2007 | New Zealand vs Australia | 2nd ODI at Auckland | Chappell–Hadlee Trophy.
You know the world has gone mad when poking his tongue out at you from the country's biggest-selling newspaper on a Monday morning is not a celebrity, a politician or even a rugby player, but a cricketer. Not just any cricketer, mind, but Ross Taylor, the part-Samoan being described as the most dynamic young batsman in world cricket after his second ODI hundred of the summer secured the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy for New Zealand for the first time.
If you needed any reminding that cricket is not just a funny old game but stark raving bonkers, think back a week, when the only consideration to putting an image of a cricketer on the front page would have been if they were locked in stocks with a baying public on hand armed with an assortment of ripe fruit and veg. New Zealand's premature ejection from the CB Series was not taken very well. Quite badly, in fact.
The man who bore the brunt was, for a change, not the coach John Bracewell. Instead the captain Stephen Fleming became the target of talkback ire. Despite having made 106 in the final match against England, Fleming led an unsuccessful chase and was castigated for being too slow, selfish and out of touch.
It was a massive and unpredictable fall from grace. His former team-mate Adam Parore used his column in the New Zealand Herald to demand a change of captain and just for a moment it looked as if his long-established empire was teetering. Now, little more than a week later, his position is as secure as it's ever been having beaten the defending world champions back-to-back.
While the result has to be taken with the tiniest pinch of salt given the absence of Ponting, Gilchrist, Lee, Clarke and Symonds, it's the manner of the victories that has reinvigorated the public. In Wellington they blew a weakened Australia off the park, with Fleming and his most reliable [when fit] henchman Shane Bond leading from the front. However, when Australia rattled up 336 at Eden Park - easily the highest ODI score on that curious piece of real estate - it looked like the evil empire had struck back.
But in front of at least 25,000 rapturous fans Taylor and Co not only stole the match with eight balls of breathing space, but also did so in a style that suggests they will go to the grand ball in the Caribbean fearing nobody and scaring some. Fleming is back on form; Bond has re-established himself as one of the most, if not the most dangerous strike bowler in the game; the human pendulum known as Lou Vincent is on the upswing; and, of course, there is Taylor.
Stephen Fleming
Michael Hussey
New Zealand
Australia
New Zealand vs Australia
Australia tour of New Zealand
#viralvideoshort #cricketreels #cricketlover #icc #viralvideo #nz #nzvsaus #ausvsnz #chappelhadlee #hadley #viraltiktok #cricketlover #cricketreels #cricketclassic #shanebond #fleming #vettori
You know the world has gone mad when poking his tongue out at you from the country's biggest-selling newspaper on a Monday morning is not a celebrity, a politician or even a rugby player, but a cricketer. Not just any cricketer, mind, but Ross Taylor, the part-Samoan being described as the most dynamic young batsman in world cricket after his second ODI hundred of the summer secured the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy for New Zealand for the first time.
If you needed any reminding that cricket is not just a funny old game but stark raving bonkers, think back a week, when the only consideration to putting an image of a cricketer on the front page would have been if they were locked in stocks with a baying public on hand armed with an assortment of ripe fruit and veg. New Zealand's premature ejection from the CB Series was not taken very well. Quite badly, in fact.
The man who bore the brunt was, for a change, not the coach John Bracewell. Instead the captain Stephen Fleming became the target of talkback ire. Despite having made 106 in the final match against England, Fleming led an unsuccessful chase and was castigated for being too slow, selfish and out of touch.
It was a massive and unpredictable fall from grace. His former team-mate Adam Parore used his column in the New Zealand Herald to demand a change of captain and just for a moment it looked as if his long-established empire was teetering. Now, little more than a week later, his position is as secure as it's ever been having beaten the defending world champions back-to-back.
While the result has to be taken with the tiniest pinch of salt given the absence of Ponting, Gilchrist, Lee, Clarke and Symonds, it's the manner of the victories that has reinvigorated the public. In Wellington they blew a weakened Australia off the park, with Fleming and his most reliable [when fit] henchman Shane Bond leading from the front. However, when Australia rattled up 336 at Eden Park - easily the highest ODI score on that curious piece of real estate - it looked like the evil empire had struck back.
But in front of at least 25,000 rapturous fans Taylor and Co not only stole the match with eight balls of breathing space, but also did so in a style that suggests they will go to the grand ball in the Caribbean fearing nobody and scaring some. Fleming is back on form; Bond has re-established himself as one of the most, if not the most dangerous strike bowler in the game; the human pendulum known as Lou Vincent is on the upswing; and, of course, there is Taylor.
Stephen Fleming
Michael Hussey
New Zealand
Australia
New Zealand vs Australia
Australia tour of New Zealand
#viralvideoshort #cricketreels #cricketlover #icc #viralvideo #nz #nzvsaus #ausvsnz #chappelhadlee #hadley #viraltiktok #cricketlover #cricketreels #cricketclassic #shanebond #fleming #vettori
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