Current mood:	depressed
Entry tags:	nz cricket

When I thought about upcoming matches, my thoughts used to turn to images of glory, like this:



or even better, this:



Yes, I dreamt of opponents ruthlessly put to the sword by the men in shiny shiny black.

But even the virus of pessimism has transferred from the Black Caps to myself, and I can no longer dream of such joyful victories.

Now when I think of upcoming matches, I just wonder whether this time the Black Caps will crack 150, I wonder if Vettori, Oram and McCullum can carry the team again and again and again, I wonder if Southee or Patel will ever be selected in the starting XI, I wonder whether things would have been significantly different had Bond, Fleming,  and McMillan stayed, and most of all I wonder why I continue to support this team.

Bracewell's spray sounds like the final words of a man who couldn't give a stuff about what he's done or what he's doing to the team right now, doesn't care that the players have no faith in him, doesn't care that the team is in a complete shambles.  So GTFO already.

The comment by Vettori that they knew they were gone when McCullum was out makes me ill.  If one top-order wicket is all it takes to give up, then why try at all?  And talk about pressure.  Not only is he vice-captain, top-order ODI batsman and usually wicketkeeper, but apparently the entire batting attack rests on his shoulders as well?! 

After all that talking up of our limited-overs prowess, are we ranked third for nothing?  Perhaps so.  As these rankings take time to reflect current performance, maybe in a year we'll see NZ slide down to, oh let's say, 5th.  Excellent.  7th in Tests and not much better in ODIs.