Fear and hoping in Wellington
NZ skipper Brendon McCullum said he realises that his side could be knocked out but isn’t fearful.
The hidden fear about New Zealand and brave hope about West Indies has to come true if their quarter-final contest in Wellington has to get interesting. The fear about New Zealand is that they can choke in the knockouts and the hope abut West Indies is that they can suddenly get everything to click and turn it up “on their day”. Both the fear and hope are valid but it seems unlikely. New Zealand might freeze up in the semis, a hugely likely possibility, but think they will get over the line in this quarters.
The choking fear has been talked about by most former New Zealand players. Call it the ‘92 hangover or whatever, when Martin Crowe’s juggernaut came to a screeching halt. They don’t phrase it as choking of course but couch it in this manner: if someone finds form and runs away with the game on their day, then New Zealand might just find it difficult. “That fear is there, if someone gets you, then someone does,” is how Stephen Fleming put it. “The fear is that things might go wrong in the semis or something,” said Chris Harris. The fear is charming actually; it comes from years of being so comfortable as understated underdogs who are cagey about being the favourites. It’s valid too as this New Zealand team haven’t shown, yet, that they can chase down a big score. Even if Brendon McCullum hits a quick ton, they would be what 150/1? They still can lose it from there. That’s the fear.
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What about their opponents West Indies? For some reason, West Indies have been selling their “second-most favourite” team tag too hard to the point it’s now begun to jar. Of course they are the team that cricketing populace across the world do love and hope they come good but to try to cash into that sentiment too hard doesn’t sit well. Also, this team isn’t a great side and to say that if we can get our act together — which is a big if—we are unstoppable, as Darren Sammy said the other day, is a huge leap of faith. And Sammy’s add on to that was, “And other teams know that”. Not really, one would think. That sentiment can be said about Pakistan but this West Indies? One hopes they do well but somehow they don’t give that kind of confidence.
Great expectations
“It’s a huge thing for us. Obviously, if you’ve been following, people pretty much didn’t expect us to get to the quarterfinal stage and now we’re here. So for us, we’re just going out all guns blazing tomorrow and just giving our all. New Zealand can be beaten. We beat them in the past in our last series we played them here, and I know that we can beat them tomorrow,” their captain Jason Holder said.
Chris Gayle trained on Friday but he didn’t practice for the last three days as he is still recovering from a sore back. He has taken injections and Holder was tightlipped about his availability but it would be surprising if he doesn’t play. However, Gayle, if he plays, is not going to find it easy against Tim Southee and Trent Boult. He isn’t a fiery starter and at times seems to sort of sleepwalk his way for a short while before he turns it on. If the ball seams around a touch — Southee took 7 for 33 on this track a couple of weeks back — it won’t be a surprise if Gayle falls quickly. His past doesn’t give the confidence that he can tackle pitches on which the ball does something. And if he goes early, the pressure on the middle order sans Darren Bravo, who had to go back home due to an injury, is going to be huge.
Brendon McCullum spoke about the concern of being thwarted in the knockouts. “Not fearful. Realistic that that could happen. If that’s the case, then we play our best game and someone who is good enough to get on top of us, then we play the game that we play. We’re certainly not fearful. You can’t be too worried about the emotions which come into the game. You’ve just got to deal with the game as it unfolds. If West Indies turns up tomorrow, someone plays a match-winning inning which is good enough to overcome and upset our best, then I can live with that. That’s just how the game is played. But I’m still confident that we’ve got the team that even if we don’t have the perfect trip, we’re still a chance of being there at the finish. We’ll wait to see what unfolds.”
New Zealand VS West Indies
Head-to-Head: Since 2012, West Indies: 6, New Zealand: 3
Form Guide:
New Zealand: WWWWW
West Indies: WLLWW
55 – that’s Chris Gayle’s average against the co-hosts and has a strike rate of 102.
* West Indies have eight different batsmen who have made a fifty or a hundred this World Cup, the highest of the teams that remain alive. New Zealand, on the other hand, have five batsmen who have made scores of 50 or above — the lowest. While seven Caribbean batsmen average over 40 in the edition, there are just three Kiwi batsmen that average over 40.
* New Zealand has four separate bowlers with ten wickets or more in the tournament — Boult, Southee, Vettori and Anderson, indicating their strength and depth in bowling. West Indies have been overly reliant on Jerome Taylor (14 wickets), the only bowler in the team with 10 or more wickets.
Source:: Indian Express