New Zealand’s Tim Southee carries a reputation of bowling wicket-to-wicket no matter what. His disciplined effort finally paid rich dividends when he dismissed England cheaply and produced one of the best bowling spells in the history of World Cup cricket. He took seven wickets and conceded just 33 runs. His spell is the third best figures in the World Cup history now.
Earlier, England won the toss and opted to bat. But their decision misfired after Southee disrupted England’s plan of action. In the past, Sir Richard Hadlee and Shane Bond were other two New Zealand bowlers to bag five-wicket hauls in the World Cup. But today, never these two greats of New Zealand cricket would be proud the way Southee bowled in this match. He pitched the ball in right areas and occasionally moved the ball away from the right-handers.
At the start of the England innings, Southee was right on the money when he picked two quick wickets in his opening spell. It was again in his second spell between 27 and 33 overs that saw the England batsmen completely losing the plot against Southee. He practically gave everything — there were leg-cutters and yorkers which did a considerable damage to England, who were eventually skittle out for 123.
Later while chasing, New Zealand mocked the England bowlers and this time it was Brendon McCullum who scored fastest World Cup fifty. This England team hardly looked like the team which has beaten India twice during the triangular series. But Southee spell is an obvious lesson to all the Indian pacers that nothing can replace accurate bowling.
In the Pakistan match, all the Indian pacers were good on the field and took wickets just when the team needed, but getting those early wickets is very important. India did get Younis Khan at the start of the Pakistani chase, but the pacers need more breakthroughs to put pressure on the opposition.
South African top order batsmen are among runs and it won’t be easy to get them early, but a tight line and length bowling like Southee could change it all along with some attacking field placements. Hope the Indian bowlers watched the proceedings of the New Zealand-England match!
