Five minutes before the start of play on Day 3 of this intriguing Test between the Kiwis and the Windies. We'll definitely be following on, barring some sort of act of God. The NZ bowlers have been amazing. Jamieson in particular has troubled the batsmen more than anything. Southee has done what he's always done. Boult...hasn't done much. Wagner has done his role of keeping things quiet at his end. Mitchell hasn't even been called into play yet.
Keep reading, I'll be editing this through the day's play. On desktops and laptops, it's F5 or Function-F5. On phones it's about scrolling all the way up and swiping up to refresh.
6.02pm: Play has started and in the Caribbean they are showing a review show. Steups. (Look up that word.)
6.04pm: Cricinfo says that Wagner has gone around the wicket. Never a good thing to look at for a left arm seamer, it's always so awkward.
6.08pm: I can't give any sort of analysis if I can't actually see the damn match. Once again, the cable provider in the Caribbean has let us down.
6.12pm: Apparently da Silva is out, according to Cricinfo. Now for the weasel and then the follow-on.
6.18pm: Sort of wishing the innings would end so I can actually see live cricket. Tino Worst...sorry...Tino Best is now an analyst, it seems.
6.21pm: Thank God. Southee with five, and Jamieson with five. Both absolutely well deserved. Please make us follow on and totally dominate. Your bowlers are fresh. Not an effing second of the play from our Caribbean broadcaster yet.
6.25pm: We now join the live broadcast already in progress. You're joining a broadcast at the end of an innings. Eff you. Eff you to hell.
6.48pm: That is one brave umpire. Ball tracking showed it's not out, but hell, I'd have given that one.
6.59pm: There have only been three Tests in history where a team has won after following on. The most recent involved my favourite Indian player VVS Laxman. That Indian team actually declared after being asked to follow on and then Harbhajan Singh ripped through the Aussie batting order with a six-fer.
7.10pm: Something I have to mention. I'm the curator of the "you are the umpire" thread here, and there has been so many back foot no balls by the bowlers that have not been called. I don't think that the TV umpire is looking at the back foot, and the on-field umpire isn't even caring anymore.
7.17pm: Just a random camera angle shown, but John Campbell is batting out of the crease to Jamieson. Hmm. Interesting. Would put an LBW shout in some...ah damn that's the first wicket down.
7.19pm: Bravo is in desperate need of runs here. Hell, half the team needs runs. Wouldn't drop Braithwaite though, that dismissal was just rather unfortunate.
7.23pm: That would be the end of Bravo. Gloved a short one. Yep, we'll be losing this one by an innings and change too.
7.40pm: To finish my point about Campbell batting outside the crease, it's going to make any LBW calls difficult to make. But it also means that the ball gets to you quicker. Much like Bravo, you won't have as much time to play shorter pitched deliveries, especially from someone like Jamieson. Won't recommend that stance in the long term.
7.52pm: If we make it to lunch without another wicket down, that's good on us. If we lose more wickets, then that's the West Indies I've known and loved. I'll be power-napping during the lunch break. Very occasionally my power naps turn into actual sleep, but I'm hoping that my alarm will be enough to wake me. I do have to actually wake at 6.30am tomorrow, and the close of play is somewhere near 2am, provided we even last that long. Anyways. One more over to go before lunch.
8pm: Ah, f*ck. One over by about two seconds.
8.03pm: Right, that's lunch. I'm out for the next 35 minutes.
8.39pm: I'm back. Slept for a total of about seven minutes, but my goodness what a seven minutes those were. I think I even started to dream. I'm no longer sleepy, but I suppose during the course of play I'll get that sleep demon on me at some point. Right, we have who in the middle? Brooks and Campbell? Brooks really doesn't need much to be picked again. Campbell needs a score to justify his spot.
8.53pm: Ian Bishop on commentary just mentioned three players...Shayne Mosely, Nick Pooran, and Nkrumah Bonner.
9.04pm: Just been involved in a Whatsapp convo with a friend, who agrees with me on the Windies.
9.22pm: All pad. But that was very close to LBW.
9.27pm: 50 for Campbell. That vitiligo bitch needs about 200 before I'd pick him in a Test team again.
9.35pm: As an umpire, I'd have given that not out also. But ball tracking shows it was out. Damn in our favour. I honestly thought that pitched just a bit outside leg. But HawkEye shows that it didn't.
9.42pm: Drinks. Campbell is still batting outside of the crease to Jamieson. I'm not 100% sure what the game plan is, but it would seem that he is trying to turn those full length balls into half volleys. Thing is, if he keeps driving, he's going to get an edge that may or may not carry to the slip cordon. Brooks seems to be going along as a defensive number 4, but he will put forward a run or two when he's ready. I just don't want to see him replay his dismissal from the first innings.
9.46pm: The left hander Wagner to the left hander Campbell. An interesting matchup.
9.49pm: That actually should have been Taylor's catch. Watling caught it quite adeptly, no doubt about it, but that was Taylor's catch.
9.54pm: They just showed something about wicketkeeping dismissals. Boucher is at the top, of course, but somewhere in the middle is Jeff Dujon. One of the best wicketkeepers ever, to have had to stand about halfway back to the awesome foursome, or even better...the fearsome fivesome.
10.15pm. Yeah. We're losing by an innings. Again.
10.27pm. Right. Sleep is calling me. Good luck to WI, my TV will be on even though I can't be there. Wait...tea is at 10.40. I can hold on until then.
10.38pm. Another over before tea, and before I go unconscious.
