Neil McKenzie I love you in a completely manly way. All those doubts I had about you? Decoys, Neil, decoys. A century and a vital 50 run partnership with Rangana Herath (another one I had my doubts over) capped off a fine match for the South African, who also hit a very brisk 50 in the first innings. 7 balls left in the match, 8 wickets down, 6 required to get the very first win in all forms of the season, and what does McKenzie do? Smashes the ball over the ropes for a six.
Benham did a Benham and got 45, whilst none of the others really got anywhere. All the more praise for Neil then, as he rammed the victory down the throats of the previously unbeaten Notts team and their cocky supporters ("Come on boys, let's make it 4 out of 4"). The day started slowly, needing 284 or something to win with all 10 wickets left. Adams and Dawson got the score up to 42, before both fell quickly. McKenzie and Benham then put on the innings defining partnership, before there was a real wobble/ collapse/ business as usual - Benham, Vince, Pothas, Ervine, Cork and Balcombe all got out cheaply to leave McKenzie and Herath in the middle still with over 50 runs to get, and just Tommo left in the hutch. Obviously Tommo would have smashed the 50 needed by himself in 2 overs, but he wanted Herath to finally make a meaningful contribution and didn't it work wonders. The fact that the run rate never went above 3 an over after the second over highlights perhaps the confidence that was missing from the team. However this victory is similar to Ervine's show at May's Bounty against Durham - the finest non-century I think I've ever seen.
Yorkshire are the opponents on Monday, and they'll be smarting from their first loss of the season to Somerset. We on the other hand will be (finally) awaiting the ECB's video highlights with more than a little anticipation.
Benham did a Benham and got 45, whilst none of the others really got anywhere. All the more praise for Neil then, as he rammed the victory down the throats of the previously unbeaten Notts team and their cocky supporters ("Come on boys, let's make it 4 out of 4"). The day started slowly, needing 284 or something to win with all 10 wickets left. Adams and Dawson got the score up to 42, before both fell quickly. McKenzie and Benham then put on the innings defining partnership, before there was a real wobble/ collapse/ business as usual - Benham, Vince, Pothas, Ervine, Cork and Balcombe all got out cheaply to leave McKenzie and Herath in the middle still with over 50 runs to get, and just Tommo left in the hutch. Obviously Tommo would have smashed the 50 needed by himself in 2 overs, but he wanted Herath to finally make a meaningful contribution and didn't it work wonders. The fact that the run rate never went above 3 an over after the second over highlights perhaps the confidence that was missing from the team. However this victory is similar to Ervine's show at May's Bounty against Durham - the finest non-century I think I've ever seen.
Yorkshire are the opponents on Monday, and they'll be smarting from their first loss of the season to Somerset. We on the other hand will be (finally) awaiting the ECB's video highlights with more than a little anticipation.
Herath is a gutsy little cricketer.
ReplyDeleteGB, I have to agree. His bowling hasn't been great, but this knock was invaluable. As I mentioned I'm sure Tommo would hve knocked all of the runs off by himself, but Herath really stuck around and batted well. He even hit a couple of vital boundaries in the late overs.
ReplyDeleteI wanna see him play live!
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