***Official*** New Zealand in Bangladesh & Sri Lanka 2013

[_Ed_]

It was such a dreadful shot. Just jumped across his stumps for no reason to be plumb.

The idea of playing across the line in the last over of the day on a low, slow pitch, not even looking for a boundary - that shot would've got him 1 or 2 max - just boggles the mind.

Yeah, it was horrendous. Just so irresponsible and setting such a poor example as captain.

 

[RxGM]

Yeah, it was horrendous. Just so irresponsible and setting such a poor example as captain.

McCullum is many things but responsible is not one of them, I also think McCullum should have done more to protect Kane in the last five overs, the guy was out on his feet, McCullum should have taken most of the strike, and acted as night watchman rather than playing aggresivly.

 

[Bahnz]

McCullum is many things but responsible is not one of them, I also think McCullum should have done more to protect Kane in the last five overs, the guy was out on his feet, McCullum should have taken most of the strike, and acted as night watchman rather than playing aggresivly.

Nah, disagree with this. McCullum was mindbogglingly stupid in playing the shot that got himself out, but he shouldn't cope any blame for Williamson's dismissal. One of the expectations of a top order test cricketer is that they have the fitness and mental discipline to survive a full day of batting in any conditions. Williamson should have been expected to bat through the last half hour without giving it away. The fact that he did is his mistake, not McCullum's.

 

[hendrix]

It would be nice if we could expect such things of McCullum, because it was definitely hot out there and Williamson has looked one of the fittest batsmen in the team. Fulton looked like he could barely handle it after 15 mins in the middle.

But I agree, it's not really his responsibility.

It is his responsibility to not ****ing get out in the last over of the day though. Ugh.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Nah, disagree with this. McCullum was mindbogglingly stupid in playing the shot that got himself out, but he shouldn't cope any blame for Williamson's dismissal. One of the expectations of a top order test cricketer is that they have the fitness and mental discipline to survive a full day of batting in any conditions. Williamson should have been expected to bat through the last half hour without giving it away. The fact that he did is his mistake, not McCullum's.

Absolutely. The mistake McCullum made was carving that long hop away for 4 when he should have played it safely away for a single and used the nightwatchman as... well, a nightwatchman. If you've chosen to bring one in, you should use it - especially with only an over left in the day.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

The concerning thing for NZ is if the spinners are getting wickets now what will it be like on the fourth and fifth day? I'm sure NZ can reach around the 370 mark but then you'll need your attack to step up. The problem i see is new spinners rarely make hay in Bang these days!!....Narine will tell you that, so how Sodhi will fare remains to be seen. The pace attack is also a little uncertain to me!!..Boult is very good but Bracewall seems to have regressed over the last few years!!..so his role will be important aswell.

And I absolutely agree with this too. Bracewell needs to step up. Bruce Martin and Sodhi can't exactly be relied on. How much is the TAB offering on Williamson being NZ's top wicket taker??

 

[RxGM]

Good players bat in partnerships there will be periods of time, where lets say one player is really struggling to to play a paticular bowler, than his batting partner should avoid singles off the first ball of the over etc to not expose him. For example when Cook was struggling against Boult they engineered there partnership so that Compton faced alot of his deliveries.

In the five overs prior to his dismissal, Kw had faced 22 balls. BMac faced 8 balls and had scored a single off the first ball of the last three overs. Im not saying Brendon should have faced every ball, but he should have said Kane's struggling and is prone to making a mistake, I will block the first couple of balls in the over and look to score later in the over. So that we (KW & Bmac) can set up the game for us tomorrow.

 

[Bahnz]

Good players bat in partnerships there will be periods of time, where lets say one player is really struggling to to play a paticular bowler, than his batting partner should avoid singles off the first ball of the over etc to not expose him. For example when Cook was struggling against Boult they engineered there partnership so that Compton faced alot of his deliveries.

Um, what? In the entire 5 test series, Cook and Compton only had one partnership of any note - which was in the first test of the series before any trends had been established about Cook's effectiveness against Boult. What makes you say that they were engineering the strike to keep Cook away from Boult? I certainly don't remember anything unusual about the sharing of the strike.

In the five overs prior to his dismissal, Kw had faced 22 balls. BMac faced 8 balls and had scored a single off the first ball of the last three overs. Im not saying Brendon should have faced every ball, but he should have said Kane's struggling and is prone to making a mistake, I will block the first couple of balls in the over and look to score later in the over. So that we (KW & Bmac) can set up the game for us tomorrow.

And again none of this is unusual in test cricket. It's a part of the natural flow of the game that in certain periods some players will take more of the strike. Just because one player has been in the field all day, that doesn't men that his partner should suddenly effectively take the role of his night watchman (usually you would expect the opposite to occur - the play who has adjusted to the conditions and has his eye in should look to maximise his time on strike in batting out the closing overs).

And I don't think Kane was visibly struggling. Yeah he was a little tired (as is understandable), but he wasn't really making any errors and didn't look at all like getting out until he suddenly did. He's also batted through hot and humid conditions to stumps on past occasions without problems (India 2010, Sri Lanka 2012), so it's not even like McCullum had any reason to be concerned.

 

[Binkley]

There is a fair amount of hate on here for McCullum getting out just before the end of play. And at the same time people are making excuses for Kane for doing exactly the same thing - or even blaming McCullum for causing that. Be consistent in your criticism fellas. If McCullum should be blamed for getting out, so should Kane. Or you could blame neither and just shrug your shoulders in grim acknowledgement that losing wickets just before the end of play is a New Zealand force of nature, that it is probably better to just accept. Like Grant Bradburn over-hyping the ability of players from Northern Districts.

Not to mention that McCullum's dismissal seems to have attracted more attention here than Kane's whole innings. Which is a travesty 'cos I thought Williamson played beautifully. To my eyes he looked absolutely world-class. Well done that lad.

 

[Flem274*]

Shakib's delivery to KW was about the only ball all day that was ever going to get a wicket as well. It was a good ball to a batsman who had played a long knock and KW was tricked into playing the wrong line. It happens. He never looked like getting out until that ball and McCullum can be blamed for many things, but not KW's dismissal.
s

 

[hendrix]

There is a fair amount of hate on here for McCullum getting out just before the end of play. And at the same time people are making excuses for Kane for doing exactly the same thing - or even blaming McCullum for causing that. Be consistent in your criticism fellas.

McCullum's shot was awful though. Kane made a mistake in that he played the wrong line (and might've perhaps played that length from the back foot to give himself time to deal with any turn - but it was more that he good a reasonable ball.

McCullum's ball was just a straight delivery that he turned into a plumb LBW.

 

[Howsie]

Meh, don't see how a partnership with Watling should be treated any differently.

Thoughts on Anderson making his test debut and batting in the top six Pews?

 

[Mike5181]

Hope the guy does well. Maybe it's a little early for him to be there but he's an exciting talent.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Anybody else watching this on mute?

I did yesterday, and have just muted it again after hearing Danny Morrison's voice.

I wish Sky had a "No Commentary" audio option. The alternate audio is criminally unused.

 

[hendrix]

hmmm, not a good start.

 

[BeeGee]

Thoughts on Anderson making his test debut and batting in the top six Pews?

Anderson isn't batting in the top six, Martin is.

God I hate nightwatchmen.

 

[Bahnz]

Not the best start. Can't believe Bet 365 were paying $11 for a Bangladesh win this morning. Ridiculous.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

perfect nightwatchman's innings that

 

[straw man]

'sake. Thought Bartin was a reasonable bet to score runs on this wicket.

 

[Bahnz]

Oh dear. Wickets in 4 consecutive overs.