*Official* New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka 2019

[Tom Flint]

Long way to 300 even if Taylor bats through. Great knock so far mind

 

[Athlai]

Ross Tay173or

This is still on

 

[Flem274*]

shut up

 

[Flem274*]

in other news the black caps facebook page reads cw

Ross 'The Boss' Taylor is 86* & the key man heading into day two in Galle.
We'll resume at 203-5

in the immortal words of jesse ryder in the emergency department 'i am nz cricket!'

 

[Bahnz]

Tough to know who's day that was until Sri Lanka bats. But seeing the turn that was on offer from the first session, I tend to think anything north of 250 will at least keep us in the game.

Great innings from Ross, even if it was more than a tad fortuitous. He doesn't really have the eye anymore to play an innings like he did in the 2012 Colombo test, but the way he used his ring science to get Sri Lanka playing into his hands yesterday was awesome to see.

 

[Chubb]

in other news the black caps facebook page reads cw



in the immortal words of jesse ryder in the emergency department 'i am nz cricket!'

I've sometimes wondered if Ryder actually said that or if he was trying to say "I am an NZ cricketer" but was too drunk. Or if someone misheard him.

 

[Athlai]

I've sometimes wondered if Ryder actually said that or if he was trying to say "I am an NZ cricketer" but was too drunk. Or if someone misheard him.

Yeah agreed.

 

[straw man]

Very mixed day for NZ and could have done with more from the three dismissed after getting a start, but good to see Taylor producing a fighting knock in the subcontinent give his last couple of tours to India and the UAE.

Yes he's lost it against the spitting turn in India and UAE but has always done well in SL - needs a big one here.

For those that watched, what do you think is a par first innings score? 350-400? I expect NZ need 300 at the very least to be in the game. Turn but not quick (yet) and like all slow pitches it's risky for the batsman to try to force the pace when the bowling is tight. NZ's spinners should be accurate at least.

 

[SteveNZ]

Yes he's lost it against the spitting turn in India and UAE but has always done well in SL - needs a big one here.

For those that watched, what do you think is a par first innings score? 350-400? I expect NZ need 300 at the very least to be in the game. Turn but not quick (yet) and like all slow pitches it's risky for the batsman to try to force the pace when the bowling is tight. NZ's spinners should be accurate at least.

I was astounded that the average score batting first at Galle is 400. I thought it must be a misquote. Surely it's not that much of a small sample size? Was the Jayasuriya/Jayawardene partnership there to boost it?

300 will be a good score from here but to me, 400 as suggested was a good, 'par' score. Nicholls and Taylor looked very comfortable when they were in. It was just poor execution, rustiness most probably for Test match play. Latham's was horribly indecisive, Williamson I actually don't know how he managed to get out that way, Nicholls swept completely the wrong ball (one he'd been nudging for one to long on consistently) and gee whiz, Watling looked like a pub-grade batsman looking to tee off on everything. So whilst Akila bowled well, he wasn't bowling hand grenades by any means and no other bowler looked threatening (although most bowled tidily).

 

[Bahnz]

Yes he's lost it against the spitting turn in India and UAE but has always done well in SL - needs a big one here.

For those that watched, what do you think is a par first innings score? 350-400? I expect NZ need 300 at the very least to be in the game. Turn but not quick (yet) and like all slow pitches it's risky for the batsman to try to force the pace when the bowling is tight. NZ's spinners should be accurate at least.

No way, reckon par is 300. The ball has been properly ripping from the morning of day 1. The only period NZ really looked comfortable all day was when Taylor pushed Embuldeniya off his length. Batting looks really hard work (see the sheer number of times Raval and Latham were beaten by Akila in the first session). Latham's dismissal was poor, but the ball he got out to turned a mile from the line off stump. Raval could've been out a dozen times in the exact manner that he finally was. Taylor has lived a charmed life and BJ got one that kept a bit low. Only Williamson really was undone in a truly innocuous fashion. If NZ's spinner's can bowl as well as they did in the UAE I think they'll be very nicely placed if they make 300.

 

[straw man]

Also, didn't realise until now that Akila is a legit off-spin and legspin bowler

 

[Prince EWS]

Also, didn't realise until now that Akila is a legit off-spin and legspin bowler

I'm not sure he really needs the leggies in Tests anymore. He'll probably always bowl them but I think we'll see them slowly become less of a thing now that he has a proper stock ball off break.

I love how he's such a troll though. Gives you five off breaks, then has an obvious change in action so you assume it's a leggie but nope - double bluff, it's a wrong'un.

 

[Bahnz]

I'm not sure he really needs the leggies in Tests anymore. He'll probably always bowl them but I think we'll see them slowly become less of a thing now that he has a proper stock ball off break.

I love how he's such a troll though. Gives you five off breaks, then has an obvious change in action so you assume it's a leggie but nope - double bluff, it's a wrong'un.

Isn't that just a bluff? It's one of my biggest pet-peeves when two fielders go back on the onside, and a fast bowler then gets a batsman out with a yorker or a loopy slower ball, and the commentators scream "Got 'em with the double bluff!" But it's not a double bluff, it's just a bluff! A double bluff would be setting a field that's so obviously set up for a bouncer that it makes the batsmen suspect a trick - and then bowling the bouncer anyway.

Pedantic rant over.

 

[Athlai]

Yeah double bluff would be he has obvious change in action, and they think hes bluffing and it'll be a wrong'un, but no it actually is a leggie.

#mafia
#WIFOM

 

[Prince EWS]

Isn't that just a bluff? It's one of my biggest pet-peeves when two fielders go back on the onside, and a fast bowler then gets a batsman out with a yorker or a loopy slower ball, and the commentators scream "Got 'em with the double bluff!" But it's not a double bluff, it's just a bluff! A double bluff would be setting a field that's so obviously set up for a bouncer that it makes the batsmen suspect a trick - and then bowling the bouncer anyway.

Pedantic rant over.

I absolutely agree that it's actually just a bluff in that case you described, but I think what Akila does is in fact a double bluff. The batsman thinks Akila is trying to deceive him by turning it the opposite way, but in fact actually turns it the same way. The batsman thinks he's picked the bluff but he hasn't.

 

[straw man]

Corrected PEWS post based on Bahnz rant

I'm not sure he really needs the leggies in Tests anymore. He'll probably always bowl them but I think we'll see them slowly become less of a thing now that he has a proper stock ball off break.

I love how he's such a troll though. Gives you five double bluff off breaks, then has an obvious change in action so you assume it's a triple bluff leggie but nope - quadruple bluff, it's a wrong'un.

 

[Prince EWS]

Corrected PEWS post based on Bahnz rant

This has some meme potential.

 

[M0rphin3]

So, are we happy with 250 here? IMO need at least that (given the turn + slow outfield I'll take 250) but would need 300 ish to feel comfy tbh.

Rossco is an absolute ****in legend, looked totally on a different level. Latham/Watling kinda just threw it away. Wish Nicholls had done better though.

 

[Athlai]

250 seems like it's probably par, but hard to tell until Sri Lanka bat we may just be lolbad vs spin. 300 odd is almost certainly a good score though.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Ross didn’t look that lucky to me, looked in control pretty much the whole innings (attempted run outs aside). Great to see him back in that sort of form in a test match.