• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

*Official* Pakistan v New Zealand in the UAE 2018

Howsie

International Captain
I've been surprised and pleased by how well Ravindra has gone in the A series, but these were clearly very flat surfaces. Neil Wagner breezed his way to a half century last night, so I don't think we should take Ravindra's runs as a sign that he'll go well in the tests.
The test match tracks are likely to be pretty flat too you’d think.

You look at the amount of reverse swing Abbas was getting against Australia and I just think Southee is a must, he’s our best exponent of it. Boult and Wagner will both be there, so that only leaves room for one spinner. You play Ravindra over de Grandhomme and that allows us to play that line up.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
I agree with the general sentiment, I just wish that one of Santner or Tastle were fit to play the spin-allrounder role.
 

Flem274*

123/5
we should only play one spinner because ours aren't good. sodhi, santa, tastle or ajaz aren't winning us a series in UAE/subcontinent unless it's a total jokebowl.

play to our strengths and pick 3 quicks, colin and a spinner.
 

TheBrand

First Class Debutant
MotM on debut.

10 for against Pak last time in UAE.

Game changing over in day night test against Aus.

In his last test, (first test against India 2 years ago) was genuinely troubling Kohli/Rahane with the greatest drift we've seen out of NZ in some time.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
You wash your mouth out!
Mark "Pressure Valve" Craig who in 4 of the 6 Test series he has ever played has been belted at over 4 per over. Has never averaged under 30 in a series. And lets not forget in his great performance against Pakistan, he played 3 Tests and took 13 wickets. 10 of which were in the one game.

Lets revisit that most banal of 10fers. Where the Pakistani lower order absolutely imploded after the break in play due to Hughes' death and where we paid the iron price to get Craig 3 wickets in the second innings by bowling him for far too long.

27.4 - 5 - 94 - 7 - 3.39
20.3 - 2 - 109 - 3 - 5.31




Shan Masood 12 (57)
16.5 and Craig breaks through, Masood had been playing spin from the crease, now he decides to comes forward, pushes tentatively, leaving a big gap between bat and pad, and Craig sneaks this length ball through the gate to rattle his stumps 44/1

Azhar Ali 39 (102)
45.2 where did that come from! Nothing delivery actually, one that he would have left surely but then he pokes at this wide one and could only edge to slip. He is visibly disappointed. A waste of a good start 131/2

Asad Shafiq 11 (39)
107.6 another one down, Shafiq has bent for the sweep and hit it straight to backward square leg 313/6

Safraz Ahmed 15 (24)
117.4 Sarfraz now, Watling throws up the ball immediately after taking it, Sarfraz was pushing forward to an offbreak tossed up outside off, it drifted further away and Sarfraz got a clear edge as he reached out, he turned to walk immediately, looking back at the umpire for confirmation 336/7

Mohammad Talha 0 (4)
119.2 Craig has his maiden Test five-for, Talha has picked up this flighted ball outside off and swung it straight to long on, Craig gets some handshakes and pats from his team-mates 336/8

Rahat Ali 0 (13)
123.6 he has guided this straight to slip to give Craig his sixth wicket, and Ross Taylor his 100th Test catch, tossed up full, slanted across, Rahat reaches from the crease and pushes at it with an open face 346/9

Yasir Shah 25 (65)
125.4 Taylor has more catching practice at slip, and that is a seventh for Craig, very full outside off, Yasir tried to run it to third man and found Taylor in the way 351/10

Mohammad Hafeez 24 (41)
13.6 took a while to realise, but Hafeez has chipped back at the bowler! It was a tossed up delivery on off stump and the batsman was looking to whip it away, ends up spooning a simple catch to Craig, who had done the same when he had faced Hafeez earlier 36/4

Misbah-ul-Haq 12 (57)
27.3 flighted outside off, Misbah looks to defend off the front foot, umpire says that is caught behind, Misbah reviews immediately, it takes plenty of replays but the bottom glove seems to have been brushed by the ball, then onto the pad and the ball pops up for a keeper catch, great call that from umpire Reiffel 63/5

Rahat Ali 6 (42)
63.3 catch it, it's gone straight up and Brendon McCullum takes the catch that ends this Test and gives Mark Craig a 10 wickets for the match. Rahat goes for a low-percentage slog-sweep and gets a top edge and offers a simple catch 259/10
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Test match economy of 3.8 and an average the wrong side of 45. Plus he hasn't been fit in ages.

Yeah, no thanks.
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Probably would have been picked if he was fit tbf. We're talking 6th choice spinner Will Somerville here:

1. Santner
2. Sodhi
3. Astle
4. Patel, A
5. Craig
6. Somerville
 

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
I've been surprised and pleased by how well Ravindra has gone in the A series, but these were clearly very flat surfaces. Neil Wagner breezed his way to a half century last night, so I don't think we should take Ravindra's runs as a sign that he'll go well in the tests.
Well Ravindra bats at no.4 and more often than not he's in early enough. Easy to throw the bat around and get some runs when the opponents have bowled over 100 overs. I think the coaching staff missed a trick, they used him as a bowler, tried to get him to slog in one dayers batting at no.8 and wasted his time. In tests he rightfully got to bat at the top of the order and dare may I say he was our most consistent batter at the top of the order. I wish he had gone on to score two 100s out of those 70 and 60s but he'll get there in future.

Mark my words, he will likely go on to be the best player ever for NZ. I see he has all the traits such as temperament, ability to bounce back, can bat and bowl. Catch as well. Not unfit unlike some either. I have watched him bat and he's of a different class. The fact that we haven't don't get talents like that often means our cricket set up will struggle to guide him properly. That said they are giving him good chances which is great to see. From what I hear Rosco is a massive backer of Ravindra.

If Ravindra was from sub continent , he will likely have had 20 one dayers and about 10 tests under his belt at least. I personally don't think he needs to be pushed yet to the black caps team. He should get a lot more first class cricket experience maybe at least one season.
 
Last edited:

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
i think we should pick unproven randoms because they're foreign more often
Yes I thought we might have learned from several previous experiences that moving from Aus to NZ late in your career cos you can't crack a side doesn't automatically mean you're good - usually the opposite in fact.

Thought Somerville looked pretty uninteresting in the highlights I've seen this season, plus being 34 there doesn't seem much upside. I'm guessing he relies on control and consistency for wickets. Doubtless they think he can bat and that makes him a replacement for Astle, bearing in mind that domestic engine rooming has a terrible record of translating into overseas runs anyway. Should have just retained Ravindra as third-choice spinner who almost certainly won't get a game imo. Or dug up Luke Woodcock :ph34r:.

Very disappointing for Astle anyway, second time he's forfeited a chance through injury to hold a spot and prove himself.
 
Last edited:

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
You can put whatever spin you can on Will Sommerville but 18 first class matches, 6 List A matches and 8 T20s since he first debuted in 2005 doesn't convince me of anything. Whatever Nathan Lyon, Steve O'Keefe etc blocking him for what 14 years? What about in other formats? Gimme a break. As I see it honestly he left NZ to Aussie, couldn't make much headway there and he comes over to NZ plays handful of games at 34. Gets a call in for test squad.

That said good luck to him, if he can make a career in NZ at the age of 34 and play 3-4 years of cricket then great.
 

TheBrand

First Class Debutant
Mark "Pressure Valve" Craig who in 4 of the 6 Test series he has ever played has been belted at over 4 per over. Has never averaged under 30 in a series. And lets not forget in his great performance against Pakistan, he played 3 Tests and took 13 wickets. 10 of which were in the one game.
Only Yasir Shah took more wickets than him in the series. Babar took the same amount of wickets.

Stats are great, you can easily make them suit your view point.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
we should only play one spinner because ours aren't good. sodhi, santa, tastle or ajaz aren't winning us a series in UAE/subcontinent unless it's a total jokebowl.

play to our strengths and pick 3 quicks, colin and a spinner.
Nah. You're just not going to win in the emirates with 3 quicks, because 2 of them will have melted by lunch. The one test we won in 2014, we played 3 spinners and they took 15 of the 20 wickets that fell. We don't have a Hadlee or a McGrath that can win us games regardless of the conditions. If we can't win with two spinners we're not going to win at all.

Again, ideally we'd have a spin-bowling allrounder that would allow us to do both, but I think if push comes to shove and we don't have anyone who can spin and bat as a passable #7, then we need to go with 2 pacers and 2 spinners, with CdG bowling some filler.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
Only Yasir Shah took more wickets than him in the series. Babar took the same amount of wickets.

Stats are great, you can easily make them suit your view point.
The wider context of it though is that his best series where he bowled a match winning spell, was overall a fairly average series. And he hasn't done bloody anything since.
 

Top