The monthly column in which Chuck Ran answers all your questions on all things indoor cricket. Why Chuck Ran you ask?...Why not???
McIntosh Revenge by Chuck (Senior Member) Aug 21, 2009
Few weeks back, he was playing Indoor Cricket play-offs. It was the best team in the group and was tipped to win the grade, quite easily. However, pressure crumbled the whole team down, including the test (fair to say) veteran McIntosh.
He probably had nightmares for weeks; hate must have built up to the maximum when he was called in for Sri Lanka tour. He probably hesitated, remembering the struggle in Indoor and pressure induced outside the nets. However, he surely wasn’t prepared as he got a 4th ball duck in the 1st tour game. Then he came back into form with help from the slow/low pitches and made few knocks here and there and most importantly the highest scorer for Kiwis in 1st Test.
Apparently, his plan was to bat time – which is so 1980s of Test Cricket. He struggled to keep up with Guptill in the opening partnership and even No. 3 was scoring faster than him in the 2nd wicket partnership. However, he managed to score dull 69 runs in 226 balls (which is similar amount it took Jayewardene to score 114 runs and Dilshan would have scored a triple century by then) and got the revenge of losing the semi-finals to Underdogz.
On a lighter note, several Black Caps have been going to the same shop (with D- food rating) for their daily Kotthu (for dinner) and suffering a stomach illness. Patel tried it with Oram and they got sick and then Ryder wanted to show off that he can be susceptible to any food and then McCullum joined in for the challenge. So, currently they’re fielding with a reserve keeper.