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

[smash84]

at least these 2 are scoring the runs quickly

 

[Days of Grace]

Why the **** did McCullum bring on Anderson?

 

[Athlai]

You beauty

 

[smash84]

what the hell....not now you ****

 

[smash84]

I can't see Pakistan make more than 325 from here.

 

[Days of Grace]

Sodhi is really cementing his place in the XI at the same time as Craig is unfortunately bowling himself out of it. Posters who lost their place to Sodhi in the ND 2nd XI may not think so, but he was clearly the bowler of the day. Thank **** Timmeh got that wicket at the end of the day. Changes the perspective on the match a little bit. If we can get a 75 run lead can we bat at 3 or more an over for the rest of the day and have enough in the bank to bowl at them for all of day 5?

 

[CM Punk]

Worried we'll fold in our second innings

 

[CM Punk]

Either we draw or Pakistan win.

I can't see us scoring quick enough to give us the time we need to bowl out Pakistan.

Unsure about Craig, he may be going for plenty but he's also been outscoring a lot of our batsmen..

Do we persist with him or is it time we brought Wagner back into the side?

 

[Maximas]

Craig really doesn't look all that likely with all these right handers carving him up, Wagner in I'd say, as it should have been from the start

 

[OverratedSanity]

Sodhi was really good today. Far fewer bad balls than normal and bowled a few complete jaffas which deserved wickets, especially a couple to Azhar. If he can continue bowling like this, then he'll get bucketloads of wickets.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Sodhi is really cementing his place in the XI at the same time as Craig is unfortunately bowling himself out of it. Posters who lost their place to Sodhi in the ND 2nd XI may not think so, but he was clearly the bowler of the day. Thank **** Timmeh got that wicket at the end of the day. Changes the perspective on the match a little bit. If we can get a 75 run lead can we bat at 3 or more an over for the rest of the day and have enough in the bank to bowl at them for all of day 5?

I think Pakistan would need to bowl pretty badly for us to quickly set a defendable target. 280 minimum.

 

[smash84]

yeah, batting on day 4 and 5 won't be easy. The pitch becomes much more suitable for spin and the slow pace of the pitch makes it tougher to score quickly. If NZ can roll Pakistan out before lunch tomorrow and with a lead of around 100 then I can see them getting 180-190 in the remaining 2.something sessions if they bat well

 

[Bahnz]

Even in an ideal world where we roll Pakistan out for 310/320, I think McCullum will be pretty conservative on a potential second innings declaration. Certainly can't see him setting Pakistan any less than 320 off 75/80 at most.

 

[r3alist]

interesting to see how nz react if they do get a sniff of a victory, would love to see them declare leaving a chase of around 280.

 

[Blocky]

Sodhi is really cementing his place in the XI at the same time as Craig is unfortunately bowling himself out of it. Posters who lost their place to Sodhi in the ND 2nd XI may not think so, but he was clearly the bowler of the day. Thank **** Timmeh got that wicket at the end of the day. Changes the perspective on the match a little bit. If we can get a 75 run lead can we bat at 3 or more an over for the rest of the day and have enough in the bank to bowl at them for all of day 5?

That's a beautiful viewpoint but the only thing you've gotten right is that Craig has bowled himself out of the team unit. Sodhi has bowled well for Sodhi... but to bowl 30 overs in conditions that absolutely suit you, with the batsman not able to attack you and only take two wickets is a reasonable performance - not a great performance. No indication yet that he's "the guy" for NZ Cricket, all this does is prolong the suffering when we take him back home, the wickets don't suit him and he resumes going at 4s and 5s for 50 a wicket.

 

[hendrix]

I'm not sure whether it's the benefit of hindsight in looking at the Aussie's panicked selections for the second test, the fact that we're playing 3 matches rather than 2, or that Hesson is generally more consistent than Lehmann, but I'm happy with the continuity here.

Neesham badly needs runs in the second innings though.

 

[hendrix]

I think 280 would be 66% in our favour. Anything over 300 will be plenty.

 

[Blocky]

I don't see people going faster than 2.5 an over, so with that in mind, bat into a situation where they have about 100 overs and a 2.8 - 3.0 run rate target.

In regards to the young batsman, give them a pass for the series - foreign conditions that not many of them have played in.
In regards to the bowlers, take notes on their performance. I think in the case of Craig and Sodhi they really needed to perform better than they had to date and at present, Sodhi has, Craig hasn't. But I still think we're not seeing enough out of Sodhi in conditions that suit him to believe that he's someone we should select everytime.

 

[Teja.]

So guys, has Sodhi entered discussions for being #notterrible?

 

[Blocky]

So guys, has Sodhi entered discussions for being #notterrible?

Let's just settle with this is the best he's bowled in an NZ shirt and reserve judgement for how he performs if we're able to set a target to bowl at.