The Reverse Sweep

2nd Test: Australia vs New Zealand - New Zealand marks out of 10

Martin Guptill – 4: Nicked Siddle to the keeper in both innings and looked particularly angry – as he should have been – for his needless poke on the second occasion. Showed safe hands to snare four catches in the Black Caps impressive slips cordon.

Brendon McCullum – 3: Has found opening the batting in Tests in Australia much more difficult than in India last year. Showed extreme restraint and diligence on the first morning but – as in the 2nd innings – was caught behind the wicket both times after edging attempted drives. Would serve his country better at five or six.

Jesse Ryder – 2: Completed a poor series by being embarrassingly stumped down the leg-side off Hussey. Has all the talent in the world but needs to apply himself better.

Ross Taylor – 8: Recovered well after poor judgment on the first morning to play a crucial, resolute and responsible captain’s knock second time around. Led the side well, set attacking fields throughout and rotated his bowlers intelligently. Dictator Dan may have a worthy successor after all.

Kane Williamson – 6: Looked far more comfortable at five and his classy contribution to the vital partnership with Taylor reinforced the positive impression he made in his debut series in India.

Dean Brownlie – 8: His 56 on the first day was worth a hundred in the context of the conditions and he dug in well second time around too. Perth born – so Australia’s loss is certainly the Black Caps gain for arguably the batsman of the series.

Reece Young – 5: Continued to look tidy enough behind the stumps but on the showing of this series is not equipped to bat at seven. If his back can take it, McCullum should be handed the gloves back.

Doug Bracewell – 9: Inspirational. His combination of swing, bounce and clever variation proved too much for Australia and his haul of nine for 60 really deserved the MOM award ahead of Warner. The Black Caps may have unearthed a gem in this 21 year old.

Tim Southee – 7: Provided decent seam support and usual lustre with the bat. Understandably enjoyed outfoxing an embarrassed Ponting with his 1st innings dismissal.

Trent Boult – 8: Hugely impressive on debut although he couldn’t have wished for a better pitch or conditions to make his Test bow.

Chris Martin – 8: As consistent as ever and sparked his side’s second day fightback by taking the first three wickets. Added what proved to be a crucial 23 for the last wicket with Boult and completed his full set of Hughes scalps for the series.

Where next?

2nd Test: Australia vs New Zealand - Australia marks out of 10

James Pattinson and Big Brother

1st Test: Australia vs New Zealand - Australia marks out of 10

1st Test: Australia vs New Zealand - New Zealand marks out of 10

Cricket zeroes: Channel 9's Commentary Team

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

1st Test: Australia vs New Zealand - New Zealand marks out of 10

Brendon McCullum - 5: Started like a train with three boundaries in the first over of the match, but ended up caught in the slip cordon in both innings and was given a bit of a going over by Pattinson on the third evening. However, the Black Caps need him swinging at the top of the order.

Martin Guptill - 4: Got into double figures twice but couldn't get any further after a loose drive first time around and a tame fend to short leg on the fourth morning.

Kane Williamson - 3: Has talent but is too high in the order at three. Struggled against Lyon on day one and was out for a duck attempting to drive a fired-up Pattinson in the second over of day 4. 

Ross Taylor - 2: Made the wrong move in choosing to bat after winning the toss and the two shots he played to be dismissed were abysmal especially the wild attempted square drive just before lunch on the first morning. Needs a lesson in responsibility from Vettori.

Jesse Ryder - 5: Showed poor judegment in both innings: the wild flat-footed slash to gully in the 1st innings was woeful enough but the limp scoop to mid-off off Lyon second time around was inexcusable.

Dean Brownlie - 8: It took a man playing just his 2nd Test to show the top five how to do it. Came to the crease both times with his team in desperate trouble and dug in impressively especially in unison with Vettori in the 1st innings.

Daniel Vettori - 9: The side's best batsman, best bowler (he even opened the bowling), best leader and only player of genuine Test class. Although he took his wicket, Mike Hussey proved Dictator Dan's achilles heel running him out with a direct hit attempting a suicidal single just four runs short of a deserved hundred in the 1st innings and then handing him a rare Test wicket with a soft dismissal second time around.

Reece Young - 5: Tidy enough behind the stumps but doesn't exactly inspire confidence with a bat in his hands.

Doug Bracewell - 4: Should have had Clarke not once, not twice but three times and will still be ruing his error in bowling the Australian skipper off a no-ball. Found the Australian batsmen a much tougher proposition than the Zimbabwe line-up he took six wickets off on his debut, which is hardly a surprise.

Tim Southee - 4: Looks more of a third or fourth seamer and faded badly after getting some extra lift to snare Warner early in Australia's 1st innings. Likes a swing with the bat.

Chris Martin - 6: As steady as ever and seems to have Hughes's number after having him caught in the gully in both innings. Desperately lacks quality seam support. As woeful as ever with the bat, Martin is the ultimate number 11.

Where next?

1st Test: Australia vs New Zealand - Australia marks out of 10

Zimbabwe: An example of where sport and politics should mix

India vs New Zealand: 2nd Test - New Zealand marks out of 10

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

They also played cricket - an XI of illustriously named Cricketers

Christ

Not the Son of God, but slow-left armer Charles who played 24 First-Class matches for Queensland from 1937-47, and of whom Keith Miller once said “I didn’t mind getting out in the first innings, after all Christ caught and bowled me!”

Julius Caesar

Nearly two millennia after leading the Roman invasion of Britain, batsman Julius Caesar made three centuries for Surrey during the Victorian era. Like the first Roman Emperor, he also came to a sudden and rather unfortunate end in the month of March – nine days before the Ides -throwing himself underneath a train in 1878.

Chris Martin

When Mr Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t creating tuneful little ditties on the piano, picking at macrobiotic food or giving his children incongruous names, he also opens the bowling for New Zealand. Former Creation label boss Alan McGee, who famously described Coldplay as music for “bedwetters” would doubtless say that Martin’s bowling was even more insipid than his band.

William Shakespeare

To bat, or not to bat? This possibly was the question that crossed the mind of one William Shakespeare during his 26 matches for Worcestershire in the period immediately after the end of World War I.

Napoleon Einstein

Probably hailing from a family of Francophile scientific geniuses, this young all-rounder was part of India’s 2008 under-19 World Cup winning squad. Yet to play against England’s pace attack where doubtless he would meet his Waterloo - unless it was in India of course.

Charles Dickens

The selectors of Griqualand didn’t heed this namesake of the famous Victorian author when he asked “please sir, can I have some more?” with his first-class career being restricted to just four matches despite one hundred in his eight innings.

Dick Whitington

Just one ‘t’ short of being Lord Mayor of London, this Mr Whitington went much further afield to seek streets paved with gold but had to make do with Adelaide and a cricket career with South Australia. Also had the quite remarkable middle name of ‘Smallpeice’ – no further comment necessary.

Thomas More

Lord Chancellor of England, author of Utopia and canonised saint was beheaded in 1535 for refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to Henry VIII as part of the King’s struggle to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Despite this minor inconvenience he was still able to forge an albeit less eventful cricket career, kicking wicket for Minor County Shropshire.  

George Bernard Shaw

A giant of literature he may have been, but he also lived a secret double life as a little known left arm spinner who played just 16 matches for Glamorgan in the early 1950s. No, really.

Nat Old King Cole

Not Nat, not Old, but just plain King Cole was a member of the pioneering Aboriginal touring team of England in 1861. Unfortunately, Cole’s talents as a cricketer will never be known as he sadly died of tuberculosis on the trip.

Robert Kennedy

And you thought that the brother and Attorney General of JFK had been assassinated when running for President in 1968? If he had taken the care to change his name then no-one would have realised the cover-up when he turned up as a fast-medium bowler for Wellington who played four Tests for New Zealand in 1995-96. How’s that for a conspiracy theory?

12^thman: Yasir Arafat

Just a couple of letters short of being the former head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the nemesis of Israel, this Pakistani fast bowler has sampled life in the far less oppressive Garden of England with Kent as well as spells with Sussex and Surrey.

Where next?

An XI of Cricket Tragics who were also Rugger Buggers

Cricket XIs: Cricketing Criminals

An XI of cricketers that died young

10 reasons why neutrals should be glad Lancashire won the County Championship

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

India vs New Zealand: 2nd Test - New Zealand marks out of 10

 
Another performance full of pluck and quality from New Zealand showed that India are going to have to make a marked improvement to get the win they need in the final test at Nagpur to secure the series.

But on this form don't count against New Zealand sneaking what would be a major shock series win.

Here's how the Black Caps rated in Hyderabad (see India marks out of 10 here):

Tim McIntosh - 9: Magnificent and gutsy comeback after bagging a pair at Ahmedabad scoring a deserved hundred in the first and 49 in the second to ensure that the first innings deficit was overhauled with no wickets down. Maybe he is a test match opener after all?

Brendon McCullum - 9: The latest batsman after the likes of Dilshan and Watson to prove that in any aspiring middle order batsman is a test opener struggling to get out. You can't ask for much more than a double hundred in the second innings on India - even on this runway of a pitch.

Martin Guptill - 7: Made India and Sreesanth pay for his dismissal off a no ball in the first innings and can count himself unlucky not to have reached three figures.

Ross Taylor - 4: A couple of failures with the bat means that New Zealand's star batsman is the only one of the top six yet to shine in this series. Will it be his turn at Nagpur? 

Jesse Ryder - 7: A terrific knock in the first innings confirmed the impression he made in Ahmedabad that his appetite for runs is nearly as large as his huger for hamburgers. If he can just stay fit...

Kane Williamson - 7: Poor decision prevented him from becoming only the seventh man to begin his Test career with back-to-back centuries. An immense talent.

Daniel Vettori - 8: A fine bowling display full of variety and cunning earned Superdan a deserved five wicket haul and with his charges continuing to perform with the bat his shoulders must feel slightly less burdened than Atlas for once..

Gareth Hopkins - 6: Safe again with the gloves, but his first innings dismissal means he has a lot of work to do with the bat.

Tim Southee - 6:  Bowled with plenty of heart and fire - just ask Sreesanth and got Dravid with a beauty. Is he quick enough to be a test opening bowler though?

Brent Arnel - 3:  Went wicketless and now averages 68 after three tests - how  Vettori must wish that injuries hadn't led to Shane Bond having to call it a day.

Chris Martin - 8: Bowled much better than his figures of 1/87 suggested and the ultimate tail-end rabbit even managed to score more runs (3) than his career average (2.37).

Where next?

1st Test ratings: New Zealand and India

Au revoir to Shane Bond 

Specialist openers - an endangered species?

India vs New Zealand: 1st Test - New Zealand marks out of 10

 
New Zealand will have mixed emotions following the conclusion of the 1st Test at Ahmedabad. There will be pride that they gave the number one ranked test side a real run for their money in their own backyard.

But there will be disappointment also that they were unable to take advantage of the position that Chris Martin's inspired spell of bowling gave them when India looked into the abyss at 15 for five in their second innings. Daniel Vettori will know that in the final reckoning at the end of the three match series, his side may come to regret letting India off the hook.

Tim McIntosh - 0: After bagging a pair, McIntosh gets his third zero of the match. In danger of becoming Zaheer Khan's bunny after getting out to him twice.

Brendon McCullum - 6: His first test since relinquishing the gloves for good and he played well for his 65 until he was brilliantly stumped by Dhoni. We're not too sure about his bowling though.

BJ Watling - 2: Bowled by the first ball of spin he had faced in India, which doesn't bode well for a improved performance in the next two tests.

Ross Taylor - 6: Looked calm and assured in compiling 56 before playing a terrible shot to gift Harbhajan his only wicket of the match. 

Jesse Ryder - 8: Ryder's talent may not quite much the size of his girth, but his composed hundred means he now has a test match average of 52. New Zealand will hope that Ryder regains full fitness in time for Hyderabad.

Kane Williamson - 9: You cannot ask much more from a 20 year old on test debut to score a hundred against the number one ranked side and New Zealand look to have found a real talent on this showing. A long and successful career beckons.

Daniel Vettori - 8: Superdan was his usual reliable self taking four wickets in a long and controlled stint of bowling and hitting a useful 41. If he had hit the stumps with Harbhajan stranded early on the final day then he could have been celebrating a famous victory.

Gareth Hopkins - 6: Outfoxed by Ojha in his only innings but kept tidily enough to suggest that McCullum's days with the gloves are indeed over.

Jeetan Patel - 5:  After a poor performance on the first day and a torrid time at the hands of Sehwag, Patel bounced back well to snare Tendulkar and Laxman on the second day. Went at nearly five runs an over though.

Hamish Bennett - 3:  Injured his groin on the first day so his 15 wicketless overs for 47 will be his only contribution of the series. If he had been fit on the final day, who knows?

Chris Martin - 8: Bounced back after a poor performance in the first innings to bowl an inspirational spell with the new ball in the second, which nearly won his side the match. Figures of five for 63 on that pitch means that Martin deserves all the plaudits that came his way.

Where next?

India vs New Zealand: 1st Test - India Marks out of 10

Au revoir to Shane Bond 

Daniel 'Perseus' Vettori fails in his impossible quest