Here's hoping Rahul Dravid's stay is shorter next time © Getty Images

To call that a tough day at the office is an understatement. We battled, we toiled, we slogged, and we did everything we could to take from dislodge the Indian batsmen; alas there was only three on view today.

Up around 8am this morning to post my day three blog and catch up with a couple of emails, off to breakfast at 8.30 and then to the ground at 9.30. We’re on the park for warm-ups at 10am and I get through my stretches, throwing, fielding and warm-up deliveries and am off the park about 25 minutes before start time. In this time it’s usually a couple of waters, a sit down, get into my whites and then out for a few more warm-up balls about seven to eight minutes before the start.

I wasn’t feeling too bad after all of yesterday in the field, sure I wasn’t as fresh as I’d have loved to be, but not too bad. I was to start up this morning, but as I bowled the last over from the beach end, Dan [Vettori] had to bowl one to change me around. The plan was to continue with what we did yesterday, hang tough on our lengths and make life as hard as possible to both score and be out there.

My rhythm had come back to me last night and the warm-ups had gone well so I hit this spell with a good feeling. I started well, hit my areas and had that ‘snap’ in the delivery. The pitch really wasn’t helping us too much so it was going to be a case of us doing different things to create results. I use the crease a lot when pitches get flat or when there’s a lot of movement, for different reasons. On pitches like this I use the width of the crease to create different angles, going wide, maybe in the middle and then back to close to the stumps, in varying patterns. By doing this I can ‘explore’ different parts of the pitch to find out if there is anything there variable. Also by changing the angles it means my stock ball is different, but still the same, for it just starts from somewhere else.

I hadn’t used my slower ball much so far but set a field for it and gave it a run. First one Gautam Gambhir stroked through the off side for four, the second one, next ball we went up big for an lbw shout. I thought it was pretty good, the umpire didn’t. The plan worked, just couldn’t get the umpire to agree!

Gambhir batted well today, took his time with everything and scored a very good, be it slower than he normally would, hundred. He batted all day, something I’d love to do ... one day! Maybe this was the pitch I could have done it on.

I haven’t seen the replays, but from reading a couple of articles on the net it seems like Rahul Dravid was unlucky to be given out. We had toiled hard for a breakthrough and finally Dan got one that looked like it got some bat onto pad and off to Howza [Jamie How] at short leg. Dravid had been extremely patient, 62 off 220 balls, that kind of patience is what he’s built a career on. Great to watch from the best seat in the house, but we don’t mind if his next stay is a little shorter!

We toiled all day for that one wicket. Just 205 runs were scored in the 90 overs. We pushed hard and they absorbed what we offered. We beat the bat, got a few nicks that didn’t carry, a couple of inside edges that passed not too far from the stumps. It just wasn’t to be as good a day as we had yesterday with the ball.

We now head into day five, 62 runs in front needing eight wickets as quick as possible. It’ll just take one breakthrough, early, to maybe swing the game. One may bring two which then opens up the tail and from there, maybe, a great Test match win. We’ll be pushing hard again, don’t worry about that. Who knows, maybe something special tomorrow?

If yesterday was a near perfect day, then add that to today and together they combine to make the makings of a very special match. That is two amazing days in the sun.

As it sits, India are 267 behind with nine wickets in hand. We bowled them out 314 behind our score in the 94th over of the innings. I put that in a pretty straight forward way because it’s quite an amazing situation we find ourselves in.

After having our bums smacked in Hamilton, defeated by 10 wickets, we have turned it right around, on a very, very good batting track. We’ve given ourselves a chance to pull off a huge and special win. We’re not celebrating at all yet, but the thought is there and in the hard times that we will find ourselves in over the next couple of days, it will spur us on to go to the next level.

I didn’t have the best of days with the ball. For some reason I just didn’t have ‘it’ today. The rhythm wasn’t there, the snap on delivery wasn’t there (till later) and the result was consistency issues; I wasn’t terrible, but it just didn’t feel very good. My first spell today to Dravid and Tendulkar was not what I was after. First over a maiden the next went for eight; to straight and then to wide. And the majority of the rest of the day was similar. I couldn’t settle onto my normal lines and lengths and have a lot to thank the other bowlers for today. Martin was outstanding, Dan and Jeets (Patel) kept doing what they started the previous night and Franky (Franklin) hit great areas all day long. I felt like the weak link today, and that happens, sometime you just got to take a back seat and watch the others perform; I didn’t bowl in the 2nd session of the day because of it.

Jeets got the breakthrough for the day, Tendulkar on 49, looking to push one into the off side to bring up his 50, it takes the edge and Rossco (Taylor), at slip, takes a special catch. Jeets takes off on a celebratory run out to deep cover, I think he was happy! Thoroughly deserved and appropriately celebrated.

Jesse got the next breakthrough, his outstanding match continues. A short wide one and Dravid slashes, takes an edge and Baz (McCullum) completed a very good catch. I’d bowled plenty of those short wide ones today, and none of them even got close to the edge of the bat! The change bowler worked a treat and India were 246 for 5.

With the new ball taken and with Tommy (Martin) running hot we were treated to a special spell of fast new ball bowling. A seven over spell, taking three wickets for 29 runs turned our day dramatically. Tommy’s areas were great, asking questions with pace and a little movement with the new hard rock on the flat track.

I still wasn’t feeling great; I had the newish ball in hand and a couple of lower order batters to bowl at. What a great way to turn a day around. And then it all goes wrong, a bouncer that I didn’t bowl hard enough heads a long way over the boundary by Harbhajan, not the result I wanted. I thought I’d try him out again, this time making sure I got the bouncer up high, it worked and Tommy took a great catch at fine leg to give me my first wicket. The batters crossed and Khan was now on strike, hitting good areas was all I was telling myself. A little wide, this one, and he slashes at it, Jesse at gully, jumps and takes a screamer. India all out and we head back to the shed and then we’re all looking at each other; make them follow on or not, 314 behind, we have to, no other option really.

Tommy and I shared this new ball. These nothing quite like what a couple of wickets does for one’s confidence. All of a sudden things were feeling really good. With two wickets in two balls to close out the previous innings, I was on a hat-trick. The thing about being on a hat-trick is that you want to give yourself the best chance of taking a wicket. So fullish and straight was where I was going. Sehwag hits it back past me for four; oh that’s right, he don’t care, he’s hitting everything everywhere!

I had the snap and bounce I was searching for all day long, my areas were tight and lengths good. No wickets for me tonight, but another one for Jeets. Sehwag looking to score freely from ball one again and spin, again, was the key to the breakthrough.

So as we head into day four the team has a very good feel about it. We haven’t been in the field so long that the tiredness should affect us today. We have to hang tough to our plans and when we get it wrong get back to where we should be and let them make the mistakes. We have to keep our standards in the field and keep the energy up so that everyone can feed off it. One of the biggest days of cricket is just around the corner......

Is that a perfect day of Test cricket? If it’s not, it has to be so damn close. I have never clapped so much in one day’s play ever before; there was 50’s, 100’s, a 150 and a 200, not to mention partnerships and also the team score milestones. That’s a special day!

It was a batting warm up day, we love these. A quick non-contact game (we all want to play football but aren’t allowed), into stretches and then you go and do as you please. I headed off to do some catching work, and was terrible. From there I went and had a little bowl just to get the body moving and just in case the unthinkable happened and we had to bowl this morning after a collapse. I went and grabbed one of my Aero pads, my gloves and bat and had a good few hits before heading into the changing room to grab a coffee, a water, take the boots off and put the feet up for the morning to watch some bloody good cricket. What a treat we were given.

Jesse just kept on doing what he had done so well yesterday, the pace of his innings was something which belies his eight Test experience. Runs were not a problem for him, and if they were, he’d just wait for the next ball or the next over. Franky was equally as good, there was no pressure to score at any certain rate, just to hang in there, keep the good ones out and score of whatever else there was.

Franky got into the 50’s before Jesse called him through for a single that just might have not been there and was run out. It was a great partnership that blunted the new ball last night, got us through to this morning and again blunted the attack.

Jesse was then joined with his one-day opening partner, Baz. These two bat well together and have a very good relationship out there in the middle, no different today. It’s amazing how easy great players can make it look and these two just cruised along, picking up, it looked like, singles at will and boundaries when the ball presented itself.

It’s a very good feeling knowing two guys are in and you’re not needed for a while. A good feel around the viewing area, papers read, crosswords done, I got about four numbers into a suduko before I couldn’t get any further without guessing; I used to be good at these, I need more time watching the boys bat to get my skills back up!

It was very proud moment watching Jesse get close and then get to 200. I’ve spent a lot of time with him with the Wellington team and here with the Blackcaps. A great moment he won’t forget and one I felt privileged to watch.

Dan joined Baz after Jesse dragged the next ball after celebrating his double hundred. Again, these two bat very well together. Baz’s power and ability to score freely with Dan’s unorthodox scoring areas generally makes for a partnership that moves along quickly and is a good watch. These two worked the singles well and kept each other going.

At tea we had a chat, the plan was to bat the same way for the next ten overs and then have some fun for the following five. In this course we’d be taking the NZ score past 600 for just the third time in history. At the start of the day 500 was a long way off and would have been a great goal; the post moved with the quality of our batting today.

I got a quick bat, cut short a chance to maybe post a new high score on a deck that produced a lot of runs. Dan declared the innings closed – with me on one off one - when Jeets chipped one to midwicket. There were 24 overs left in the day. We had planned on just having 15 overs at them, meaning the new ball would still be newish in the morning, getting two bites at the cherry. It turns out that the declaration was genius.

Sehwag came out and played just like he did in the one-dayers. Amazing for a captain to come out and play with that much freedom. Dan brought himself on at a point where Sehwag was just getting away from us. It worked; six over wide mid-on off the fifth ball and out on the sixth. Sehwag tried to repeat the shot and just managed to toe it into Baz’s gloves. There was a collective weight off our shoulders and a pause to catch our breath seeing the back of him on this deck. It didn’t stop there. Jeets came on and drew a shot out of Gambhir, only to find Dan at mid-off and we’ve got two with the night watchman wandering out.

I had bowled three overs at this stage, nine off my first and then two maidens to follow. I had found my rhythm and Dan took me off and took over the bowling. I was disappointed to be taken off, especially with the chance to bowl to Sharma and maybe have them three down tonight. Not to worry, Dan picked up the wicket and we’ve got them three down; brilliant. Everything Dan touched today turned golden! Long may it continue!

And that was as good a day of Test cricket as I’ve ever been a part of. A team score past 600, and not having to bowl until the sixth session of the Test. I’ll take that every day of the week!

Now, I don’t mind days of Test cricket like these.

We got to Napier on Monday and trained on Tuesday. I had a look at the pitch on Tuesday morning and then, still two days out from the Test match, I was pretty keen for a bat on it. It’s always a road up here; it’s as close to Adelaide as you’re going to find in NZ. I had another look at the track on Wednesday and I still wanted to bat; so it was no surprise when Dan (Vettori) won the toss this morning and chose to bat first.

We were a little surprised when Sehwag was at the toss with Dan, MS (Dhoni) wasn’t playing; quick laugh at an overheard joke that he wasn’t playing because Craig McMillan (ICL) was in the commentary box.

We were 21 without loss after seven overs, not a bad start, and then it all went wrong for three overs. Sharma hit his lengths immaculately from ball one and picked up the first wicket. Mac (McIntosh) might have been a touch unlucky, given out caught behind; replays suggesting he didn’t get a touch on it. How, then, a little late on one, chopped it back onto his stumps and next ball from Khan, a short ball, and Guppy’s (Guptill) fended it to gully of his glove. Twenty three for 3 in the 11th, what a difference a couple of overs make and I can tell you that there was that uncomfortable feeling around the shed at the time.

Jesse joined Rossco (Taylor) out there and they did some special things together. They rewrote the record books with a partnership of 271 in 59.2 overs. That was the highest partnership for all wickets versus India and also the highest fourth-wicket partnership versus all teams. Amazing that Rossco and Jesse, in their 16th and 8th Tests respectively, could carve out something so special in a situation that desperately needed a partnership of note, to turn our day right around. It was 294 when Rossco departed with one of his trademark slog sweeps; we hadn’t seen it this innings till now, a top edge and a great catch right in front of where we were sitting ended his innings. Their partnership really gave us the chance to make it our day.

Jesse and Franky (Franklin) saw us through to stumps although the latter may have been a little lucky with one decision towards the end; you take the luck when you get it because it sure bites you in the bum at other times. There was one nervous Baz (McCullum) sitting next to me towards the end. “Just get through it Frank” we kept hearing.

So my day was spent on the couches in the viewing area, trying to stay warm as in the shade, with the little breeze that was around it was pretty cold; helping out with the crosswords that were being done, where I could; having a couple of coffees; eating sandwiches; just basically doing as little as possible so that I’ll be as fresh as possible for our turn out in the field.

Hopefully by the morning, my morning, someone will tick over the 1,000,000th view of this blog in my 69th entry. That’s a pretty scary number. Thank you all for reading and commenting!

A mate of mine has a couple of auctions running at the moment; proceeds will go towards the New Zealand softball team. Check it out; your hero’s captured on a cricket ball.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I hate losing! It doesn’t matter who to, how big, or if the writing was on the wall, I just hate losing.

We set India 39 in their second innings to win the Test. A 10 wicket hiding we were served. Outplayed in all departments meant that we weren’t even close.

Test cricket is hard; it’s supposed to be. It’s tough cricket for five consecutive days. It’s hard on the body and extremely hard on the mind, and that’s probably where we’ve let ourselves down. The concentration that is needed to perform for the periods of time that is needed in Test cricket takes its toll and is a tough skill to have, learn and posses. Only the best have it and only the best have that selfish streak that puts such a value on what you’re doing out in the middle that you going to go out there and do it yourself no matter how ugly you make it, you’re going to succeed.

I don’t think we showed enough selfishness. I don’t think we ‘gutsed’ it out for long enough, we didn’t show the fight and determination needed. Test cricket can make heroes, more than one-day cricket can. It’s your Test record that goes down in history and is spoken about when you’re finished; it’s our history that we’re creating, and some of us are not doing enough to be remembered for very long at the moment.

We had to bat out the day and bat into day five to save, or maybe set up something in this Test. We were bowled out soon after drinks in the last session, just 38 in front.

I was hoping for a very lazy day, feet up watching some genuine Test cricket batting. Not to be, I was padded up and out there just after drinks in the middle session. I joined Baz out there; the last time we batted together was in Adelaide in a similar situation and we put on 50 for the ninth wicket; of that 50 I got none, it was all him and a couple of extras. A 36-ball duck, the fifth-longest duck time-wise in Test cricket, but a partnership none the less.

We decided that the same strategy was the best way to play; Baz would take the majority of the strike leaving me with one or two balls at the end of the over to get through. It’s not a pretty way to play, and it’s tough mentally turning down runs for both of us, but it was a means to an ends at the time, and it worked. Together we put on 76 for the ninth wicket. I got 14 off 44 balls in the 100 minutes that I was out there and I was loving it. Every now and then we wouldn’t be able to get the single to get Baz on strike for the next over and I’d have to start on strike. This was probably better for me as it actually gave me a chance to score a couple of runs. It’s my job to not get out, but also to get Baz on strike for the majority of the over. So a couple of sweeps and pushes got me some runs and off strike.

Our ‘annoying’ partnership, that’s annoying for India, not us, was curtailed when I was given out caught in close off Harbhajan, his sixth for the innings. At the time I didn’t think I had hit it and when I got back to the changing room and watched the replay and Hot Spot, there was no visible sign of a nick but that’s the way it goes. I was a little disappointed as I needed just one more run to beat my previous best of 14 not out against South Africa, a somewhat shorter innings, just six balls that one was (0, 6, 4, 0, 4, 0).

On the flip side, earlier in my innings, I had come back for a second run to the bowlers end, a throw from long off right next to the stumps, bails off and it was close. I turned around to Baz and gave him the thumbs up; I thought I was in by about a ‘foot’. That was how it felt and I have now learnt that there is a big difference between feel and what the TV shows when it comes to run outs.

A really long wait meant that it was a whole lot closer than I thought. I was watching our viewing area for an initial feel from our boys as the TV replays would be playing up there, I was watching the Indian viewing area for the same thing. Signs coming from both areas were of one thumb up and one thumb down, nobody was sure. I got the benefit of the doubt there and maybe that was my luck done for the day.

Sitting around a losing changing room is not much fun and it’s not supposed to be. I packed up, sorted out washing from clean stuff, had some food and chatted to the physio about a programme for me over the next couple of days in regards to my side. It’s coming along good and I had a gym session this morning where I didn’t feel any discomfort, it feels like a bit of a bruise on the 11th rib, almost like it’s been banged against the top iliac crest (pelvis) in delivery, probably one of the bouncers I was trying to bowl in my last spell.

We travel to Napier tomorrow, a place that I have always liked and have, just recently, had some good success on the park.

Losing is easy, winning is hard, we have to be harder!

A tough day at the office is probably the best way to sum up today. We bowled India out just on tea this afternoon, although I was already off the park with ice on my side. I had walked off when they were eight down, with a niggle on my left side that was just starting to increase. I had already bowled a couple of overs with it and it wasn’t going away so I thought it best to get off and start some treatment before I did something really bad that would rule me out for the rest of the match and maybe the series.

So, I sit here, with an ice pack on my side, a curry in my tummy and a night of broken sleep ahead as I’ll be getting up every two hours to ice it; the joys of this game!

Today wasn’t too bad, that was until we let their tail wag and lost three before the end of the day. We had a chance to bowl India out for just under 200 in front, and in the context of the pitch, that wouldn’t have been such a bad effort; in saying that we gave away a few runs in ‘boundary balls’ that we need to clean up on. We need to keep the pressure on for longer periods of time.

I took the ball first thing this morning, one ball to bowl to finish off my over that we stopped in last night when bad light called halt to play. Not a bad ball, in the channel, left alone, felt okay. Good feeling; the body was a little tired from the heavy field and the overs from the day before. I spent a bit longer than normal bowling in warm-ups to get things a little looser around my body.

My first spell was okay. Nothing special, bowled a couple of maidens, bowled a couple of balls that released the pressure off the batters, one of those spells that could have been better. Tommy picked up Singh with a beauty, from round the wicket it pitched and just nipped back and hit the undefended off stump. There was the feeling that we could have that session we had been working towards, that session that turns the game. It wasn’t to be; MS and Sachin dug in and held us out till lunch.

Sachin, yesterday, wasn’t at his best. He got through to 70, but it wasn’t a knock you’d associate with him. A half chance off Dan early, French cuts past the stumps, plays and misses and some timing that I would have been happy with but maybe not him. And with all that, he still got 70. And that’s the class of the guy, even when he’s having a ‘not so good day’ he battles through it and does well. Today, though, the real Sachin was back; timing, balance and 160.

I came backfor my second spell, after Tommy had started up after lunch. MS and Sachin looking pretty well set. The only plan was to keep sticking to the plans. I bowled as hard as I could into the deck, trying to get as much bounce as I could and coming back to fuller balls, just looking for anything I could get.

After what seemed like an age, I got MS to slash one to Jesse at gully. He initially claimed it and then wasn’t sure. MS held his ground, umpires went upstairs and not out was the verdict; technology available, used in the right way and the right decision made. Just a couple of balls later, a short ball and a feather of a glove through to Baz, we got MS and a breakthrough.

A couple of overs and a few short ball later, I was trying to keep Sachin at the end he was at with a last ball of the over bouncer so Dan could bowl to Khan at the other end, and I got my second for the day. Sachin tried to ride it and nicked it through to Rosco at first slip, it went pretty slowly to him, and in that time there is always time to think the worst. Rosco was safe and India were eight down.

I had a couple more overs here and then had to leave the field. I was pretty keen to keep bowling and hunt for one, maybe two, more wickets, but common sense rules here. There’s still a second innings to bowl in and two more Test matches to try to win.

We’re three down overnight as we head into day four. Mac might have been unlucky to not have had his decision referred to the third umpire, as MS did, and was given out caught at first slip.

It’s going to be a tough road to try and win this one, but with the nature of the pitch, we certainly can bat and bat and bat, take some momentum into the next match and who knows, maybe give ourselves a chance to knock them over later in day five. Stranger things have happened.

And that’s why I love Test cricket. A tough day in the field and I feel fantastic; well not fantastic like on top of the world, but it’s great to be out there competing with some of the best in the world.

It wasn’t too long before I had the ball in hand today. I had bowled just the one over last night and I had felt great. I warmed up well today, the ball came out well and I was really looking forward to taking that feeling into the middle. I ran in for the first ball, and always with the first ball, I was worried about my front foot; that confidence doesn’t always come straight away. Front foot good but rhythm not the best; sometimes that’s the way and you know that feeling right away. I bowled a six-over spell here, it was ok, nothing flash, but not as good as I had hoped for. In this situation sometimes you just have to ‘suck it up’, accept the fact that it’s not perfect, pull back and just concentrate on doing what you can do to help the team out. I got through that spell without much damage to the scoreboard and was looking forward to my next one, where hopefully the rhythm would be back.

We did have a little piece of brilliance from Franky early in the first session. Gambhir called Sehwag through for a second, Franky picked up and hit with just over one stump to aim at. Sehwag, the guy who has been causing us so much grief was gone. Genius Franky, nice work!

That next spell didn’t come till after lunch and now I was feeling pretty good. First ball out was right about where I wanted it, next ball, not. This is something I’ve identified and it’s been the way since my first Test match. More often than not my first ball is good and my second is not. First ball to Ricky Ponting, my first ball in Test match cricket, length ball, just outside off. My second, leg stump half volley, luckily for me, fielded by CC at square leg. But that’s the way it’s been, it can only be a concentration thing. There are always things to work on!

Feeling good, and bowling to the plan, hanging tough, doing what I’m supposed to do, not trying things, just sticking to the plan, and it paid off. I had bowled three overs in a row at Dravid, a couple of maidens and one that cost a couple. Ball after ball trying to hit lengths that I wanted, and I snuck one through his defence. Top of off and the stump out of the ground, at first I wasn’t too sure to believe it, I was waiting for a ‘no ball’ call or something; nothing, it was all good. I enjoyed that moment, one happy boy. There was something funny that happened here too. Just before I started the over I said to Dan, at mid off, “Something’s going to happen this over.” I wasn’t sure if it was going to be something good or something bad, but I just thought something was going to happen. Dan did reply, “Good or bad??” Anyway, second ball, I got a wicket, I turn back to Dan and there was that little moment you just look for on the park!

The rest of my day was okay. The legs did start to get a bit heavy towards the end of the day, which is to be expected on this outfield that is a bit softer than some. The sand based outfield drains really well, but is softer than normal and this means you have to work harder to run and get around the ground.

Overall I was pretty happy with my bowling and instead of the crazy intensity of an ODI where good balls often go to the fence; good balls here are treated with respect. We held one of the best batting teams in the world to three runs an over on a pitch that was pretty placid pace wise and it certainly didn’t move around as much as it did on the first day.

We’ll head back out there tomorrow, stay strong to our plans and keep India’s lead to an absolute minimum. It just takes one good session to turn this game right on it’s head.

Sixty one for six before lunch and I’m sitting in the changing room contemplating putting my pads on; that’s not how I envisaged this morning going.

A look out of my window before heading down to breakfast, skies a blue and it looks good for a great day of cricket. Flick on the telly to watch the news and see the weather report, look like showers some stage today are on the menu; nothing strange there this summer. Good breakie with a relaxed Guppy, who’s debuting in this Test, posted yesterday’s blog and then off to the ground.

Pitch looks good, in fact, if we win the toss we’re going to bat first; which is what we ended up doing, but through losing the toss that is. I was pretty keen to get the ball in hand and bowl first, I always am though, I like to get out there and squash the nerves by getting into it. Not to be today, back in the shed, boots off, feet up and got set to watch an entertaining morning of Test match cricket.

Guppy and Mac were looking good early, Mac his typical watchful self and Guppy continuing the timing he’s had during the ODI series. The Indians bowled well and as the session went on, their lengths adjusting to the pitch, they got better and better, really making life tough for our boys. Not only tough but taking their wickets too. And at lunch I’m almost padded up. Not perfect.

Now, after lunch it was a different story. Jesse and Dan were out in the middle together, Millsy padded up, next in. Me after that partially padded up. And that was how we stayed for the whole session. At the start of the session, with us 61 for 6, the plan was to push and grit it through to 150, maybe 200. Jesse and Dan did an amazing job and heading into the third session the target had changed to 250, maybe 300. One record breaking partnership, two tons and the game changes, not necessarily back in our favour, but certainly a whole lot better prospect than being dismissed for around 150.

Jesse and Dan, together, broke the 7th wicket partnership record against India and both scored great 100’s. Dan’s third ton and Jesse’s first, a real special moment for him. This innings Jesse was outpaced by Dan, not often that Jesse’s strike rate is second to many and that fact makes it an even better hundred. When the going got difficult, he hung in there, fought it out and did something special on a track that tough.

Soon before Dan was dismissed with Millsy, Tommy (Martin), Flynny and myself sitting in the changing room, not daring to move as to maybe upset the ‘whole balance’ and let something bad happen out in the middle, the mood was pretty good and a little bit of banter was being thrown around. It’s tough to sit around waiting to bat, and for Millsy, who sat there with his pads on for about three hours, it was really tough. Unfortunately he got a beauty first up, so after waiting so long for a hit, with his new bat, no less, he was walking back and I was on my way out. Jesse was getting close to 100, I was facing a hat trick ball and I was just a little damn nervous about the whole thing. I got through that ball and the next two in the over. I scored eight while I was out there, trying my hardest to not get out. Runs didn’t matter, it was about getting Jesse through to his ton, and I couldn’t do it, in fact I did about the dumbest thing I’ve ever done on a cricket field, and I’ve done some dumb things. I walked past one from Harbhajan, my foot got stuck and I couldn’t make it back to my crease. Embarrassing, yes? I was trying to get to the pitch of the ball and push a single, get Jesse on strike and watch him score the last couple of runs he needed to tick over the ton. I felt so sick heading back to the changing room knowing that I had made such a bad mistake, I felt like throwing up while watching Tommy face out the five balls left in the over. I still feel bad about it now, but there is one positive side, Jesse made it and Tommy saved me from one of the worst feelings in the game. I owe Tommy a couple of red for that!

We got through seven overs in the field before time was up in the day. I just bowled the one, felt ok and got a little bounce; I’m looking forward to exploring that a bit more tomorrow. A very important day tomorrow, we have to get out there and bowl well, stick to our plans, use whatever there is in the track and make life really tough for the batsmen; nothing different there.

Test matches, I just love them. I am really excited heading into this series. We’ve had a couple of good days here in Hamilton building into this first one, training hard out on the park with our fielding drills and then into the nets going hard to prepare for the change from white ball back to red.

It’s not the just ball that changes but the whole attitude. There is a different atmosphere in the nets, a little more relaxed; probably because there aren’t as many balls pinging around like when we’re training for one-dayers and Twenty20s. And testament to that was during a net session for the fourth ODI, our new manager, David Currie, learnt a valuable lesson; never turn your back on the nets. He wore a tracer from the middle of Guppy’s [Martin Guptill] bat in the back. Ouch!

The different skills needed for Test cricket have been practiced hard; the temperament, the control and the ability to resist temptations both by batters and bowlers and, from what I’ve felt and seen, I have a good feel about heading into today.

A long training on Monday in the nets making sure that everyone got in what they wanted, everything they needed to be in the best space. I bowled about seven overs in the nets and worked on a slightly new grip on the ball which should help me swing it more than I have done in the past, or at least give me a better chance to swing it, and it felt pretty good, my areas were good, lengths good and the energy at the crease good.

It’s was a nice day to bowl, not too hot, but warm enough to keep warm in between bowling times. I had a long bat on Monday too. I have been putting in a lot of effort in making myself a better batter to the point where I was one of the last to leave the nets. I faced a couple of very handy net bowlers and then got the bowling machine cranked up for some short stuff. Unfortunately the surface wasn’t the best for what I was trying to do; from the same length it was bouncing from my hip to over my head, just to big a difference to be comfortable with. So I went and grabbed the tennis racquet and some hard tennis balls and got our fitness trainer to serve me up some bouncers. Good stupid fun trying to duck, dive and play these balls. They still hurt when they hit you, but they’re not going to break a bone or cause bigger injuries if they hit; although I do have a nice bruise on my right hip from one of the bowling machine balls …

Yesterdays training, the day before the Test starts, is a little lower key. It’s about making sure you have done what you have to, to be at your best going into this match. You do whatever you feel you need to do. We did some fielding first and then I headed over to the nets to get a bat in before the batters turned up and kicked me out. I had Jeets (Patel), a good young leggie (Jono Hickey) and one other quickie who I asked to bounce me every ball; he was quite awkward to play, really good for me in decision making! It was a good net and I got what I wanted out of it.

Batting gear off and got ready to bowl. I got through three overs in the net and then headed out to the middle to bowl three balls from each end on a practice wicket, next to the strip, just to get the feel of the ground again. I felt really good; pace, bounce and a little swing and kiss and I was back to the shed to put the feet up and rest.

There is a feeling going into this match that both teams could be doing some time out in the field, or grazing, as we call it. Both bowling attacks haven’t been as good as the other team’s batting line-up and so far it has, very much, been a bat-dominated series. The only hope is that the decks we get have some bounce and pace in them. We’re not looking for green seamers, but just something that we’ll be able to run in, bowl hard and get the returns that you sometimes don’t get from one-day wickets.

So sit back and enjoy the action, I just can’t wait to get out there!

It’s been a while, right... Well, here it is, here’s the last two of the five-match one-day series. Hamilton’s weather was like the rest of the country when the New Zealand cricket team arrived; showery! The rain has plagued us the whole summer but mostly in the one-day series.

We batted first and looked pretty good by getting through to 270 in 47. Another couple of good innings from Baz [McCullum] and Jesse [Ryder] at the top gave us a great start and we probably should have scored more from there, although it was a handy score and one we could defend; if we bowled well, that is, which is what we didn’t do again.

Kyle Mills was accurate and his figures in the storm that was Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir stood out at the top of the innings. My figures took a hammering, again. I still feel like I getting through my bowling pretty well, I’m just not quite getting the accuracy that was needed in this situation. The rain played a big part in the second innings. It cut down the Indians chase, not that they needed it cutting down.

With the rate of scoring these two were going at they could have chased down our total in just over 30 overs; it was a bit of carnage out there. In any case, we didn’t do ourselves any favours in the field, a couple of half chances that on another day may have stuck, didn’t. Another amazing display of hitting from Sehwag and good rotation of the strike by Gambhir gave us a ten-wicket loss. That hurt, no one likes losing, but to get a hiding is a different story.

We moved on to Auckland for the final match in the series and guess what, the rain followed us. Thankfully it stayed away once the match got underway.

We were out for warm-ups at normal time but the drizzle came in, the covers went on and we went off. The stands were already virtually full by this point, it was a sell-out up here, and it looked like the whole of the Indian community had come to watch the match. With the amazing attendance and noise, you just have to give a big ‘well done’ to the Auckland Indian community. The previous night Rossco [Taylor] and I had gone out to Syliva Park Mall to do a signing at the Canterbury store, our clothing brand. Two-thirds of the signatures were for Indian supporters. It is amazing the support they have given to cricket since ‘their’ team has been in town. We were even lucky enough to be offered a curry from the owner of the Spice Trader food court restaurants; he had popped in while we were signing autographs. Very generous man, and a very good curry, thanks! Oh and thanks to the guys at Canterbury. I’m loving my new Warriors shirt!

I had sent Dan [Vettori] a text in the morning, before we met for our team meeting, that I wanted to open the bowling. I really wanted to take the attack to the openers. I had a plan and thought the earlier I bowl the better it might go. It worked, kinda; wasn’t quite rewarded with the wicket(s) I was after but I did cause some problems, that was till my fourth over; which went for 20. I had the ball swinging back into Sehwag and was trying to swing it away from Gambhir. For some reason I just couldn’t get my lines right to the ‘lefty’ and bowled to many wides (well, one is too many). In my fourth over I was still trying to be aggressive with my lines and lengths, Sehwag came hard back and got the better of me in that over.

I then had to retreat to the boundary to, again, lick my wounds and put in every effort in the field. Jake [Oram] and Jesse came on to bowl and changed the game. Jake took two wickets early in his spell and then Jesse picked up three through the middle order. The game had changed and we were finally in front in an ODI; it had been a while. I came back on towards the end and picked up a couple of wickets quite cheaply to finish off the innings. I’ll take the wickets but really it was like painting over rust. They made my figures look okay, but there is still some work to do underneath, and I’ll get that work done. I’m looking forward to the next bout of limited-overs cricket that I get to play!

A chase of 150 and the mood is pretty buoyant in the shed. Baz was bowled early but that didn’t stop Jesse and Martin Guptill taking the attack fully to the Indian bowlers. Jesse was special today, everything just came out of the middle and he looked the class player we know he is; no slogging, just amazing cricket shots. Guppy got into the act too hitting, again, clean cricket shots, some with just beautiful timing. Rossco finished the job with Guppy once Ishant Sharma got his man. Jesse and Ishant had had a little run-in on the field; nothing to write about, but it was exciting viewing seeing two good players, go hard at each other for a period of time. One player was dominating the other and then, in time, the other getting his own back.

	I really wanted to take the attack to the openers. I had a plan and thought the earlier I bowl the better it might go © Getty Images

It felt good getting one game back in the series, sure it was a little hollow wining a ‘dead rubber’, but they still need wining. A couple of beers and wines in the changing room, I got one of Ishant’s shirts signed up for an auction for the NZ Foundation of the Blind which will go up in a couple of days and then back to the hotel for a couple more reds.

I meet up with Mikee and Nick from Autozamm (these two wonderful guys had passed on some signed Autozamm albums for me to pass onto the guys, and we’re enjoying them, thanks heaps) a bit later in a bar and meet some of their wonderful friends. I had a great time catching up with these two and meeting the others. I was amazed at how many people I meet had either read or heard of my blog. It’s still a little weird that so many people read it. So, hi to Charlotte (C4), Tamara, Brian (about every good NZ band) and Juliet (Satellite), thanks for a great night! And to you Bridges (Z, C4... etc....), yes I know you’re reading.

We’re now in back in Hamilton, the rain has stayed away, preparing for the three test series. I’m really excited about this upcoming series. But you’ll hear enough about that over the next few weeks.

I will apologise for not getting this out earlier, it’s been a pretty tough schedule with play, travel and getting enough recovery time to sit and basically just let the brain rest has been hard. It’s not harder to sit down and do these when we lose, quite the opposite really. But I can assure you I’d rather go down the harder route and write about wins.

Wow, last night was fun, if you were in the crowd that is; that’s value for money for the paying public!

Unfortunately I was dropped for this match, or fortunate if I were to believe some texts from friends; fortunate not to be a part of the exhibition of batting and the onslaught the Indians brought to the ground yesterday. I don’t feel fortunate at all. I was gutted to be dropped, it hurt a lot. I understood but it still doesn’t sit well when you’re sitting on the side line wishing to have an effect on the match. The match would have been different if I had played, no matter how you look at it. It might have been my day and things might have gone my way, maybe doing something special, or not, I could have had a really bad day and we got beaten by more. But either way I’d have preferred to have had the opportunity to have been a part of that match.

I hadn’t bowled as well as I had hoped, or as well as I can, in the previous two one-dayers (Napier and Wellington) and that was the reason I was passed over. I had missed too often to Sehwag and he had hurt me (42 runs from the 21 balls I had bowled to him in the two ODI’s). After the Wellington match I had a pretty bad night (and half of the next day), the night (and day) when the demons come out and play with my head; like they sometimes do after efforts that haven’t been good enough. Add to that a couple of personal things going on and my head space didn’t make for a great place to be. But this is the test, how I deal with this stuff and bounce back.

Wellington’s ODI I was looking forward to. Just the second time I would get to play at the stadium in front of a noisy home crowd for NZ. I was buzzing. I had bowled as well as I had ever done the day before in the nets, hit my lines and lengths virtually perfect to the plans we’ve set out; and this is one of the reasons I was so disappointed after the match.

I had the opportunity to watch some highlights (mostly lowlights for me) on the TV when we got to the hotel in Christchurch after the match as well as spending time ‘inside my head’; I noticed something that originally I had been very happy with. I’m not going to mention it yet but I feel that my consistency, accuracy and my ability to stick to a plan, my strength up until now, had been affected by one thing. And it’s something I have been doing in training but not taking with me into a match. It’s possibly the one thing that has held me back more often in my career than anything else. I went to our bowling coach for a chat straight away. It was from here I was able to escape the dark times and demons in my head. A positive chat and quick look over some analysis information from the T20’s and ODI’s previous and I felt normal again and ready for the next day’s match. I wasn’t to play though.

My bowling in Wellington wasn’t great, although if you take out the stats to Sehwag, I wasn’t too bad. He’s just hitting the ball so well at the moment, playing with no fear and it’s coming off. In my first over he slashed at two deliveries that flew either side of Jake, at point; had one of them gone to hand, things might have been different. Unfortunately I bowled too many balls in areas that we have basically declared ‘no go zones’. After a couple of rain breaks, which were forecast, I bowled one more over, in the batting Powerplay. This wasn’t my best work but I did pick up a wicket, a small chance to celebrate, although the ball I got the wicket with wasn’t one of the better balls I had bowled. I’ll take it though and on days like that, you got to!

So, yesterdays match. As I said, wow! For the first time in a long time we were without Dan; he had a wife, and now baby, he HAD to be with. Congrats mate! That meant that Baz would be captain. And as any captain worth his salt does, he won the toss.

Sachin was special yesterday and it was only an injury that halted him in a charge for 200, individually. That’s a pretty scary thing to think about; one player scoring that many runs in an ODI. Again though, the thing we take from it is that we didn’t bowl very well to him or the others. It was not a 390 pitch or ground; it was more like a 320 pitch and ground. The boundaries are very short in places and are very difficult to defend on a good day, let alone yesterday. It was good, though, to see the sun shine and the D-L sheets stay in pockets.

After so many fireworks it just got better for the crowd. Jesse and Baz opened up the innings, and really opened up. Jesse’s hundred, on any other day, would have been a match-winning knock. This was his first ODI ton and against a very good bowling attack, in a chase that was going to need some special things to happen, he really showed how much he’s learning about his game and sticking to his strengths. Baz’s knock was another display of how much he has moved on as an opener; boundaries and then singles to get the ‘on fire’ Jesse back on strike. Unfortunately we just couldn’t keep the run-rate up without losing wickets; that was going to be the problem in a monster run chase.

With Millsy and Timmy at the crease the chase was virtually gone, although with nothing to lose, they swung and swung hard. Millsy hit his first ODI 50 in brilliant display of hitting and, with Timmy, they put on 83 in about 7 overs. At one stage there was a thought going through the ‘shed’ that this was possible if things kept working in our favour. I was sent out with a message to tell them to ‘just keep swinging’, basically take any thought of being fancy and actually ‘trying’ to win it as opposed to ‘if it happens, it happens, keep playing with no fear.’ That was all good until Munaf Patel got taken off for two deliveries above the waist and was replaced with Pathan; the change of pace meant the boys had to play slightly differently, and with that change, Millsy was dismissed. Tim was then dismissed in the next over and game over; a chase too big but one that was entertaining and where four of the lads hit new high scores.

Now, in Hamilton, a curry for tea, a good nights sleep and off to the nets tomorrow to keep working on being better …

I know you’ve become used to my reasonable level of quickness to get these blogs written and posted; sometimes though it’s just not possible.

I just have not had the time to get anything down since the last game in Wellington. I will though, of course, cover it off in my next post after this third match in Christchurch. Sometimes life just gets in the way of a good story, and at the moment there are a couple of things that have to take precedent over getting the blog done. No apologies, it just hasn’t been possible.

We got pumped yesterday, we weren’t good enough and we felt the full strength and abilities of the Indian team. (Read on...and right at the bottom, there's a chance to bid for a couple of auctioned shirts.)

Dan lost the toss (yeah, we were quite surprised too) and we were asked to bowl first; with rain forecast for later in the day it wasn’t the worst thing to be batting second knowing what you need when disruptions and recalculations happen. It just so happens that we let them score too many runs that when the recalculations happened, the task in front of us was a pretty steep mountain to climb.

We bowled well below par yesterday. The plans that we had kept to in the two Twenty20s worked; yesterday we didn’t stick to those plans enough and gave destructive batsmen deliveries in their areas, not ours. Our plans are right, we reviewed yesterday’s game and plans, extensively, this morning with the aid of the ‘Hawk Eye’ data that showed us that when we were in the right areas the scoring was limited and when we missed, we got pumped.

There are some positives that come from last night’s hiding though. We bowled poorly and India pumped up. How is that a positive? Well, had we bowled well and got thrashed then where would we have to go? It would have required a drastic rethink. And when we did get it right we did cut their scoring shots and reduce their scoring abilities.

I felt good last night, at times, and then at other times I just couldn’t get it to the right spots when I needed to. My first over was a maiden, it wasn’t quite right, but I’ll take that first up. My run up felt smooth and it was feeling easy at the crease. I didn’t have to try too hard to let it go, the rhythm was good...which annoys me even more as I didn’t bowl well enough consistently enough.

We came off for rain and were off for quite a while, reducing the overs back to 38 for each innings. Now we really needed to come out and bowl well. Not to be! We had got through 4.3 overs before the break. It’s always the way when you take your boots off the rain clears up, but you want to keep them on so that you’re ready to get back out there as soon as possible. This was the case last night. I had kept my boots on for quite a while and went and changed into my trainers while there was a heavy shower coming down. As soon as I came back out the rain stopped. I should have just kept my boots on and the rain might have stayed and saved us a thumping!

Soon after we came back out I bowled to Sachin, he dropped to about silly mid-on and I ran through to effect a run-out. This is where things get interesting. I clipped Sehwag’s leg on the way though and tripped him up - face first into the deck. I picked up the ball and threw it at the stumps not knowing he had ended up in a crumpled mess on the floor; I thought I had just clipped him and he had kept on running. If my throw had hit I know for certain that we would have not pursued the appeal. The next ball got smashed back over my head very hard indeed. At the end of the over I went to Sehwag and gave him a pat on the back, no hard feeling pal!

At drinks, while we were fielding, a message came out to us that the Sri Lankan team’s bus had been bombed and shot at. We heard that there were injuries, and some serious, but to who was unknown. It felt weird at that point, a little like it was in Australia when the bushfires were killing families there. We’re out here playing a game we love and so many people are hurting and it’s not their fault. I had to concentrate really hard on the game from this point on not letting too many thoughts about the Sri Lankans float around.

In August we had a training camp back in NZ which I had travelled to from the UK to attend. This camp was in preparation for the Champions Trophy that was to be held in Pakistan. During this camp a team from the ICC held an ‘it’ll be safe over there, you’ll get amazing security’ presentation. Even the then Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson came with the ICC group to assure us of the safety. After we had pounded the ICC group with questions and scenarios, we were given guarantees that ‘cricket’ would never be the target! How could you ever make guarantees like that? We were accused of pontificating, when in reality we were just stating our fears. Yes, from safe little ol’ NZ, but that’s just what they were.

Back to last night’s game, huh! We were set 278 after the score was adjusted because of the break in the innings. The opening Indian bowlers did what we didn’t do. They bowled great lines and lengths and in the evening air got the ball to swing. They tied down our openers until they both fell trying to break the shackles; on other grounds in NZ, Baz [Brendon McCullum] would have had a six but not here in Napier with its long straight boundaries. A couple of medium-sized partnerships followed with Gupy, Rossco and TS, and then it started to rain again. In the rush to get as many runs before the rains set in TS was run out by a good throw from the boundary and as the third umpire was making his decision the covers were brought back onto the field. This interruption left us needing 15s for the eight overs - a tough ask. It meant we needed, almost, to go from the first ball bowled. Either way there was going to be fireworks, runs or wickets. Unfortunately it was wickets. This meant I got my first bat in ODI cricket. I joined Dan and we decided on a simple plan “see the ball, hit the ball”; I, of course, tried but without too much success. I did get a message from a mate today saying I played every shot in the book. Yeah I might have, just didn’t quite come off!

Dan then decided that our goal was to not give Harbhajan four wickets for the innings. Er, sure thing mate, but maybe it's a little easier said than done! We both ended up not out but there were no celebrations, hugs and high fives as we ran through for the run because we were not anywhere near where the target.

Back in Wellington and I’ve just got back in from the worst meal I have ever paid for. It’s fair to say I won’t be going back there! I have a radio interview at 7.50am in the morning; there goes the big sleep-in. Training tomorrow afternoon and then off to meet the prime minister. Then, Friday, the second ODI from the Cake Tin, and here’s hoping for a slightly better-behaved crowd. Just don’t throw stuff guys, it doesn’t help anyone.

Auction
I support the New Zealand Foundation of the Blind as a charity; I’ve got two auctions going from now that the Foundation will prosper from, so please bid and bid large. One is my signed shirt from this Twenty20 series and the other auction is Brendon McCullum’s Man of the Match medal from last week’s match winning knock. Brendon will sign the back of it before I send it and I will send a photo with it of McCullum signing it as proof of authenticity.