Just not my day

As I always say, it's great to be off the park. Seeing that last wicket fall is one of the best feelings there is, only beaten by actually taking that wicket yourself. Something that didn't happen for me today, but it was Dan's honour and by bowling Shiv he picked up his sixth wicket for the innings and his 50th wicket for the calendar year. An outstanding performance from just an outstanding bowler, player and guy!

Today just wasn't my day. Things just didn't work for me. I tried as hard as I could to bowl my maidens, to string together dots. For some unknown reason, I wasn't up to it. I wasn't trying too hard and getting tense; I wasn't too relaxed and had no intensity: it just wasn't my day. It's easy to say that, but I have to sit down tonight and have a good think about the day, what happened and why. These are often the toughest nights; a bit of soul-searching and every effort to turn it around for the next day. Although we don't have to go out and bowl straight away, hopefully not for quite a while actually, I will hit the nets in the morning and work some things through.

I did have a look at the computer tonight that records the proceedings of the day to have a look at my action. There was one thing that wasn't quite how it should be. My front arm wasn't doing the work it should have been. I'll have a bowl tomorrow and work though it in preparation for the second Test.

So, a day in the park in windy and cold Dunedin. It wasn't that bad actually, if you could keep your hands warm that is. It could have been a whole lot worse too. We could still be bowling; Jerome Taylor Jerome could still be batting with Shiv and, I guess, it could have been colder.

Taylor had one of those innings that I'm sure he had only dreamed about before today. Everything hit the middle of his bat. His previous high score was around 30 and today he pumped us around the park for 106 off 107 balls. A special innings, well played. Shiv, on the other hand, took his time. His 76 took 200 balls. Now that's a weird technique, it obviously works, but when you're standing at cover fielding and you can see the whole of the back of his bat, it just seems strange.

Millsy came out today with a couple of points to prove, and had a great day. Kyle did the job that I was trying to do, but couldn't do today. He bowled in the areas the pitch asked for and kept it tight and was rewarded with three very good wickets including a stunning catch at square leg by me. Okay, so it lobbed to me and was the easiest catch I've ever had in a match. But nevertheless, I did have enough time to think about a pretty straightforward catch I dropped off Kyle here in Dunedin last summer against Bangladesh while it was travelling to me. The brain is a crazy organ! It plays so many silly games with you.

I hit the hot-colds tonight after we got off, and then to the dining room for a meal once the day's play was over. A quick chat reflecting on today's efforts and a preview of tomorrow in the changing room and then straight back to the hotel and on here to get this done before my massage at 10pm. It'll be straight to bed after that too.