 2000s that I will never forget.


In the final of the 2000 ICC Knockout Tournament (now known as the ICC Champions Trophy) in Kenya, New Zealand needed about 90 runs from the last 10 overs. Cairns was struggling with a knee injury and did not play in the semi-final victory over Pakistan. It came down to the last over, with Cairns flicking a full toss to square leg for the winning runs, finishing on 102 not out. An amazing illustration of guts and perseverance.

I will never forget the moment Shane Bond, in his first taste of international cricket, humiliated the Aussies in the 2001/2002 VB Series. He terrorised Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist with 140kmph-plus in swinging yorkers. He even tripped Gilchrist up in one instance.

Although it came in a losing team performance, Nathan Astle's 222 not out was one of the finest displays of power-hitting from a Black Cap. To this day, Astle still holds the record for the fastest double century in test cricket - 153 balls. Remarkably, the second hundred came off just 39 balls.

Then there was the man that never, in my opinion, fulfilled his potential. Maybe it would of been better if he did not start his career on such a high. Matthew Sinclair, on debut at the Basin Reserve against the West Indies in 1999, scored 214. Then there was one of the best catches I have ever seen, in the 2001/2002 VB Series, where he took a diving one-hander on the boundary after a Matthew Hayden pull shot. Sinclair turned around to the crowd and pointing his finger, as if to say "stuff ya!"


There are several others that I could mention, but I think you get my point. It seems that, for the short term at least, I am better off spending my time reminiscing on the good ol' days of New Zealand cricket. Hopefully this current crop of cricketers will find it in themselves to inspire a new generation of youngsters, just like the guys from the late 1990s to mid 2000s did for me.