Guptill has had an ordinary campaign but for his fielding.Wife knows best
Broadcaster Laura McGoldrick finally posted a whooping retweet of husband Martin Guptill’s missile-throw to dismiss MS Dhoni. This came after she had to leap to the defence of her “nervous” husband”, whose glum mug and doleful 94 runs at an average of 11.75 – he averages 42.35 in his ODI career – had been described as a “a sad, almost forlorn sight” by stuff.co.nz. McGoldrick, covering the tournament in England, had told The Hits radio station that Guptill was bowled by “the best in the world” – Indian seamer Jasprit Bumrah, and his struggles were “not for a lack of trying.”
“Bumrah, who got Gup in the end, is the best in the world. I mean, he canters in. He looks like a horse when he runs in. I don’t know how anyone can see the ball,” she explained. McGoldrick said having their daughter, Harley, 2, in their lives had allowed him to keep things in perspective.
“We take our cues from Gup, sometimes he wants to talk about the game and sometimes he doesn’t,” she said after Day 1 of the rain-interrupted semifinal. “I’m certainly not going to bring it up if he doesn’t want to talk about it. He knows what he needs to do and it’s no good me harping on about what I think he should do. I’ve never played international cricket so it would be pretty rich for me to have a go in trying to help,” McGoldrick told The Hits. “You just have to love and support him. Put your arm around him and go, ‘You know, it’s going to be OK’. And it is going to be OK. My husband is one of the best in the world and I think I’m allowed to say that and I’m not totally biased.”
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Pak broaches Rayudu
Now that India is out of the World Cup, the post-mortem begins. And it doesn’t just happen here, it happens across the border as well. In an YouTube channel, former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif and PTV sports broadcaster Nauman Niaz dissected India’s run in the tournament.
Crucially, the duo touched upon what proved to be the Achilles Heel of the Indian batting unit – the middle order. “For the Australia series, they had different players. (Ambati) Rayudu was playing in New Zealand. The middle order was changed a lot and the players who’ve spent more time there weren’t given a chance in the team for the World Cup,” Latif said. “The starting few matches didn’t go well because this is a big event and you need a senior middle order. That is very important. They’ve brought in three wicketkeepers. Dinesh Karthik played in the 2007 World Cup, didn’t play in 2011, not in 2015, now he’s here. Kya India mein batsmen ki kami hai?”
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Now the title
If anything, Wednesday’s victory would stand above arguably the biggest moment in New Zealand cricket history.
“It will rate as one of New Zealand’s best and most significant victories, given they lost six of their previous seven World Cup semifinals including two at Old Trafford, to England in 1979 and Pakistan 20 years later,” Mark Geenty wrote in stuff.co.nz. “Now they have a chance to clinch the biggest of them all, with memories still fresh of their loss to Australia in the 2015 decider at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Black Caps’ only world title remains the ICC Knockout Trophy, won against India in Nairobi in 2000.” The Indian top order was blown away in the first 10 overs, which prompted Geenty to remark “They were mere mortals after all, these Indian batting giants, and no one could have predicted how cheaply they would fall. It was scarcely believable as India slumped to 24-4, uncertain and timid against an impeccable line with the ball crucially swinging for (Trent) Boult. The semifinal was there for the taking for New Zealand, a line rarely heard before.”
