Six-fest world record run-chase makes a mockery of New Zealand v Australia T20I clash

Alex Broun 21:03 16/02/2018
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  • The official rule is no boundary on a cricket field can be less than 65 metres.

    But after the T20I slogathon at Eden Park, where Australia set a world record for easily chasing down New Zealand’s massive target of 244, someone needs to get out the tape measure.

    There were 32 sixes hit in the match, which finished an over early as Australia only needed 19 of their 20 overs to achieve the record mark. So that’s a six on average every seven balls.

    With so many balls going into the crowd it’s not surprising one lucky punter picked up NZ$50,000 (Dh135k) from a local sponsor for a one-handed catch.

    He was lucky he was the first as somebody else did it on the last ball of the match but unfortunately the sponsor only pays out on one catch per match.

    Spare a thought also for Kiwi opening bowler Ben Wheeler who went for an astonishing 0-64 of 3.1 overs.

    That’s an average of 3.36 a ball – and the fifth worst bowling figures in the history of T20.

    If he had finished the over he certainly would have had the worse.

    In the end you can’t blame him for bowling two waist high full tosses at the start of his final over to be no-balled out of the match.

    Anything to stop bowling.

    Trent Boult then took over to finish the over and went for 12 runs off five balls and took a wicket – so that meant the stats for the over were: one over, two bowlers, 25 runs, three catches (two off no-balls), and one wicket.

    As Kane Williamson said after the match: “It was a very good surface, small ground.” You can say that again.

    Martin Guptill top scored with 104 off 54 balls (strike rate of 194.44) which in normal circumstances isn’t a bad dig.

    But skipper Williamson might want to have a word with his opener for dragging the chain as no less than six of the 15 batsman who took the crease bettered that strike rate.

    For New Zealand Colin Munro made 76 off 33 (SR: 230.3), Tim Seifert 12 off six (SR: 200) and Ross Taylor a whopping 17 off just six balls (SR: 283.33).

    The Aussies made those run-rates look distinctly glacial: Dave Warner 59 off just 24 (SR: 245.83), Glenn Maxwell 31 off 14 (SR: 221.42) and Aaron Finch 36 off 14 also (SR: 257.14), including the six that won the game.

    So what’s the beef? T20 is meant to be all action, plenty of runs, lots of wickets – certainly no one could have left Eden Park saying they were bored.

    But cricket is also meant to be a contest between bat and ball and this clearly wasn’t that.

    True New Zealand bowled badly. They went for 18 wides and two no-balls, which meant two free hits – 13 runs in total – but it’s not surprising with this kind of hitting the bowlers got a bit crease-shy.

    It was the sort of game when the captain tosses you the ball – and you feel like tossing it back.

    NZ cricket will point to the fact they had the biggest crowd at Eden Park since the World Cup, cricket’s not rugby, and England will be happy that they can still sneak in the Tri-Series final – thanks to the Aussies coming out on top.

    But when the talk is of boundary sizes rather than boundaries something is definitely wrong.

    As one wag on Twitter notes: “To be fair, my backyard cricket set up has bigger boundaries than this field.”

    Even the official Cricket Australia twitter feed couldn’t keep a straight face, posting a run rate comparison with the words: “This is ridiculous.”

    If the ICC rebukes Bangladesh for a sub-par wicket in Chittagong, where batsmen plundered more than 1,500 runs in the recent Bangladesh-Sri Lanka series (Sri Lanka declared at 713 for nine in their first and only innings) then surely New Zealand deserve a similar reprimand.

    Final word goes to legendary India cricket commentator Harsha Boghle who tweeted: “Two scores of 240+ in New Zealand in the last two months. Am going to put up a red flag. Flat pitches, small grounds, sixes for fun will make T20 boring. A six has to be an event not a default shot.”

    You have to agree.

    But get set for more “fun” because guess where the final of the Trans-Tasman Tri-Series is set for on February 21. You got it? Eden Park.

    Those sponsors better get ready to pay out another $50k.

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