2020 kiwi style

[b]The boys at Sportsfreak are excited about the English tour, but not so much by the 2020 game that starts it. [/b]

A rarity in New Zealand sport starts tonight; an international cricket tour lasting for 2 months. This is the real thing; not just the usual annual 3 week trip from Sri Lanka which normally only starts to get going by the time the final match comes along.

And in keeping with the New Age of World Cricket we start it all with a 20/20 match played between an England team of players with funny names, and a New Zealand X which also includes Scott Styris who is playing solely for the size of his impending ICL contract.

Whatever people may think of this form of the game, tonight’s crowd is likely to be the largest of the entire tour.

There is some interesting scheduling around this game. Clearly, NZ Cricket found it difficult to work out which out of Auckland and Christchurch should have the bonus of hosting a cash-cow 20/20 international on a public holiday which falls tomorrow. So they came up with the brilliant solution of giving it to neither of them. This imagination when coming up with a cop-out in the face of a tricky dilemma is becoming a forte of the current management.

Most of the points of interest in tonight’s game are a side-show to the real event. Like most health warnings, if you accept that before it starts, things are much easier to handle.

The most exciting yet unproven batsmen on either team, Luke Wright and Jessie Ryder, will not be around in March.

If Brendan McCullum captains like he bats we are in for some surprises. But this tenure is unlikely to last a week.

The selectors clearly see something in 19 year-old Tim Southee. A couple of 20/20 hit-outs is unlikely to be long enough for the rest of us to see what that might possibly be.

Dimitri Mascarenhas and Paul Hitchcock are probably going to be the most economical bowlers in display with 24 different tricks stored up for their spells. Neither are remotely close to a test side.

New Zealanders get to see Phil Mustard for the first time, albeit briefly. Some people rate him highly, but he is not wanted by the test selectors simply because he is not Australian.

There will be some minor early indications of how the next few weeks will pan out. England’s best batsman to date has been Alistair mini-Fleming Cook. He has criminally been ignored by the England ODI selectors to date, but is rumoured to be starting here. At least that keeps the odious Strauss out of the side.

So who will win? Go grab a coin, throw it in the air Mexican Wave style and you’ve got the answer.

Traditional wisdom says that the side with the most left-handed batsmen will win at Eden Park. Even using this scientific gauge it’s 2-2.

So we predict a bowl-off; with the home side coming through on the back of deafening support from the baying crowd.

A footnote: Cricinfo has Chris Martin down as batting at #9 in this match. When did they develop a sense of humour?www.cricketwithballs.com "the only cricket blog that offers $ex with evil dragons"