No...not quite close enough yet. Michael Vaughan's England fell far short of Daniel Vettori's approach to this game.
The challenges were all from him, the risks were all from him, the performances were all from the Kiwis, bar Sidebottom of England.
" New Zealand Win By 189 Runs "
The thing is Daniel wants to win and Michael doesn't want to lose. Enormous difference between the two perspectives.
Anyone who thought the Kiwi pacers/medium-pacers wouldn't respond to their captain's inspiring challenge to England must have been watching a different game or betray a bias that conceals this team aspect of Kiwis.
They may not win, or their challenge may fade away, or they may be outclassed, but the Kiwis always keep pecking away at you as a team. If they can create chinks, they'll take it further from there. It is true, sometimes they just decide to take a collective pot-break leaving you wondering if they are any good on their promises after all. But that's the spirit...doing it on their own terms..but it is there..The Kiwis will always try with what they have.
The defensiveness from the time of team selection on the part of Vaughan had it's effect right through the match. Michael Atherton, I mentioned in an earlier post, said that it was his kind of test match in commentary and that that itself had killed the test match from me. Unlike the few times when his dourness actually helped England, I see the insipid placidity of English 90's seeping into and eating up Vaughan's captaincy over the years. England had no hope from the time of selection through their gameplan and spirit.
Not even Sidebottom's warm feats succeeded in electrifying England towards trying to take this match. When the spirit is frozen, the feet don't move, the bat comes down just that bit slower. We saw that today. England didn't go down fighting...make no mistake of that.
Congratulations New Zealand, Congratulations Daniel Vettori.
Vaughny and England have a fair bit of way to go before they match the spirit of the Kiwis. They could begin right by picking the right personnel, beginning with Stuart Broad getting Tremlett fit and better captaincy towards spinners and field placings, and trying to let their hair down like Sidebot does. The clues are all there...
PS: To Mikey - I owe you a beer!
Timeline for the First test: NZ vs England 2008 -
England vs New Zealand 2008 : First Test Match
Kiwis Not Ready To Be Extinct Yet
Explain This To me Please!
Kiwi Sidebottoms out; Can England go for the kill?...
Not as Unexpected
The 100th anything
2 hours ago
5 comments:
How do you rate Vaughn as a Captain?
I am of the opinion that his Captaincy is overrated.
Highly so. But he is sacred after all.
Ottayan, I was in discussion with some astute Englishmen and Ozzies yesterday at 606 (along with Mikey and others you have read here once in a while of course) and the discussion did get to the point where Vaughan's team selection was being seriously questioned and the current approach a little jaded.
I got your beer on the GVA thread, SB!
I think Vaughan is a decent captain at best. He's certainly not among the best in the world right now....
His field settings to an attacking spinner like Monty were incomprehensible! His selections, with coach Peter Moores, were flawed.
Good blog, SB - Vettori out-thought and out-performed Vaughan, and the Kiwis deserved their victory.
Thanks Mikey...I did feel a bit like a tief taking the first beer off you! :)
Vaughny's captaincy is in decline...he is now stuck with an old formula. It happened to Saurav as well in the latter stages of his captaincy. There isn't a fresh look at things and in that state of mind, some obvious things are overlooked...like field placings for instance. How critical were they!
Vaughan has to move beyond Harmison and Hoggard and stop pining for Giles.
Does he lack courage to work with a new unit of bowlers? he shouldn't for ever since he returned from the long hiatus of his, his trusted unit of the success before that has failed him.
The different set he got on his return due to injuries to his trusted set, actually did better, but they lost him the home crown against an India on the upswing (unrecognized at that time). So he doesn't trust them to deliver.
Watching England during his absence must have compounded the feeling in him, even though he chooses to overlook the wins against Pakistan, and in fact perhaps gives credit to the old set for that too!
He's holding on to faded memories and then it is time to change the captain or wake him up with a quiet word.
If you are going to make plan for buy or sell homes,don't worry about it.I know about one site which deals in homes...You just need to visit
there i am sure you will find best solution from there.
http://www.buytolethomesuk.com
Post a Comment