** Official ** Sri Lanka in New Zealand tour

[Blaze]

What's the pitch like in Napier ?

Green

 

[dinu23]

no no I can think of much better things to dream about.. international cricket isn't that important to me in the greater scheme of things

if cricket isn't that important to u then u wouldn't mind NZ getting thrashed by SL.

 

[JASON]

Green and being watered well everyday !!

 

[Blaze]

if cricket isn't that important to u then u wouldn't mind NZ getting thrashed by SL.

No because you can't determine how important it is to me. Although it is not important enough for me to dream about it at night, I still am a very passioante kiwi who likes to see his country perform with distinction on any sports field therefore I still want to see NZ thrash Sri Lanka

 

[Blaze]

Green and being watered well everyday !!

Haha yeah mate.. na I am not sure actually. There hasn't been anything in the news lately about it. There probably will be tomorow in the big Sunday paper.

I will let you know if I here anything

 

[dinu23]

No because you can't determine how important it is to me. Although it is not important enough for me to dream about it at night, I still am a very passioante kiwi who likes to see his country perform with distinction on any sports field therefore I still want to see NZ thrash Sri Lanka

like how the Aussies thrashed NZ.

 

[Blaze]

like how the Aussies thrashed NZ.

Yeah..you are catching my drift

 

[dinu23]

Yeah..you are catching my drift

I guess ur pretty p*ssed the way NZ lost the test series to Aus. I can understand ur desire to see NZ beat SL, it's possible but it won't be that easy.

 

[chaminda_00]

No because you can't determine how important it is to me. Although it is not important enough for me to dream about it at night, I still am a very passioante kiwi who likes to see his country perform with distinction on any sports field therefore I still want to see NZ thrash Sri Lanka

I can't see us getting thrashed considering Vettori and Oram aren't playing. Add to that the resent retirements of Carins and Richarson, plus unability of Bond. This could be a really big ochance of us to come of age as a Test Playing Nation outside Asia, hope the guys take it. My prediction to close matches that Sri Lanaka both win, as long as the rain holds off.

 

[Blaze]

I guess ur pretty p*ssed the way NZ lost the test series to Aus. I can understand ur desire to see NZ beat SL, it's possible but it won't be that easy.

No I am not ****ed off at the way we lost, I am ****ed off at all the injuries we had which was the overriding factor that contributed to such bad losses

 

[JASON]

Here's some information on the 3 tests played there so far -

McLean Park, Napier (New Zealand) [Ground Page]

First Test: New Zealand v Pakistan, 2nd Test, 1978/79 [847]
Most Recent Test: New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 1st Test, 1994/95 [1292]

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P W1 W2 T D %R Ave Ave1 Ave2 Ave3 Ave4 R/6b

overall 3 1 0 0 2 33% 32.34 31.0 32.8 45.0 18.5 2.49

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I Bat R/W Ov Tar R Match

1 Pak 360 104.5 - D 2nd Test NZ v Pak 1978/79 [847]
2 NZ 402 101.3 - D
3 Pak 234/3d 86 - D
1 Ind 358/9d 146 - D 2nd Test NZ v Ind 1989/90 [1138]
2 NZ 178/1 71 - D
1 SL 183 69 - W 1st Test NZ v SL 1994/95 [1292]
2 NZ 109 42.5 - L
3 SL 352 144.3 - W
4 NZ 185 84.4 427 L

As far as NZ's record at Napier goes- so far played 3 lost 1 (to SriLanka -1994/5) and drawn 2 .
Vaas will have happy memories of this ground , as this was the ground where he got his first 10 wicket haul (the first SriLankan to do so , and not Murali) !!

Test # 1292 (1292/12)
New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 1994/95, 1st Test
McLean Park, Napier
11,12,13,14,15 March 1995 (5-day match)

Result: Sri Lanka won by 241 runs
Sri Lanka leads the 2-Test series 1-0

Toss: New Zealand
Umpires: DB Cowie and SG Randell (Aus)
TV Umpire: EA Watkin
Match Referee: BN Jarman (Aus) ( The mongerel with the Protractors !! )
Test Debuts: KP Walmsley (NZ); CI Dunusinghe (SL).
Man of the Match: WPUJC Vaas
Close of Play:

Day 1: Sri Lanka 183, New Zealand 33/3 (Fleming 20*, Rutherford 8*)
Day 2: New Zealand 109, Sri Lanka 92/3 (de Silva 52*, Tillakaratne 16*)
Day 3: Sri Lanka 253/6 (Dunusinghe 50*, Vaas 12*)
Day 4: Sri Lanka 352, New Zealand 139/4 (Rutherford 20*, Thomson 2*)
Sri Lanka 1st innings R M B 4 6
AP Gurusinha b Walmsley 2 15 3 0 0
DP Samaraweera c Young b Walmsley 33 123 80 4 0
S Ranatunga c Larsen b Nash 12 22 23 1 0
PA de Silva c Parore b Nash 0 2 2 0 0
HP Tillakaratne lbw b Morrison 9 39 32 1 0
*A Ranatunga c Young b Walmsley 55 147 111 4 0
+CI Dunusinghe c Rutherford b Larsen 11 40 34 1 0
WPUJC Vaas not out 33 131 95 4 0
GP Wickramasinghe c Fleming b Morrison 13 36 21 0 0
M Muralitharan c Nash b Larsen 8 7 6 1 0
KR Pushpakumara c Larsen b Morrison 1 20 10 0 0
Extras (lb 6) 6
Total (all out, 69 overs) 183

FoW: 1-15 (Gurusinha), 2-40 (S Ranatunga), 3-40 (de Silva),
4-54 (Tillakaratne), 5-64 (Samaraweera), 6-88 (Dunusinghe),
7-137 (A Ranatunga), 8-166 (Wickramasinghe),
9-178 (Muralitharan), 10-183 (Pushpakumara).

Bowling O M R W
Morrison 19 5 40 3
Walmsley 17 3 70 3
Nash 16 4 28 2
Larsen 17 6 39 2

New Zealand 1st innings R M B 4 6
BA Young c Dunusinghe b Wickramasinghe 2 4 6 0 0
DJ Murray lbw b Vaas 1 16 5 0 0
MJ Greatbatch lbw b Wickramasinghe 1 6 6 0 0
SP Fleming c S Ranatunga b Vaas 35 83 61 5 0
*KR Rutherford c Tillakaratne b Pushpakumara 32 177 117 4 0
SA Thomson c Muralitharan b Vaas 8 9 13 0 0
+AC Parore c Dunusinghe b Wickramasinghe 7 35 23 0 0
GR Larsen c Dunusinghe b Vaas 0 4 5 0 0
DJ Nash lbw b Pushpakumara 0 20 13 0 0
DK Morrison not out 7 24 10 1 0
KP Walmsley b Vaas 4 6 5 1 0
Extras (b 5, lb 1, w 1, nb 5) 12
Total (all out, 42.5 overs) 109

FoW: 1-2 (Young), 2-4 (Greatbatch), 3-6 (Murray),
4-53 (Fleming), 5-65 (Thomson), 6-78 (Parore),
7-79 (Larsen), 8-94 (Nash), 9-104 (Rutherford),
10-109 (Walmsley).

Bowling O M R W
Wickramasinghe 19 7 33 3 (1nb)
Vaas 18.5 3 47 5
Pushpakumara 5 1 23 2 (4nb, 1w)

Sri Lanka 2nd innings R M B 4 6
AP Gurusinha lbw b Larsen 8 45 39 0 0
DP Samaraweera run out 6 24 14 1 0
S Ranatunga lbw b Larsen 7 29 24 1 0
PA de Silva c Parore b Morrison 62 142 92 9 0
HP Tillakaratne c Young b Nash 74 301 234 8 0
*A Ranatunga b Morrison 28 99 64 3 0
+CI Dunusinghe b Morrison 91 323 240 8 0
WPUJC Vaas b Walmsley 36 172 124 4 0
GP Wickramasinghe c sub b Larsen 16 57 29 1 0
M Muralitharan not out 10 23 10 0 0
KR Pushpakumara c Parore b Morrison 0 1 1 0 0
Extras (b 2, lb 7, nb 5) 14
Total (all out, 144.3 overs) 352

FoW: 1-14 (Samaraweera), 2-21 (Gurusinha), 3-22 (S Ranatunga),
4-121 (de Silva), 5-165 (A Ranatunga), 6-205 (Tillakaratne),
7-294 (Vaas), 8-323 (Wickramasinghe), 9-352 (Dunusinghe),
10-352 (Pushpakumara).

Bowling O M R W
Nash 36 12 87 1
Walmsley 38 7 112 1
Larsen 39 13 73 3
Thomson 6 3 10 0
Morrison 25.3 5 61 4 (5nb)

New Zealand 2nd innings (target: 427 runs) R M B 4 6
BA Young c Samaraweera b Muralitharan 14 90 64 1 0
DJ Murray c Dunusinghe b Vaas 36 175 114 3 0
MJ Greatbatch c Tillakaratne b Muralitharan 46 82 82 5 1
SP Fleming c Tillakaratne b Muralitharan 0 9 6 0 0
*KR Rutherford c Dunusinghe b Vaas 20 58 56 2 0
SA Thomson c Gurusinha b Muralitharan 4 59 42 0 0
+AC Parore c Tillakaratne b Muralitharan 17 55 50 1 0
GR Larsen not out 21 91 71 3 0
DJ Nash c Dunusinghe b Vaas 0 31 23 0 0
DK Morrison c Gurusinha b Vaas 0 5 4 0 0
KP Walmsley c Dunusinghe b Vaas 4 2 3 1 0
Extras (b 6, lb 11, nb 6) 23
Total (all out, 84.4 overs) 185

FoW: 1-37 (Young), 2-108 (Greatbatch), 3-108 (Murray),
4-112 (Fleming), 5-141 (Rutherford), 6-141 (Thomson),
7-166 (Parore), 8-181 (Nash), 9-181 (Morrison),
10-185 (Walmsley).

Bowling O M R W
Wickramasinghe 13 2 42 0 (4nb)
Vaas 26.4 10 43 5 (3nb)
Pushpakumara 9 2 19 0 (2nb)
Muralitharan 36 15 64 5


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Sri Lanka's first overseas victory.

 

[JASON]

Dunusinghe would have equalled Australian Taberers record for debutant wicketkeeper, had he managed 1 more dismissal !!

 

[cric_manic]

What's the pitch like in Napier ?
Are they watering it ?

the pitch is always good here,we should see a high scoring game
the captian who wins the toss should bat first,there will be a bit in it for the seam bowlers early on but if the openers can stay in there will be some high scores

 

[Zinzan]

Just had a peek at the long term weather forecast for Napier. Its not looking too bad, only a few showers forecast for day 5 (friday).

 

[cric_manic]

the weather can turn durning this time of the year in napier,if it rains it will rain all day but if it stays away we will get hot days

BUT i am no weather man

 

[Zinzan]

the weather can turn durning this time of the year in napier,if it rains it will rain all day but if it stays away we will get hot days

BUT i am no weather man

Of course it could change, but unlike your's my beer is half full

 

[cric_manic]

i wasnt being negative,just dont be suprised if the weather changes
it is vey inconistant at this time

but like you i hope for 5 good days or 4,depends on how long it takes to beat the Sri lankans

 

[lord_of_darkness]

yeh the forecast didnt look that good

BTW neil , liam.. can we get this topped?

 

[Kippax]

I find MetVUW quite useful for rainfall forecasts in particular - at the moment it looks like the only delay in Napier may be on the second morning.
http://www.metvuw.com/forecast/forecast.php?type=rain&region=nz&tim=B

I almost feel obliged to take a week off and drive up to help the turn-out. Napier's a venue I'd like to see a lot more tests (or just FC cricket in general) played in the future, but my uncle predicts we'll probably have the whole bank or stand behind the bowler's arm to ourselves. Unfortunately Prime aren't showing these tests live, so any hope of using his handheld TV as our own little replay screen is out of the question.

 

[Kippax]

Green and being watered well everyday !!

I'll be disappointed if they have turned McLean Park into a green seamer. This is the first chance for NZ to play intense, "both teams genuinely know they're a chance" test cricket since they were in England 10 months ago ("surely you mean v. SA, 13 months ago?" - one of the CW poms), so I'd hate to see a low intensity similar to the Boxing Day ODI before the tour was aborted. That Eden Park pitch did a bit, the Lankans were underdone and lacked resolve, and I'd pretty much turned off the TV within an hour or two.

With places in the African tour squad up for grabs, the last thing I want is someone like Mills or O'Brien taking soft wickets and perhaps booking themselves a plane ticket, only to get whacked around Centurion or the Wanderers this spring. If we suffer the rare indignity of getting dominated by an Asian batting line-up at home, at least it will prevent NZ from feeling too smug (or the NZ selectors too lazy) over the winter.