Black Caps Black Book ... /Diary - October 28
We say goodbye the South Africans following a rained out 3rd ODI in Hamilton. Yeah, go away you stupidly good at cricket South Africans, shooooo.
Domestic Daily - October 28
Canterbury went from 43/0 to 226/4 yesterday, they'll be looking to set Wellington a total early on today.
Domestic Daily - October 27
ND vs Auckland. Auckland won by 5 wickets.
Domestic Daily
Kia ora! This is the Domestic Daily where we'll give you what you need to stay in the know with domestic cricket. We love cricket here at the Nichey Niche and we love domestic cricket so it's only right.
Game Sitch (Situation for those who aren't very cool)
- Whangarei, a lovely place to start the Plunket Shield this season. Auckland vs Northern Districts, day 1, what'd we get? Well ND won the toss and opted to bat reaching 244/8. Scott Kuggeleijn's not out on 60 along with Graeme Aldridge who's battlin' away on 3 off 22 balls. Wickets were shared nicely through the Auckland attack and they should look to get in for a bat early tomorrow.
Give Him A Good Dinner
- Kuggeleijn, he's maybe one of the best young cricketers in the country and his all round talents should be getting people excited. Mitchell Santner also got 57 while Colin de Grandhomme bowled tight lines to finish the day with figures of 20 overs, 10 maidens, 1 wicket #CDG.
Observations From The Observatory
- ND are uber strong with their Black Caps but rely heavily on young talent when their away. Some youngsters went good, some didn't.
- I'd watch out if I were facing the Aces attack on a green seamer. Not much express pace, but the likes of Michael Bates, Matt Quinn, Donovan Grobbelaar and #CDG are able to keep batsmen honest.
Well that was easy huh!? Kinda like your first day at a new job, before the shit storm begins.
Domestic Cricket Alpha Dawgs
Domestic cricket, it's bloody awesome. It's bloody awesome because you get to see a variety of cricketers at different stages of their careers.
The One Thing To Worry About...
Unlike Australia, New Zealand cricket is not flush with cricketing depth.
Australian Cricket - Legends vs Job Do-ers
We've all grown up watching the Aussie cricket side absolutely dominate on the back of a few (a few more than any other nation) legends.
What's Ahead This Summer?
With the BlackCaps cricket season kicking off today, we thought we’d take a closer look at what’s to come in what is sure to be an exciting summer of cricket for our national side.
Black Caps vs South Africa Preview
Not one ODI, not two ODI's but three!
Who To Watch In Domestic Cricket
Each domestic cricket season provides us cricket nerds with everything we want.
Mayweather vs Maidana II: Too Easy
There is a line on the horizon towards which this ship is sailing. Already it is becoming difficult to distinguish the vessel clearly through the fog as it gets farther and farther away. And once it is gone, it is gone forever.
Joseph Parker: Still Undefeated
They billed it as an ‘American Invasion’. It wasn’t quite that. More like an underground American smuggling ring. But the task was achieved – Joseph Parker (and Robbie Berridge) got some US network telly airtime, spreading the good name of kiwi boxing to the land of hope and glory and easily accessible assault rifles.
Breaking down the domestic cricket contract lists
Something similar to a bat signal appeared in the sky last Friday, only it was the silohuette of a blade of willow calling our almost bestest cricketers to duty.
Wimbledon 2014: The Djoker vs The Fed Express
The green, green grass. The white, white clothing. The royal family, the pineapple on the top of the trophy, the mandatory underwear checks. It all adds up to the greatest tennis tournament of them all. Wimbledon.
Let Me Play Devil's Advocate...
The match fixing scandal took another confusing turn last week. Chris Cairns returned to New Zealand after heading to the motherland to clear up a few things and upon his arrival he not only continued his denial of any involvement but he kinda ramped it up.
Chris Cairns: Hero AND Villain?
Chris Cairns was my first favourite cricket player. I loved him. Nobody in the world could hit a cricket ball harder and further than Cairnsy in his prime, and that slower ball was one of the most lethal weapons a bowler ever had.
Klitschko vs Leapai & The State of Heavyweight Boxing
Despite what we wanted to believe, Alex Leapai never really stood a chance against the mighty Wladimir Klitschko. The Ukranian behemoth helped himself to his 53rd career knockout with a fifth round TKO Sunday morning.
The Jesse Ryder conundrum
Folks, we definitely have a conundrum. I wouldn't say we're in a pickle, but there are a few people who have a fair bit of thinking to do and I reckon they should do that thinking relatively soon. You see we have a guy named Jesse Ryder who has talent by the bucket load but is also a bit of a character, a character who may not fit in to this very focused Black Caps unit.
Shattering Records at the Basin
Supermac (Andrew Cornaga/www.Photosport.co.nz)
Brendon McCullum
- 302 – The highest ever score by a NZer in test matches, surpassing Martin Crowe’s infamous 299. The first ever triple century by a kiwi in tests.
- McCullum’s was just the 28th triple century in all test cricket (there have been 2120 total test matches), and only the second ever in a team’s second innings (The other was Pakistani Hanif Mohammad in 1958).
- 775 minutes – the longest innings by a New Zealander not just in test cricket but in all first class cricket too.
- That adds up to 12 hours and 55 minutes at the crease.
- It was also the eighth longest innings (by minutes) in the history of test cricket.
- 559 balls faced is the second most by a NZer ever (Glenn Turner lasted 759 against the Windies in 1972), and the 18th most of all time.
- In this and the West Indies series combined, McCullum has scored a single, double and triple century.
- Only five other men have ever scored a double century in back to back tests (Wally Hammond, Don Bradman, Vinod Kambli, Graeme Smith and Thilan Samaraweera).
- Only 2 other men have ever scored a triple century and a double century in back to back tests (All time legends Wally Hammond and Don Bradman are those other two).
- Glenn Turner is the only other NZer to score two double centuries in the same series.
- Stephen Fleming is the only other kiwi batsman with 3 career double centuries.
- McCullum’s 535 runs this series in the fourth most ever in a two test series. (1st = Jayasuriya 571 vs India)
The McCullum/Watling Partnership
- 352 – The biggest ever sixth wicket partnership in test cricket, for any country against any country.
- New Zealand’s third highest partnership in runs for any wicket against any team (Our best ever against India).
- The second highest test partnership ever on NZ soil (1st = Jones/Crowe 467 vs Sri Lanka).
- BJ Watling scored a career high 124 (from 367 balls), setting the record for the longest innings by a Blackcaps wicket keeper.
- In fact Watling had the sixth longest innings (by balls faced) by any wicket keeper ever in test matches.
Jimmy Neesham
- The 10th NZer (and 99th man overall) to score a century on test debut.
- The highest ever score by a number 8 on debut, and just the seventh past 100.
- All this after Neesham had to wait 26 hours as the next man in to bat.
NZ Innings Total
- 680/8dec - NZ’s highest ever test innings score as a team.
- This was the highest ever third innings team total. Ever.
- After falling to 94/5, New Zealand went on a 525/1 streak.
