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

[Blocky]

If it's the Pak pacers that get most of the wickets and blow NZ away, will the pitch be considered flat?

Depends on how they get dismissed... one thing you'll note with the Pakistani batsman is their patience and ability to soak up maidens, while being very quick and very ruthless in dispatching bad balls - they only ever hit aerially when they're hitting short balls over the field. If we find ourselves chipping catches to fielders, getting stumped and playing across the line of our pads then yes, the pitch would still be considered flat.

Would be a fair point if Siddle didn't bowl utter piss.

In the same token then - Boult and Southee bowled utter piss too.

Let's just consider that the wicket is entirely ****ing dead for pace bowlers and unless you're operating at Johnson pace (and even he struggled) you don't penetrate with pace bowling. Had the same Siddle bowled in Australia, England, NZ, South Africa etcetera, he'd have been penetrating.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

If it's the Pak pacers that get most of the wickets and blow NZ away, will the pitch be considered flat?

Yes, would say more about the incompetence of our batsmen.

 

[hendrix]

In the same token then - Boult and Southee bowled utter piss too.

This is true.

 

[Blocky]

This is true.

Hard to bowl anything better than utter piss on a low, slow wicket that has no deviation and little to no swing being extracted ( reverse or conventional ) - so it comes down to either being so quick you beat/frighten people but even then, Johnson went from taking wickets at beneath 20 against South Africa and England to wickets at 29.5 against Pakistan, so he wasn't exactly "gunning it"

Australia batted horribly against the Pakistani spin bowlers and showed no patience, ironically the only person who looked settled in there and constructed innings was David Warner.

In terms of line and length bowlers who expect deviation in the air or off the wicket, Siddle, Southee, Boult, etcetera will not make an impact on wickets like that one, and apparently this played even more flat than the last time they were at the venue,

 

[Blocky]

And quite simply on wickets like this you need to take every chance, BJ being so poor on the first day and missing those opportunities from Craig really cost us any chance of getting Pakistan under pressure - so now we have to starve them of opportunities too. We should bat a minimum of 160 overs in this innings and bat accordingly.

 

[hendrix]

I agree.

Where they let me down though was with the reverse. There was certainly a touch of reverse to be had there and I was expecting Southee to at least eek out a wicket from that. He was exceptional with reverse in the Windies but here he missed his lines and didn't crank it up enough (he was low 140s looking for reverse in the Windies).

 

[Bahnz]

$1.80 is pretty good money for a Pakistan win, given the spinners are already beating the bat with a 5 over old ball on day 2.

 

[Kippax]

 

[ohnoitsyou]

In the same token then - Boult and Southee bowled utter piss too.

Let's just consider that the wicket is entirely ****ing dead for pace bowlers and unless you're operating at Johnson pace (and even he struggled) you don't penetrate with pace bowling. Had the same Siddle bowled in Australia, England, NZ, South Africa etcetera, he'd have been penetrating.

Fair enough, but just take a look at the pitch maps.

 

[Blocky]

Let's review the pitch maps at the end of the series.

 

[BeeGee]

Let's review the pitch maps at the end of the series.

But I want to review them now.

 

[straw man]

Expected outcome from here is a comprehensive toweling so would love to see us make it very difficult for Pakistan. Problem is even if we bat all day today we still won't have avoided the follow-on and will need to continue tomorrow as the pitch (presumably) deteriorates further.

Hard to see us doing well without a 150+ from Williamson tbh. Have a feeling McCullum will go ok though.

 

[Flem274*]

so i sit down from packing to watch a ball and...

 

[Flem274*]

Baz going massive here, even if it is a filthy road, is what is best for NZ going forward.

 

[Mike5181]

Baz going massive here, even if it is a filthy road, is what is best for NZ going forward.

That would open up a middle-order spot for Ryder. Ideally he'd bat at five, and one of the allrounders would be at six.

 

[hendrix]

It's not happening guys, listen to what he said.

Also, look at how yuck he is going forward now. Same problems as Michael Clarke, back hampering a great deal IMO.

 

[Mike5181]

That's some interesting hair...

 

[Flem274*]

whelp

it begins?

 

[straw man]

Hard to see us doing well without a 150+ from Williamson tbh. Have a feeling McCullum will go ok though.

... at guiding the ball to first slip

 

[hendrix]

first catch taken by a slip fielder in 3 tests in the UAE. That tells us something.