Quick flicks of the day — England vs New Zealand

There’s a Finn line between dead-ball and no-ball

England’s victory was seen coming against a side which is a batsmen or two short. New Zealand are known for their bits-and-pieces cricketers, who put their weight both in batting and bowling and, collectively, just get the job done. But this team faces the peculiar problem of lack of all-rounders — peculiar because we are talking about New Zealand.

While England survived elimination with a victory here, New Zealand’s chances of staying in the competition look bleak after this defeat. In a rather dull contest, considering the expectations it came with, these are few moments which were worth talking about:

No ball movement and only bowel movement makes Oram a bad boy

Jacob Oram has had a disappointing tournament so far. Although a lot was expected from the experienced all-rounder, neither his familiarity with the conditions nor his greying hair could help him.

The burly player suffered his final blow when he became the latest addition to the long list of gastric illness players have suffered in this tournament. This forced the management to play Doug Bracewell, understandably bring him in at number eight, and give him just one over?

Finn-ishing the top-order

This time New Zealand went with a more conventional top-order instead of fooling around with batsmen down the order. But little did they know about Steven Finn’s intentions. Finn destroyed the Kiwi top-order, dismissing three of their most talented bats — Guptill, McCullum and Williamson in quick succession.

Kneeling the dead ball

Steven Finn’s constant collision with the stumps has earned him a bad name world over. The issue started long back during England’s test match against South Africa at Headingley and has been continuing ever since.

In the 17^th over of this match, James Franklin drove one of Finn’s delivery to mid-off and it looked like a fine boundary. But Finn had already broken the stump with his knee and so the ball had to be declared dead. This has given rise to the debate that there is a Finn line between dead ball and no-ball which is increasingly getting dissolved.

Doing things Wright

Luke Wright resurrected himself in this match. After an excellent beginning with an unbeaten 99 against Afghanistan, he wasn’t quite able to get going. But his 43-ball 76 (with 5 sixes and 5 fours) in this match restored England’s belief in their top-order.

Well, well it’s Bracewell

After not getting much to do with bat and ball, Bracewell decided enough is enough. The athletic fielder was a sight to behold when he dived horizontally to take a lost chance off Eoin Morgan’s bat and succeeded.