*Official* World Test Championship Final 2021

[Zinzan]

KW needs to find some ways to score. Did well not to lose a wicket in the first hour, but it's not like we're seeing off the new ball and it's going to suddenly get easily. More intent required please, quick singles etc. Hoping the left/right combo helps.

 

[nzfan]

Hear that..? "Boring game Williamson" from the crowd and he goes for a cut

 

[straw man]

Byes and leg byes have been 8 of our 21 runs scored this morning. So uh, stay out there to accumulate byes?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Did I just spot some grey on Bumrah's head?

How old is this dude?

 

[Meridio]

Rare false shot there from Kw

Hmm dunno about that, it was short and wide, about the only **** ball India have bowled today - you should be trying to pick up a boundary there, they're so important when you're under the pump. He just missed it, maybe it stayed a bit low.

 

[CodeOfWisden]

Did I just spot some grey on Bumrah's head?

How old is this dude?

15 year olds have grey hair these days.

 

[Moss]

Lame.

All three wickets catches in front of square from the ball holding in the wicket.

All were brought about by building pressure must be said. Take out the first session of the test and run scoring has been really difficult, even if survival hasn’t always been.

 

[nzfan]

This Kane's inning reminds me of a knock from Rahul Dravid. Took the kids to a test match, hyped the Indians up to them and he scored like under 10 runs in one session. Kids wanted to go back home. They didn't understand master was at work.

 

[Zinzan]

Byes and leg byes have been 8 of our 21 runs scored this morning. So uh, stay out there to accumulate byes?

No pressure on India at all, except byes.

 

[nzfan]

Glorious shot from Nicholls.

 

[straw man]

All were brought about by building pressure must be said.

That too.

Excellent #intent there from Nicholls.

 

[Meridio]

Ah here's Nicholls though to increase our run rate via skews off the outside half

And the inside half. India, you have been warned.

 

[Zinzan]

This Kane's inning reminds me of a knock from Rahul Dravid. Took the kids to a test match, hyped the Indians up to them and he scored like under 10 runs in one session. Kids wanted to go back home. They didn't understand master was at work.

He's looked horrible this morning if we're honest. Lots of luck to still be there and has applied no pressure.

That's better Nicholls... finally some intent. Can't just go at 0.5 an over and hope things miraculously change.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Where tf is the leg slip?

 

[nzfan]

He's looked horrible this morning if we're honest. Lots of luck to still be there and has applied no pressure.

That's better Nicholls... finally some intent. Can't just go at 0.5 an over and hope things miraculously change.

Won't say horrible but he's been tested. Bumrah and Shami were really good gave him nothing to go at.

Fairly unlike of him to not look to score. If he has one to hit he will.

 

[honestbharani]

"Nicholls will be a good hooker" - DK

 

[nzfan]

Some of our batters are built like all blacks. The bowlers just lanky

 

[Arachnodouche]

I feel India's been in these situations before where they bowl dry (not negative mind you) and wait for batsmen to slip up. Just keep at whatever they're doing atm and wickets will come; it's NZ's game to win after all.

 

[straw man]

It's fair enough to try to knuckle down for a period at a very low SR, like Williamson here, when the bowling is very good and conditions are difficult. But there doesn't seem a release in sight - conditions aren't going to get easier, the ball is already 67 overs old and doing a lot, not far from the second new ball. India's three seamers have given away very little.

Only glimmer on the horizon is that India will have to bowl spin eventually, NZ need to be more proactive when that happens.

 

[Moss]

This Kane's inning reminds me of a knock from Rahul Dravid. Took the kids to a test match, hyped the Indians up to them and he scored like under 10 runs in one session. Kids wanted to go back home. They didn't understand master was at work.

Wonder if the Indian posters have thoughts on this, but the 1999 WC being played in the first half of the English summer was a great thing for Dravid’s career IMO. He’d been dropped from the ODI side for most of 1998, the public perception (among the casual fans) was he was too slow for ODIs and a bore to watch.

Though he made a decent return in early 1999 (NZ fans may remember his century in Taupo’s first ODI), he wasn’t quite a fixture and it was really the hype around seaming and swinging conditions in England that ensured he was back in the fold. Think he topped the run charts in the tournament, and that partnership with Ganguly vs Sri Lanka at Taunton was major boost for both his limited over credentials and his PR standing. Could have easily been pigeonholed as a test player like Rigor otherwise.