Well done, Martin Guptill, you well and truly put it right up the ill-informed. Yesterday's innings was awesome. And I'm going to take the opportunity to coat-tail.
There is no question Guptill's record before his runs dried up was world class. You simply can't turn your back on class and, when you see the player hitting the ball OK during lean patches, you have to show faith.
Guptill is not an early-over banger but is a ball striker. That is why, if he's not hitting gaps in the early overs, he's hitting fielders and so it can take time for him to generate a strike rate.
But when he gets in, he increases his strike rate to more than acceptable levels -- although yesterday was possibly a little extreme.
Brendon McCullum has seduced us with his fireworks but don't fall into the trap of thinking that's how it must be done because players who get in and bat deep are every bit as important, if not more important, because it's about the runs you have after 50 not just in the first 10.
Some are saying, "What's wrong with Ross Taylor?"
Nothing is wrong with Taylor. He is simply playing a secondary role. Others are a having their day and Taylor is just chipping in when he can.
He has had some meaningful contributions in this World Cup and don't forget that, if and when his game does come, it won't be a pretty 50 -- it will be a match-winning innings.
Now to chastise myself. As our lads went into this game, my New Zealand cricket following fatalism came to the fore. It would be just like us, I was thinking, to lose.
Unbeaten in pool play and then, well, you know. I should have listened when our lads were saying, "Relax, we got this."
What we have here is a "proper" team, a team to trust.
South Africa will be a different beast from the West Indies, who were nothing short of schoolboy, but the good news is if you can beat South Africa you surely are good enough to win the lot.
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