*Official* New Zealand vs Pakistan 2022/23

[SteveNZ]

The declaration was meaningless, with the history of the light the last few days and not even attempts with attacking fields etc it looked to be a distraction from another poor performance at home.....maybe, good luck reading his mind.
The umpires " take the light" now, Latham didn't seem to happy to be leaving the field.
To be fair to Bracewell- your right, but he has outdone himself in that regard. Yes the pitch was helpful but at times looked alot more threatening than spinners of the past in similar situations. But you wouldn't exactly say he "earned " his spot.

Yeah...that's a bizarre declaration. Again,I didn't watch it and I don't know the ins and outs of consistency of fading light in Pakistan, but there had to be a chance NZ couldve won that, with almost zero chance Pakistan could. So weird.

And I wasn't aware umpires took that call now, guess that makes it more uniform than how it used to be.

I'm not a Bracewell hater at all, I think he is a reasonable cricketer. But here's a guy who averaged 50 and 17 in FC cricket last year, only the first one is bowling and second is batting. Yet he was picked as a sole spinner in England over a guy who'd taken all 10 a couple of tests earlier, and is used as a pinch hitter above guys like Mitchell who is proven at Test level. It's surreal. I just don't see this faith paying off in a guy with his limited ability.

 

[Jarquis]

Pakistan win paying 101.00 after the declaration lol

I mean, would have been paying more before in no?

 

[SteveNZ]

pretty close game, better luck next time

just try batting with a bit more urgency, turn that 50 sr into 65, 3 rr into 4, its do-able for our guys on these surfaces.
?

Yep, that has to be a consideration when Ish and Kane, as magnificent as that partnership was, couldve pushed bit harder later on. Having said that, the guys below collapsed anyway.

 

[SteveNZ]

Mate, I've been watching England for about 40 years, most of our players during that time fit that criteria.

Haha but seriously, who could you compare it to, if we say all rounders?

 

[Skyliner]

I can’t remember Kane ever yawning his lungs out in the field before dropping a catch. The bloke has always been the consummate professional, while lately others how been downright slovenly. I don’t buy the ‘poor guy - he was up for Christmas’ excuses for a p*ss poor attitude in the field. The malaise surrounding the test team continues unfortunately. Several key chances missed adds up to another failure to get a win on the board. Stead ultimately should be accountable for the dire nose-dive in performance since the WTC final.

 

[Frost]

I can’t remember Kane ever yawning his lungs out in the field before dropping a catch. The bloke has always been the consummate professional, while lately others how been downright slovenly. I don’t buy the ‘poor guy - he was up for Christmas’ excuses for a p*ss poor attitude in the field. The malaise surrounding the test team continues unfortunately. Several key chances missed adds up to another failure to get a win on the board. Stead ultimately should be accountable for the dire nose-dive in performance since the WTC final.

Or??? How about compared to other tests in that part of the world nz absolutely dominated pushing for a win on the 5th day, using spin as a weapon and playing spin with ease.
Yes, this isn't as good a side as the one that won the test championship but there is a few greats no longer playing.
I think we are going to see a steady rise back up with Kane no longer burdened with captaincy and players like Mitchell, blundell and young gaining more experience. Let's not forget where nz have come from.

 

[SteveNZ]

Or??? How about compared to other tests in that part of the world nz absolutely dominated pushing for a win on the 5th day, using spin as a weapon and playing spin with ease.
Yes, this isn't as good a side as the one that won the test championship but there is a few greats no longer playing.
I think we are going to see a steady rise back up with Kane no longer burdened with captaincy and players like Mitchell, blundell and young gaining more experience. Let's not forget where nz have come from.

Love the positivity.

My worry is where 20 wickets will come from. We took 18 here which was good, and Ish was outstanding, but who's going to consistently take our wickets? Boult may not play many more. Same with Wagner. Henry bowls well with something resembling Hagley but not often elsewhere. Jamieson hopefully can get back to his heady heights,and Southee is still a test jet. Then we continue to have this conundrum with balance of seamers v spinners plus who the spinner is, and we lose a lot with Mitchell v CDG as the part time seamer. Then who's next up - Shipley? Fisher? Sears? Someone else?

 

[Frost]

Love the positivity.

My worry is where 20 wickets will come from. We took 18 here which was good, and Ish was outstanding, but who's going to consistently take our wickets? Boult may not play many more. Same with Wagner. Henry bowls well with something resembling Hagley but not often elsewhere. Jamieson hopefully can get back to his heady heights,and Southee is still a test jet. Then we continue to have this conundrum with balance of seamers v spinners plus who the spinner is, and we lose a lot with Mitchell v CDG as the part time seamer. Then who's next up - Shipley? Fisher? Sears? Someone else?

I still hold out hope kj fulfill his potential. That height and the ability to move it both ways. Sears is definitely in the discussion hopefully next year or so.
No team is perfect, teams like England and India have looked relatively toothless when touring nz so I think we are a bit harsh on the standards of our players

 

[Frost]

And I think cdg is a bigger problem than most would think, his inconsistencies with the bat were covered alot of the time with the quality around him but he was a genuine threat with the ball.
Mitchell is a absolute gun batsman but offers nothing more than a holding roll with the ball.

 

[NZTailender]

Much was made of Pakistan's declaration but I wonder if the extra weight of wiping off another 30 or more to reach parity would've put Pakistan under more pressure than they were when Southee declared.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

If Sodhi is a dolphin he's a lone ranger dolphin, a dolphin that files his teeth to a point, a maverick that don't take no crap from no nobody. A dolphin that goes where other dolphins great to tread. A Killer Dolphin.

Remember what happened to Opo. He was a maverick. Didn’t end well for him.

 

[Bahnz]

If Sodhi is a dolphin he's a lone ranger dolphin, a dolphin that files his teeth to a point, a maverick that don't take no crap from no nobody. A dolphin that goes where other dolphins great to tread. A Killer Dolphin.

 

[jcas0167]

Am I the only one that will have mixed feelings if we win this?

Yeah, it would have been amazing to win but it did feel a bit as though we hadn't quite earned it.

 

[Moss]

Love the positivity.

My worry is where 20 wickets will come from. We took 18 here which was good, and Ish was outstanding, but who's going to consistently take our wickets? Boult may not play many more. Same with Wagner. Henry bowls well with something resembling Hagley but not often elsewhere. Jamieson hopefully can get back to his heady heights,and Southee is still a test jet. Then we continue to have this conundrum with balance of seamers v spinners plus who the spinner is, and we lose a lot with Mitchell v CDG as the part time seamer. Then who's next up - Shipley? Fisher? Sears? Someone else?

Yeah this is going to remain the big problem for some time. NZ played about as well as they could have for an away game, a number of things aligned (top order clicking unlike in England, Sodhi and Bracewell adapting well etc) but still couldn’t pick up 20 wickets when the opportunity presented itself. Babar’s declaration felt a bit of a stunt honestly, the kind of “any publicity is good publicity” move you make when threatened by loss of public support.

Missed a golden chance of an away win in the subcontinent, but with this particular attack I don’t know that the ceiling would be much higher. Standout of course, was the improvement from Sodhi in the second innings. Finally learned to use the googly and the flipper judiciously, he and presumably the coaching staff deserve credit for that.

 

[Frost]

Sohdi googly has been decent enough for a while now but we only see it in white ball cricket. He gets good players out in odi and t20.
Weird thing is nz would of taken 20 wickets if not for the declaration so yea idk, going forward if sohdi gets consistent selection as second spinner then Bracewell doesn't play and a third fast bowler gets picked

 

[Howe_zat]

Cricinfo thinks both sides will go for 3 seamers / 1 spinner as oppose to 2/2.

Also this

 

[Niall]

Have to assume that if Pakistan are a remotely serious team this is the final chance for Shan. What a truly rubbish test cricketer he is.

 

[Flem274*]

Yeah this is going to remain the big problem for some time. NZ played about as well as they could have for an away game, a number of things aligned (top order clicking unlike in England, Sodhi and Bracewell adapting well etc) but still couldn’t pick up 20 wickets when the opportunity presented itself. Babar’s declaration felt a bit of a stunt honestly, the kind of “any publicity is good publicity” move you make when threatened by loss of public support.

Missed a golden chance of an away win in the subcontinent, but with this particular attack I don’t know that the ceiling would be much higher. Standout of course, was the improvement from Sodhi in the second innings. Finally learned to use the googly and the flipper judiciously, he and presumably the coaching staff deserve credit for that.

My criticisms of selection are well known but this was Ajaz's test to repeat what he has already done and he didn't. Sodhi was a lone ranger on a deck where all pace could do was bowl wicket to wicket and build pressure (which Southee and Hamza did very well). Macewell (with the ball) did what was expected of him as well, which was to contribute a couple of poles to ease the load on Ajaz and Sodhi.

Ajaz has the talent to bounce back from a bad game in Asia so moving forward Ajaz/Sodhi/Macewell (with Ravindra probably joining again within 18 months) makes me optimistic over the long term if the less heralded spinners maintain standards.

At home we need to stop imitating the English late 2010s right arm fast medium bowling machine, put our brave pants on and pick one of the young and/or quick lads taking poles in Shield to partner Southee and KJ.

 

[thundaboult]

What a luxury it is as well... to have a left arm bowler swingin it both ways, at 135-142, and accurate. If Wheeler or nuttall could have a miracle return to that level again. Ahhh...

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Good. Have won the toss and will bat.
Henry in for Wagner.

Mohammed Wasim has been dropped after saving the 1st test with the bat