***Official**** Sri Lanka in New Zealand 2014/2015

[Grasshopper]

That was a ragged old batting effort, but they came back well with the ball. Great to see Bracewell make the most of his chance. Test cricket rocks.

 

[hendrix]

I've watched pretty much everything at home in the last year, and missed all our away series this year.

How come it tended to be Anderson or Wagner who took the breakthroughs with the old ball in that WI series then?

Southee still gives away too many singles.

Either sheer luck or from the pressure Southee built up.

He hasn't bowled well this innings but he was easily our best bowler in the Windies and the UAE without the rewards. He doesn't give away singles easily at all.

This may sound like fanboyism but you really had to watch him bowl over those tours. He's been every bit up there with Steyn and Harris. He's our MVP by a mile.

 

[viriya]

These types of innings show you how much having batting support affects your eventual score.. not saying that Sanga is/was definitely going to make a ton, but atm it looks like he will be forced to hit out some time tomorrow because he will run out of partners.. Makes you appreciate great batsmen in relatively mediocre teams like Andy Flower and Brian Lara even more..

 

[wellAlbidarned]

I've watched pretty much everything at home in the last year, and missed all our away series this year.

How come it tended to be Anderson or Wagner who took the breakthroughs with the old ball in that WI series then?

Southee still gives away too many singles.

Batsmen look to play more expansively against Wagner and Anderson due to the difficulty scoring off Southee therefore give more oppurtunities for wickets

 

[GGG]

Good to see our selectors don't take advice from the blockheads posting on this forum. Horses for courses, it isn't rocket science.

 

[Blocky]

lol, On a day where 15 wickets fell, you're claiming it as a moral victory that a bowler happened to take three of them - two of which rather fortunately. The beauty of "What if" is that you don't know, Wagner might have replicated his 5 wickets in one over on this wicket.

 

[GGG]

Yeah right, we were calling for Bracewell before the match.

 

[Swingpanzee]

 

[SteveNZ]

He's bowled well. The real test will be when he bowls on a flat deck, with an old ball, to set batsmen. He was woeful in Bangladesh, lets hope he has his plans sorted out.

But conversely, he was outstanding on debut in Zimbabwe when no one else could buy one, and similarly good in Dunedin v SA. When he's rhythmical and hitting the crease hard, he hits back of a length as well as anyone - and that's obviously a key component in bowling well on flat ones.

 

[OverratedSanity]

lol, On a day where 15 wickets fell, you're claiming it as a moral victory that a bowler happened to take three of them - two of which rather fortunately. The beauty of "What if" is that you don't know, Wagner might have replicated his 5 wickets in one over on this wicket.

What an absurd argument. The least you can do is admit Bracewell bowled well, which he did.

 

[Hurricane]

What an absurd argument. The least you can do is admit Bracewell bowled well, which he did.

@ who

 

[Swingpanzee]

Ironic that he says Bracewell got lucky wickets when he's defending Wagner.

 

[Howsie]

lol, On a day where 15 wickets fell, you're claiming it as a moral victory that a bowler happened to take three of them - two of which rather fortunately. The beauty of "What if" is that you don't know, Wagner might have replicated his 5 wickets in one over on this wicket.

Oh lord.

 

[Blocky]

What an absurd argument. The least you can do is admit Bracewell bowled well, which he did.

Yeah, he did bowl well - but he had conditions that obviously suited the bowlers. I still think Southee (as usual) was the pick of our boys, Bracewell just got the lucky wickets ( the chop on was a good ball, but lucky to hit the stumps, the lofted drive was just a **** shot )

The idea that Wagner would somehow not have taken wickets is a laughable one. We don't know what Wagner would've done on this wicket. That's the only thing we know for sure.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

What we do know is that Wagner wouldn't of found any swing and would of sprayed it at least as much as Bracewell.

 

[Blocky]

What we do know is that Wagner wouldn't of found any swing and would of sprayed it at least as much as Bracewell.

Wagner does get swing, he was swinging the newish ball in the last game.

Bracewell got a few to move, but most of his deliveries were gun barrel straight, the only thing you can say Bracewell generates that Wagner doesn't is more bounce from the pitch due to his into the wicket bowling style. I still think it was the wrong selection call, but I'm happy he's performing enough to give NZ a chance.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Either sheer luck or from the pressure Southee built up.

He hasn't bowled well this innings but he was easily our best bowler in the Windies and the UAE without the rewards. He doesn't give away singles easily at all.

This may sound like fanboyism but you really had to watch him bowl over those tours. He's been every bit up there with Steyn and Harris. He's our MVP by a mile.

Well, i did watch the odd session in the UAE and in the first game especially Southee struggled. At times he was downward garbage. The last game, yeah he bowled better than his figures suggest.

Are you really saying he's up there with one of the top 10 bowlers of all time?

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Wagner does get swing, he was swinging the newish ball in the last game.

Bracewell got a few to move, but most of his deliveries were gun barrel straight, the only thing you can say Bracewell generates that Wagner doesn't is more bounce from the pitch due to his into the wicket bowling style. I still think it was the wrong selection call, but I'm happy he's performing enough to give NZ a chance.

So why then was Doully harping on about Wagner not being able to swing the new ball?

If you want to use Doully rating his ability to reverse the ball then you should listen to him here.

 

[Hurricane]

Hurricane awards for the day:

Right attitude award - Mark Craig - when the message came through at the tea interval to shake a leg - he got on with it immediately and got our pursuing quick runs.
Best phrase of the day - Bahnz - for introducing the term "the trio" presume he meant our 3,4,5 in the batting line up.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Also how good a keeper is BJ. Saved many a run today.