Sri Lanka's Tour To New Zealand (Dec-Jan)

PokerAce

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Wow ha, unfortunately it seems many of you here (IND fans) are still holding feelings over the Nagpur test being called a poor & it perpetuating humourous delusions about this pitch being poor. :lol

I have watched majority of this test and it blatantly obvious that the surface has played much much better than the very green tinge in the wicket has made it look. I spoke to prominent media who in in Hamilton & this is what he said:

"It's not as bad as it looks. Nagpur pitch was definitely worse than this one.

I love rank turners, but within reason."



Anyone watching this test and drawing any correlation with Nagpur is in a dream world. :facepalm @Chewie

Did you try telling that to Jerome Jayaratne?

Btw of course this pitch seems fine to those outside Asia, and why not, it doesn't help spin one bit? Any pitch that doesn't help spin is 'fine', even this green garden ... thats the whole point.

I have no issues with this pitch per se, of course NZ should prepare whatever pitch they think best, but to say that that green pitch, 'doctored' according to the SL head coach is a shining example of fair pitches is clearly wrong.

Anyone will tell you that the whole point of leaving grass on a wicket is to assist seam movement after pitching, the more the grass the more the help, hence this pitch is easily an extreme version of that. If the bowlers havent bowled the right areas (something that Trent Boult admitted they didn't do), it doesn't make the pitch a batting paradise. Just imagine if at Nagpur, the spinners had bowled long hops and gotten smashed around, would that have made the pitch better. That the spinner bowled the right areas, almost ruthlessly so doesn't make the pitch any worse, just as poor bowling on this wicket by Boult's own admission, doesn't make this wicket any better.

A pitch is what it is, and how the bowlers bowl not it doesnt change anything. That green pitch is definitely on the extreme side, no matter how much you try to hide behind the poor bowling on the wicket.

Pitches outside Asia get away with a lot, including under-prepared wickets as happened during Ind Tour to NZ in 2002/03. Even Fleming admitted one of the pitches was underprepared. (@grkrama already posted a link to it in Ind-SA thread).

There is no point in trying to say that we are seeing it from an Indian fans' view.

As an Indian cricket fan All the complaining and moaning about the Nagpur pitches means little to me. SA and indeed anyone, are welcome to come to India, moan and cry about the pitches, put up a gutless show, get walloped, and then leave. The more the merrier, infact.

However as a cricket fan, I do find a clear disparity in how pitches inside Asia and those outside Asia are percieved. Forget the debate on pitches that help spin vs wickets that help pace, even Flat Asian wickets get all kinds of abuse (UAE 1st test), but runs on flat wickets outside Asia are revered (Perth).
 
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MUFC1987

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I think the problem is that you're looking at this as too black and white. You're looking at a pitch which helps pace bowlers in the same terms as a pitch which produces extreme turn. No one has any problem with pitches that turn from the start (I think that's what England got in India last tour). The problem is the pitches that are extreme. The problem with a pitch that spins a lot from the start is that it's doing it because the surface is breaking up. That makes it pretty much impossible for a batsman, because no one has a clue what the ball will do. A club cricketer spinner could toss up a few slow deliveries and make a World Class batsman look awful. I'd compare that to surfaces which offer variable bounce from the word go. You don't want a pitch that you don't know what is going to happen, with one coming at ankle height and the next at head height, again because it's almost impossible for a batsman to play on.

But for me, if pitches end up with a lot of turn or variable bounce on Day 5, then at least both teams have had a chance to score on the pitch when it was better before that. It's a tricky balance for sure.

I didn't see that India/South Africa test, so I don't know what the pitch was like, but an extreme pitch either way, is not the same as a pitch that offers help to a certain type of bowler.
 

Markkkkk

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how was that? Nope, just turned all its way to first slip! Watling was sucked into an expansive cover drive, but the ball dips, hits the footmarks and turns wildly past the wicketkeeper and to Mathews at first slip!

Commentary from the New Zealand game...
 

Jay Sharma

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Lasith Malinga has been ruled out of Sri Lanka's ODI and T20 series in New Zealand due to knee injury .
 

bigred

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Is Adam Milne ready to play test cricket. I felt that a real quick bowler was the difference between Australia and NZ in the recent series. Although NZ have some quality bowlers, it's all a bit one paced.

Also, I saw Matt Henry make his debut about a year ago and was seriously impressed. I was disappointed when he came to England as I don't think he showed off his talent and ended up being dropped. The signs are now that he's back to his best. He'll end up with 300 test wickets I reckon. Looks proper quality.
 

Abhil

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Is Adam Milne ready to play test cricket. I felt that a real quick bowler was the difference between Australia and NZ in the recent series. Although NZ have some quality bowlers, it's all a bit one paced.

Also, I saw Matt Henry make his debut about a year ago and was seriously impressed. I was disappointed when he came to England as I don't think he showed off his talent and ended up being dropped. The signs are now that he's back to his best. He'll end up with 300 test wickets I reckon. Looks proper quality.
Adam Mile is very quick.
 

bigred

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This is amazing hitting by Guptill. Has to break the world record for fastest ever 50 here.

My word Sri Lanka are bad.
 

Chewie

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Is Adam Milne ready to play test cricket. I felt that a real quick bowler was the difference between Australia and NZ in the recent series. Although NZ have some quality bowlers, it's all a bit one paced.

Also, I saw Matt Henry make his debut about a year ago and was seriously impressed. I was disappointed when he came to England as I don't think he showed off his talent and ended up being dropped. The signs are now that he's back to his best. He'll end up with 300 test wickets I reckon. Looks proper quality.

He can't last a full five days, he needs to play more FC cricket and get through the whole match bowling a decent amount first
 

AliB

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Guys, just imagine if Baz would've opened with Guptill and had played those remaining balls then I fear the target would've been chased in less than 7 overs...
 

Ohm

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Bae: come over
Martin: I can't, I'm chasing 117 against Sri Lanka
Bae: My parents aren't home
Martin: Say no more
-
NZ wins with 250 balls left.
 
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