*Official* New Zealand in Sri Lanka

[Athlai]

I like the headband.

The general agreement at the pub was he looked like a douche.

 

[Blakey]

Garth who?

Garth Brooks - the only person Brett is willing to let lull him to sleep each night. Puke.

 

[Blakey]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. That was painful, my god that was just sow bad. Patel was rubbish tbh, talked himself up too. O'Brien was shocking, Vettori should of yanked him earlier. Oram better score some runs because Ryder is pretty much as good as him with the ball.

Against Pak I would go with (I know, I know way too early)

6.Batsmen
7.McCullum
8.Vettori
9.Fast bowler, actual pace. Bond probably
10.Tuffey
11.O'Brien/Martin

One of them will be gone by the time the Aussie's a finished with us.

Then by this time next year hopefully Southee has gotten his fat ass fit, McGlenaghan (SP) is bowling decently (Key term decently). Boult's actually playing, Nathula (SP) is bowling well. Man, our bowling just sucks.

It's more than just dire bowling it's a **** attitude. Jetan talked himself up, thinking that's what a sports pro is suppose to do, however, like most of the team, he can't back it up with wickets or economy.

Bond won't play tests again, opps, scratch that - shouldn't play ever again. 1. do himself a favour and 2. let someone with a future get in there.

Face facts the next few years at least are going to be baren baren times, suck it up and blood some new bowlers before a second tier test playing roster includes NZ.

Oram is pies. Best thing he did all day was rip the fingers to the camera with both hands. MoM for that.

 

[tooextracool]

Yeah but Martin did better in the tour match didn't he? Martin + O'Brien = same bowling.

Pick one on form.

Last time I watched the 2, Martin was a swing bowler and O'Brien a seam bowler although I guess when there is little help from the conditions or the pitch they could end up pretty samey. Tuffey has done well in the subcontinent before and seems a taller bowler who is more likely to get something out of the surface than the above 2.

 

[Pigeon]

Disappointment for Kiwis really.

However, it is the typical subcontinental start. Win toss, bat first, and 70% you end up dominating day 1. SL did.

Samaraweera WAG. Almost prompting me to put up a Samara vs Mussey thread here. Both are very very good at home, and not so good away.

 

[TT Boy]

Disappointment for Kiwis really.

However, it is the typical subcontinental start. Win toss, bat first, and 70% you end up dominating day 1. SL did.

Samaraweera WAG. Almost prompting me to put up a Samara vs Mussey thread here. Both are very very good at home, and not so good away.

Win the toss, elect to bowl and have the opposition two for nothing. That's what happened. Not what you said...

 

[Pigeon]

Win the toss, elect to bowl and have the opposition two for nothing. That's what happened. Not what you said...

1 wicket was genuinely due to the bowler's efforts, the other one was a rank bad shot by the batsman. More of an exception rather than the rule. The pitch was bound to become road as the day progressed under the sun.

 

[Pigeon]

1 wicket was genuinely due to the bowler's efforts, the other one was a rank bad shot by the batsman. More of an exception rather than the rule. The pitch was bound to become road as the day progressed under the sun.

Out of the 52 tests in SL since 2000, only 6 tests the opposition has gone on to win despite batting 2nd.

 

[aussie]

Ridiculous!

Would have thought given the time difference NZ home games would be perfect to put on in England during the late evening/early morning.

Yea. But over the last 3/4 years i have been seeing most NZ home matches.

 

[Nishan]

Geez tough day for NZ, the boys didnt look like they were enjoying themselves at all seem to lose all energy by tea time. Martin bowled well i thought last few overs.

Patel well this is ideal condtions for him hasnt used it. Too flat.

Give credit to mahela and Samra they love this sort of stuff.

 

[TT Boy]

1 wicket was genuinely due to the bowler's efforts, the other one was a rank bad shot by the batsman. More of an exception rather than the rule. The pitch was bound to become road as the day progressed under the sun.

I'll wait until Sri Lanka bowl...

Series against Pakistan was played on very competitive surfaces and this wicket had bounce, some early seam movement and started to reverse later on. New Zealand seamers are the worst type of seamers for this surface, their natural length is too short and if you are not quick through the air, you have to bowl with some accuracy.

 

[Woodster]

Just seen the highlights from the opening day, and it seemed that NZ were unable to build any pressure for any length of time as there was a large portion of four balls being thrown down from all bowlers. Jayawardene had the chance to play his elegant cover drive on a number of occasions, so too Dilshan, who played with typical excitement.

There seemed as though the bowlers got a bit of help on the odd occasion, a ball from O'Brien bouncing and moving away from Jayawardene who was well beaten, springs to mind, but by all accounts these areas were certainly not peppered anywhere near enough.

Skipper Sanga will be kicking himself after two very nice boundaries to then stuff one down mid-wickets throat will have been devastating for him. But Samaraweere continues to score runs in abundance, I don't necessarily believe Jayawardene is underrated, I think in the last 18 months or so he has begun receive the plaudits he deserves, but Samaraweera simply does his job and evades the headlines due to the exceptional talents of Sanga and Mahela. Although Test century number 10 may be on the horizon.

On Dilshan, he played some outrageous strokes, for the opening session of a Test match, and it was a joy to watch, very Virender Sehwag. Generally looked to stay leg-side and flay through the off, I do think he tries to go through the extra cover region on occasions when a drive much straighter would be more advisable, but who am I to suggest that after such a positive and entertaining innings ? On these pitches he may get away with it, but a track that does a little more may cause his open face a little more trouble, but he may adjust his game to suit.

Where do NZ go from here ? They must persevere otherwise Murali and Mendis will be preying on their batting line-up with a monster 600+ on the board, and let's face it, these two guys that are in are no strangers to big defining innings when set. NZ need to re-group and find much better areas far more consistently, with the spinners working out what their pace should be for optimum spin and bounce off the pitch. These are tough conditions for the visitors and it's very likely to be dis-heartening when a partnership builds, but another day like the first one will be a disaster, and will ultimately end in a mauling in the opening Test.

I am looking forward to seeing how the lesser experienced batsman attempt to play Murali and Mendis, the gritty Dan Flynn and the ultra positive Jesse Ryder will no doubt formulate very different plans in how to take the spinners down. Pretty sure rotating the strike will not figure too highly for Jesse, as he looked short of breath just fielding today!

 

[Polo23]

No one is mentioning Vettori's decision to bowl first...wtf was he thinking? Who scares you more, Kulasekara, Thushara and Mathews on a flat first day pitch, or Murali and Mendis on an already wearing pitch?

Sure, there had been a bit of rain and the forecast wasn't great...but that doesn't automatically mean bowl first. Pigeon mentioned the stats for teams who had batted second at Galle, it wasn't good reading.

In saying that...the bowlers showed nothing to suggest they are world class...bar maybe Martin, who was pretty good. Nathan McCullum > Jeets

 

[Flem274*]

Geez, page before this was grumpy.

**** happens, who actualy expected us to take it to the Sri Lankans at home on the first day? We saw what would happen with this lot in the subcontinent against Bangladesh.

Actualy, how many people bar Vettori have actualy played much in the subcontinent before? Not many I would suspect and there's one problem already, ten bucks says they're not even quite sure where to bowl.

 

[Polo23]

Geez, page before this was grumpy.

**** happens, who actualy expected us to take it to the Sri Lankans at home on the first day? We saw what would happen with this lot in the subcontinent against Bangladesh.

Actualy, how many people bar Vettori have actualy played much in the subcontinent before? Not many I would suspect and there's one problem already, ten bucks says they're not even quite sure where to bowl.

I'm pretty sure people are more pissed off about how we went about bowling, than the actual result. The bowling was piss poor for any conditions on any surface anywhere.

If they aren't sure where to bowl, Moles and Vettori should be fired now.

 

[straw man]

Was just reading Iain O'Brien's blog and this bit stood out:

Start was delayed till 11.30 and we got first opportunity to bowl first on it after Dan won another toss. It had been mentioned that he wanted to lose the toss as we really weren’t sure what to do first. The pitch felt a little tacky after being under the covers, but how long would that last; we weren’t sure but Dan decided to have first use of it.

I know it's easy to criticise in hindsight, but I would have thought when you're not sure whether to bat or bowl you would default to batting first rather than face M&M in the 4th innings. Even if our batting's unproven.

Still, if we'd bowled better after the initial burst (esp Patel and O'Brien) then the game could be very different now.

 

[Inferiority]

Tough luck NZ but too good SL! Samaraweera and Mahela are showing how to play test cricket, teaching these mediocre New Zealanders a lesson. We should be playing powerhouses such as SA and Australia more often as we are one already. The batsmen only needs to negotiate Vettori and then amass a total. Then watch Mendis and Murali's magic and their work of art. Let's see how their pitiful resistance will be, i doubt many of these kiwis would have any experience playing them before.

 

[Prince EWS]

Tough luck NZ but too good SL! Samaraweera and Mahela are showing how to play test cricket, teaching these mediocre New Zealanders a lesson. We should be playing powerhouses such as SA and Australia more often as we are one already. The batsmen only needs to negotiate Vettori and then amass a total. Then watch Mendis and Murali's magic and their work of art. Let's see how their pitiful resistance will be, i doubt many of these kiwis would have any experience playing them before.

Dire.

 

[Smudge]

Tough luck NZ but too good SL! Samaraweera and Mahela are showing how to play test cricket, teaching these mediocre New Zealanders a lesson. We should be playing powerhouses such as SA and Australia more often as we are one already. The batsmen only needs to negotiate Vettori and then amass a total. Then watch Mendis and Murali's magic and their work of art. Let's see how their pitiful resistance will be, i doubt many of these kiwis would have any experience playing them before.

Excellent. Sri Lanka now have their own sneering twerp cut in the mould of bond21.

 

[Prince EWS]

Excellent. Sri Lanka now have their own sneering twerp cut in the mould of bond21.

Do you remember MendisNuffSaid?