New Zealand in South Africa

[Will_NA]

Bond

Even though he can't stay fit for longer than 5 seconds.

 

[irottev]

He stayed fit all last season, the season where we hardly played any cricket, this is his first injury for ages.

Our bowling line up when fit is actually really impressive,

Bond
Martin
Franklin
Oram
Vettori

Mills as backup.

Unfortunately, 4 of those 6 are injured. Martin looks like an International Bowler, the rest look easy to hit, not threatening at all.

Battingwise, Fleming, Taylor and Vincent have been promising and looked confident but havn't gone on, we lost Oram through injury and now Cumming who both just found form and started to look good. Nothing has gone right really. When things are already going bad and you arn't playing well, you really don't need things to get any worse.

Also this pitch hasn't been very consistent. Seems 2 paced and has different bounce. It's a bit dangerous, maybe that is some reason Cumming got hit so bad. He played it far too late. you saw at the start of the second day a few balls bouncing short or on a good length and pass the batsman 15 cm above the ground. Unfortunately our bowlers didn't exploit the conditions like SA will and partially did, though we batted on the best of the pitch and still failed miserably.

The gulf between the teams is Kallis. I think he is making our side look worse then it is. He is easily the best all-rounder in the world. Steyn is the other, At least our bowling was up to the same level before Bond got injured, it's finding a Kallis which is a problem for us.

I think Bracewell needs to go. I didn't previously have a problem with him and felt it would be harsh to drop him after having a few good years in the ODIs, however, he just proved that he's not fit to coach the test side. They are way too under cooked. Every aspect hasn't been up to scratch and I think it's time to bring in John Wright.

 

[Leicester Fox]

I wouldn't say really impressive. Bond yes he's class and I reckon if he was fit he could have been one of the best fast bowlers ever, but he's not fit. martin averages 35, nothing special. Franklin is a good bowler but he's not exactly a world beater. Oram is another that averages 35 which once again is nothing special and Vettori is a good enough bowler but he's another one thataverages 35 in the longer form. These reords might improve if they get a chance to play more cricket but by test match standards there not that impressive. Then the current bunch are even worse so when it comes to bowling theres a lot of work to do before they can think about beating sides like South Africa. The batting is ok but Fleming aside it's not exactly full of match winners or people who you feel can consistently make centurys. It's harsh to judge the test side given the little cricket they play however.

 

[irottev]

Our side's averages are irrelevant. Everyone's is average/bad in both forms of the game. Sure, we're a poor test side, but we are still one of the best ODI sides there is. But if you want to ply that game, lets use

Bond, Franklin, Mills, Oram and Vettori. 3 bowlers who average in the 20's and 2 in the low 30's (they average 35, but more like 32 in the last few years). Seems pretty decent to me.

When I say impressive, i'm talking from my point of view. This country has 4 million people. That's pretty impressive considering the player pool we have.

Our batting is what lets us down. It's not OK at all.

I want to see Vincent bowling a little tonight. e hasn't been used much and I think he's a capable part timer based on his county cricket this year.

 

[Leicester Fox]

No my opinion is valid, I've watched all of this test so far and highlights of the last test as well asa few hours of it. So yes I have watched your side. I called them ok. I never said they were good but in players like Taylor they have talented cricketers although he looks a little inexperienced. It doesn't help that they've come up against a birlliantly in form Steyn and some other quality bowlers. The openers, ok their not good enough but Cummings showed some promise before getting hurt and you were in control after the first session, just then they decided to push the self-destruct button. Most of the side average in the 30's which is ok, just you need a couple of top class batsman to back these up which you don't have.

 

[Will_NA]

No my opinion is invalid, I've watched all of this test so far and highlights of the last test as well asa few hours of it. So yes I have watched your side. I called them ok. I never said they were good but in players like Taylor they have talented cricketers although he looks a little inexperienced. It doesn't help that they've come up against a birlliantly in form Steyn and some other quality bowlers. The openers, ok their not good enough but Cummings showed some promise before getting hurt and you were in control after the first session, just then they decided to push the self-destruct button. Most of the side average in the 30's which is ok, just you need a couple of top class batsman to back these up which you don't have.

Do you mean 'not invalid'?

 

[Leicester Fox]

I'm confused lol, I edited it thinking it said not valid and now it says that, it's right now

 

[irottev]

No my opinion is valid, I've watched all of this test so far and highlights of the last test as well asa few hours of it. So yes I have watched your side. I called them ok. I never said they were good but in players like Taylor they have talented cricketers although he looks a little inexperienced. It doesn't help that they've come up against a birlliantly in form Steyn and some other quality bowlers. The openers, ok their not good enough but Cummings showed some promise before getting hurt and you were in control after the first session, just then they decided to push the self-destruct button. Most of the side average in the 30's which is ok, just you need a couple of top class batsman to back these up which you don't have.

Fair call. I do agree with that now that you explained it.

I thought Gillespie would perform a little better with the ball myself. e bowled with decent pace, but seemed, as with a lot of them, underdone. Probably because he didn't get a warmup. He doesn't swing or seam the ball much either, so that isn't in his favor. At least Franklin and Mills can get good swing and seam. I back them not playing Mills as he hasn't had a game back since injury at all. They should have left him at home to get a game before the ODIs.

I think this test is all but lost now. I just hope we learn from this experience. There is no doubt that Steyn is a fantastic bowler.

 

[Vcassano]

The New Zealand bowling to Kallis was utterly bizarre - short ball after short ball were bowled and each time it went to the boundary. Why did they not change their lengths? New Zealand's bowling has no spearhead without Bond and O'Brien is such an awful bowler I cannot believe he was ever picked. Vettori is one of my favourite players but his spin doesn't dominate the opponents which doesn't help either.

 

[irottev]

The conditions don't really suit Vettori in SA. They also have played him pretty well. His bowling has been tight, but hasn't looked threatening much.

Apparently a handful of the side are out fielding with stomach bugs. Martin, Vincent, O'Brien looks under the weather. They reckon Vettori is hobbling around a bit.

This really is a disaster. I don't think they can be satisfied with a heck of a lot.

-> Great catch from Papps. This morning has been better by miles.

Mark Gillespie with a 5 for on debut. Brilliant. Thank god we have some good news from all this.

Well done. I really like him.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Good on Gillespie. I hope he takes the last 2 wickets and finishes with 7.

 

[irottev]

Man tailenders can be annoying.

Gillespie has been trying too hard, Martin has looked terrible, probably down on pace and accuracy from his bug. All that good work now is being wasted.

It's over thank god.

So maybe we need like 450 runs to make a game out of it. Good luck. We're 1 batter down. At least we can show fight and make SA bat again if we play decent. Last chance for some of the batsmen to perform

-> Now Vincent gets one of the worst LBW decisions I have ever seen. not only did he hit the ball, it was missing leg by a stump. Nothing is going our way.

 

[Leicester Fox]

Good for Gillespie to get 5 but it doesn't make much difference if you're going to get shocking decisions like Vincents.

 

[irottev]

No doubt that time. Papps out again, has had a disgraceful series. I'd keep him for Bangladesh because he's played a lot of cricket in NZ. Will find our conditions better.

Things were looking unlikely from the start, but now they're looking impossible. Time to switch off I think. Hopefully Fleming gives some highlights.

 

[moza1]

I love the pitch.
Theres plenty for the bowlers and batsmen.