India vs New Zealand: Tim Seifert's match-winning innings underlines the importance of making most of small chances

It’s amazing how influential a small moment can be in a game of cricket. The third ball of the match by Bhuvneshwar Kumar was slightly back of a length, and slightly slower than the previous deliveries. Tim Seifert mistimed his shot, and it looped up in the air, but fell safely, just wide of the man at short cover. If that had gone three metres to the right, Seifert would have been dismissed for a three-ball duck and his average would have dropped to six. But it wasn’t three metres to the right. [caption id=“attachment_6039411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Tim Seifert’s explosive innings laid the foundation of a giant Kiwi total. AP[/caption] Seifert is one of a group of young keeper-batsmen in New Zealand who have all been pushing for higher honours since the retirement of Luke Ronchi. Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips, Dane Cleaver, and Cam Fletcher have all been talked up as potential options for the Blackcaps gloveman. In 2017, the New Zealand A squad featured Blundell, Phillips, and Seifert, in an effective trial. Of the three of them, the player that was getting the most attention was Glenn Phillips. He scored a century in all three formats in his first year of professional cricket. He had also been one of the top scorers in both the New Zealand Super Smash T20 league and the Caribbean Premier League. Kumar Sangakkara, a teammate at Jamaica Tallawahs, described Phillips as one of the most promising young players in the world. However, when he was given an opportunity at the international level, he struggled and his stocks began to fall. Blundell was also given a chance, but his more sedate batting looked out of place in T20 cricket. So, it had come to be Seifert’s turn. In the fourth over, Seifert took a big swing at a ball outside off stump, but it just slipped past the edge. Next, he mishit a ball, and it just cleared the outfield. A small touch on the first, or the second ball being one metre lower, and Seifert would have been out for 12. His average would have been 7.71. But he didn’t get a touch to the first one, and the second one wasn’t one metre lower. It’s amazing how influential a small moment can be in a game of cricket. Seifert had a decision to make early on in his sporting career. He was a gifted cricketer and hockey player. He managed the impressive feat of scoring 25 goals in 14 matches of senior hockey when he was only 15. He also scored a scarcely believable 2268 runs in intermediate cricket, and had already scored a century in First XI cricket in his first year of high school. It was clear that he was a capable sportsman. He decided to go with cricket, but the lure of potentially being able to play hockey at the Olympics was very tempting. In the fifth over, Krunal Pandya bowled a ball that didn’t turn as much as Seifert expected, and as a result, took the inside edge of the bat. It got enough of an edge that the ball squirted down to fine-leg and Seifert ran a single. If that ball has turned just a little bit less, the edge would have carried the ball onto the stumps. Seifert would have been out for 23. His average would have been 9.29. But he didn’t hit it onto his stumps. It’s amazing how influential a small moment can be in a game of cricket. In the Sri Lanka series at the start of this season, Seifert was given the chance to be the only wicketkeeper in the ODI squad, as Tom Latham was rested. In the first game, he put down two chances, and looked very shaky with the bat. After the first match against Sri Lanka, quite a few pundits posited that he had possibly played his way out of World Cup contention. Henry Nicholls was given the word by the selectors to start practicing his keeping. In the second match, Seifert’s third ball from Nuwan Pradeep was a cutter, and Seifert didn’t read it at all. The ball moved enough to miss both the outside edge and the stumps. A little less movement, and he would have been out. Instead he went on to be involved in two large, quick partnerships to help New Zealand get through to 319, when 295 was looking like a realistic score. Sri Lanka managed 298 in reply, and New Zealand won. It’s amazing how influential a small moment can be in a game of cricket. In the sixth over, Seifert latched onto a poor ball from Hardik Pandya and hit it just over the head of the man at short fine leg. 30 centimetres lower, and he would have been caught. His score would have been 24 and he would have ended up with an average of 9.43. But it wasn’t 30 centimetres lower. It’s indeed amazing how influential a small moment can be in a game of cricket. He survived the early chances, and went on to score 84 (43). That’s more runs off less balls than India’s top two scorers combined. Getting through those early chances allowed him to start to grow in confidence. At the start it looked like he would struggle to hit a football with a tennis racket. Eventually he looked like he could hit a squash ball with a toothpick. The confidence from batting so well seemed to also improve his wicketkeeping. His footwork was still not perfect, but he did not look like the same ‘keeper who played against Sri Lanka. He took two difficult chances, and was very tidy overall. Seifert was probably not intended to be opening the batting in this match. But then, Martin Guptill was out with a sore back, and a space opened up. He now has his name in lights as an important piece of the World Cup squad puzzle. A viable opening option, and also a back-up keeper, Seifert has made himself valuable, and possibly all because Guptill had a sore back. If Guptill had been declared fit, Seifert would have batted down the order, and probably wouldn’t have been seen as a potential world cup opening cover. But Guptill was not declared fit. It’s amazing how influential a small moment can be in a cricket career.