***Official** Sri Lanka in New Zealand

[_Ed_]

OBI-WAN: This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct.

LUKE: (laughing) With the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am
I supposed to fight?

OBI-WAN: Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them. Stretch out with your feelings.

 

[Natman20]

I think Vincent should have been playing rather than either of the marshall twins

 

[Will Scarlet]

Let's hope Vincent can come into some form!

I think Vincent should have been playing rather than either of the marshall twins.

If Vincent was in form most of us would like to see him opening in ODIs: unfortunately, he is not. His highest score in four games is 48, and he's only averaging 18.5.

And if Astle wants to open (where he performs best and if by far NZ's best in that position), Bracewell should encourage him to, and drop Fleming down the order. However, that would be common sense; one of the many things that Bracewell lacks.

I'm gald we're experiencing these reality checks now, rather than during Tri-series (especially after the way I've been playing up our chances to my Australian work mates) or the world cup, though the trend may yet continue. I certainly hope it doesn't continue.

 

[Natman20]

Surely Vincent would be better than both the Marshalls as he has shown more form than both the of the Marshalls in the past by quite a bit IMO. Marshall only has great first-class county stats to his name in the last season which doesn't help New Zealands batting situation as it is a completely different form of the game. His twin James has never deserved to be named in the squad and I dont believe that his 50 or his 150 in the State Shield is enough to secure him a place in the squad.

Hopefully i'll be proven wrong about the Marshalls tommorow because we desperately need players to be able to show form before the world cup because I don't think our back-up players (Marshall for Styris IMO etc.) are strong mentally or technically strong enough to produce those big scores required at this level these days. 285 was great the other day but was based mainly around Taylors innings who has looked uncomfortable in any other innings so far and obviously there was probably a better total in that pitch as Sri Lanka easily won that match.

 

[Matt52]

Surely Vincent would be better than both the Marshalls as he has shown more form than both the of the Marshalls in the past by quite a bit IMO. Marshall only has great first-class county stats to his name in the last season which doesn't help New Zealands batting situation as it is a completely different form of the game. His twin James has never deserved to be named in the squad and I dont believe that his 50 or his 150 in the State Shield is enough to secure him a place in the squad.

Totally agree. Marshall scored 150 against a second string canterbury. Bowling line up.... ....... wait for it.......Hiini(?), Burtt, Chan(?) CZ Harris Findlay(?) Robertson(?) and Todd Astle.

Whereas Vincent has scored a test double century against this same Sri Lankan bowling attack and a test century against Aus. A middle order position would be better though. I think Vincent should be competing with McMillan and Styris and H Marshall for the no5 spot.

 

[Raghav]

After watching last one-day, I was wondering why Bracewell fielded a incompetent side against SRL in the 4th One dayer. Had he not rested Astle, Franklin, the story would have been different. Fleming must be dropped down the order. He should be batting No.3. Its better, we should ask Astle , McCullum to open the innings. I read somewhere that Astle wants to open the innings. If he is interested, we can ask him as he is our main batsman and we should respect him.

The other thing is that , I have seen lot discussion went on about Vettori Bowling. He is by far the greatest left arm spinner and he bowled extremely well at many times. Remember he took a wicket of Atapattu, when the latter was trying to increase the runrate. Had he been in the 4th One dayer, we could have stopped the partnership to build between Sangakkara and Atapattu. Vettori would have got an lbw decision against their defence. He is capable of decieving the batsman with pace and he got a ball that comes in to batsman defence. Those are great weapons for vettori. And more over, Patel would be effective only on spinning tracks. While Vettori would be good on the AUS, SAF, NZ, WI tracks. On the asain wickets, Patel would be handiful.

I think Rotation policy has done good for NZ. We could find McCullum as a opener, Gillespie as a end bowler, and more importantly we found out which lineup would win and which line up would lose against a top class oppposition.

The bench strength was really good for NZ. Its only because the Top players are not performing, the team is not able to win all its matches. They are capable of beating any international side with its high standards in fielding and bowling. Its only the batting which is letting down. But I still believe that NZ can bounce back for the 5th ODI with its full strength side on the field.

 

[Turbinator]

Seems like rain has delayed start...

 

[meatspx]

Looks like the whole of Hamilton is covered by grey/white clouds. No blue sky to be seen.
We might get a 30 over match in....but I woulnd't bet on it.

 

[Lostman]

its stupid that they dont have a reserve day tomorrow.

 

[Will Scarlet]

its stupid that they dont have a reserve day tomorrow.

No, it's stupid they organised the game for Tuesday instead of Sunday or Monday when the BCs fly to AUS in a couple of days.

 

[JASON]

Looks like it will be a washout.

Probably an appropriate ending to 2 evenly matched Teams . Although it would be disappointing for those who turned up to Hamilton today.

Test series 1-1 , 20/20 1-1 , ODIs 2-2 .

I hope SKY NZ is showing the 20/20 between England and Australia.

 

[meatspx]

Looks like it will be a washout.

Probably an appropriate ending to 2 evenly matched Teams . Although it would be disappointing for those who turned up to Hamilton today.

Test series 1-1 , 20/20 1-1 , ODIs 2-2 .

I hope SKY NZ is showing the 20/20 between England and Australia.

They are not showing the 20/20 tonight.
How can they show power boating / snooker / general crap and not show the Aus vs Eng 20/20 match, absolutely pathetic.

Sorry - They are showing it, just updated on their website. 9:30pm Sky Sports1

 

[pasag]

Damn was looking forward to this. Any chance at all? Or has it been officially ruled off?

 

[NZTailender]

Not the best way to end the series, but probably msot fair. Both teams have been very even throughout and it's been reflected in the scorelines.


Hats off to Sri Lanka. They've given us a great contest which I thoroughly enjoyed

 

[adharcric]

Is it fair to say that SL outplayed the Kiwis, even if just slightly so?

 

[JBH001]

Considering that NZ is one of the toughest places for overseas teams (except Australia) to tour, especially those from the subcontinent, I would say that SL going a steady even is a considerable achievement in itself.

Drawing in Eng in tests and taking the odi series.
Drawing in NZ in tests and odi's.

Great stuff by the Lankans. Hats off to them.

PS. Was also glad that Jaya and Vaas signed off from NZ with carnage at Eden Park. It was great watching live!

 

[Fiery]

I think we were outplayed actually. We got thumped in 2 of the one-dayers. Our wins were less than convincing. Well played SL but let's hope the Black Caps start fielding their best side every game from now on.

 

[dinu23]

dissapointed with the wash out. Could have been a cracker.

 

[Dick Rockett]

Is it fair to say that SL outplayed the Kiwis, even if just slightly so?

Well, I dunno if you can slightly outplay someone - seems like an oxymoron to me. But yes, SL were the better side overall, IMO.

Would have been nice to see the NZ 1st XI playing all the games...

 

[meatspx]

Sri Lanka was the better side because they won the high scoring matches (ODIs & test match). These types of games are more likely to be played-out in the World Cup and in other competitions/series around the world.