Ronchi enjoys the best seat
It appeared to be Luke Ronchi’s toughest moment of the Cricket World Cup to date.
Could he possibly take his cap off when interviewed by television at Hamilton’s Seddon Park on Wednesday?
The Black Caps wicketkeeper/batsman looked agonised over the request; ultimately obliging as he fielded questions ahead of Friday’s pool A match against Bangladesh.
His discomfit contrasted greatly with the progress the 33-year-old and his team-mates have made in the tournament, and Ronchi agreed he had had a dream ride with the gloves in New Zealand’s five consecutive victories to see them top of their pool. ‘‘It’s been awesome,’’ Ronchi said. ‘‘Every game it’s sort of one particular bowler that seems to be doing really well.
‘‘It’s not the one guy carrying everyone, so it’s been awesome to stand behind watching them . . . watching them swinging the ball.
‘‘It’s probably the most consistent bowling attack I’ve kept to in terms of keeping the same side and everyone bowling well – and bowling teams out for low scores.
‘‘I think it’s just that consistency and self-belief which has grown more and more and more.
‘‘Tim [Southee] and Trent [Boult] are both test bowlers and one-day bowlers, so they work well together and know what each other does.
‘‘It’s just been getting better and better and better. So hopefully – few more games to go, we can keep getting better from there.’’
Southee and Boult share second on the cup wicket-taking table with 13 scalps apiece, while veteran left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori is one back.
‘‘Keeping with Dan is always good fun,’’ Ronchi said. ‘‘You can see he’s trying to work the batsman out and he does a pretty good job of it.
‘‘Dan doesn’t turn it as much as he used to – that’s a good thing for me; I don’t have to worry about it quite as much.
‘‘It’s always hard work keeping to any spinner but to be in a position where you can see what a batsman’s trying to do, and see how he’s trying to work them out as well – it’s pretty cool to be behind and in the best seat in the house to watch it unfold.’’
Ronchi has not been busy with the willow though, required to bat in only three matches with one score of note – an unbeaten 29 off 19 balls in the tournament opener against Sri Lanka. ‘‘That’s a good thing,’’ he said. ‘‘If I’m not batting, then we’re doing really well, so I’m not complaining at all.
‘‘I still hit them in the nets and am enjoying that stuff.
‘‘I’m more than happy to sit on my bum for as long as I need to.’’
Following Friday’s match, New Zealand will prepare for the knockout stage, with a quarterfinal appearance against maybe Pakistan, the West Indies or Ireland.
It is not a match the side has been looking out of turn at, Ronchi said.
‘‘We’ve got big gaps between all of our matches anyway.
‘‘If we were looking
at
the quarterfinal, that’s still a week and a half away.
‘‘You don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself, so that’s a good thing I think.
‘‘And also, outside of our cricket stuff, we’re all pretty relaxed and do other things and get away from cricket so you don’t think about it so much.
‘‘So far it’s been good just to be game to game but it will obviously be a massive game for us, the quarterfinal.
‘‘That’s the knockout stage, that’s where you have to be on.’’