A tipping competition organised by Sportsfreak

The Marathon comes to an end

At the end of it all, the home and away series fell into place as expected. England are better at tests and Twenty20, New Zealand are on top in conventional ODIs.

Which baskets is it best to have your eggs in? England invented all of these games, they know what they are up to.

We knew all this before we started, but we had a bit of fun getting there.

A week ago it looked as if they were unstoppable in all forms, but as it turned out Chester-le-Street was an aberration, and the NZ side of experienced journeymen (Styris), inexperienced journeymen (Elliot) and the promise of youth (Southee) got the tourists home. Helped by having Englandâ?(tm)s captain banned from the final test of course.

The match at Bristol proved that low-scoring affairs the Ye Olde Limited Overs format can often be the most exciting. NZ, sent in, were 49 / 5 before Elliot, batting for the first time in an ODI and Mills, at last batting to potential, got them through to 182.

At 62/2, England had this under control, at 64/6 the match had gone. Bell had spooned up a wide half-volley to cover, and then it was a spell of snicking Southee into the catching cordon with no foot movement. It was reassuring and funny.

The Oval was the match that the series will be remembered for. And once again it was Elliott, who was playing pub cricket a week earlier, was in the thick of it. We all know what happened. Collingwood took the captaincy approach straight out of the Steve Waugh book of How to be a Tough Bastard, and Elliot was run out while lying on the ground having been flattened by a runaway bogan. NZ were not happy, they abused anyone they could find, Benson checked with Collingwood again and again whether he really wanted to be thought of as an Australian, and the South London crowd started to boo.

Oh, and New Zealand won the match on the back of the worst fielding you will ever see.

Quite why everyone should have been so surprised at such an action from a team that a year ago was placing jellybeans on the pitch has not been adequately explained.

So although it was the actions of Collingwood, and the Tourettes behaviour of Vettori and co that grabbed the headlines, it was Englandâ?(tm)s refusal to catch the multiple chances that Styris offered, along with their communal inability to back up during the final ball that was the difference.

By the time the so-called decider came along, New Zealand were playing with the motivation unable to be provided by their coach, and England were without their best player, with a side as imbalanced as NZ were in the first match, and with a captain who was too busy being proud to do anything useful.

In the end, this match was as one-sided as the first match, as New Zealand won on the basis of being more composed.

So where did all this leave the tipping competition at its climax? With a week to go, the UK duo of King Cricket and Republique Cricket were sting at the top of the table. But both of them scored a combined total of 0 points here. Thatâ?(tm)s right; they kept on picking England to win, and they came up with all sorts of comical predictions, like Bopara to be the top scorer. So, like their team, they came home in an ambulance.

Sport Reviewâ?(tm)s blind loyalty to NZ throughout the tour was finally rewarded, and he was the big mover of the round. But having been up and down the leaderboard all competition, The Silly Point went for New Zealand in the 50 over format, and it paid off.

It was a close run thing though; unlike the battle for last.

Results

1. ODI at Portishead Park: Winner

Remember that NZ were still grumpy after the match at Edgbaston had been called off early. England actually dominated this affair for all except about 10 minutes of their run chase when they put on one of those rocks-in-boots fiddling batting performances that we have all come to love so much.

Half the tippers got this right, and like the cricket, the momentum had shifted.

2. Portishead Park: Highest run-scorer.

Grant Elliott.

Thatâ?(tm)s right, the man who was playing for a pub during the first ODI, was the leading wicket-taker in the second ODI, and here he top scored. Later in the series he was to demonstrate his skills in being a martyr.

It was his kind of match too. Having to play a recovery knock of 56 from 102 balls would seem to fit the bill perfectly.

No troubling of the scorers here.

3. PP: Most wickets

One day the video analysts will get wheeled in to teach batsmen how to read Southee and heâ?(tm)ll be dragged back down to earth but lets enjoy it in the meantime. Because when conditions suit, batsmen seem to be incapable of doing it for themselves.

Two overs of torturing batsmen, and the game was won. No fewer than 5 tippers picked this match as the one where Southee would take the most wickets.

4. ODI at Fosters Oval: Winner

Apparently New Zealand won this on the last ball after England had taken about 5 hours to get through their overs, knock batsmen over, drop catches and fail to pick up hints from umpires.

Only The Silly Point, Well Pitched, and Sport Review picked all this.

5. FO: Highest run-scorer

It was a busy match for Styris. He was in early, tried to offer as many catches as possible, got tired in the 60s so turning back for the second run was all a bit much. He then spent the rest of the afternoon on the balcony abusing people.

Still, his 69 was enough to beat … Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara. Who says 50 over cricket rewards mediocrity?

This was as easy to predict as Elliot was in the previous match.

6. FO: Most wickets

Southee again. And the ball he got Bell with was a beauty.

Ben from MoC chose this match to pick Young Tim.

7. ODI at Lords (no funny titles appropriate there): Winner

Itâ?(tm)s that momentum word again. Despite losing the toss, New Zealand had the bit between their teeth all throughout this match, while England seemed a little distracted. Surely the last time Tim Ambrose wears blue and red on a cricket field.

7 out of the 12 got this one right.

8. Lords: Highest run-scorer

Styris showed that if you play 1000 ODIs you do get to learn how to pace an innings, no matter how mediocre you are. Take note Ravi Bopara.

Having fuddled around for 70 balls he finally found the confidence to play some shots once Oram had gone, and actually looked reasonably good by the end.

Once again, Shah was the second highest scorer, and once again nobody picked it.

9. Lords: Most wickets

Southee of course.

This time he was joined by Vettori who had gradually worked himself into Best ODI Bowler in the World from throughout the series. His working over a dejected looking Ambrose was one of the highlights of the series. Anyone would think heâ?(tm)d just lost a million dollars looking at his face as he walked off.

Sportsfreak and Sport Review got Vettori; Miss Field and Mike from MoC picked Southee.

10. Who will have the shortest innings in terms of balls faced excluding not out batsmen.

Southee just couldnâ?(tm)t keep out of anything. His golden duck trying to copy the big hitting of Mills at the other end during the 50th over and Bristol was the only golden duck of the week.

However, future captain KP gave it a good nudge with a brainless second ball slog off Gillespie at the Oval.

No-one tipped this.

Sportsfreak Discretionary Points
It seems wrong to have discretionary points on the final round, so bad luck to Miss Field who might otherwise have earned a sympathy point for picking Collingwood for something at Lords.

Congratulations to The Silly Point.
No doubt this will be covered at length at BBC 606.

One final thing. You are no doubt dying to know who would have won this competition if you took away all the discretionary points, but modesty prevents us revealing that.

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The original article is on Sportsfreak’s sports website
Republished here with the author’s permission