Overnight Jamaica time an epic sporting mismatch took place. Jesse Ryder demolished Mark Watson in a boxing match. Ryder was comprehensively better, and Watson really had very little to offer against Ryder’s power, precision and skill. A few hours a sporting mismatch of a similar magnitude took place at Sabina Park, this time with New Zealand playing the part of Mark Watson and West Indies taking on Jesse Ryder’s role.
Andre Russell celebrated being given one of the new balls by producing a demanding display of swing bowling that asked questions that Guptill, Flynn and Nicol were unable to answer.
Williamson looked like someone who was batting while thinking about other things. He is normally so clinical with his placement, and while he showed some nice touches, he managed to hit the fielders more than the gaps. At one point Sammy created a large gap for him at mid-wicket off Bravo, and almost had him the next ball, as Williamson got a leading edge while trying to hit a ball that was on off stump through that gap. It was field setting par excellence, something Sammy has not yet developed a reputation for. Finally Williamson fell for 24 with the score on 71.
At the other end, putting the batsmen under his spell was Sunil Narine. Watling didn’t get out to him, but never really looked comfortable. Brownlie, however was completely bamboozled, and his lbw looked as much a mercy killing as a wicket.
The New Zealanders recovered from there to post a moderate total, with two good partnerships between Wattling and Ellis and Wattling and Oram. But it felt like too little too late.
The brief New Zealand revival continued into the first few overs of the West Indian innings. The first two overs were maidens (although there were some leg byes scored) and after 3 overs, West Indies were 6 for 1. Mills bowled an outstanding spell to end with the figures of 5 – 1 – 7 – 1. But as well as Mills bowled, it is difficult to win a game by yourself if you are only given 5 overs. After the match I asked Kane Williamson why he didn’t bring Mills back at the end. He replied that he had planned to, but the match was taken away before he got a chance. Perhaps he needed to make that call earlier.
From the end of Mills’ spell it was a Jamaican benefit, with Gayle rearranging the furniture in the ground with frequent big sixes. Smith looked less certain, but kept the strike turning over and occasionally launched a big shot himself.
Tarun Nethula came on to bowl and got one ball to turn quite sharply, and with another deceived Smith with a googly, but dropped the last ball of his second over short to Gayle and disappeared into the third tier of the stadium.
Once the rain came West Indies were in a commanding position of 91/1 off 18 overs. The only thing that could save New Zealand was a washout. The washout never arrived, but instead the match was shortened. The Duckworth-Lewis method is designed to weigh up how strong a position a team is in, and adjust the target accordingly. The system is designed to make sure if a team is in a dominant position before an interruption, that they are in a dominant position after the rain. That was how it played out. West Indies went from needing 100 off 32 overs to needing 43 off 15. Like Ryder after the second standing 8 count, they finished it off with a flurry of big blows. It took only 6.2 overs for them to score the runs.
Just like Mark Watson against Jesse Ryder, New Zealand had no answer against the power, precision and skill of the West Indians.
Showing posts with label Mark Watson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Watson. Show all posts
Friday, 6 July 2012
Ryder vs Watson
Mark Watson was one of the contributing factors in me starting this blog. He is quite outspoken on the radio, particularly harsh on New Zealand cricketers. I listen to his show, and used to get quite upset at the things he said. As a result I started researching statistics to challenge him on.
The first time was to do with Kyle Mills, whom he said wouldn't make any other team in the world. At the time Mills had almost identical career figures to Waqar Younis. So I rang Watson and spoke to him about it. To his credit he admitted that he was unaware that Mills had such a good record, but then (in typical Watson fashion) he then went on to say that Mills had obviously been very lucky, and if he actually had the work ethic of a triathlete he would have an even better record.
The next time I challenged him was when he was calling for the New Zealand selector to be sacked after moving Brendon McCullum up to opening the batting in ODI's. Again I rang him and pointed out that after they started picking him there regularly he had scored 644 runs in 14 matches, averaging 56 at a strike rate of 109. At this point he changed from criticizing the selectors for picking him as an opener to criticizing McCullum for not scoring converting his 50's to 100's.
And yet I know Watson outside of cricket, and I actually quite like him. When he isn't talking cricket. He has strong opinions, and plays the villain well. However, the cricket fan in me was really hoping for him to get knocked out.
There were three reasons for this.
1. Watson has constantly bagged Ryder for his weight, but I think that Ryder isn't in as bad condition as people think.
He has always moved well in the field, and is surprisingly quick between wickets. As a former triathlete, Watson thinks that to be fit you need to look like a triathlete, (where they need to carry less weight in order to be able to run/cycle long distances) but carrying weight isn't a major disadvantage in cricket, and as a result the size of a player is not such a good indication of his fitness.
2. Boxing training seems to be a good idea for batsmen
The essentials of boxing are moving your feet, avoiding danger and attacking a target. These are quite similar to the skills required when batting. When Ryder first came back from his first try at boxing he looked a much better player for it. He started moving his feet again, and hit 50 against South Africa, before off-field issues sidelined him again.
3. I like boxing ending with a knock-out.
While we complain about DRS decisions, Asoka de Silva giving out everything that touches the pad, Australian umpires not giving out Australia batsmen, at least we have some positive decisions to compare the bad ones to. Boxing has never been an easy sport to judge, but even given this it has a poor record of terrible decisions.
Given this, I was quite pleased when I got up early in Jamaica and watched the fight. I was happy that Ryder won. Happy that it was a TKO, and happy that Watson didn't get hurt too badly.
Ryder showed what I expected him to, good footwork, good timing, good strength and (better than I expected) hand speed which was good enough to rival professional boxers.
He actually showed enough to suggest that he might be capable of fighting someone with skills that are a better fit to boxing than triathlon. The thought of Ryder vs Sonny Bill Williams is one that all New Zealand sports fans would relish, as would a large number of Australia fans.
If you want to watch the fight, try this link.
The first time was to do with Kyle Mills, whom he said wouldn't make any other team in the world. At the time Mills had almost identical career figures to Waqar Younis. So I rang Watson and spoke to him about it. To his credit he admitted that he was unaware that Mills had such a good record, but then (in typical Watson fashion) he then went on to say that Mills had obviously been very lucky, and if he actually had the work ethic of a triathlete he would have an even better record.
The next time I challenged him was when he was calling for the New Zealand selector to be sacked after moving Brendon McCullum up to opening the batting in ODI's. Again I rang him and pointed out that after they started picking him there regularly he had scored 644 runs in 14 matches, averaging 56 at a strike rate of 109. At this point he changed from criticizing the selectors for picking him as an opener to criticizing McCullum for not scoring converting his 50's to 100's.
And yet I know Watson outside of cricket, and I actually quite like him. When he isn't talking cricket. He has strong opinions, and plays the villain well. However, the cricket fan in me was really hoping for him to get knocked out.
There were three reasons for this.
1. Watson has constantly bagged Ryder for his weight, but I think that Ryder isn't in as bad condition as people think.
He has always moved well in the field, and is surprisingly quick between wickets. As a former triathlete, Watson thinks that to be fit you need to look like a triathlete, (where they need to carry less weight in order to be able to run/cycle long distances) but carrying weight isn't a major disadvantage in cricket, and as a result the size of a player is not such a good indication of his fitness.
2. Boxing training seems to be a good idea for batsmen
The essentials of boxing are moving your feet, avoiding danger and attacking a target. These are quite similar to the skills required when batting. When Ryder first came back from his first try at boxing he looked a much better player for it. He started moving his feet again, and hit 50 against South Africa, before off-field issues sidelined him again.
3. I like boxing ending with a knock-out.
While we complain about DRS decisions, Asoka de Silva giving out everything that touches the pad, Australian umpires not giving out Australia batsmen, at least we have some positive decisions to compare the bad ones to. Boxing has never been an easy sport to judge, but even given this it has a poor record of terrible decisions.
Given this, I was quite pleased when I got up early in Jamaica and watched the fight. I was happy that Ryder won. Happy that it was a TKO, and happy that Watson didn't get hurt too badly.
Ryder showed what I expected him to, good footwork, good timing, good strength and (better than I expected) hand speed which was good enough to rival professional boxers.
He actually showed enough to suggest that he might be capable of fighting someone with skills that are a better fit to boxing than triathlon. The thought of Ryder vs Sonny Bill Williams is one that all New Zealand sports fans would relish, as would a large number of Australia fans.
If you want to watch the fight, try this link.
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