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***Official*** New Zealand in the West Indies 2014
- Thread starter Hurricane
- Start date
Blocky
Banned
There we go lads...9 runs off Gayle, pressure goes back on Ramdin to think about his bowling options. If they start taking Benn at 3.5+ an over, he'll have to bring back Taylor and Roach earlier than he wanted. In the absence of scoreboard pressure, putting pressure on the captain to make changes he doesn't want to make is second best option.
ohnoitsyou
International Regular
Yeah because giving away wickets to Gabriel and Gayle is such a good idea
Blocky
Banned
The irony is on a pitch like this where the odd one bounces a little less or a little more, you'll get out eventually to a good nut anyway. You can't afford to be 58/1 after 30 overs when you have a deficit of 240 on the first innings. You're not going to bat 300 overs.
Blocky
Banned
If this were Day 4, rather than Day 3. I'd agree. But ultimately we know we can't bat three days out, our best option is to get a tricky total on the board. So reasonably, you'd expect to be able to navigate what, 120-140 overs? Leaving the Windies just under a day to bat. So either you struggle and scrap past the deficit at 2 an over or you accelerate the scoring to a point that you not only get past the defecit in your 140 overs, but you set an uncomfortable score for them to chase.
Playing out the draw with 2 and a third days in flight never works well.
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Blocky
Banned
It's just bad strategy.
You have 20 overs when the ball is doing something for the quicks initially, then you get about 40 overs of decent batting, then you get 20 overs of reverse swing before the ball is new again. We're 40 overs in and haven't even reached a hundred yet, the guys will take 10-15 overs tomorrow best case to get themselves set again (or not, and get out following close of play) and all of a sudden, you're then facing the new ball again.
Bahnz
Hall of Fame Member
Anyway, a decent sort of start, even with McCullum's dismissal. First hour will be important tomorrow, we need hundreds from at least two of Latham, KW, Taylor, Neesh and Watling if we're to stand a chance. Not impossible, and the pitch seems like it's still playing quite nicely, but WI definitely favourites to rap this up.
kiwiviktor81
International Debutant
An odd match for us so far, with Sodhi taking most wickets and an opener (Latham) scoring the most runs. You could probably conclude from that alone that the rest of the team hasn't really fired but the Windies have got themselves well on top here with only two days left.
Beamer
International Vice-Captain
Interesting cricket today and I've think we've basically ensured that we can't lose, particularly considering NZ tend to score at about 1 run per over less than us. I don't think NZ have the time to get a big enough lead. If we continue to plug away, this match should be ours. But I guess you never know, Ross Taylor could do a Darren Bravo and save the day. Latham also looks like he is going to be hard to shift.
Not very impressed with Benn so far, he's really darting it in and not giving the ball a chance to turn. I had several 'what if' moments this afternoon where I imagined Sunil Narine bowling in the same circumstances. He might come back and do ok like he did in the 1st innings but I'm still a bit disappointed. Gabriel was a vast improvement and bowled with pace so that was good to see. Still not convinced but if he bowls like that tomorrow I'll be pleased.
I thought Ish Sodhi was better today and got a few leggies to turn, especially the one that go Blackwood, which was perfectly pitched. Still too loose for tests IMHO but at least he's showing some improvement.
Loved Blackwood's innings today. I've seen him bat more fluently but this was a higher standard of bowling. I really think he is the next big thing. That lofted shot of Boult is one of the best shots I have seen from a debutant. Pure class.
Not very impressed with Benn so far, he's really darting it in and not giving the ball a chance to turn. I had several 'what if' moments this afternoon where I imagined Sunil Narine bowling in the same circumstances. He might come back and do ok like he did in the 1st innings but I'm still a bit disappointed. Gabriel was a vast improvement and bowled with pace so that was good to see. Still not convinced but if he bowls like that tomorrow I'll be pleased.
I thought Ish Sodhi was better today and got a few leggies to turn, especially the one that go Blackwood, which was perfectly pitched. Still too loose for tests IMHO but at least he's showing some improvement.
Loved Blackwood's innings today. I've seen him bat more fluently but this was a higher standard of bowling. I really think he is the next big thing. That lofted shot of Boult is one of the best shots I have seen from a debutant. Pure class.
straw man
Hall of Fame Member
Missed all today's play but man, that's a big deficit. Thought the Windies fans were being very pessimistic at the end of yesterday hoping for a 150 run lead - that would have been a failure from that position and a 220ish lead was always on the cards unless we could run through them with the new ball.
Sounds like good batting from Latham and Williamson. One thing in our favour is that WI only have one spinner this match so even if it starts to turn a lot tomorrow, hopefully we can hold off Benn. Uneven bounce from the quicks would be more of a concern. If the pitch is still playing well then, like the big match-saving innings from McCullum and Watling against India, there's no single reason why we shouldn't score 450. Scoreboard pressure does hurt though.
Sounds like good batting from Latham and Williamson. One thing in our favour is that WI only have one spinner this match so even if it starts to turn a lot tomorrow, hopefully we can hold off Benn. Uneven bounce from the quicks would be more of a concern. If the pitch is still playing well then, like the big match-saving innings from McCullum and Watling against India, there's no single reason why we shouldn't score 450. Scoreboard pressure does hurt though.
Bahnz
Hall of Fame Member
Yeah, the more I see of Sodhi, the more sure I am that he definitely has something to work with. But, as I've said probably a dozen times before, he's just not there yet. With another couple of domestic seasons spent working on the accuracy of his leg break, a few A tours and the odd test here and there in appropriate conditions, I think he could become a test standard bowler.
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Playing the sort of cricket we did in the first innings never works well either. No one's saying we're going to bat at one and a halves for the rest of the Test, it was 40 overs after we lost our captain early on. I'd tend to allow them to play circumspectly until stumps then reassess overnight.
If there is one adage I hate more than anything in cricket, it's the one surrounding hit out because eventually you'll be got out. It's the weakest fallacy in cricket on anything apart from the most ridiculous of wickets.
And if there's a new ball/reverse swinging ball coming, so what? One is a Test opener, one is a #3 (which is an opener in our side). They're employed to be equipped for it.
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Bahnz
Hall of Fame Member
Gayle was actually bowling pretty well late in the day, and troubled Latham a couple of times. Could easily see him picking up a couple of sneaky wickets. But yeah, there are no real terrors in the pitch. If New Zealand apply themselves, then there's no reason that they shouldn't take this to day 5.
Kippax
Cricketer Of The Year
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