Honours just about even.

New Zealand might disagree and bemoan the rain which ruined a likely march to victory over Pakistan yesterday - and their first significant series victory since beating the West Indies three years ago - but a one-all draw was a reasonable outcome.

Put it this way: New Zealand won a thriller at Dunedin which could have gone either way; Pakistan walked the second at the Basin Reserve against a wretched batting display; and New Zealand had a clear edge in the decider but ran out of time on a pitch which, despite confident predictions that it would be perkier than usual for the bowlers, proved to be another examination of their spirit and perseverance.

There wasn’t much between the teams and that added to the intrigue. Some of the cricket was of pretty poor quality - from both teams.

Pakistan spilt a barely believable 17 catches over the three tests; New Zealand had the batting horrors over the first two matches; but both had bowlers with penetration and skill.

The final test threw up a bright newcomer in debutant opener BJ Watling, who turned on a dazzling little cameo, slipping into one-day mode in the vain chase for victory; and an unexpected bonus in Martin Guptill’s offspin which - and don’t snigger here - might yet turn into a handy backup option on a hot day for the specialists.

Neither team was good enough to get and maintain dominance, and so there could be few complaints at a drawn series.

Pakistan’s best? Teenager Umar Akmal - top scorer in the series on debut with 379 runs at 63.16 - and new ball champion Mohammad Asif, whose 19 wickets at a terrific 19.78 apiece was comfortably the finest return of the bowlers.

As for New Zealand, the batting needs more work.

Even at McLean Park, the best batting surface in the country, there were those among the top six who missed out. Hard questions need to be asked and Daniel Flynn may have used Read more…

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The long version of the great game faces an uncertain future

Test cricket is one of sport’s most uncompromising spectacles. One game can last five days, thirty hours in total - yet the game is so intricate that one ball can often change the direction of the match. Or it can end in stalemate. It is also ostentatiously traditional, governed by a rule book mostly written in 1744, and overflowing with arcane customs. And, unlike the beautiful simplicity of football or golf, test cricket resembles a complex novel with its constant skirmishes, revolving characters, and interplay of cruelty, irony, ambiguity and glory. The late playwright Harold Pinter once wrote : ‘I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing God ever created on earth – certainly greater than sex, although sex isn’t too bad either.’

Cricket writer Richard Boock suggests that test cricket “is a bit of anachronism in today’s world – a sports event that goes for five days and might end in a draw. I think that is one of the beauties of it too,
in this instant gratification kind of lifetime we’re living in, where everyone wants an instant result and things have to happen quickly. It is really charming to get away to a test match and go through the rituals and routines and traditions of something that was basically happening the same way a hundred and thirty years ago.”

The first test match was in 1877 between Australia and England. The latest test match (at the time of writing) was also a test match between Australia and England. In the middle of that there have been moments and figures which have entered sporting folklore. When an English team happened to snatch defeat in the face of victory in 1882, a fake obituary declared English cricket to be dead. “Poor” Fred Tate, Bodyline, Bradman, Warne’s ‘ball of the century’, Muralitharan’s bent arm, India’s win after the Mumbai attacks in 2008, the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket Read more…

Administrator Views Adam Gilchrist, Australia, Basin Reserve, Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, England, Glen McGrath, ICC, IPL, Jacques Kallis, Muttiah Muralitharan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Richard Boock, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Sri Lankan, Test Cricket, Triangular Series