Ross Taylor relieved after consolation win over Pakistan in final ODI at the Eden Park
New Zealand’s stand-in skipper Ross Taylor is a satisfied man after his team succeeded in regaining some lost pride by recording a comprehensive 57 runs win over Pakistan in the sixth and final ODI played at the Eden Park in Auckland.
At the post match press conference Taylor acknowledged that the last few months had been a real struggle for his team in all formats of the game especially the ODI where they have won only 2 out of their last 16 completed games.
Taylor who had an indifferent run with the bat has taken the Eden Park performance as a real positive, the hosts posted a total of 311/6 batting first before sending the Pakistan team packing for 254 runs in the 45th over of
the match.
“It’s been a tough six months, but to finish on that note was very satisfying,” Taylor said. “Hopefully we can take some momentum into the World Cup and get a couple of victories in the warm up games.”
The New Zealand players were given a serious dressing down by regular team captain Daniel Vettori at the end of the fifth match at the Seddon Park where they surrendered the series.
Vettori apparently decided to take on the players himself and did not have any member of the team management and support staff involved during the 90 minute session.
The players have not talked much about what was discussed at the meeting, however Jacob Oram had revealed that Vettori had given the players a piece of his mind and told them clearly that they needed to pick their performances for the
World Cup and come out as a strong unit that could withstand the pressure of international cricket and utilize their talent to the fullest in tricky situations.
Vettori had also opined on the reasons of the team’s failure and had stressed on the need of them getting their act together for the last game of the series as well as the World Cup where the Black Caps are ranked as real outsiders given
their recent woeful run.
“We’re not going to talk about what we said in the meeting,” Taylor said. “We wanted to improve our performance on the field and a few different things off it and the team went a long way to achieving how we want to play. 300 is normally
just the par in New Zealand, so to get 310 today was very satisfying.”
The hosts were indebted to a brilliant hundred by Jesse Ryder who smashed as many as 6 sixes during his innings that led to the imposing total.
The score was the highest of the series from either side and once again underlined the fact that Ryder was pivotal to his team’s chances in the World Cup given his uncanny knack of striking the ball big.
The left hander later said that he was happy with his knock which had put him in the right frame of mind for the trials that the team has to undergo during the World Cup.
Ryder had to endure a lean run in the T20 format as well as the test matches; he was run out hopelessly on at least two occasions on the tour once on the first ball of the Kiwi innings.
The bizarre dismissal of his in Hamilton where he was sent packing without facing a ball had given him real distress and he had vowed to turn the tables in the Eden Park game.
The Black Caps would be leaving for the World Cup in a week’s time, they are placed in Group A.