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*Official* New Zealand in India 2010

M0rphin3

International Debutant
Nope. Their records in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are pretty indicative of their merits in the subcontinent.
AWTA, the fielding ****ed things up for NZ. Would've been a better contest had they held on to their chances.


But good chance for Kane to score his debut century here. :cool:
 

BeeGee

International Captain
Patel...PATEL???? What's the point? He's going to get slaughtered. If Patel is a better bowler than Southee or Arnel, I'll eat my hat.

If we bowl first, who bowls first change? Ryder? Hand the new ball to the spinners? Ludicrous!
Called it.

What are the odds that he (Hopkins) will drop a catch or miss a stumping off one of the Indian batting stars, who will then go on to make a bazillion runs. Confidence is low.
49.2 Ryder to Dravid, no run, 74.0 mph, dropped by Hopkins! Slight movement away, with the shine, Dravid pushes at it away from his body, gets a bottom edge, but Hopkins - standing up to the stumps - can't hold on

Called it.
 

vcs

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I think NZ's batting is a fair bit better than their bowling (which isn't particularly hard TBF on today's evidence), but if the likes of Bhajji and Ojha aren't motivated to try and fill their boots in a match like this, they'll never be sub-30 averaging bowlers.
 

vcs

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Jeetan Patel bowled so, so poorly to Dravid today. Made Hauritz look like Murali.
 

Woodster

International Captain
Just watched the whole day's play and the day just started badly for NZ and failed to improve. It all began with the perplexing team selection, I understand Vettori and co want batting strength, but surely not when it restricts your bowling attack to such lengths.

Things got worse at the toss when MS Dhoni finally managed to win one, from there on the writing was on the wall. Chris Martin was poor with the new ball, there are admittedly fine margins of error when bowling to a player like Sehwag, but too frequently he threw it a yard outside off and duly got punished. Bennett did alright for me in his opening spell, bowled briskly, and in fairly good areas without being a massive threat. His pace decreased appreciably through the day, unsurprisingly when you look at how much effort seems to go into his action, and he charges in.

The spinners were largely ineffective, no real surprise there, Patel was poor consistently pulling the ball down too short, while Vettori was clever in his changes, as per usual, but it would make it more difficult for the Indian batsmen if he managed to at least get one to grip. He did give his a modicum of control, but no great threat, and his wicket came courtesy of a very tired and lazy looking shot, if you can call it that, from the entertaining Sehwag.

Ryder and Williamson did what you would expect of part-time bowlers, but they certainly looked a specialist bowler short. When NZ managed to build some pressure on Dravid, it wasd released by Ryder coming on and serving up a couple of easy boundary balls. Vettori turned to Ryder due to lack of options after Patel had been treated with contempt. Going in with four bowlers is dangerous in India, especially when there seems to be little consistency with those four, and one is on debut!

The fielding of NZ was spritely at times, and they did try and keep their spirits up, but half chances that have to be taken weren't. Patel missed a c&b, Hopkins put a couple down standing up (the one off Ryder was a real tough one due to a lack of bounce), Guptil probably spilled the easiest one off Sehwag. In an area where they are pretty strong it simply was not good enough.

Credit to India aswell though, Sehwag was fearsome, Dravid struggled big time at the start but NZ let him off the hook and he finally found his timing, and then on day two NZ face two batsmen that average in excess of 90 for 2010. Good luck. Sorry if I've gone on a bit.
 

Woodster

International Captain
Maybe they strengthened the batting in hope of salvaging draws
Yes but it's very difficult batting for a draw when the opposition has over 600 on the board. Especially when India are likely to score at around 4 an over, there is so much time left in the game. I don't disagree with playing a strengthened batting line-up, but there is not enough balance in the side to justify doing so, imo. Tbh, even another pace bowler in for Patel wouldn't be the worse thing in the world.
 

Howsie

International Captain
I don't disagree with playing a strengthened batting line-up, but there is not enough balance in the side to justify doing so, imo. Tbh, even another pace bowler in for Patel wouldn't be the worse thing in the world.
Had New Zealand played another seamer instead of Patel the balance of this bowling attack would have been fine, both Williamson and Ryder are good enough 5th bowling options imo. What irks me is that everyone knew playing Patel was a mistake, yet he was picked anyway. He was carrying no form whatsoever into this test match and better spinners then himself have been hammered by this Indian lineup recently - I'd love to hear the reasoning behind his selection tbh, as well as why both Tim Southee and Brent Arnel were dropped after being New Zealand's best bowlers in the last test series.
 

Himannv

Hall of Fame Member
Perhaps they felt that the best bet was to play an extra spinner (fair call since this is an away game in India) and had no one else to throw in.

Can't say I agree with their decision but thats possibly the logic behind it.
 

vcs

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Playing an extra spinner is the worst, worst possible idea if you are a team visiting India.
 

Faisal1985

International Vice-Captain
Had New Zealand played another seamer instead of Patel the balance of this bowling attack would have been fine, both Williamson and Ryder are good enough 5th bowling options imo. What irks me is that everyone knew playing Patel was a mistake, yet he was picked anyway. He was carrying no form whatsoever into this test match and better spinners then himself have been hammered by this Indian lineup recently - I'd love to hear the reasoning behind his selection tbh, as well as why both Tim Southee and Brent Arnel were dropped after being New Zealand's best bowlers in the last test series.

Yeah true, doesn't make sense leaving out Southee. To me he is one of the best NZ fast bowlers in the current lot.
 

Woodster

International Captain
There seems a stigma attached to playing in India that you must fill the team with spin options, it doesn't seem to matter if they're not that good because with the assistance they'll get off the Indian tracks, they'll cause problems. It's nonsense.

They forget the ease in which India play spin, it is an area of absolute expertise for them. They probably play better spinners week in week out in domestic cricket than some nations first or second choice spinners. South Africa enjoyed success in India because they played to their strengths, the pace attack. Admittedly few countries can field a pace attack as good as SA, but they must play to their own strengths, I certainly don't see spin bowling as one of New Zealand's, not enough to warrant two specialist spinners and a part-time one.
 

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