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Karthik Meiyappan’s hat-trick in vain as UAE fold for 73 in 153 chase

Andrew Fidel Fernando18-Oct-2022
Sri Lanka dominated the first 14 overs with the bat, stumbled dramatically against legspinner Karthik Meiyappan, who bagged a hat-trick, and then recovered sufficiently to post 152 for 8. This was thanks largely to Pathum Nissanka’s 74 off 60 balls.Although Sri Lanka’s was merely a competitive rather than commanding total, their bowlers defended the total zealously, the quicks eviscerating UAE’s top order, before the spinners scythed through the middle. UAE never seemed to have the measure of the chase, going from 21 for 4 to 42 for 7, and eventually 73 all out.The victory gave Sri Lanka a major run-rate boost (they are now up to +0.6), which could become significant if three teams end up on four points, on Thursday. The loss all but put UAE out of contention for a place in the main draw, as they would need to beat Namibia by a substantial margin on Thursday to enter the main draw.Sri Lanka’s victory was soured, however, by an injury to fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera, late in the game. Running in to bowl his final delivery of the match, Chameera pulled up lame, and immediately left the field, limping. From his reactions, it appeared as if the injury was more than a niggle.Karthik Meiyappan’s hat-trick
Karthik had been good in his first two overs, conceding just 14. But in the third, he upended Sri Lanka’s innings. To Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who was desperate to find his first boundary, Karthik bowled it flat and wide, the batter reaching for the ball, hitting over extra cover, and finding the fielder in the deep.Then came two stunning googlies. The first was to left-hander Charith Asalanka, who prodded forward and sent an outside edge to the keeper. The second to Dasun Shanaka, who did not pick the variation at all, and in his attempt to block the hat-trick ball, left a gap between bat and pad, which Karthik’s delivery wriggled through, to hit the stumps.Having been 117 for 2, Sri Lanka dived to 117 for 5, then 120 for 6 when Wanindu Hasaranga holed out to long-off.Nissanka’s slow burn
Nissanka started steadily, hitting three fours to get to 25 off 17 in the powerplay. He was the only batter to hit a boundary off Karthik, in the middle overs, pounding him over cow corner for six (though he top-edged Karthik in the next over, only for the ball to fall in between three fielders).He reached his half century only off the 45th ball he faced, but was excellent through the late overs, when Sri Lanka desperately needed fireworks. His six over midwicket and four through long-off in the 19th over, off Junaid Siddique, helped inject some energy into a flagging innings. In the end, he holed out off the penultimate ball, having held Sri Lanka’s innings together with his 74 off 64 balls.UAE’s capitulation
It was essentially a rolling collapse that started in Chameera’s first over (the third of the innings), when he bowled Muhammad Waseem and Aryan Lakra, uprooting three stumps across those two dismissals. He then had captain CP Rizwan caught at mid-off, before Sri Lanka’s other seamer, Pramod Madushan, dismissed Chirag Suri – another stumps-flying dismissal.UAE were 30 for 4 after seven overs, when Hasaranga imposed himself on the game. He started with a maiden, then had Vriitya Aravind out lbw on review the next over. He claimed two more wickets, while Maheesh Theekshana took two for himself.Sri Lanka could have wrapped the match up earlier if they had held all their catches, but finished it off with the first ball of the 18th over nonetheless.

The allrounder replaces Amy Satterthwaite after a season where the Renegades won four matches

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2021Allrounder Sophie Molineux has been named the new captain of Melbourne Renegades as the club looks to bounce back from a difficult 2020-21 WBBL where they finished seventh.Molineux’s appointment, to replace New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite, means a new captain-coach combination for the Renegades with Simon Helmot having replaced Lachlan Stevens.Last season Molineux scored 221 runs and took 11 wickets as the team secured four wins in 14 matches during the tournament that was played entirely in a Sydney-based hub.”It’s a real honour to be appointed captain of a club I love so much and follow in the footsteps of some high-quality leaders that I look up to,” Molineux said.”Amy Satterthwaite has had a massive influence on the group and on me personally. Her wealth of knowledge and ability to stay composed is what I’ve always admired. Jess Duffin is such a competitor and leads by example and I’ve also had the privilege of playing under Meg Lanning in the Victorian and Australian teams.”I am really excited to be able to take what I’ve learnt from each of them, combine it with how I approach the game and continue to grow and learn along the way.”Molineux is a regular part of Australia squads with 24 T20I caps under her belt alongside six ODIs and one Tests although did not make the side during the tour of New Zealand earlier this year.”Sophie has fantastic relationships within the squad. She’s tactically astute, trusted and highly respected across the playing group,” Helmot said. “She’s had an excellent apprenticeship working under some great captains, including Amy who has helped nurture so much of our young talent.”That grounding under such leadership will have Sophie well prepared, we’re excited to see this next phase in her career and we’ll support her along the way. We look forward to the start of a sustained period of success for the club under Sophie’s leadership.”

Darren Bravo wins first recall since post-World Cup axing, Rovman Powell and Fabian Allen fit again

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2020Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis have been left out of West Indies’ ODI squad for their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka after failing fitness tests.Lewis was the leading run-scorer in the side’s series against Ireland last month, with 208 runs in three innings, but both he and Hetmyer failed to “attain the new minimum standard fitness requirements in recent fitness assessments,” according to a Cricket West Indies (CWI) release.Darren Bravo, the experienced top-order batsman, has won a recall following an impressive domestic season in which he made 481 runs at an average of 96.20 in the Super50 Cup, while allrounder Rovman Powell also makes the cut following an impressive run of his own: in the same competition, he scored 412 runs at an imperious strike rate of 160.93 for Jamaica.Fabian Allen, who missed the India series with a knee injury, also finds a place in the squad, which will depart for a pre-series camp in Colombo on Saturday.”Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer missed out due to the fact that they came up short in the fitness test,” said Roger Harper, CWI’s lead selector. “They will be missed.”Lewis was the team’s best batsman in the recent series against Ireland where he batted with great composure and proved the bedrock for the team’s series win. Hetmyer appeared to be getting his act together and was an integral part of the team’s batting group.”I look forward to the team building on its recent performances against Afghanistan and India in the subcontinent and against Ireland at home – playing consistent, smart cricket to win the series. Sri Lanka are a very good team in their own conditions. I do not expect it to be easy but our team has shown that it is very capable.”West Indies squad to play Sri Lanka: Fabian Allen, Sunil Ambris, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Shai Hope (wk), Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Keemo Paul, Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicolas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh Jr.

He has warned his players that Bangladesh could yet make a strong tilt for their target of 321, and told them not to let their shoulder drop if a partnership develops

Liam Brickhill05-Nov-2018Optimism is Zimbabwe’s most enduring, and endearing, quality. Having not played a single Test all year before this one, not won a Test since their historic fifth-day triumph against Pakistan five years ago, not won a Test in Bangladesh since 2001, and stumbled through a 3-0 defeat in the preceding ODIs, they have batted and bowled their way into a position of strength. Ten wickets are all that stand between them and the sweet relief of victory that will justify the hope and optimism of their coach, Lalchand Rajput.”We are always positive,” a beaming Rajput said after Zimbabwe left the field on the third day with Bangladesh still 295 runs adrift in the fourth innings. “We are here to win. I’m a very positive person and I never give up until the last. This is a situation where we have the opposition in such a position that it’s very difficult to lose.”While the current situation might have surprised many, Rajput is not one of them. Zimbabwe prepared well for this tour, he explained, having been in camp for almost two months before departure. Had a few decisive events not gone against them in the ODIs, that scoreline, he felt, might not have been so lopsided.”I’m not really [surprised], because if you look at the ODI series we had chances in the first ODI,” he said. “In the second two ODIs, there was a lot of dew and the toss was crucial, but still we got to 280 in the last ODI. We are not that troubled that we lost the series 3-0 as we had our chances, but we could not finish and take those chances.”Now the Test match has been good so far, with two more days to go, and we have to try and bowl well and field well because such chances don’t come very often. And if you look at the stats as well, teams have not often chased more than 300 in the fourth innings here.”Indeed, Bangladesh’s highest winning fourth-innings effort with the bat in this country is the 101 for 7 they scored against Zimbabwe in Dhaka four years ago, while only twice before have other teams chased over 300 to win here.But records are made to be broken, and while there has been some turn and bounce on offer, the Sylhet pitch has not yet disintegrated into the sort of minefield where Zimbabwe could be assured of rolling Bangladesh over cheaply. Rajput reminded the press corps that cricket is a funny old game, and it’s too early to celebrate just yet.”It’s a positive situation yes, and the boys are very happy, but cricket is a very funny game,” he said. “It can change in just one session. We’ve got to be really focused on our bowling now, because we just have to bowl and field well. If one partnership is there, we don’t have to put our shoulders down. On this type of wicket, if one wicket falls, you might get or three, so you’ve got to be positive when that happens.”As a coach you’ve got to be giving them the positives, and time to time during the drinks break or the lunch break, you’ve got tell them that they’ve got to be upbeat. In cricket you’ve got to have the body language that you want to win badly, that’s important. The body language shows how keen you are to win, and you’ve got to not drop the body language at all.”You cannot take anything for granted until the last wicket is taken or the last runs scored. We look at the positive aspects of the game, and we are very positive that we can try and get those ten wickets tomorrow.”Hope springs eternal. This time, it may well be justified.

Debate heats up after both West Indies and Zimbabwe were denied crucial wickets because of lack of reviews in Bulawayo Test

Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo02-Nov-2017The Decision Review System came in for some criticism from both camps after the second Test in Bulawayo. This wasn’t the first time that the DRS has been used in Zimbabwe – it was first used during the second Test against Sri Lanka last year – but neither team seemed to get the best out of the system.Zimbabwe may have removed eventual centurion Jason Holder for 11, if they still had a review available, while West Indies’ push for victory on the final day was stalled when Graeme Cremer was given not out after gloving a sharp bouncer to wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich off the first ball he faced. Without any reviews to fall back on, West Indies could not reverse the decision.That wasn’t it, however. Late in the afternoon they had two lbw decisions turned down despite the ball tracker returning three reds. “I probably can’t comment on that because I’ll get into big trouble,” said Stuart Law, the West Indies coach when asked about the DRS. “It costs a lot of money to set up the cameras and have the technology available to us. To only be able to use it for two incorrect appeals, I think, is ludicrous considering that you had $400,000 worth of machinery around and you can’t use it. To me that doesn’t quite make sense. But we’ve got to be smarter and understand that we do only have two reviews.”From my understanding, the technology has been incorporated to stop the absolute howler. Umpires are human and they make mistakes, we all do. But it’s there to stop the howler and if there are decisions where you feel you’ve been hard done by and you’re not able to use it, I think it’s something that must be looked at.”Heath Streak, the Zimbabwe coach, also resonated Law’s thoughts. “You pay a lot of money to have those systems in place,” he said. “I think that people watching on the telly could see that incorrect decisions were made. So I think it’s something that will have to be discussed going forward as to how we can best utilise what is effectively a very expensive system to have more correct decisions out there, so that the result is a reflection of the game and what’s really happened, rather than one or two guys getting away with a decision because the other team has lost reviews.”Graeme Cremer, the Zimbabwe captain, admitted that both teams used the system poorly. Zimbabwe had used their last review on the third day attempting to reverse a decision against Kieran Powell. Sikandar Raza subsequently couldn’t review an lbw appeal off Holder, which cost them plenty.”The Test match could have been a lot different if Holder had got out [with that review],” Cremer said. “We could have knocked off the tail a lot quicker, and got a long way ahead in the game. Then we definitely would have bowled again and it would have been an exciting finish to the Test match. It’s one of those things. It can happen.”Like Law, Streak also questioned the limitation of two incorrect reviews per team per innings. “If you’re going to spend that much money I think four or five reviews should be necessary to get the correct decisions. I don’t see any reason why they should limit it to only two.”Law also questioned the consistency of the results being provided by the technology in use, such as Snicko, which is used to graphically analyse sounds made by, for example, an edged shot.”I’ve found it a little inconsistent these two Tests,” Law said. “On the Snicko there have been a lot of waves or spikes, some days there were plenty, some days there were none when someone is smashing the inside edge onto their pad. It doesn’t provide an exact result, but it gives you an idea I suppose. We’ve just got to use it better.”

Substantial crowd trouble marred both Dambulla ODIs, as several thousand ticket-holders were either unable to take their seats, or – in some cases – even enter the ground

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Sep-2016Substantial crowd trouble marred both Dambulla ODIs, as several thousand ticket-holders were either unable to take their seats, or – in some cases – even enter the ground. SLC has issued an apology, and condemned the actions of spectators who forced their way into the venue.This is the first series in which SLC has sold its tickets through BookMyShow – a ticket distributor of Indian origin. Tickets were sold at outlets in many of the main towns in the region, as well as online. However, the perception that a move towards online ticket sales marginalised a large portion of cricket fans is what is understood to have angered some of those who swarmed the gates of the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium last week. Wednesday’s ODI had even seen a large protest at the entrance, which led to severe congestion on the Colombo-Dambulla main road.”SLC has clearly advertised the selling points of tickets, and has sold their tickets prior to the match at 18 outlets island-wide, including in Dambulla, Matale and Anuradhapura,” an SLC release said. “Ninety per cent of the tickets were reported sold through the above network and only 10% via internet.”Public who did not purchase their respective tickets prior to the match behaved in an unruly manner, causing a situation outside the main gate. As a result, even the people who purchased the tickets could not come into the ground, due to the heavy traffic congestion caused by the unruly crowd who were blocking the main road in protest. Sri Lanka Police made several requests to the protestors to move out of the road to enable the genuine ticket holders to enter the ground. More than 2000 spectators who had purchased tickets complained that they could not get into the grounds within the first two hours of the play.”The standoff between the police and the “unruly crowd” had only been resolved after the gates were opened even to those who had not bought tickets, in order to clear the road.In the previous match, on Sunday, thousands were seen entering the ground illegally, which led to the 18,000-capacity stadium having to accommodate up to 45,000 people. The protesting crowd had pelted the police with stones on Wednesday, but there have been no reports of major injury as a result of either incident.”SLC would like to state that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable and would like to denounce the violent behaviour of the protestors who pelted stones at the police and damaged property of the stadium. As a result, Sri Lanka Police had no choice but to use minimal force to curb the situation.”The new ticketing protocols have been in place right through the tour, but Dambulla is the only venue at which substantial crowd-control issues have emerged. Dambulla also has the lowest capacity of the three limited-overs venues.

James Faulkner struck his maiden first-class hundred to lift Lancashire out of trouble on a lively day at The Oval

Tim Wigmore at Kia Oval02-Jun-2015
ScorecardJames Faulkner drives down the ground during his maiden first-class hundred•PA Photos

Two years ago, James Faulkner made quite an impression on his Test debut for Australia at the Kia Oval. Bowling with vim to take six wickets and providing a hint of his brutal hitting with a pair of 20s, Faulkner shaped up as Australia’s next Test allrounder.It hasn’t quite worked out like that. In a microcosm of the suffocating schedule that international cricketers face today, Faulkner’s limited-overs prowess has effectively deprived him of the chance to hone his game in red-ball cricket. In the 21 months after his Test debut, he became an integral part of Australia’s team in both limited-overs formats, won the Man-of-the-Match award for three wickets in the World Cup final and became an IPL regular. Little wonder that he only had time to fit in seven first-class matches.The upshot has been that Faulkner has faded a little from the Australian selectors’ minds in Test cricket, which is why he finds himself at The Oval rather than preparing for a Test in Dominica.Not that Faulkner gave any indication of being a TV star out of his depth on the silver screen. The most remarkable thing about the maiden first-class century that accompanied his Lancashire debut was how unobtrusive his innings seemed. To those accustomed to his limited overs belligerence, it seemed an innings defined by self-restraint, yet Faulkner’s hundred, brought up with a push for one off Stuart Meaker, arrived in only 141 balls.With Lancashire on the verge of saving the follow on – and with it ending the match as a contest – Faulkner then showed the penchant for destructiveness that England witnessed when he harrumphed 50 off only 24 balls at Perth in February. The two balls after reaching his century were both thumped for emphatic straight fours off Zafar Ansari. Faulkner then backed away and pulled Matt Dunn for two ferocious fours – one straight and one to midwicket – before being bowled.No matter. The follow-on had been saved, and Faulkner’s 121 had provided evidence that, still only 25, he should not be pigeonholed as a limited-overs player only. He certainly does not intend to be.”I’ve got a lot to learn and I thought this would be one of the best ways to do it – to come over and play county cricket in tough conditions which are foreign to all of us in Australia,” he said. “That’s why I came over here to play red ball cricket. Everyone grows up wanting to play Test cricket.”The only shame was that, on schools’ day at The Oval, most children had long since departed by the time Faulkner unfurled his full repertoire of explosives.If the ending was carefree, Faulkner’s innings was deeply significant in the context of this game. Entering at 102 for5, which soon became 108 for 6, Lancashire faced the prospect of ending up well short of the follow on target of 299.But Faulkner found a fine partier in Jordan Clark, a well-organised Cumbrian who also hit his highest first-class score, which was his first half-century to boot. Alongside austere defence, Clark smashed two huge straight sixes – one each against Ansari and Gareth Batty. The 183-run alliance between Clark and Faulkner ended the match as a contest, ensuring that Lancashire will leave London with a hearty lead at the top of Division Two still intact, unless there is much final-day collusion.It felt a little harsh on Surrey’s bowlers, who had bowled admirably on a flat pitch earlier in the day, even if they were aided by cloud cover in the morning.Tom Curran and Matt Dunn, are a rather coltish fast bowling pair: 20 and 23 respectively and aggressive in everything they do. They both bowled with gusto to induce Lancashire’s top-order collapse. Curran will take particular pride in trapping Ashwell Prince, newly appointed to South Africa’s selection panel, lbw caught on the back foot. Prince’s 20 was his second lowest score of the season: he is averaging 87.88 in his farewell season, although he initially said the same about last year.

The BCCI is looking to establish a “prime season” for the Indian cricket team at home much like it is in England and Australia, thus reducing the team’s touring commitments in the winter

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2012The BCCI is looking to establish a “prime season” for the Indian cricket team at home much like it is in England and Australia, thus reducing the team’s touring commitments in the winter.BCCI president N Srinivasan said: “We are starting to look at and define our prime season, and during your prime season you should be playing at home.” Speaking exclusively to ESPNcricinfo, Srinivasan said formalising the Indian season would mean a structured calendar of teams touring India. “We want to have possibly one or two visiting teams during our domestic season, starting in September all the way up to March, and we’ll see the extent to which we don’t tour outside. Given the FTP that is there, we are going to see how we can adjust.”Domestic cricket would also be rescheduled to make home Tests the centre piece of the season, and encourage more international players to take part in the Ranji Trophy. Srinivasan said: “This year we also encouraged our big players and stars to play domestic cricket. This is a change from the last several years.” The Ranji format has been changed to three groups of nine teams each, the BCCI had been told by first-class players, that they wanted to play more cricket.The BCCI’s measures over the last few years, Srinivasan said, had sought to improve the quality of cricket particularly of the longer form of the game. “That is where the emphasis is. An uncapped player who has not played for India cannot play in the IPL unless he plays 60% of the Ranji Trophy games. So in more ways than one, we are pushing a player to the longer version.”In a wide-ranging interview, which will appear in full on ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday, Srinivasan spoke about issues concerning Indian cricket, the BCCI’s financial power in world cricket, its refusal to accept the mandatory application of the umpire’s Decision Review System (DRS), and the IPL’s growing influence on players all over the world and the longer form of the game.Srinivasan denied that the BCCI had taken an ‘obstructionist’ approach to the DRS. “We have not taken an obstructionist policy. We don’t believe in it, so after discussion members have agreed it should be bilateral. I don’t want to dictate to other people… our position has been clear from start. We don’t believe the technology is good enough.”He said the ICC’s statement that the DRS technology had “improved further” was in a way “acceptance that it was not good enough then” referring to the India tour of England last year. “But it was touted as being good at that point in time. Our problem is that when they say it is all right, then they say it’ll get better tomorrow, or an improved version now. So we concede the fact that there was less than adequate perfection. Which is our point, if you want to use technology it must be perfect.”Srinivasan also said that restricting the DRS to two referrals was in some ways a contradiction in itself. “If you don’t have faith in the umpire, which itself is a contradiction as in cricket the umpire’s verdict is final, if a player shows dissent you fine him. But now you’re saying that I have two attempts to question your decision. So the reconciliation between that is difficult. So if you take it to the end point of it, then you have two lampposts with coloured lights red, yellow and green, you don’t need an umpire at all, as you refer every decision, so let an automatic reply come from there after a review and you say red or green.”India’s unwillingness to use the DRS means that there are two officiating systems at work in world cricket, to which Srinivasan said: “It doesn’t bother me at all because, apart from all this, there is a cost to DRS and there are only one or two people involved. It’s a monopoly-area situation, which I am not going in to here. It doesn’t bother me if two other countries use DRS, they are happy, that’s okay.”The ICC he said had the right to use DRS in its own events, but the BCCI was very clear in its stand on its usage in any bilateral series featuring India. “We are clear in our mind, but I hope, slowly, people will see our point of view.”The IPL, the BCCI’s “showcase event” did not, he said, have a negative bearing on international cricket and the BCCI’s refusal to ask for a window for the event, was based on the acceptance of the overseas players’ packed international calendars. “The IPL management, the BCCI, franchise owners are aware that all the players won’t be available all the time, and we’ve sort of settled down with that.”The IPL he said was not putting “a strain” on other boards. The event’s popularity amongst overseas players were a reflection that, “it’s a free world. People and players make their choices and we can’t compel a person… I don’t think that it is all-consuming.” While the IPL attracts cricketers from all over the world, he said, “there are only so many players who can play in the IPL, because we have a cap on the number of players in the team. And from what I have seen, players may not be happy to sit out as we have a cap on foreign players. So squad size and the number of franchises have a limiting effect.”The BCCI he said was aware that there was “no real window” available on the international calendar for the IPL. “The BCCI has recognised that today you have ten Full Members, they play each other home and away once in four years. The number of ICC events has increased from ten years ago, so there’s a lot of clutter. So the BCCI accepts the fact that there is no real window and that whoever is available plays.”The BCCI’s reputation as a bully on the ICC board he said, was “not fair” – and denied that other boards would be wary of going against the BCCI’s wishes. “That is not a fact. In the ICC all members are sovereign. The ten full members are sovereign.”Despite India’s 8-0 defeats in England and Australia, Srinivasan said it was not fair to say that India got exposed when travelling abroad. “It’s not that we get exposed when we go abroad. Every country is used to its own conditions, whether it is England, South Africa, Australia, so they tend to play better in home conditions, which is what we also do.”He said the media in the other teams did not end up “berating their players for not doing well [abroad]” and that there had to be an acceptance and recognition of the “advantage of home conditions… So I don’t think we should run down our players by saying we did not do well abroad. Other teams don’t do well when they come to India. In the past, we have had teams that have done well both here and abroad, when players were possibly younger.”

Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has showered generous praise on fast bowler Chris Martin, who became only the fourth New Zealand bowler to take 200 Test wickets

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2011Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has showered generous praise on fast bowler Chris Martin, who became only the fourth New Zealand bowler to take 200 Test wickets when he dismissed Kyle Jarvis in the Bulawayo Test. Vettori, who is the second-highest wicket-taker for New Zealand, said Martin was one of the best to have bowled for New Zealand.”Chris has always impressed me right from day one,” Vettori told . “He’s a fantastic bowler and probably an under-rated bowler as well. To do what he’s done, it’s a real credit to him and I certainly believe he deserves to be regarded as one of NZ’s best-ever Test bowlers.”It had been a long wait for Martin, who spent 10 months stuck on 199 Test wickets, and then more than 23 overs of toil after Test cricket finally came along. “It was an unfortunate circumstance that I had to wait that long, simply because we haven’t played any Test cricket since January,” Martin said. “I’d bowled 23-odd overs before it came so I didn’t know quite how to celebrate, it was more relief than anything, but it’s a moment I’ll remember for quite some time.”Three of the 200-club men studied in the same school, of course at different times. “To be one of four players to achieve that milestone is an honour, ” Martin said. “And there are three from Christchurch Boys’ High (Richard Hadlee and Chris Cairns being the other two), so that’s a nice achievement for the school. Chris Cairns is obviously immediately above me on the list and I think he’s got 218 wickets, so it would be nice to catch him.”Martin’s average of 34.94 might not strike fear, but that it is only marginally worse than Vettori’s 33.61 proves Vettori’s point that Martin might be under-rated. More than the statistics, it is Martin’s reliability and longevity that have shone through despite starting his career late – less than month shy of his 26th birthday. “Shane Bond was around for a while, but for the most part Chris has carried the pace attack by himself over a long period of time,” Vettori said. “He’s always been reliable.”What Martin has managed is rare for New Zealand fast bowlers – a near injury-free career. He has outlasted more incisive and flashier fast bowlers. New Zealand want him to stay around to share the experience he has garnered over his 11-year-old career with the younger quicks. Martin turns 37 in December, and there is likely to be debate around his place in the side, especially after match returns of 3 for 159 in the Test against Zimbabwe. Vettori, though, thinks there is more to come.”He’s still got a lot left in him and I think he wants to play for a wee while longer, which would be great for us to have him working with the likes of Tim Southee and Doug Bracewell coming through,” Vettori said. “It’s encouraging to have the three of them around for the Australian series [next month]. It’s the first time I’ve seen Bracewell bowl and I’ve been quite impressed by him.”