KEY POINTS:
Disgruntled or disgusted, the mood in the Jolly Maltster in Fulham was certainly anything from what you would have expected when the undefeated Blacks Caps took on Sri Lanka on Friday.
Most pundits would have argued strongly that the all-conquering, Fleming-led unit would have continued its unbeaten run.
Even though the Lankans had disposed of some fanciful opponents early in the competition, New Zealand had been more dominant, a point endlessly reiterated by my four Kiwi flatmates and all their friends.
Thankfully work has Sky 24 hours a day so I had managed to catch most of the Black Caps' disappointing innings which I happily recounted to one of my flatmates over a cider at the Maltster with a new-found New Zealand barfly.
We had missed the first couple of overs and our new friend went to great measures to describe James Franklin's disgraceful first six balls.
"I have never seen anything like it – nine runs and not one of them off the bat," the barfly exclaimed.
"How the hell does that happen? I have never seen anything like it before."
I enquired whether he had seen Shaun Tait bowl recently.
Fleming's dropped catch sent a groan around the recently renovated drinking hole.
The sight of a bearded Craig McMillan spilling a tough chance sent the barfly into a tirade, at which point he slammed down his Bacardi Breezer and left to go and play darts.
My Kiwi flatmate was nearly falling asleep at the trestle table so we left, buying some beers at the local off licence before heading home.
I wanted to break the good/bad news to my fellow housemates but somehow they already knew their cricket team had faltered, which took a lot of the joy of going home.
We are now all preparing our relative groups of friends for Friday's clash of the Antipodes.
No matter what happens I will have to find another place to stay after the match.
Either my gloating or their gloating will all be too much for either group.
