New Zealand Tour of West Indies May-July 2014

[ferg512]

I actually felt sorry for Fulton there, its not really his fault how on earth could the selectors justify picking him again? The guy looked completely shot there. Where the heck Guptill is I don't know but I would take him over Rutherford any day of the week. Plus he was our best batsman on the WI tour a couple of years ago.

Also quite impressed with Craig, Sodhi not so much...

 

[Howsie]

Cool. Yes I was pretty impressed with Henry in the ODIs vs India, I think he already probably better than Wagner.

Fair enough on Milne, hopefully he keeps improving cause as a cricket fan i'd love to see him become the real deal. Bowlers with his natural pace are unique.

Haven't seen Wheeler & Small bowl - but have seen Bracewell & Bennett of course. NZ got some good pace stocks ATM no doubt. Sort of reminds of circa 99-2002 when you guys had Allot/O'Connor/Cairns/Nash/Doull/Bond/Martin/Butler emerging at the same time - only for all of them to be constantly injured unfortunately

I'd love to get your thoughts on Tim Southee nowadays mate

 

[Lebanna]

I actually felt sorry for Fulton there, its not really his fault how on earth could the selectors justify picking him again? The guy looked completely shot there. Where the heck Guptill is I don't know but I would take him over Rutherford any day of the week. Plus he was our best batsman on the WI tour a couple of years ago.

Also quite impressed with Craig, Sodhi not so much...

He reminds me of some of the England players during the Ashes. That 2nd innings shot was unfortunately just woeful and has helped WI have the tiniest of a sniff.

Frustrated with Willamson though. I love watching him bat and then he gets out for the 2nd time bowled not offering a shot!

Shaping up to be a great day today, just one request - please don't kill off the game in the first session, I only get home from work in time for lunch and want to watch this story unfold!

 

[SpitfiresKent]

I'm guessing New Zealand will bat up until tea and then declare which gives them 4 sessions to bowl the West Indies out.

 

[Haynes123]

250 runs will be enough, with samuels, powell and Edwards you are sitting with 3 passengers that will not contribute so effectively west indies are already 0/3 before they start

 

[ParkedTheBus]

What has happened to Samuels? I don't see any hunger in him. He should be dropped for a few matches and should be brought back only when he shows some kind of passion/commitment on the field.

 

[BryanIRM]

Sorry for the daft question, but now that I've got the rules of the game figured out, I'm still learning strategy, and FC cricket is definitely still the newer form to me.

What was the reasoning behind NZ not forcing the follow on? Were they really in the need of the extra insurance runs? Was there some strategy in forcing WI to field for a session or two? Is it due to pitch condition? (That last area is something I'm still unfamiliar with.) I'm a bit confused what the purpose of batting again was.

 

[Lebanna]

Sorry for the daft question, but now that I've got the rules of the game figured out, I'm still learning strategy, and FC cricket is definitely still the newer form to me.

What was the reasoning behind NZ not forcing the follow on? Were they really in the need of the extra insurance runs? Was there some strategy in forcing WI to field for a session or two? Is it due to pitch condition? (That last area is something I'm still unfamiliar with.) I'm a bit confused what the purpose of batting again was.

Interesting question - a few reason why not.

NZ were in the field for 81 and a bit overs which in that heat is a fairly long time so by batting again it gives their bowlers a chance to have a rest and come back out firing in the final innings.

The pitch gets harder to bat on the longer the match to go on for and so if WI were to have set NZ about 150 to win then it could have been very tricky and might have resulted in a loss. Whereas if they bat on and score 200, set WI 400+ to win, there is very little chance of that being chased down meaning they can continually attack and get the 10 wickets.

There have been numerous examples (more in recent times) of teams enforcing the follow on and then watching their opponents bat much better and ultimate are forced to bat out a draw on the final day and so its has somewhat gone out of fashion in recent times.

 

[BryanIRM]

Makes some sense. Thanks!

 

[War]

Narine to play in Barbados Test | The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper

 

[War]

I'd love to get your thoughts on Tim Southee nowadays mate

Very impressive these days, bowls almost equally well on flat pitches as he does when on a greentop/overcast conditions.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Narine to play in Barbados Test | The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper

So he's going to miss the second test now as well? Do the West Indies even want to win games of cricket? I think they're dealing with this completely the wrong way, Narine should've been playing in this current test match and who knows...New Zealand may not have made such a big total in their 1st innings.

Anyway...Tom Latham with another good knock. I expect New Zealand to win this one, can't see the West Indies batting out day 5.

 

[ferg512]

So he's going to miss the second test now as well? Do the West Indies even want to win games of cricket? I think they're dealing with this completely the wrong way, Narine should've been playing in this current test match and who knows...New Zealand may not have made such a big total in their 1st innings.

Anyway...Tom Latham with another good knock. I expect New Zealand to win this one, can't see the West Indies batting out day 5.

Yeah, theres no way we score 500 with him there none of our batsman have a clue how to play him. Awesome stuff from Latham, at least that solves half of the opening problem. Very disappointing from the West Indies, I half expected this to happen but its different actually seeing it unfold. None of these guys really seem to care anymore, but I suppose its been that way for a while now.

 

[War]

No disrespect to my NZ friends - but for windies to give a spinner like Craig 9 wickets on debut is more to due to their inept batting display - rather than anything that special for Craig.

Craig doesn't even bowl the controversial doosra or the carron ball. Nor does he bowl with any noticeable guile as a top-quality/very good normal offie does like Swann/Lyon.

The way how the tail attacked Craig at the end, the batsmen should be kicking themselves.

However this is just one test for Craig, so I won't say he couldn't be a useful test bowler for NZ going forward.

IMO NZ & WI are on the same level talent wise in most departments - but NZ just play test cricket better - especially as a batting group. When windies bat, you can see they are stuck in T20 mode - except for when Chanderpaul plays.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

...can't see the West Indies batting out day 5.

Or even reach it...

Not seen the West Indies 2nd innings. How poor were they with the bat? Most teams wouldn't have been able to see the game out but you'd expect a bit more fight from the West Indies.