You can keep McDonald

Now that the Delhi Daredevils have qualified for the Champions League, there's a bit of the old tug o' war going on as the relevant IPL franchises are likely to contract their international players at the snap of their fingers (after compensating the player's original team, of course). And with Delhi fielding quite a few influential Aussie players, things are looking slightly more bleak for domestic teams or whatnot.

The most headline-worthy story in the last day has been the likelihood that the Speedblitzing David Warner will be secured by Delhi, leaving a spot open in the Blues' side. And so NSW will consider making an offer to Otago for good old Brendon McCullum, or Baz, as you hip young folks like to call him.

That just opens up a whole new lot of problems.

But if we get back to the roots of this, being the automatic "ownership" of international players by their IPL franchise should it qualify for the tournament, it's not just David Warner the Australians should be worried about. Dirk Nannes will likely be drafted in by Delhi, and I do wonder whether he'll be able to conjure up regret at having to play against the Bushrangers seeing as the Aussies don't seem all that keen to have him in their ranks.

Dirk is the other big fish apart from Warner, but there's also Nathan Bracken, Cameron White, and... dare I say it? Andrew McDonald. While I don't think Bracken or White will be called upon all too soon, I'm even less convinced Delhi will be parting with their money to secure McDonald. As suggested by the title of this post, I'm sure they'd be all too willing to let Victoria keep McDonald.

"...You can have him."

Blue Moon

Once you'd watched the first few overs of KKR batting, you'd have thought they were up to their usual tricks. You know, "sacrificing" their game for the good of the other teams, giving the other teams an easy win to help them on their way to the top. In fact, I was all too ready to pass a motion to have someone put KKR out of their misery.

I'd forgotten about Dave Hussey. He'd come back from the series against Pakistan and if there was one person who could literally change the course of the game it was him, no joke. And he did, looking quite pissed off when he got out. I would too.

Baz batted out the whole 20 overs. How's that for anchoring? He also seemed to be smiling an awful lot which can't be a good sign when someone like Brad Hodge mysteriously goes missing. Not that I'm complaining, but I wouldn't be surprised if Baz finally cracked and minced someone up for breakfast, namely Hodge.

Ishant Sharma has had an attack of the voodoo and has taped over the number and name on his shirt. What the fuck? Is there something I'm missing out on because that is weird as shit and also kind of creepy. It's as though he sat at his table manically taping over the number, rocking back and forth on his chair. Maybe his Adam's apple mutated and became an evil person of its own, or maybe it possessed Ishant. You never know with these Adam's apples.

And if I ever have to listen to Ramiz, Siva and Danny Morrison for ONE MORE MATCH, I will kill myself. It was enough to make me change the channel and watch an inane comedy about a call centre in Mumbai with Sanjeev Bhaskar of Kumars fame, which really wasn't that good but was certainly a welcome relief from Siva's slide antics and all the Danny Morrison fat jokes.

How to lose a match

Kolkata Knight Riders:

1/1 - Ganguly out first ball. Idiot. Bet he can't get on his high horse in front of McCullum now.

Hodge comes it all hodgily. If that's a word.

The 4th ODI between Australia and Pakistan is on right now. I'm not watching. Gayle is also an idiot.

--

Anyway, so Mumbai win by 9 runs. There ya go.

Way to go, Baz

Out first ball to KP. That's how you do it.

When Kevin Pietersen opens the bowling, you don't give him a wicket. It's the dishonourable thing to do. Brendon McCullum thought otherwise.

Maybe Bangalore will scrape a win in today. If ROFL's half the dangerous bowler he was against Australia, Kolkata might fall. But then again, Australia have proven themselves to be terrible at playing spin, and ROFL may turn out to be the most ordinary bowler yet. I don't think so, but it remains to be seen.

Ah, and now Brad Hodge goes. Kumble's spin proves too much for our compatriots.

Ross Taylor's comedian alter ego

I wish I'd noticed this comment when he'd first come out with it, but better late than never. I knew of Brendon McCullum supporting the shift of the IPL from India to South Africa, but Ross Taylor's opinion is abruptly hilarious, even if he said it seriously:

"If you're dead you can't earn any money. Life's obviously more important than earning cash."

Yeah, well, tell Jacob Oram that.

"Haha, I'm funny. Look at my tongue. So funny."

New Zealand T20 squad

They've actually released the full 15 players. Amazing. There's 15 back-up players also.

Big news? Chris Martin, Jeetan Patel, Grant Elliot, Tim Southee... all don't make the cut. As don't a bunch of other players. Instead, we're seeing Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Peter McGlashan and Brendon Diamanti making the squad. Some of those names are no surprise, others a little surprising, but not in a bad way.

New Zealand are thinking tactical early on. They want their lower order to be as crazy and explosive as possible. They want power hitters holding clubs, not cricket bats. They want to have a chance in the competition, that's what NZ want. Aggression is the word of the day.

Hey hey, the brothers are coming to town.

The team: Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Neil Broom, Jacob Oram, James Franklin, Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori (capt), Ian Butler, Peter McGlashan, Kyle Mills, Brendon Diamanti, Iain O'Brien.

Backup players: Peter Ingram, Shanan Stewart, Aaron Redmond, Craig Cumming, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, James Marshall, Gareth Hopkins, Grant Elliott, Ewen Thompson, Tim Southee, Michael Mason, Warren McSkimming, Chris Martin, Jeetan Patel.

Brendon McCullum and the reverse rain dance

Brendon McCullum reckons New Zealand won't need the rain to save them from defeat in this match.

"You can't pray for rain or you can't expect rain to get you out of a sticky situation," McCullum told reporters. "I think for us if we find ourselves waking up in the morning with a big blue (sky) overhead then we've got a fight on our hands. Obviously we haven't found ourselves in the ideal situation but tomorrow's an opportunity for guys to stand up and show some character."

There's a reason I'm all for McCullum. Half of the reason he's allowed to say this and not sound like an idiot is because he hasn't batted yet. And who knows, he could be able to conjure up some miracle. I think they call it Tattoo Power. Or serious strength and batting ability, whichever you choose.

Nothing is going to energise supporters more than McCullum talking about fighting it out to the end. They might think it's a hopeless situation, but you can't deny the lure of turning up to watch him play after comments like this.

So can New Zealand still win this match?
Dum di dum, I'm not listening.

Smash, smash, to save your team.

The end of NZ's innings

Brendon McCullum is out.

New Zealand will make 200, tops. That's still 179 behind India's first innings score.

At tea, New Zealand are stuffed

140 for 7.

Give me a break.

Now they're 164/8 and Brendon McCullum and Iain O'Brien are going to have to do some salvaging to save this innings, because Southee just handed another wicket to Zaheer Khan who has already picked up 5 wickets today.

Ross Taylor scored 42 before departing. Dhoni's had 3 catches already. Jesse Ryder was out on 3.

What?

New Zealand on top

Of who, you say? Of India. The Kiwis declared at 619/9 on the second day of the Napier test. Among their significant achievers:

• Jesse Ryder, scoring his maiden double century, but then getting out on the very next ball, trying to hit a wide ball. Such is life. And notice how he no longer gets posts devoted entirely to him? It means I am making progress in the department of treating him like any other NZer.
• Brendon McCullum had a good day too, not out on 103 when NZ declared.
• James Franklin, who was run out on 52.
• Dan Vettori hit 43, and bizarrely decided to declare without hitting 7 more runs.

Jesse Ryder's 201 is the 3rd highest individual score a Kiwi has achieved against India. Graham Dowling rounds out the best with a 238 in 1968, and Bert Sutcliffe comes next with 230 n.o. in a 1955 match.

Quite an achievement.