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Monday, February 10, 2020
Ashburton Guardian 15
■■CRICKET
New kid on the block New Zealand’s tallest cricketer, Kyle Jamieson, made his presence felt on his one-day international debut on Saturday night as the Black Caps beat India by 22 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the threematch series. Jamieson, who is 2.03 metres tall, first made 25 in an unbroken partnership of 76 with Ross Taylor (73 not out) for the ninth wicket, helping New Zealand recover from a damaging middle-order collapse. He then claimed the early wicket of young star Prithvi Shaw and bowled 10 overs to finish with 2-42 as New Zealand defended a moderate total of 273-8, dismissing India for 251 with nine balls to spare. Jamieson’s final contribution was to break a 76-run partnership for India’s eighth wicket between Ravindra Jadeja (55) and Navdeep Saini (45), which threatened to swing the match India’s way. The partnership carried India within 44 runs of New Zealand’s total before Jamieson bowled Saini in the 45th over. “It’s still sinking in, I guess, with the bat and then with the ball,” said man-of-the-match Jamieson. “The game kind of ebbed and flowed so it was nice to be on the right side of it.” Jamieson made his long-delayed international debut for a New Zealand team leading the three-match series 1-0 after a four-wicket win in the first match at Hamilton, but entered the match with problems of their own. A stomach bug swept through the New Zealand camp around midday, ruling allrounder Mitchell Santner and fast bowler Scott Kuggeleijn out of the match. Tim Southee was also struck down but played on, bowling his 10 overs and taking 2-41. Jamieson has been around the team all season but had to wait for his debut, sitting out New Zealand’s 3-0 test series defeat in Australia and its 5-0 loss to India in the Twenty20 series. He was finally given his chance on his home ground at Eden Park and made an immediate impression.
In spite of his height, Jamieson doesn’t send them down at express pace, averaging somewhere around 130 kph. But the trajectory he creates from a high-release point creates difficulties for batsman. He is also a better than average tail-end batsman with three firstclass half-centuries. He played a small but vital role on Saturday. New Zealand seemed likely to fall short of a competitive total even after Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls put on 93 for the first wicket after India won the toss and chose to field. Nicholls made 41 and Guptill 79 but from 141-1 in the 26th over – heading for a total in excess of 300 – New Zealand lost their next seven wickets for under 50 runs as spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal helped India apply the squeeze. In came Jamieson for his first international innings and he stuck around with Taylor, who followed his match-winning century in the first match of the series with an unbeaten 73. Jamieson’s 24-ball innings included two sixes. Shaw began India’s chase in spectacular fashion, striking two fours from the first two balls and three from the first four. He reached 24 entirely in boundaries before Jamieson beat him between bat and pad to end a dangerous innings. Southee did the same to India captain Virat Kohli, bowling him for 15 to substantially boost New Zealand’s winning chances. Shreyas Iyer followed his first ODI century with a half century from 56 balls but he was out next ball as India’s middle order crumbled. K.L. Rahul (4) and Kedar Jadhav (9) were also out cheaply. Jadeja’s half century from 67 balls and his long stand with Saini revived India’s hopes but the end came quickly after Saini’s dismissal. New Zealand was later fined 60 per cent of their match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate.
Right – New Zealand’s Kyle Jamieson celebrates his first international wicket of India’s Prithvi Shaw during their one-day international on Saturday.
Sixers grab the chocolates in shortened Big Bash final Opening batsman Josh Philippe on Saturday night took the Sydney Sixers to their second Big Bash League title, heaping more misery on the Melbourne Stars some eight years after watching idolturned-mentor Steve Smith win the inaugural crown. Philippe’s polished 52 lifted the Sixers to 116-5 from 12 overs in the rain-affected final at the SCG, where wet weather was expected to ruin the season decider but stripped only eight overs from each innings. Philippe, who sat in the stands
aged 14 when Smith skippered the Sixers to a formative victory, outperformed all-comers in a high-pressure innings in which he oozed composure. The target became hugely challenging when Melbourne lost their two best batsmen in the opening three overs, crashing to 18-3 en route to a 19-run defeat. Marcus Stoinis picked out Sean Abbott in the deep after a bright start to the first over, delivered by Nathan Lyon, while Steve O’Keefe trapped Glenn Maxwell lbw. “It’s elation; all sorts of emo-
tion,” former test tweaker O’Keefe said. “This is right up there with anything I’ve done in cricket.” Maxwell’s dismissal proved to be the point of no return and the visitors finished on 97-6 to enhance their reputation of excelling in the regular season and folding in finals. The Stars have a 3-9 record in post-season BBL games. “I wouldn’t say that [pressure was to blame],” Maxwell said. “It was comfortably chase-able ... I thought we were a pretty good chance at the halfway mark.
“Stoin picked out the one bloke on the fence and I got the one ball that Steve O’Keefe spins all tournament. It happens.” Maxwell’s team feared they would watch the men in magenta celebrate without a ball being bowled, but ground staff worked tirelessly and the abridged contest started only 70 minutes late. The small crowd of 10,121 were treated to a special knock from Philippe which featured four fours and three sixes. It is the latest piece of evidence from the 22-year-old as to why so
many believe he is destined for higher honours. “He’s definitely someone who has been talked about at different times, just because of the raw talent,” national T20 captain Aaron Finch said. “You can see him being a long-term player for Australia.” Philippe, who only decided to join the Sixers after receiving a call from Smith in 2018, shared a 34-run stand with his mentor and lookalike. Maxwell ended an entertaining knock from Smith, but couldn’t produce any fireworks with the bat.
