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

[Kippax]

 

[Bahnz]

Wow, that Gayle dismissal...what a thunder boult! We'll need a lot more of that tomorrow if we're to have a chance of clawing our way back into the match.

 

[hendrix]

Yeah those were some beauties from Boult.

Southee needs to step up and pick off Brathwaite early tomorrow. It's critical that Bravo is in early while Boult is hooping it around.

Picking Ramdin for highest score.

 

[WindieWeathers]

It's certainly a new era in terms of our test batting lineup. I'd love to watch a long partnership between Blackwood and Darren Bravo. It's hard to imagine a more aesthetically pleasing West Indian batting duo right now

As for the opening position, If Dwayne Bravo was fit I'd bat him at 6 and move Kirk up to open in the short term. Thomas and Lewis are clearly in need of more FC cricket. Lewis in particular is a good talent but it's too early.

I've said it already but i believe he can be next seasons "Blackwood"...towards the end of this season he was really starting to get into a groove for Trinidad..him, Ambris or Hosein will be the next off the production line imo.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Excellent day's play for WI! Really enjoying Taylor's bowling in the highlights.

Trent's spell though :fap:

 

[Bahnz]

Excellent day's play for WI! Really enjoying Taylor's bowling in the highlights.

Trent's spell though :fap:

Yeah, Taylor was getting some beautiful reverse swing in that spell after tea.

 

[straw man]

Missed the final session this morning and reading through it looks like an unimpressive day for us. Sloppy, even.

Latham looked very controlled - even his edges were cultured.

Just horrible from Rutherford though. I initially liked the guy after watching him hit some fours and defend nice and straight in the Plunket Shield vault, but there's just no point at all picking someone that either cannot or will not learn from his mistakes and develop his game. Driving on the up to a good length ball outside off, with a new ball that is moving around a little? Get out.

 

[WindieWeathers]

It really does warm the heart to see our pacers do well..after the shambolic performances in India and NZ this has been a treat. One can only imagine what we will be able to achieve when Roach is fully in the groove alongside Taylor. Gabriel done well too but imo he's gonna have a major fight on his hands to stay in the side with Cotterrell, Cummins and especially Holder all breathing down his neck.

 

[Howsie]

Yeah, I too actually quite liked the look of Rutherford early on but he's got to go.

As for todays play, yuck. Losing nine wickets for 100 runs to good but hardly outstanding bowling wasn't flash. It could've been a lot worse too if the Windies could catch a ball. Latham was fantastic again, really loving his judgement this series. He's looked really neat. Apart from him though it was pretty average going.

Taylor was really good again, thought he could've bowled a little better early doors but apart from that he was fantastic. Roach still looks fairly average, again his pace is still well down. Gabriel is nothing flash IMO, still struggle to see how he makes this team. Nothing about his bowling seems right.

Edit: Was glad to see Boult come out like he did too. Gayle was never going to last five seconds against him once he got it right but that was a seriously good nut.

 

[straw man]

Some lethargic shots in there - seems like we had collective problems getting our feet moving today and ended up feeling for the ball a lot. I guess it's partly down to difficulty judging the pace of the pitch which is probably different depending on where the ball pitches - very 'interesting' looking wicket. At the very least there was some proper bounce in that short ball that dismissed Williamson, while it looked lower and slower in other spots.

Everyone has already commented on Rossco's innings - from those few highlights looked he was even more bottom-handed than usual to the extent he was squaring up, which he often does early in his innings. And today never got any better.

Nice deliveries by Taylor to get the Watling and Sodhi wickets. Drops by Ramdin in particular were unimpressive though.

 

[Flem274*]

Despite the slight funeral atmosphere surrounding our batting I can't help but feel 3-6 years ago that would have been 100 all out. Go back and look at some of the batting line ups we fielded...

And a 22 year old opener has made three half centuries in a row without looking like a hack! #smallsteps

I'll be worried if the West Indies get a substantial lead. They still have to bat last and have a very inexperienced and out of nick batting line up. If they tonk us around tomorrow then yeah, we'll need to put in a marathon effort with the bat.

 

[hendrix]

Latham looked very controlled - even his edges were cultured.

Just horrible from Rutherford though. I initially liked the guy after watching him hit some fours and defend nice and straight in the Plunket Shield vault, but there's just no point at all picking someone that either cannot or will not learn from his mistakes and develop his game. Driving on the up to a good length ball outside off, with a new ball that is moving around a little? Get out.

I wanted to be wrong about Rutherford. I want to be wrong about Guptill, too.

You simply can't pick batsmen who have trouble with good length bowling. That's 90% of what bowlers bowl at test level. Better off having a problem with the short ball or yorkers than length deliveries.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Great to see Jerome Taylor back and firing. Good to see someone turn around a bit of a tough luck story.

 

[Flem274*]

The cupboard is empty though. It's all very well ruling out Guptill and Rutherford but Guptill averaged 74 and Rudds 41 last season, and both average over 40 in the Shield. They are top performers, so who do we pick? And don't suggest Papps, because he hasn't changed anything important i.e. coming forward to defend when he should go back.

 

[hendrix]

Well it's like I say - it's better to have a short ball problem than a length ball problem. Even if Papps is still a bunny against the short ball, it's something that can be at least partially mitigated with a clear game plan.

I would go Papps.

 

[Flem274*]

It's not the short ball though per se, it's getting sucked into coming forward on defense far too often.

He's a more prolific Jamie How.

 

[Howsie]

The cupboard is empty though. It's all very well ruling out Guptill and Rutherford but Guptill averaged 74 and Rudds 41 last season, and both average over 40 in the Shield. They are top performers, so who do we pick? And don't suggest Papps, because he hasn't changed anything important i.e. coming forward to defend when he should go back.

Jesse Ryder, for the UAE anyway.

Best bet would be to move McCullum back up there but that will never happen unfortunately.

 

[Bahnz]

So thoughts on what New Zealand will have to do tomorrow to keep themselves in this match? Apparently the pitch was starting to turn on 1, so I'm thinking that if we keep WI to 250, then we'll have a chance, but it'll take a hugely improved 2nd innings batting effort to truly bring us back into the match. Either way, there'll be huge pressure on Neesham to bowl well and keep things tight tomorrow. Man I wish we'd picked Wagner.

 

[Flem274*]

Bowl them out for less than we scored. Bat better. Bowl them out for less than we scored again.

 

[Bahnz]

Jesse Ryder, for the UAE anyway.

Best bet would be to move McCullum back up there but that will never happen unfortunately.

Scored another duck for Essex overnight. Even if it weren't for the discipline issues, Jesse hasn't done nearly enough to earn a call up.