**Official** Pakistan v New Zealand in the UAE 2014

[Athlai]

Hasn't Flynn been opening with reasonable success?

 

[kiwiviktor81]

I hope this isn't just a lucky run from Latham here. A young, quality opener has been what the BC's have been gagging for for years.

 

[Blocky]

Hasn't Flynn been opening with reasonable success?

Flynn won't be touched again for Black Caps honours, despite showing signs of potential he just isn't consistent enough at any level to make it work

I hope this isn't just a lucky run from Latham here. A young, quality opener has been what the BC's have been gagging for for years.

That's my concern too, but in his favour is the fact that he's been an opener for most of his career, has managed success there for Canterbury over a number of seasons and has shown in pretty trying conditions that he's got the right technique and temprament to make it count.

My concern is that he won't be able to face up to super fast bowling, but realistically only McCullum, Ryder and Taylor (in form) in our side look likely.

 

[Hurricane]

Have you jokers read the cricinfo article? This is the first time in ten years our top 3 have scored more than 30 in the same inning in an away test. Mind boggling if true.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Tbh we've struggled to find openers who would score runs even on flat tracks, so Latham is already a big step up from that. I do think he has what it takes to score runs in all conditions but yeah it's something he'll need to prove. He has scored some fighting half centuries against the best of our domestic attacks in seaming conditions when everyone else was struggling. We'll see if he can do the same at the top level.

I'd love to see him bag a double here.

England away next year will be the time where we find that out Hendrix...he does well there then he really would be on a roll.

 

[Mike5181]

As terrible as Rosco looked, I'm glad he was able to hang in there for 71 deliveries. He only scored 23 but he was out there long enough to have a 73 run partnership with Latham.

 

[hendrix]

As terrible as Rosco looked, I'm glad he was able to hang in there for 71 deliveries. He only scored 23 but he was out there long enough to have a 73 run partnership with Latham.

At the risk of repeating myself; it was excellent bowling. Williamson struggle just as badly.

McCullum looked good but realistically he had the easiest of batting conditions in that the ball wasn't reversing and the spinners hadn't yet got into their work. I quite agree with McMillan that it was encouraging not to lose wickets in clumps because there were some excellent spells.

An awful lot of credit has to go to Latham for that, but the fact that Williamson and Taylor toughed it out despite being underdone showed a lot of commitment, IMO.

 

[Blocky]

As terrible as Rosco looked, I'm glad he was able to hang in there for 71 deliveries. He only scored 23 but he was out there long enough to have a 73 run partnership with Latham.

Time at the crease is definitely a good thing but it only serves to piss me off more about his training ethic for 1 out of 3 series, where he comes in completely underdone and struggles/scratches his way around. He was ontop of his game less than 6 months ago and the work simply hasn't been there since. Also, it was the most fortunate 71 deliveries I can remember an NZ Cricketer having recently, he was dropped several times, missed being bowled narrowly when he left a delivery and had a few close LBW shouts go up on him.

Let's hope that he started to get a bit of touch back after facing those balls.

More frustrating was McCullum looking so easy out there, comfortable and taking the game away from them - only to gift that sort of a chance. The reality is that we'd all have taken 44 from him at the start of his innings but the way he gets out was really really poor.

 

[Blocky]

England away next year will be the time where we find that out Hendrix...he does well there then he really would be on a roll.

Absolutely this. I think if he can get through Broad, Finn and Anderson ( and whoever else they have around at that time ) then that's a great sign moving forward. I'm not worried about his ability to play the swinging delivery because he'll have faced enough of that in NZ - it's when the pace gets up over 140kmh that we've seen other players struggle. Williamson still struggles at high octane.

 

[hendrix]

Yeah Williamson definitely still struggles with genuine pace.

 

[Immenso]

Brownlie hasn't opened a single FC match yet. Was on blackcap duty during the single round of Plunket shield so far this year.

 

[Mike5181]

Also Pews, the commentators saying "Lay-them" is starting to irritate me now.

 

[Prince EWS]

Also Pews, the commentators saying "Lay-them" is starting to irritate me now.

Wonder if that's my fault for bringing it up in the first place..

 

[BC_fan_abored]

Setting themselves up for the inevitable Flay-them pun imo

 

[WindieWeathers]

Absolutely this. I think if he can get through Broad, Finn and Anderson ( and whoever else they have around at that time ) then that's a great sign moving forward. I'm not worried about his ability to play the swinging delivery because he'll have faced enough of that in NZ - it's when the pace gets up over 140kmh that we've seen other players struggle. Williamson still struggles at high octane.

It's a test that all young batsmen have to pass really..what happened to Kohli in England recently is a prime example that even those who have done such wonderful things in the game can be brought down to earth with a bump. Brathwaite faces a similar test next month in South Africa..he gets through that then anything is possible..in essence though the real sign of a decent batsman is how they respond to adversity and lean from it...so even if the likes of Latham and Brathwaite don't do well in seaming conditions it's how they bounce back which could make all the difference.

 

[smash84]

It's a test that all young batsmen have to pass really..what happened to Kohli in England recently is a prime example that even those who have done such wonderful things in the game can be brought down to earth with a bump. Brathwaite faces a similar test next month in South Africa..he gets through that then anything is possible..in essence though the real sign of a decent batsman is how they respond to adversity and lean from it...so even if the likes of Latham and Brathwaite don't do well in seaming conditions it's how they bounce back which could make all the difference.

lol, WW your signature is pretty funny.

 

[Days of Grace]

lol, WW your signature is pretty funny.

Please don't.

 

[Blocky]

It's a test that all young batsmen have to pass really..what happened to Kohli in England recently is a prime example that even those who have done such wonderful things in the game can be brought down to earth with a bump. Brathwaite faces a similar test next month in South Africa..he gets through that then anything is possible..in essence though the real sign of a decent batsman is how they respond to adversity and lean from it...so even if the likes of Latham and Brathwaite don't do well in seaming conditions it's how they bounce back which could make all the difference.

Not just young batsmen either... look at the careers that Johnson recently destroyed from England.

 

[Kippax]

Sadly I didn't see much play yesterday

 

[hendrix]

dat Latham on drive. Could watch it all day.