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

[Spark]

What this test has proved IMO is that much of NZ's famous weakness against spin has been due to fear and anxiety rather than ability. In the past we psyched ourselves out when facing quality spin, essentially losing the battle before the ball was even bowled.

That's usually the case tbf.

 

[RxGM]

So Southee, Boult and McCullum are coming home to rest and Anton Devcich has "earned" a recall for the ODI squad, biggest surprise for me is no Colin Munro

Kane Williamson to captain Black Caps - One Sport News | TVNZ

Kane Williamson (c), Corey Anderson, Dean Brownlie, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham

Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori.

 

[straw man]

Don't know how to sum up this match or series but there were some good quotes from McCullum and Vettori:

"It hit the guys hard. We spent a lot of time together away from the ground. The focus is normally about 'team' but this time we had to ensure each individual was okay first.
In these circumstances the guys had to ensure that themselves and each individual was OK first and the team would come after that. It was incredibly hard to focus on the game.
Even now it's hard to talk about the game with a glowing report when you know what they're dealing with back in Australia. We'll look back in time and be proud of we achieved but there was an empty feeling at times."

"Brendon allowed everyone to grieve in their own way. There was no pressure on anyone to do anything. I think guys accidentally relaxed from that and played with a lot of freedom. While we celebrated the achievements during the test quietly, it didn't feel right to get too excited."

 

[straw man]

as for where NZ rank on the world stage I'd say we're at least top 5. You could argue top 3 as well in that only South Africa seem to perform overseas.

If we beat Sri Lanka at home (even just 1-0) and Australia beat India as expected, we will move up to 5th on the official rankings.

 

[Bahnz]

So Southee, Boult and McCullum are coming home to rest and Anton Devcich has "earned" a recall for the ODI squad, biggest surprise for me is no Colin Munro

Kane Williamson to captain Black Caps - One Sport News | TVNZ

I guess I can understand this - especially for McCullum with his history of back problems. But for Southee and Boult, given that they've had relatively little cricket since the conclusion of the WI tour in July, I would've thought that the more ODI games they get under their belt the better - especially for Boult given that he's still a 50:50 selection at this stage.

My ideal ODI side from that squad:

Guptill, Latham, Williamson, Taylor, Anderson, Neesham, Ronchi, Vettori, NcCullum, Milne, Mills

But I suspect Devcich will get a run because of his "handy" spin bowling. Ugh. Either way, the death bowling options don't look too flash though Anderson surprisingly hasn't done too bad in that role in recent times.

 

[hendrix]

If we beat Sri Lanka at home (even just 1-0) and Australia beat India as expected, we will move up to 5th on the official rankings.

It's going to be weird being absolute hot favourites vs SL.

 

[Bahnz]

Yeah, it's been a long time since New Zealand went into a series as favourites against a relatively well ranked side.

 

[straw man]

I think playing against India, SL, West Indies and Pakistan in spinning conditions has helped.

It definitely has, and there's a general point as well that the improvement in test results we're seeing comes off the back of a few years where we've played more tests than usual, and more 3-test series rather than 2-test series. Someone in the NZ setup is clearly prioritising test cricket and it shows.

kiwi batting by year

Year		Mat	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50
year 2014	8	4931	302	35.47	9504	51.88	13	16
year 2013	12	5445	217*	30.41	10772	50.54	11	28
year 2012	10	4455	142	25.75	9529	46.75	6	18
year 2011	5	2375	110	24.23	4989	47.60	2	17

Last year and this year both broke the NZ record for most tons in the year

2011 was horrible, and iirc so was 2010.

If we want to chart our improvement as a test side then the end of 2011 win over Australia was a good place to start as a symbol of hope, even if there was still plenty wrong and it didn't lead to any new consistency. There were some reasonable performances through 2012 interspersed with some really poor ones (e.g. India tour and SL tour had both. WI tour was just bad) and that was the year Southee turned his bowling around. The whole horrible captaincy dispute doesn't fit into this nice story of progress, however by the time that happened we had four of five players that had shown they genuinely belonged at international level. Doesn't sound much but it was. The strength of the McCullum and Hesson period since then has been that, while those key players continue to improve, they've been able to get new players to perform too and assemble a supporting cast (epitomised by BJ Watling of course). Where 3 or 4 years ago our batting in any difficult circumstances would rest entirely on two or three players (Taylor, Vettori especially) while the rest went missing every single time, we now feel most of our players are a chance to make runs.

Still plenty to work on. I'll be surprised and disappointed if we can't take care of SL at home. Beating England in England prior to the next Ashes will be the next big Test-format goal.

 

[Bahnz]

Williamson update - averaging 51.29 from his last 20 tests with 6 centuries against 5 different countries (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh).

 

[Jono]

Congratulations Kiwi fans Very happy for you.

Boult WAG

 

[hendrix]

Williamson update - averaging 51.29 from his last 20 tests with 6 centuries against 5 different countries (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh).

Latham and Taylor averaging 46 for their careers. Williamson 41.

 

[hendrix]

It definitely has, and there's a general point as well that the improvement in test results we're seeing comes off the back of a few years where we've played more tests than usual, and more 3-test series rather than 2-test series. Someone in the NZ setup is clearly prioritising test cricket and it shows.



2011 was horrible, and iirc so was 2010.

If we want to chart our improvement as a test side then the end of 2011 win over Australia was a good place to start as a symbol of hope, even if there was still plenty wrong and it didn't lead to any new consistency. There were some reasonable performances through 2012 interspersed with some really poor ones (e.g. India tour and SL tour had both. WI tour was just bad) and that was the year Southee turned his bowling around. The whole horrible captaincy dispute doesn't fit into this nice story of progress, however by the time that happened we had four of five players that had shown they genuinely belonged at international level. Doesn't sound much but it was. The strength of the McCullum and Hesson period since then has been that, while those key players continue to improve, they've been able to get new players to perform too and assemble a supporting cast (epitomised by BJ Watling of course). Where 3 or 4 years ago our batting in any difficult circumstances would rest entirely on two or three players (Taylor, Vettori especially) while the rest went missing every single time, we now feel most of our players are a chance to make runs.

Still plenty to work on. I'll be surprised and disappointed if we can't take care of SL at home. Beating England in England prior to the next Ashes will be the next big Test-format goal.

Yeah I think we have 5 players who can set us up to win matches:
McCullum
Taylor
Williamson
Southee
Boult.

Latham might go on that list soon.

And then the supporting act is Watling, Wagner and Craig.

Anderson, Neesham and Sodhi haven't been dead weight either.

The only genuine dead weight is the second opener.

 

[Cabinet96]

Yeah it's complete bollocks, especially given the calibre of teams that have been womped in the UAE in recent years. Still, if we beat Sri Lanka at home then our ranking score will fly up pretty quickly.

My understanding of the rankings is that they don't care about home/away. So while you're hard done here, you can probably cash in more than you ought to against SL at home.

 

[Binkley]

Rankings arguments are always pretty subjective. So here is an easier question - has another test team had a better 2014 than NZ?

 

[hendrix]

Rankings arguments are always pretty subjective. So here is an easier question - has another test team had a better 2014 than NZ?

Sri Lanka have had a good year.
Pakistan themselves haven't been bad.
South Africa have been good.

 

[hendrix]

I'd also expect most teams in the top 5 to win at home vs India and away vs West Indies.

Not to draw in the UAE though. Really can't exaggerate how massive a win this is.

 

[hendrix]

I keep forgetting that SL won a test in the UAE. Hmmm, maybe I'm underrating them slightly.

 

[Athlai]

I keep forgetting that SL won a test in the UAE. Hmmm, maybe I'm underrating them slightly.

SL aren't going to be roll overs but we're definitely on top going into those Tests. Our attack will be far superior and our batting is probably on par for the first time since they started.

 

[Spark]

Sri Lanka have had a good year.
Pakistan themselves haven't been bad.
South Africa have been good.

Even with our comedy routine last month I'd say winning in SA still leaves us in pretty good stead.

 

[hendrix]

SL aren't going to be roll overs but we're definitely on top going into those Tests. Our attack will be far superior and our batting is probably on par for the first time since they started.

The thing is that I'm always right and Flem is always wrong. And I think Lakmal will do well in our conditions. And Flem thinks he's the worst bowler in the world.

Which sets him up to have a spectacular series, especially with Unnamed Sacrificial Opener set to play (sup, Uso) and McHesson to ask for green pitches.