**Official** Pakistan v New Zealand in the UAE 2014

[smash84]

Well, it didn't turn out too well for the NZs I suppose. Pakistan should try and bat for another 1.5 days and then see if the pitch gets any better for bowling. Hafeez getting 96 means Roady Road

 

[Swingpanzee]

If Rutherford gets more than 10 then yeah it's a frigging road.

 

[grecian]

I can hear Bradburn from here:

"If you'd picked Devcich his X-Factor batting and handy left-arm-spin would have worked, since Devcich totally isn't comparable to the failed Australian selection of Glenn Maxwell at all. Look at what I've done with Leask over here! The Agribusiness must live on!"

Would have made all the difference, would have darted a few out ten scored big quick runs. Clearly the way for the Kiwi's to go. Decivich-love.....

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Damn you NZ, you have now ensured Hafeez's place in the team for the next 10 years.

 

[Prince EWS]

If Rutherford gets more than 10 then yeah it's a frigging road.

He's not playing.

 

[Howe_zat]

He's not playing.

Exactly. It's so flat the spectators can score.

 

[Pratters]

I watched the first session and Boult and Southee were bowling in the mid 130s mostly. Is that their usual speed?

 

[Prince EWS]

I watched the first session and Boult and Southee were bowling in the mid 130s mostly. Is that their usual speed?

Yeah pretty much. They can get a little quicker at times, especially Boult, but mid-130s is about what you'd expect them to bowl at in this heat.

 

[Howsie]

It makes no sense to play New Zealand for 3 matches in these conditions. This team embarrassingly flopped against Bangladesh in such conditions last year. It was a boring first day.

Jeeez, wouldn't have anything to do with the conditions would it?

You wanna flat pitch, fair enough. But give the bowlers something, carry, bounce, anything. The ball was rolling through to the keeper five overs into the day.

 

[smash84]

Lovely wicket to bat on

 

[hendrix]

there will be more reverse swing for the bowlers from day 2 onwards. That's about it though.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Well i did hear that the kiwis had a rough day today but blimey!!...i never knew it was that bad


Dare i ask how Southee and Boult got on?

 

[Spark]

It makes no sense to play New Zealand for 3 matches in these conditions. This team embarrassingly flopped against Bangladesh in such conditions last year. It was a boring first day.

Yeah, needs someone to score an 80-ball hundred IMO

 

[harsh.ag]

Reckon it will be reported to the ICC.

 

[Spark]

Reckon it will be reported to the ICC.

Wait until NZ bat IMO but yeah these pitches are, at a minimum, way too favourable to the team that wins the toss and outright unfair to bowlers otherwise.

 

[hendrix]

I don't mind a slight advantage given to the team that wins the toss.

 

[WindieWeathers]

We will only know how good the pitches really are when Pak take on teams who play in similar conditions...if you have spinners on a similar level to their's then you should compete!!..otherwise as we saw with Aus it will be a tough task.

 

[hendrix]

I only watched the first session but I thought Sodhi was superb. Probably our best bowler, including Southee and Boult.

 

[Blocky]

Yes, but you always think he's superb. I think it's his best performance in a match that I've seen, no doubt - but I still think he lacked penetration and was very easy for the batsmen to milk around.

We missed Wagner, bigtime. Having a bowler you can throw the ball to when nothing else is going and just get 5-10 over spells of hostility and aggression to try and chip a player out would've been better than the holding patterns we were aiming for.

 

[hendrix]

Yes, but you always think he's superb.

I really don't, he's usually bloody awful. My only support of Sodhi was for him to be picked ahead of Craig if we're playing only one spinner.

In that first session he was excellent, credit where it's due.