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***Official*** New Zealand in the West Indies 2014

Beamer

Beamer

International Vice-Captain
Well they tried hard to mess it up but even we couldn't manage it, so well played West Indies. Taylor is awesome and Roach is finally finding his rhythm. Benn toiled away accurately and did his job well. I thought the fielding and general attitude this morning was pretty dire and I hope they learned their lesson. New Zealand are a good side and will punish that sort of attitude. Still, I'm delighted they bounced back and there were definitely some exciting signs for the future.

It's brilliantly poised and both sides have decisions to make IMHO. What on earth do NZ do about Latham's opening partner (or lack thereof?). Do they bring in Wagner and if so for which spinner? Do they throw Baz up top so they can put Anderson in the middle order? For West Indies, surely they have to replace Gabriel? Do they bring in Narine or Holder?

It is going to be an interesting finale to the series that's for sure.
 
hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Congrats to the West Indies. A thoroughly deserved victory.

NZ's batsmen have to have a hard look at themselves. This was a draw pitch. Unacceptable to be out for 220 in the first innings here.

Still, sets up a cracker of a finale.
 
hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Prince EWS said:
Yeah this is a great move from Brownlie. He's a much better player of pace than spin and, although his fondess of playing from the crease and carving the ball through the off side with little to no foot movement will need to be seriously curbed, opening does seem to be his best bet to me.
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Yeah but I think time is running out for him. The selectors almost have to pick Guptill (and possibly Raval) next season, even though that's 100% likely to fail again. Brownlie will need 2 good seasons opening, and by that point guys like Michael Bracewell might be putting their hands up.
 
NZTailender

NZTailender

I can't believe I ate the whole thing
Well played WIndies, thoroughly deserved this matched and a great turn around from the last. 3rd match will be a treat but the onus is on us with some serious deficiencies exposed (more so than before I guess) in this game. I'm hoping the pitch condition of the next match will make it easier to drop certain players, rather than give us 'but we need 2 specialist spinners for this pitch!'.
 
hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
NZTailender said:
Well played WIndies, thoroughly deserved this matched and a great turn around from the last. 3rd match will be a treat but the onus is on us with some serious deficiencies exposed (more so than before I guess) in this game. I'm hoping the pitch condition of the next match will make it easier to drop certain players, rather than give us 'but we need 2 specialist spinners for this pitch!'.
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Honestly, hard to blame the bowlers here. Sodhi and Craig have contributed more in this series than McCullum, Taylor, Fulton and Rutherford.

It's the batsmen that let us down with that pathetic display in the first innings. There's nothing we can do about that selection wise, so I think an unchanged team is the right option for the third test.
 
BackFootPunch

BackFootPunch

International 12th Man
hendrix said:
Yeah but I think time is running out for him. The selectors almost have to pick Guptill (and possibly Raval) next season, even though that's 100% likely to fail again. Brownlie will need 2 good seasons opening, and by that point guys like Michael Bracewell might be putting their hands up.
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Don't think he'll need two good seasons, tbh. They already know he's a good bat. Tonned up in SA remember. All they need to see is that he's in form and can handle opening. If he has a good start to the Plunket Shield he could well end up opening in the Boxing Day game.
 
hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
BackFootPunch said:
Don't think he'll need two good seasons, tbh. They already know he's a good bat. Tonned up in SA remember. All they need to see is that he's in form and can handle opening. If he has a good start to the Plunket Shield he could well end up opening in the Boxing Day game.
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Well, I know I'd play him. But I doubt the selectors will see it that way.
 
Prince EWS

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
BackFootPunch said:
Don't think he'll need two good seasons, tbh. They already know he's a good bat. Tonned up in SA remember. All they need to see is that he's in form and can handle opening. If he has a good start to the Plunket Shield he could well end up opening in the Boxing Day game.
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Yeah, completely agree.
 
Mike5181

Mike5181

International Captain
hendrix said:
Honestly, hard to blame the bowlers here. Sodhi and Craig have contributed more in this series than McCullum, Taylor, Fulton and Rutherford.

It's the batsmen that let us down with that pathetic display in the first innings. There's nothing we can do about that selection wise, so I think an unchanged team is the right option for the third test.
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The bowlers let the opposition score 460 & 95/0 tbf.
 
hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Mike5181 said:
The bowlers let the opposition score 460 & 95/0 tbf.
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The Windies batted extremely well on a flat pitch.
We batted extremely poorly on a flat pitch.

Neesham and Craig bowled poorly, yes, but there was absolutely no pressure on their batsmen because of how easily they surpassed our score.

McCullum and Rutherford were the worst performers in this match.
 
hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
I guess my point is that had the batsmen made a par score in the first innings, it's unlikely that we would have lost. Even with the bowlers conceding 460.
 
viriya

viriya

International Captain
Is Gabriel a solid find? Seemed to be the fastest bowler in the park (140-145kmph) from the little I watched of the game..
 
hendrix

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
viriya said:
Is Gabriel a solid find? Seemed to be the fastest bowler in the park (140-145kmph) from the little I watched of the game..
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he's been utter piss for most of his short test career so far, and Jerome Taylor was faster.

That said, he has all the tools to be very good. Just needs to sort his seam position and consistency.
 
Hurricane

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
NZTailender said:
Well played WIndies, thoroughly deserved this matched and a great turn around from the last. 3rd match will be a treat but the onus is on us with some serious deficiencies exposed (more so than before I guess) in this game. I'm hoping the pitch condition of the next match will make it easier to drop certain players, rather than give us 'but we need 2 specialist spinners for this pitch!'.
Click to expand...
I didn't bookmark beamer's most excellent post but I think he said the second test pitch was most conducive to seam, and the next one would take the most sharp spin. I think Sodhi and Craig will be required (if my I am right about his post).

How do peeps who saw Neesham in this test weigh in now on Anderson vs Neesham for batting?

I haven't seen any of this series so I can only judge by watching Neesham at the basin. He did not look like a top order batsman (technique wise) but had a top order batsman's mentality in the first dig there. So I get what Steve means when he says he is a big game player. I will be shocked if he outperforms his FC average in tests. I haven't really heard of anyone doing that before except for people who had a horrible start to their FC career. Flem has an excellent analysis that he sometimes does where he compares FC averages to test averages and usually they match closely.

As for bowling just going by the posts in this thread sounds like Corey is a better bowler.
 
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