00:10 NZT Fri 17th

My inner nerd (the plane spotter referred to below) has been more than satisfied by 24 hours in the air flying 12,000 odd miles. Nothing but praise for Air New Zealand though – excellent service, decent vegetarian nosh and aircraft with non-falling-off wings. LHR – LAX was blissful; a half-full 744 that had been refitted with new seats and IFE. Transit was painless enough and within a couple of hours I was boarding NZ019 for the 13.5 hours trans-Pac down to Christchurch. I was squeezed between Mr and Mrs Retired Oklahoma and a California lawyer on a plane which still had the tired old interior and no IFE. Too uncomfortable to sleep but no entertainment either. Conversation was the winner but it was a relief to touch down shortly before dawn and set foot in the Southern Hemisphere for the first time.

Not being able to check in till 2 I took my time to get out of the airport. True to form I couldn’t even face putting a taxi on expenses and took the public bus. The suburbs of Christchurch are quite charming to drive through, probably even more so if you’re from Oklahoma. You can see why people make comparisons between England and Christchurch; it’s as though Christchurch is the new and improved version, with added flowers, space and sunshine. The street layout is somewhere between England and America but there were lots of school kids in stripy ties and shorts or straw hats to play up the Blighty overtones.

Overall Christchurch is charming. The physical urban layout, with the great open space of Hagley Park to the West, is compact and nice – it reminds me a little of Austin or Savannah in that it’s a small, relaxed and self-consciously pretty city (fit but you know it) that beguiles the outsider, especially one who grinds through London life. Tomorrow morning I’ll go for a long run and really see the rest of it.

I flaked out not long after unpacking and nearly missed the Twenty20 International between NZ and West Indies, which would have been slightly unprofessional of me since I am here on business. In fact I was still in a daze whilst the Windies batted poorly and only a late flurry got them to 126. It couldn’t possibly be enough on a fair drop-in wicket with irregular and short boundaries.

Of course I found myself laying stupidly short odds on New Zealand chasing. I must have a time advantage over the market because even after Fleming was dismissed I could lay 20k at 1.04. I took enough of it and my net position was -540 NZ +14300 WI.

Things went my way when the slower WI bowling came on. In fact they went so well (donking Kiwi joy) that come the last over New Zealand need 16 from 6 balls. A little further meddling had made my position and liability larger but I definitely had the right side of the probabilistic pricing skirmish and the book stood at -2400 NZ or +18000 WI.

I put up some action on New Zealand to close my liability but nothing at a price which I would consider value. The market was relatively thin and since New Zealand had been 1.01 in running there were small traders dying to close their positions. They were offering bigger prices and giving away some value in the hedge. That’s not the way we trade, although of course the hindsight bias (why didn’t I do that) kicked in quite badly when the second ball soared over long off and into row T for six. I really ought to have taken them on but I was rather excited and not thinking clearly.

A couple more easy runs in the over (details irrelevant) brought us to the following pretty pass. New Zealand needed six to win from the last two balls. The capable James Franklin misses a ball fired into the pads and scores a leg bye. Relative bunny tailender Shane Bond needs to hit a six to win from the last ball (or paste a no-ball for four) and four to tie. This last scenario renders all match odds bets void. Hedging traders complain about this because they aim to work themselves into positions where they win small on both sides and would prefer the market settled on who has lost fewer wickets. However the Indians void all bets if matches are tied and since they do drive the cricket betting markets Betfair dances to their tune.

Dot ball, one, two or three to win. Please no boundaries or comic West Indian fielding fuck-ups. Come on Bradshaw. You can do it. Fullish length, base of leg stump would be so sweet. You da man, Ian. Use the Force...

For the record the ball passed over the cover boundary on the first hop. My dream start to the trip (nearly paying for it four times over on the first try) was crushed. Displaying hitherto unsuspected batting ability Bond backed away and crunched a length, straight ball. Just watched the replay. Tie, tie, super tie.