Central Districts were gone for all money. 228 for nine chasing Auckland's 282 in the Ford Trophy One-Day final, and the match was as good as over.
But someone forgot to tell Michael Mason. The CD veteran was playing his last match for our home association. 19 balls later, he had a career-best one day score of 41 not out his credit, and the Stags had grabbed the unlikeliest of victories.
Cricket still throws up some great results, and when you add last night's win by the hapless Indians over Australia to the mix, you can understand why, to paraphrase 10CC, we don't like cricket; we love it!
3 comments:
The "hapless" Indians appear to have gained some hap.
I did not see the CD recovery (Was watching the Indians get that hap) but given it was Mason doing the hitting and CD were 8 down for a lot less than required when I last looked how bad were the Jafa bowlers?
As an aside why were Jafa (and CD?) cricketers required for a non-event candyfloss game against Rhodesia instead of being made available for the NZ OD final?
Fairytales do happen indeed and not only in cricket.
That death bowling by Auckland was pathetic. It seems like the bowlers (except consummate professional Chris Martin) thought "It is the number 9 and 10 batsmen so we don't really have to try; we can bowl anywhere and win." Auckland really only have themselves to blame. They certainly didn't play like they have much final experience - which is odd given they have racked up tons of finals experience in the last few years.
The Black Caps had their own little mini fairy tale tonight with 21 from 9 balls and two new batsmen at the crease due to two wickets in 2 balls, but Kane Williamson showed why the commentators keep calling him a "smart cricketer" with a very well played 20 of 5 balls to guide NZ to victory with 2 balls to spare. Chasing 201 to win was never going to be easy (only 2 teams beforehand had chased 200+ to win at that level), but when it got 21 off 9 with 2 new batsmen seemed to be Zimbabwe's game.
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