New Zealand A Tour of India and Sri Lanka

[Flem274*]

Haha wow just looked at the score. Come on Dougeh and Sodheh!

Would be nice to see Bracewell bring his A team and tour party XI fireworks to the test stage.

 

[Kippax]

Jimmy Neesham, Boundaries Compilation - YouTube

Forum God JimmyGS, "Blasphemy Montage" - YouTube (to be fair to Corey, Hendrix requested Jimmy's bad batting KPIs in the vault)

 

[Arjun]

Ian Chappell's saviour of Indian cricket fails again. We're not so happy. He's had a poor run of form, not surprisingly, starting from the IPL.

Just how deep does the NZ-A team bat? Everyone has at least 4 scores over 50, and eight batsmen have FC hundreds. Of course, even India-A bat deep.

In an unrelated observation, I find that Ishant Sharma has played very little FC cricket outside Tests- only 26 matches! He too has done exceedingly well for Delhi, but he's not done so well for other teams, and has struggled in tour matches in particular. Hopefully we'll see more selections based on prolonged FC experience and not just the promise of youth.

 

[Bahnz]

Classic late-90's NZ scorecard, where you could reverse the batting order and the scores would look more natural. The boys are doing their kiwi heritage proud.

 

[Flem274*]

Late 90s? Brutal snubbing of the late 00s.

Gillespie's figures look nice early doors. All eyes on the report of todays play later this evening. Has he finally got the overs under his belt to bowl his best?

 

[Kippax]

Was Unmukt's c behind a cut?

@captainshanky
No, he poked at an away swinger.

Uh oh, Gillespie typically swings it out when he's "booming" through the crease I think.

Vijay Zol chases an away swinger and is pouched at first slip. India A 16/2 in the 13th over in response to New Zealand A's 437.

Dougeh swinging it away from a LHB, that's against the grain too.

 

[Flem274*]

Looks like someone got motivated to prove they're better than Wagner.

And that could be great news about Gillespie. Would have no qualms picking him for the first test in Bangladesh if he's at his best.

 

[Prince EWS]

Uh oh, Gillespie typically swings it out when he's "booming" through the crease I think.

Bowls little outies when he's sending down pies sometimes but when he's bowling properly it's all towards the RHB I think.

 

[Kippax]

Gillespie, "booming" through the crease - YouTube

 

[Prince EWS]

Gillespie, "booming" through the crease - YouTube

Oh right I see, you were being sarcastic about the "booming". But yeah, I don't think outies are really a good sign for him.

 

[Flem274*]

Could have sworn Gillespie got a little bit of nip both ways when he bowled well against SA.

What I remember most though was his excellent length, and the rise he got from that length. The SA batsmen couldn't really go forward or back to him.

 

[Prince EWS]

Could have sworn Gillespie got a little bit of nip both ways when he bowled well against SA.

He got it to go off the seam both ways but all his movement in the air was inswing IIRC.

 

[Kippax]

Bracewell, Sodhi make India A toil | Cricket Match Report | Wisden India

Thick cloud cover welcomed the players when proceedings began after a 40-minute delay due to a steady drizzle. Bracewell and Sodhi started cautiously against Dhawal Kulkarni and Imtiaz Ahmed, who dismissed the top-order in similar conditions on the opening day. The pair could add just 20 runs in the first hour of play with Sodhi throwing his bat around repeatedly, only to connect with the humid Vizag air.

With the seamers being unable to strike upfront, Abhishek Nayar, the India A captain, turned to his spinners – Jalaj Saxena and Rakesh Dhruv. The move was met with positive intent from Bracewell, with New Zealand A breaking the shackles in the second hour of play by scoring at nearly five runs an over. Bracewell and Sodhi went into lunch unbroken after adding 126 runs to their overnight total.

The interval provided an opportunity India A to regroup as they took just 4.1 overs to dismiss the men who had tormented in the morning session. Bracewell played down the wrong line to be bowled by Nayar, while Sodhi gloved a short delivery from Kulkarni to gully to bring an end to the New Zealand A innings.

The ease with which the tailenders batted, perhaps, was a sign of the amount of work the New Zealand A bowlers had to put in to pick wickets. And to their credit, the bowlers asked a number of questions straightaway.

Chand, who appeared unsettled against the swinging ball, was caught behind while poking at an away going delivery from Gillespie. The seven-over spell following Chand’s dismissal produced just 10 runs with Vijay Zol, coming off a century on first-class debut, struggling for timing.

The pressure of playing a release shot consumed Zol as he attempted an expansive drive to an away going delivery from Bracwell to be snapped by Tom Latham at first slip. India A had slipped to 16 for 2.

Juneja walked out to three slips and two gullies with the New Zealand A seamers sniffing an opportunity to break into the middle order with the new ball. But he appeared unruffled. Even a blow on his rib cage which forced him to have a precautionary X-ray earlier in the day didn’t affect his footwork and concentration as he played some delightful strokes, particularly through the off side. Juneja’s sparkling form allowed Jagadeesh to play himself in.

The passage of play after Zol’s dismissal, in many ways, indicated the true nature of the pitch. But New Zealand A would believe it would need just two early wickets to get back into the contest after creating a number of opportunities to wrest the initiative.

Manprit Juneja: reflection and flamboyance | Cricket Articles, Analysis & Opinions | Wisden India

Fighting through injuries, Mark Gillespie wants to carry on

Ronchi hopes Route A will lead to Tests | Cricket Articles, Analysis & Opinions | Wisden India

Bracewell is ?focused on fundamentals? | Cricket Articles, Analysis & Opinions | Wisden India

 

[JontyPanesar]

Ian Chappell's saviour of Indian cricket fails again. We're not so happy. He's had a poor run of form, not surprisingly, starting from the IPL.
...
In an unrelated observation, I find that Ishant Sharma has played very little FC cricket outside Tests- only 26 matches! He too has done exceedingly well for Delhi, but he's not done so well for other teams, and has struggled in tour matches in particular. Hopefully we'll see more selections based on prolonged FC experience and not just the promise of youth.

Unmukt was very ordinary in Ranji too. And I suspect part of the reason he was selected here was because they assumed he was in form after doing well in the u23 tournament

It was fine to give Ishant the chance but at some point, selectors needed to cut the rope. That said, his length was probably ideal for the kotla around the time he had his fc debut. He probably would still go alright on Ranji pitches that keep low

 

[JontyPanesar]

This whole Group C tag has often been a tool of abuse, because the competition in Group C or the erstwhile Plate league was and may still be a lot tougher than the top tier, where teams just play out draws and pinch lead points. Stat sheets and most news reports don't tell you how tough the competition is in the lower league. News agencies avoid the Group C or Plate league because it's not as glamorous.

For a long time, a Gujarat (top tier but for one season) wicketkeeper was India's first choice, but at a cost- they never fielded a full Test XI and his batting, a cause for his selection, was still not good enough for ODIs so excess pressure was applied on Dravid's knees. The Indian team had to carry that little boy around. Now you have a wicketkeeper from Plate league/Tier 3 team (Jharkhand) who's capable with bat and gloves, is more or less the single best, and actually carries the team ahead.

Didn't mean to imply that all who play in group c but selectors ought to demand a larger sample size of excellence from the lower tier teams. There are good players in all leagues. I don't doubt that. And some selection gambles will inevitably work. But bypassing the meritocracy undermines the meritocracy. At least another season would be nice to see before an India A call up

I don't think PK is anywhere near the sole savior of Indian cricket but last time he was fit enough to play fc cricket for a sustained period, he was very effective. He can do a job for the Indian team that is lacking in bowling depth, especially when it comes to being economical. Fitness and recent fc match experience is what needs to be seen. Temper issues are usually overblown in India but w/e. I don't see why he has to start from square one and play county too. Swing it with the new ball, keep it tight with the old.
Pace is nice to have but Indian quicks get into bad habits in Ranji by bowling BOAL because of the low bounce. I fear that might happen to Ishwar but he bowls a better length from all that I've seen of him. Which is why the medium pace swing bowlers tend to fare better at the test level
Pankaj doesn't have much to show for his India A play in first class cricket. A handful of matches in which he hardly bowled. He's a clever bowler though and I would hope he'd do well at the international level, I'm just skeptical

 

[Arjun]

Didn't mean to imply that all who play in group c but selectors ought to demand a larger sample size of excellence from the lower tier teams. There are good players in all leagues. I don't doubt that. And some selection gambles will inevitably work. But bypassing the meritocracy undermines the meritocracy. At least another season would be nice to see before an India A call up

There is a negative consequence of this so-called meritocracy- performance often gets ignored. There are not just consistent, but also game-changing performances, in the bottom tier, and some, like Rajasthan in 2010-11, trophy-winning. Nobody expected an erstwhile Plate league team to win the trophy, but they did. Now Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are very competitive and can challenge the Group A regulars often. But in these top-tier teams, because they enjoy excessive patronage, they don't do anything significant- we see all-rounders virtually forfeit one skill (Abhishek Nayar) to help the other in the top tier, while in the bottom tier, a few (Rishi Dhawan, Parvez Rassool) go out of their way and carry their teams with bat and ball. We see top-tier seamers just bowl line and length and rely entirely on swing, while some from lesser teams (Umesh, Aaron) actually try to bowl fast, and plenty of pitches are flat enough to encourage their batsmen to have a nice, easy, long innings, as against grinding it out and turning the game around on a nasty strip. Much of this discussion came about because Jagadeesh from Kerala was selected on the back of impressive, consistent form over the whole season, just because Kerala is a Group C team. They had to reward that form, so he's got a game, and he's done very well, unlike a couple of top/middle-tier batsmen in this side.

Praveen Kumar needs to finish two whole seasons, back to back, at least two A-team tours, and return with not just wickets but also useful runs lower down, so that you have the option of playing five bowlers in the side. When you're playing four bowlers, he's not an ideal choice, because he doesn't run through teams. When there's a fifth bowler around (and with the likes of Ashwin and Bhuvan around, it can be explored), he can do the containing job while strikers such as Umesh and Mishra (far and away the only attacking spinner; everyone else is just plain defensive) can grab lots of wickets. Actually, let him too finish 50 FC, List-A and T20 games before he becomes a national prospect again- after all, what makes him so much better than Pankaj, Vinay, Dhawal and any other bowler who grinds it out for more matches in domestic cricket?

In other news, India A are at 280/3, with Juno scoring a century and Nayar striding close to his fifty.

 

[Prince EWS]

Wonder how close Nayar is to getting a Test squad place. Would be the perfect example of a Duncan Fletcher player if he could bowl a little quicker, but even still...

 

[Flem274*]

Looks like the kind of guy they could use for balance so they could play two spinners. How good at batting is he really? I have no idea about Indian divisions, how to judge their career records etc

 

[Prince EWS]

Looks like the kind of guy they could use for balance so they could play two spinners. How good at batting is he really? I have no idea about Indian divisions, how to judge their career records etc

I've only seen him bat a couple of times and he didn't make any runs so I couldn't really tell you from a technical perspective.

As Arjun just pointed out I think the difference between tiers in the Ranji Trophy is a bit of a red herring at times. It was like the English system where the best player in the country could still very easily be exclusively a bottom tier player; there aren't feeder teams as such like in South Africa where it's a legitimately different level of cricket below. As of last season the Ranjo changed completely anyway and separated all the teams into even groups with a qualification final series rather than having separate tiers. Nayar plays for Mumbai anyway so he's no Plate hero even if you believe such a thing was particularly relevant.

I think a good judge of where a player is really at is their performances in the Duleep Trophy, where India's 20+ team structure is condensed into five zones. The only problem with it is that it's such a short competition, but Nayar averages 63 with the bat for West Zone in eight games.

 

[Flem274*]

Ta. I think he should be in with a shout if he does well in his A games because he provides a very nice balance. I just wasn't sure how good his FC stats were in context.