***Official*** New Zealand in the West Indies 2014

[hendrix]

He fell out with the board along with Chanderpaul and Gayle after the last one day world cup. Chanders came back while we all know what happened with Gayle for two years...Sars did get another chance but his form slipped so bad he was left out. So he went to county cricket and played a few years and was given another chance in 2012...but only in one dayers..scored a ton vs Zimbabwe at home but then totally failed in Australia..since then he hasn't done himself justice in our domestic competitions and thus he's been left out again...i think that chapter is closed now tbh. Time for Jermaine Blackwood, Leon Johnson and Jonathan Carter to get a go.

What do you think of Dwayne Bravo for Samuels' slot?

 

[BeeGee]

How do people weigh in on Neesham's batting vs Corey's?

Neesham is a better batsman. Anderson is a better bowler.

 

[Days of Grace]

Neesham is a better batsman. Anderson is a better bowler.

I was thinking the opposite before this match. Now, I still think Neesham is the better bowler but with the bat it's much closer than a lot of us thought. It's certainly a very good situation for us to be in.

I take back my previous comment about this being the best NZ side on paper. It's up there, but the 85/86 side at Perth was gun, although Jeff Crowe at no.5 was a bit of a weak point.

I also like this team:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64075.html

What makes the current edition extremely rare in NZ teams is the presence of two near-on world-class opening bowlers at both average under 30 (I would argue they are already world-class in fact). I'm struggling to think of another time in our history when we have had two at the same time.


Looking at updated career stats, I was surprised to see that Sodhi's economy rate is "only" 3.75, which is not that horrendous. I'm sure it would come down too if he doesn't play India again for a while.

 

[91Jmay]

Sarwan is Leicestershire's overseas player.

4 matches 138 runs @ 17.25 in Division 2 so far. Don't think he is the player he once was to put it kindly.

 

[Days of Grace]

@Days of Grace I just noticed you in this thread.

Didn't you rate the top 100 centuries of all time?

If so would it be easy for you to post the top ten NZ centuries of all time? I was trying to name them today.

Gonna revise when I have the time, but as it stands (and the order most likely won't change, barring some new entries ):

1. McCullum 302 vs. India 2013/14
2. Coney 111* vs. Pakistan 1984/85
3. Cairns 80 vs. England 1999
4. McCullum 224 vs. India 2013/14
5. Greatbatch 146* vs. Australia 1989/90
6. Fleming 274* vs. Sri Lanka 2003
7. Turner 110* vs. Australia 1974/75
8. Astle 222 vs. England 2001/02
9. Turner 223* vs. West Indies 1971/72
10. McCullum 225 vs. India 2010/11
11. Crowe 299 vs. Sri Lanka 1990/91
12. Crowe 188 vs. West Indies 1984/85

 

[Athlai]

Taylor in Manchester? Taylor in Colombo. Both were pretty awesome imo.

 

[Howe_zat]

Nah, it actually means "this is out but people aren't going to accept this or the way it will change the balance between bat and ball, so we'll just stick with the umpire to keep the status quo".

The true margin for error is a lot smaller than the umpire's call margin for error. People just won't cop that because for over a hundred years the umpire has generally just given the batsman the benefit of the doubt, with the human eye obviously having more room for doubt than HawkEye has or in fact needs.

Kin ell that's a top post

 

[Hurricane]

Gonna revise when I have the time, but as it stands (and the order most likely won't change, barring some new entries ):

1. McCullum 302 vs. India 2013/14
2. Coney 111* vs. Pakistan 1984/85
3. Cairns 80 vs. England 1999
4. McCullum 224 vs. India 2013/14
5. Greatbatch 146* vs. Australia 1989/90
6. Fleming 274* vs. Sri Lanka 2003
7. Turner 110* vs. Australia 1974/75
8. Astle 222 vs. England 2001/02
9. Turner 223* vs. West Indies 1971/72
10. McCullum 225 vs. India 2010/11
11. Crowe 299 vs. Sri Lanka 1990/91
12. Crowe 188 vs. West Indies 1984/85

Awesome, many thanks. Will take a look at some of these scorecards, though I do remember some of these innings, Greatbatch' was epic. And Baz deserves to be number 1.

 

[RxGM]

Sinclair’s 150 v Pollock and Donald in RSA when no one else got over 30 should be right up there too.

 

[Immenso]

For technical quality.

M Crowe's 100 v Wasim and Waqar in Pak 1990 in the Pringle/bottletop pre-ball inspection reverse swinging bonanza that was that test series.

 

[Mike5181]

Crowe's 188 was against Marshall, Garner, and Holding. Decent effort that.

Astle's 222 and McCullum's triple century immediately come to mind as the best I've seen.

Astle

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Crowe's 188 was against Marshall, Garner, and Holding. Decent effort that.

Astle's 222 and McCullum's triple century immediately come to mind as the best I've seen.

Astle

I love astle trying to keep a pokerface for the first two and then after the last one being all "nah **** this" and having a smile.

 

[Cruxdude]

Gonna revise when I have the time, but as it stands (and the order most likely won't change, barring some new entries ):

1. McCullum 302 vs. India 2013/14
2. Coney 111* vs. Pakistan 1984/85
3. Cairns 80 vs. England 1999
4. McCullum 224 vs. India 2013/14
5. Greatbatch 146* vs. Australia 1989/90
6. Fleming 274* vs. Sri Lanka 2003
7. Turner 110* vs. Australia 1974/75
8. Astle 222 vs. England 2001/02
9. Turner 223* vs. West Indies 1971/72
10. McCullum 225 vs. India 2010/11
11. Crowe 299 vs. Sri Lanka 1990/91
12. Crowe 188 vs. West Indies 1984/85

McCullum just loves India

 

[Bahnz]

I'm a bit surprised that Sutcliffe's 80* in the Tangiwai test doesn't feature anywhere. I suppose you can't account for the fact that he could barely see through all those bandages, but it was still a brilliant innings against a strong bowling attack in a very low scoring match (iirc).

 

[Flem274*]

That's the thing about the Taylor and especially Sutcliffe innings - you can't account for the off field circumstances that make those innings so much more than they look.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Gutted that this morning was the only time i had put aside to watch the test.

 

[Days of Grace]

IIRC, the Japan time for the second test is 11pm-6am, which is just about the worst time possible. And on weekdays as well.

Regarding the innings ratings, I'm thinking that I'm placing too much emphasis on the match result. Astle's innings would be rated the greatest of alltime (for any nation) if NZ had won by 1 wicket.

 

[Bahnz]

On Taylor: I don't actually rate the Colombo 100 that highly, despite the drama that was encircling Taylor at the time. When you assess it purely in the context of the match, it was a hundred made on a very flat batting pitch against (Herath aside) a very timid bowling lineup. It was still a good innings, don't get me wrong, but I think it would struggle to make it into the top 10 of Taylor's all time batting performances (his 75 in the 2nd innings was by far the better of the two imo).

I consider the Machester innings in 2008 and the Hamilton hundred v Aus in 2010 as undoubtedly his two finest innings. He also scored a couple of 90's against Pakistan in 2009 that I rate very highly and rounding out the top 5 would be the 50 he scored against Australia in the Hobart test.

 

[Hurricane]

On Taylor: I don't actually rate the Colombo 100 that highly, despite the drama that was encircling Taylor at the time. When you assess it purely in the context of the match, it was a hundred made on a very flat batting pitch against (Herath aside) a very timid bowling lineup. It was still a good innings, don't get me wrong, but I think it would struggle to make it into the top 10 of Taylor's all time batting performances (his 75 in the 2nd innings was by far the better of the two imo).

I consider the Machester innings in 2008 and the Hamilton hundred v Aus in 2010 as undoubtedly his two finest innings. He also scored a couple of 90's against Pakistan in 2009 that I rate very highly and rounding out the top 5 would be the 50 he scored against Australia in the Hobart test.

Bowling was better but the circumstances make SL his best knock. Martin Guptil and Brendon McCullum each got out for 4 runs which meant the bowling was decent enough. He walked out to bat with the score at 14. He left with the score at 276.
He doesn't ton up - NZ loses that match.
As a general comment - if it wasn't for Taylor's repair jobs NZ would have a significant number of <100 run innings.
Based purely on personal circumstances from which you could make a movie - Sutcliffe's and Taylor's innings stand out in NZ history.

 

[hendrix]

Wellington vs Harris and co.
The knock in England.

IMO his best was the Hamilton knock. Had he not scored that, Windies would have drawn the series and WW would have been insufferable.