Black Caps Black Book .../Diary - Day Four, Boomtown
Rain, rain, go away.
But it was nice of your ugly little self to come say hi at Headingly, you have left England with a slim chance of a win but you've gifted the Black Caps with a day to bowl England out. That's if you stay away on day five.
How good is our tail going? It's a bit different in this second Test where we batted first, hence our tail don't quite have the same pressure but they are showing that when they are given a bit of freedom, they can score runs quickly. England continued to try and bowl short, heck knows why and many of those deliveries were dispatched to the boundary, thanks in large part to Tim Southee who whacked 40 off 24 balls. Vintage Southee.
But we're seeing Mark Craig have a fabulous Test, he's probably up there as a Man Of The Match contender despite his bowling figures not demanding it, such has been his improvement from Test to Test. He's shown over his Test career so far that he can definitely bat and the runs he scores down the order are almost as important as runs scored by the batsmen up the order.
Even Matt Henry came in and whacked two sixes off four balls.
Unfortunately, that rain came soon after lunch, 13 overs into England's mammoth run chase which is now a near impossible task.
It's going to be a tough ask tomorrow to take 10 wickets, we're still looking at Alistair Cook and Adam Lyth at the crease and they get to start again. This Headingly wicket though, it offers spice if you're willing to pitch the ball up and be patient, which England weren't able to do. I imagine that Southee and Trent Boult will be given ample opportunity to strike, plenty of overs and plenty of catchers ready to pounce.
History is on the side of the kiwis, England will need to put in the second highest fourth innings run chase EVER. But, with the way cricket is now (the Black Caps have scored at nearly five runs an over in this Test), England will have a crack and if the Black Caps aren't able to strike you can bet that England will look to exploit McCullum's attacking nature.
Before the rain came, I was thinking that if England bat out the remaining day and a half, they'd win. Now there's tighter time parameters and there's some pressure on them, should they get off to a nice start they might play a few shots and we've seen that this wicket has maintained some juice throughout the Test.
The major issue for McCullum is that he only has four real options with the ball. It's going to be very intriguing to see how the bowlers respond. At Lord's it was our batsmen who needed to stand up and be counted on the last day, they didn't. Now it's the bowlers turn and if their batting has been anything to go by, I like our chances.
Day Five Mission Objective: One wicket, get Gary Ballance in early, send him back early.
Enjoy Ya Dinner: Tim Southee, you got some runs mate!
Daily Thought: Is there any way that BJ Watling and Luke Ronchi can play together consistently? We'd need to find another bowler somewhere, but having these two in the batting line up would be great.