While teammates celebrated wildly, New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham decided just to sit with his arms crossed and a calm, almost indifferent, expression in a photograph from Wednesday’s T20 World Cup semi-final against England in Abu Dhabi. Neesham later said that he didn’t celebrate wildly because he feels that the job is not done yet for New Zealand.
Jimmy Neesham re-tweeted the viral photo with the caption: “Job finished? I don’t think so.” He then shared a video of basketball great Kobe Bryant midway through the 2009 NBA Finals, at which point his team, Los Angeles Lakers, had taken a 2-0 lead. In the video, Bryant was heard saying, “What’s there to be happy about? Job’s not finished. Job finished? I don’t think so.”
Job finished? I don’t think so. https://t.co/uBCLLUuf6B
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) November 10, 2021
(2009) Kobe Bryant after he's asked why he's not smiling being up 2-0 in the NBA Finals:
Kobe: "What's there to be happy about?"
Reporter: "You're up 2-0."
Kobe: "Job's not finished." pic.twitter.com/zNu7D6Ikdi
— Timeless Sports (@timelesssports_) June 3, 2018
Photos on social media posted by those in the Sheikh Zayed Stadium showed that Jimmy Neesham still sitting on the sidelines long after players and officials walked off the turf.
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New Zealand will be locking horns with the winner of the second semi-final game between Australia and Pakistan in the final of the T20 World Cup 2021 on Sunday. New Zealand has a chance at doing a double of the World Test Championship and T20 World Cup titles if they win on Sunday.
They had lost the 2019 World Cup final on a technicality to England, whom they vanquished in Wednesday’s semi-final, four years after being well-beaten by Australia in the World Cup 2015 final.
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After losing the 2019 final on boundary-count, the since abandoned method of determining the champion after a tied “Super Over”, Jimmy Neesham captured New Zealand’s 2019 heartbreak on Twitter, saying: “Kids, don’t take up sport. Take up baking or something. Die at 60 really fat and happy.”
