***Official*** West Indies in New Zealand 2013/14

[wellAlbidarned]

Yeah that's exactly the sort of shot mccullum doesn't get away with against better bowlers. He's really in his comfort zone here.

 

[straw man]

I thought McCullum would never again experience the McCullum-heaven of coming in on a flattish pitch with a decent platform against a top-8 side and just getting to flay the bowling... but here we are again, just like earlier this year against England.

And once again he's giving us exactly the sort of quick cash-in innings that we require to put scoreboard pressure on the West Indies.

 

[BeeGee]

McCullum smoked that like cheap cigar.

Exciting description by cricinfo:

73.3 Gabriel to McCullum, SIX, defends on the stumps back down the pitch

 

[_Ed_]

McCullum now going quicker than a run a ball.

 

[Flem274*]

Bracewell, AFAIC, is living off Hobart and not much else. Yes he was good there, and yes he has the potential to be very, very good. But as a Test bowler he plainly is not good enough right now. You're just as likely to have to carry him through a game as have him perform to the required standard. Faulkner is in the same boat - but has a habit of picking up wickets somehow even if he isn't bowling as well as he should be.

Yeah I agree with this, but (unless I'm mistaken) didn't you say Forkers will be better/has the potential to be better than Bracewell? That was what drew my surprise.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah I agree with this, but (unless I'm mistaken) didn't you say Forkers will be better/has the potential to be better than Bracewell? That was what drew my surprise.

Bracewell definitely has a much higher ceiling as a bowler by virtue of not just bowling straight pies. Well, not all the time anyway.

 

[hendrix]

I don't really see the comparison to Franklin at all, tbh. Apart from being left-armed pace bowling all-rounders, obvs. In FC cricket, I'd be more likely to compare him to the likes of Chris Woakes - bowling not quite up to Test standard but gun at FC level, batting developing remarkably well and the potential to go on and do big things at the highest level.

Bracewell, AFAIC, is living off Hobart and not much else. Yes he was good there, and yes he has the potential to be very, very good. But as a Test bowler he plainly is not good enough right now. You're just as likely to have to carry him through a game as have him perform to the required standard. Faulkner is in the same boat - but has a habit of picking up wickets somehow even if he isn't bowling as well as he should be.

Yeah I agree with all of this, which is why I think Bracewell is the better bowler! Just a different perspective I suppose. Faulkner's bowling is unlikely to go beyond Watson's peak, which is good but not really ever good enough to be a third seamer.

Whereas Bracewell can be considered a third seamer. I suppose a third seamer isn't definitely better than a 4th seamer, but just the mindset in terms of selection puts him there for me.

I absolutely agree that Bracewell has been rubbish for nearly 2 years now.

 

[Dan]

I don't really see the comparison to Franklin at all, tbh. Apart from being left-armed pace bowling all-rounders, obvs. In FC cricket, I'd be more likely to compare him to the likes of Chris Woakes - bowling not quite up to Test standard but gun at FC level, batting developing remarkably well and the potential to go on and do big things at the highest level.

Bracewell, AFAIC, is living off Hobart and not much else. Yes he was good there, and yes he has the potential to be very, very good. But as a Test bowler he plainly is not good enough right now. You're just as likely to have to carry him through a game as have him perform to the required standard. Faulkner is in the same boat - but has a habit of picking up wickets somehow even if he isn't bowling as well as he should be.

As a side note, I just googled 'James Faulkner Swing' to see if any video evidence for it existed (the answer is no ftr), and some random websites are arguing that Faulkner is the Australian bowler "most like Boult and Wagner" and hence should be picked in Adelaide to exploit the English weakness against left arm swing.

Practically had to pick myself up from off the floor, I was laughing that hard.

 

[JontyPanesar]

For the sake of NZ and WI, I hope WI endure a hammering. When will the scam artist come off it and drop himself? They'll never be able to beat sides other than Zimbabwe and Bangladesh if they keep picking these sort of sides.

I'm a little disappointed in Shillingford, he's really trying way too hard on this sort of a pitch, much like how he did in England. Dropping it in short a little too often. I hope he turns it around; very good bowler otherwise

 

[hendrix]

Yeah I agree with this, but (unless I'm mistaken) didn't you say Forkers will be better/has the potential to be better than Bracewell? That was what drew my surprise.

Nah he said Faulkner has a very high batting ceiling

 

[Beamer]

Wow, Gabriel is getting seriously schooled here. Painful viewing for West Indies fans. I keep harping on about it, but it hurts that much more when we know we have far superior bowlers back home in the Caribbean. Yet here we are, with Sammy and Gabriel embarrassing us all like this.

I will add the proviso that this is a bit of a road. NZ will bowl better than this attack (obviously!), but if we bat even half decently they will struggle to bowl us out twice on this surely?

 

[The Battlers Prince]

Feel sorry for that appeal, such a waste of noise

 

[Flem274*]

Yeah that's exactly the sort of shot mccullum doesn't get away with against better bowlers. He's really in his comfort zone here.

Fortunately there's a good chance all of India's legitimately promising crop of quick bowlers will be injured or smashed out of the test side by South Africa, so when they arrive full of hope to smash the little hard working kiwis he will be able to flay the next great Indian fast bowlers Ishant and Vinay on late season pitches. Then his back will snap and he will retire on a high with 10 test tons to his name.

I have foreseen it.

 

[Prince EWS]

As a side note, I just googled 'James Faulkner Swing' to see if any video evidence for it existed (the answer is no ftr), and some random websites are arguing that Faulkner is the Australian bowler "most like Boult and Wagner" and hence should be picked in Adelaide to exploit the English weakness against left arm swing.

Practically had to pick myself up from off the floor, I was laughing that hard.

I think the "Australian Franklin" thing might actually come from me, as two or three years ago I compared Faulkner's bowling to New Franklin - ie. left arm over, no swing, high 120s, can move it off the seam with assistance, not tremendously accurate. Old Franklin who was a swing bowler never came into it. Faulkner's obviously put on a bit of pace since then and has focused most of his bowling work on developing variations for one day cricket, meaning he's not really very much like Franklin - old or new - anymore.

 

[Days of Grace]

Waking up at 6:50am in Japan and hearing Coney on commentary.

 

[_Ed_]

I will add the proviso that this is a bit of a road. NZ will bowl better than this attack (obviously!), but if we bat even half decently they will struggle to bowl us out twice on this surely?

It'll be interesting to see what happens. I haven't been able to see enough of today's play to judge the pitch. But I will say the two leaders of our attack are coming into this match pretty high on confidence after their last first-class showing: Northern Districts v Central Districts at Hamilton, Nov 26-28, 2013 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Fortunately there's a good chance all of India's legitimately promising crop of quick bowlers will be injured or smashed out of the test side by South Africa, so when they arrive full of hope to smash the little hard working kiwis he will be able to flay the next great Indian fast bowlers Ishant and Vinay on late season pitches. Then his back will snap and he will retire on a high with 10 test tons to his name.

I have foreseen it.

*pats head*

of course you did

 

[Flem274*]

Right, horse time. I expect 3 wickets to fall before stumps.

 

[Prince EWS]

Fortunately there's a good chance all of India's legitimately promising crop of quick bowlers will be injured or smashed out of the test side by South Africa, so when they arrive full of hope to smash the little hard working kiwis he will be able to flay the next great Indian fast bowlers Ishant and Vinay on late season pitches. Then his back will snap and he will retire on a high with 10 test tons to his name.

I have foreseen it.

 

[hendrix]

I will add the proviso that this is a bit of a road. NZ will bowl better than this attack (obviously!), but if we bat even half decently they will struggle to bowl us out twice on this surely?

I don't think so, honestly. If the game is played 5 days I think there'll be a result. There is bounce and carry here, and that was what was missing when we failed to bowl England out - and that was with a full day washed out. This NZ attack bowled out Sri Lanka on a flatter pitch than this.