Wickets in finals did not match the occasion

Chris Cairns

February 11, 2002

The Aussie leg of the summer is officially over and we have come away with no spoils which, after how hard we tried over there, is disappointing.

The second final in Sydney proved to be another slow affair. This was down to two factors; firstly, the way we lost wickets in clumps which in one-day cricket makes it very hard to gain any momentum and secondly, the wicket was very slow.

It was the same in Melbourne for the first final. Neither ground produced a wicket fitting the occasion.

I think it is a bit a fallacy these days when you talk about the hard bouncy wickets of Aussie. In New Zealand we are probably playing on quicker wickets than what they have in Aussie.

When we were five down in the Sydney game it was up to Harry [Chris Harris] and I to resurrect the innings and we knew that we couldn't take too many risks, hence the way I played Nicky Boje.

My style is to always attack the spinners and put them under pressure, but I knew if I got out then it would really be the end of our chances, so caution was the order of the day.

Harry and I were just about to go after the bowling when he got out with 11 overs to go. Then, losing a couple more meant that our initial target of 220 was always going to be tough to get.

Once again the bowlers found themselves trying to defend a small target and although we had them 60/3, and we had a chance to get Boeta Dippenaar and make it 90/4, we couldn't force pressure and South Africa cruised home.

SA were probably the best side in the competition and their professional style and quality players will surely make them favourites for next year's World Cup. Congratulations to them on finishing their tour in style.

As for the Black Caps, Shane Bond was the find of the tour and it was tremendous to see him get the player of the series award. He will get better and better and, if he stays fit and healthy, he could play a big part in the immediate success of future CLEAR Black Cap teams.

Personally, I was happy with my series and although I was really frustrated with my performance in the first final I think over the whole series my goal of trying to be a consistent performer was achieved.

There were other good performances from Harry who early on picked up a couple of man of the match awards and Flem [Stephen Fleming] played well as did Macca [Craig McMillan]. Andre Adams impressed me and is a good new asset to our side.

To the English.

We hardly get time to sit down and take a breath and the new series is upon us.

I know the guys are really looking forward to playing at home. But we need to be very careful that we don't get caught out by not switching on fast enough and making the transition to new opposition.

Nasser Hussain was quoted as saying his side does not contain any stars and while this may be true they have in the last few months been working well as a side and their recent tour of India showed they are capable of fighting when the chips are down.

I expect a good series but I would like to think our exposure recently to quality opposition should have hardened us to pressure cricket. I look forward to Jade Stadium on Wednesday!

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