University Oval. The Happy Ground
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Tomorrow New Zealand takes on England in a series saving ODI at University Oval. There is the momentum thing going against the home side, but then there is the record the home side New Zealand has in what is currently the world’s southernmost international cricket ground*
The first game played at the redeveloped ground was against Bangladesh in 2010, and resulted in a comfortable win.
Remember Andy McKay? Anyway 2/17 off 3 was pretty impressive. And Peter Ingram played in that one.
The next game there, in 2012, involved another not quite Tier One nation in Zimbabwe. It was not a high scoring match. 248 might have seemed a bit light, but when the opposition was 122/8 you knew that was enough.
Rob Nicol with 4/19 was the eye-catching stat from this.
Next up was 2015, the build-up to the Cricket World Cup, and one the most memorable ODI ever played in this country.
New Zealand was really struggling at 93/5 inside 20 overs, and the Time of our lives philosophy was really struggling. Grant Elliott would then score one of the most under-rated ODI centuires ever (104 off 96), and Ronchi at the other end calmly knocked up 170* off 99.
If you score 267* for the 6th wicket you win most games.
Dilshan scored 116 in reply but that ODI was a piece of art.
Two days later the preparation continued. Pretty clinical from New Zealand . There was a comical run out of Kane Williamson just short of three figures, before Taylor went out in sympathy.
And look at those Vettori bowling figures.
A few weeks later the real deal began. Well, Scotland anyway (Scotland in Dunedin; geddit?). And after a few overs they were 12/4.
A decent fifth wicket partnership turned things round a bit but 142 was never going to be enough.
And look at those Vettori bowling figures.
There are two schools of thoughts about the New Zealand chase. To lose 7 wickets in under 25 overs was odd; on the other hand this was all about the net run rate.
2018. And then there was the game against Pakistan a couple of months ago. OK, it was cold and Trent Boult got it to swing around corners.
The scorecard porn from this match was the Pakistan fall of wickets. 32/8.
Great fightback from the tail though.
*Carisbrook was a few kms to the south.