***Official*** India in New Zealand 2020

[The Hutt Rec]

Great day at the Basin today. Full kudos to the organisers for getting such a great array of food trucks in. Nothing like snacking down on some Mititei Souvlaki from the Greek Food Truck while watching Kane batting. It's also lovely to see the old Museum stand with some people in it again. Now if only they'd do up the toilets and slapped some lights on the ground we'd be completely set.

I was in the Museum Stand today ... they've done a great job of upgrading it ... view is good, I'd forgotten how good. And the toilets underneath there have been refurbished as well! They're an absolute pleasure to visit!!! And that's saying something, because they used to be the scariest toilets I'd ever encountered in my life, reminiscent of a nuclear bunker from the 1930s ...

 

[SteveNZ]

I dunno about weight transfer but he had that finger injury in his bottom hand. I felt some of his drives were going uppish maybe due to some issues with that. We never really had a regulation extra-cover until he got out and most of the time the guy was either too close for the catch or not present at all.

One in particular off Shami, to the left of mid on, his weight transfer was all off but it was such a long half volley it presented no problem. Maybe the ball on the finger early on was the reason for it, didn't think about that (his shoulder injury could be too). India's plan to him needed to change earlier. They went way too full, or banged it in back of a length on 6th stump where he generally loves it. That worked for Australia on harder decks with more pace, but he loves it there in NZ conditions. India would do better second dig trying to be up on that 5m sort of length. bring mid off straighter and keep the catching cover - give him the odd short ball etc.

 

[googlyeyes]

Lol its Williamson. You can only plan so much.

 

[Grasshopper]

The Wellington rain radar's not too flash this morning. Not looking like we'll get a full day's play - what do the locals think?

 

[Days of Grace]

Absolutely **** out there this morning. Been raining since last night so I doubt play will start on time.

I was battling an eye infection yesterday and shouldn’t have been out in the sun. I was camped in the shade under the stand. When Taylor got out I went back to the hotel, basically feeling my way. Feeling better today but hoping it’s overcast.

Great selection of food. I’m partial to the Cambodian stall.

And I’ll say this for the toilets: at least they have soap. In Japan there is very rarely soap at train stations or sports stadiums. The Coronavirus will be loving it.

Get some washlets, though, ffs.

 

[Bahnz]

The Wellington rain radar's not too flash this morning. Not looking like we'll get a full day's play - what do the locals think?

The forecast is for it to clear up by 10, but the rain's been so heavy overnight it wouldn't be at all surprising if we had a delayed start

 

[Grasshopper]

Cheers.


DoG, I hope your eye infection clears up quickly and you're able to enjoy the match.

 

[Days of Grace]

Cheers.


DoG, I hope your eye infection clears up quickly and you're able to enjoy the match.

Thanks, mate. Feeling much better today.

Once again, if anyone else is at the match, give me a PM. The more the merrier.

 

[Immenso]

Been raining since midnight, just stopped at 9am.

 

[nzfan]

Dodgy weather overnight but looks like it's going to clear and likely moderate wind day but going to be cold southerlies. Hoping for a full day's cricket.

The museum looks great and like others pointed out choices of food and beverages available at the ground. I didn't have to use any of them as I was in couple of hospitality stands over the last couple of days but the area just outside of the ground on Kent Terrace is now well used.

Black Caps in the driver's seat as long as they don't do what India did in their first inning, a needless run out and giving wickets out softly. At least score about 75-100 runs and we'll have enough time to close this test out. At one end there is bound to be up and down bounce. It's no more live grass now but it's half dried at one end which will make the bounce inconsistent. The other end there is still some green grass so will nibble around wee bit. The first session will be crucial given it's rained overnight and the ball will do fair bit. After about an hour or unless sun starts to shine brightly it's going to be a tricky period.

I'd expect one of Pujara, Kohli and Rahane to fire. If you are a Black Caps supporter you'd rather hope Pujara to fire as he will bat for a very long time to get his runs so no chance of taking the game away from us in a session or two. The likes of Shaw, Mayank, Vihari and Pant have hardly any test match experience. I'm guessing they must have collectively played less than 20 test matches at the most. In a back to the wall situation you wouldn't expect all of them to come good. Maybe one or two may click but hoping it's not Shaw or Pant as both will score at a very good clip which will give us chances but also can put spanner in the plans of bowling in a particular area.

 

[nzfan]

Oh the Indians bowled really well, rarely a bad ball. No long hops, full tosses or down leg. They were disciplined but rarely used the short ball. I thought they would test out the deck by bowling few short ones but they just struck to bowling one side of the wicket. Every one of our batsman played really well. Latham was unlucky, Blundell got a good one seaming it after pitching, Kane played a decent shot but just unlucky to get under the ball than over it, Rosco got one that reared on him, Nicholls could have likely covered the line a bit better an play besides it but that's the way he plays. Good day of test cricket and don't think India will be disappointed the way they bowled. It's just that they can't bat well in these conditions.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Lots of food options, but it needs a vegan truck out there though. I hiked off to burger fuel at lunch coz there was pretty much nothing haha.

Where was the invite to the hospo tent nzfan?!

 

[nzfan]

Lots of food options, but it needs a vegan truck out there though. I hiked off to burger fuel at lunch coz there was pretty much nothing haha.

Where was the invite to the hospo tent nzfan?!

Trust me, you'll miss watching most of the game if you are in the hospitality. I had to keep dashing to the small TV in the tent to watch most of the balls I missed watching. Too much chat with folks around and with food and drinks around barely in that tent anyone watches. I thought I will not visit the tent ever again particularly if there's a good game going on.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Trust me, you'll miss watching most of the game if you are in the hospitality. I had to keep dashing to the small TV in the tent to watch most of the balls I missed watching. Too much chat with folks around and with food and drinks around barely in that tent anyone watches. I thought I will not visit the tent ever again particularly if there's a good game going on.

First world problems! :P

 

[nzfan]

First world problems! :P

Will make sure to get you a pass the next time around. Not planning to go today, watch on TV.

Ian Smith ripping into Nicholls. He reckons it was a bad inning and NZ lost momentum due to that. Smithy is not convinced with either Blundell or Nicholls. He reckons Nicholls place should be under threat and so should Blundell's I'm not so sure about that. Nicholls sure hasn't had a 50 in the last 10 test inning but he's in such good touch in one day game he will surely turn up in tests as well. Blundell I thought did well. Don't see any reason for change as yet. There's only one test to go anyways.

 

[Pratters]

How's the weather looking now?

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Will make sure to get you a pass the next time around. Not planning to go today, watch on TV.

Ian Smith ripping into Nicholls. He reckons it was a bad inning and NZ lost momentum due to that. Smithy is not convinced with either Blundell or Nicholls. He reckons Nicholls place should be under threat and so should Blundell's I'm not so sure about that. Nicholls sure hasn't had a 50 in the last 10 test inning but he's in such good touch in one day game he will surely turn up in tests as well. Blundell I thought did well. Don't see any reason for change as yet. There's only one test to go anyways.

Yeah yesterday was the day for me too, and definitely picked the right day looking at the weather. Pretty freezing at my house out in the Hutt.

I have to agree with Smith that we totally lost all momentum when Taylor got out ... Nicholls' innings was a bit of a head scratcher. But it's premature to say his spot is under threat, I think. Next season when Will Young is back and firing, plus Conway is eligable, he will want to be getting some runs though.

Don't think Blundell is a long term opener, but he did a decent enough job yesterday, I thought?

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Omg, well Bumrah is back. Shocker from Watling though!

 

[Grasshopper]

Dang, that's not the start we wanted. I hope it's Responsible Timmy today, rather than Tonk Everything Timmy.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Bumrah can essentially rattle the tail here.