Last game will tell us how good a one-day side we are

Chris Cairns

February 25, 2002

I suppose the marketing department at New Zealand Cricket will be happy with the final match in this series being the decider down here in Dunedin.

But in the CLEAR Black Caps we have repeated similar mistakes we made in Aussie in the VB Series.

At the start of that series we got off to a rip-roaring start then lost momentum and again here we started well only to find England back in the series when we should have beaten them to take the series.

After their embarrasing loss in Wellington, England bounced back well to set 240 in Napier.

We thought that they may get to 260-odd with the start they got so were not too unhappy with the total to chase.

Graham Thorpe impressed me in their innings and controlled things well in the middle period with Nick Knight. In our reply, Nathan Astle was unlucky to be given out and, as in Aussie, we lost early wickets and then our middle-order had to rebuild.

But while doing this type of thing, the run rate tends to creep up and while we kept losing wickets we couldn't put together any substantial partnerships.

We were very disappointed after the game but our mood was helped somewhat in the dressing room when a local man dropped in a chilly bin full of crayfish which was devoured quickly but with not as much vigour as if we had have had a victory!

The match in Auckland saw talk about the quality of the portable wicket. Concerns had been raised when during the first-class game played the previous week balls had kept low and batting was of concern.

The day dawned fine on Saturday and with a full house at Eden Park everything was set for a great day. weather reports showed rain was forecast throughout the day but all concerned hoped we could get through.

England won the toss and chose to bat. Once again Thorpe was in good touch and this time found an ally in Michael Vaughan who played very well.

Needing Einstein to explain to us the equation that greeted us when our run chase began, our top order failed to get us off to a start so our run chase was always behind the eight ball.

Harry [Chris Harris] and I tried to take the innings into the last 10 overs to have some outside chance of a boundary onslaught on the total.

Some clean hits, a few miscues kept the crowd and the run chase on track but 10 an over takes miracles and Saturday night was not going to be one of them.

Again frustration was evident afterwards in our camp and Flem [Stephen Fleming] shared a few harsh words with us and left us with the message that fronting up in Dunedin is the only option available.

This match is the last of 15 that we have played over the last six weeks.

It will need a big effort to take the series from a confident England but this is our last chance to show how good a one-day side we are.

You can be sure when we leave Carisbrook on Tuesday night, not a member of our side will be able to say that they could have given any more.

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Chris Cairns

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England tour of New Zealand

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New Zealand