*Official* Warm-up Matches Discussion

[KiWiNiNjA]

Interesting to see Bennett playing above Southee....

 

[Howe_zat]

Tamim out for 69 but Bangladesh still looking on course for easy victory. 106/1 off 17.

Nafees, Shuvo, Ashraful and Raqibul have neither batted nor bowled.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Oram ahead of NcCullum is just silly. Great 5 off 7, Jakey boy.

 

[GGG]

Good start by Bangladesh dismissing Canada for a dire 112.

Canada is my least favourite minnow, I wish Afghanistan was in the WC instead of them.

Yep, not a fan of any team that is mostly filled with ex-pats.

 

[DingDong]

majestic performance with the bat by nz today

 

[Howe_zat]

Ireland in hot pursuit of NZ's total, currently 91/0 off 12 overs. Porterfield 46*, Stirling 38*. Required rate down to less than 6 an over.

 

[DingDong]

nathan mccullum 0/23 in 3 overs why is this guy constantly picked over patel?

 

[Days of Grace]

Bennett is in trouble if batsmen decide to target him, tbh.


Mind you, Southee hasn't exactlly got a lot of experience to call upon, either.

 

[Howe_zat]

Meanwhile, South africa have won by 8 wickets and with 26.3 overs to spare.

Smith 41, Amla 45, Kallis 49*. No one made a 50 or took 4 wickets.

 

[kingpin]

Ireland......<3

 

[James]

Wow, Ireland well on track for a win here and what a win it would be. Huge worry for us Kiwis if Ireland can do this to what looks to be almost our first choice bowling attack playing.

Could well be a few upsets on the cards come World Cup group stage time.

 

[Shri]

The Ind Vs Aus game taking place at Bangalore tomorrow. Lets see if Yuvraj, Sehwag etc are back to form.

 

[Howe_zat]

Mills gets Joyce just in the nick of time. Ireland send in Johnston presumably to up the pace. Crucial passage of play now.

Edit: No, they send in Botha. Cheers, cricinfo. Asking rate starting to climb now. If NZ had got the ordinary score they would have got without Guptill this game would be lost for them.

 

[IrishOpener]

195/4 now, the O'Brien are in together, really hope they can take this close ...

 

[Howe_zat]

225/5 from 40. Niall O'brien the key, he's 32* from 42. Just started to open up a bit.

Edit: And there he goes. Panic over for NZ.

 

[Daemon]

Even though they won, doesn't feel like a good start for NZ

 

[Howe_zat]

New Zealand's big problem, as expected, continues to be their fast bowling. They will be somewhat reasurred by an excellent innings from Guptill.

 

[IrishOpener]

NZ win by 32 runs, it's a pity it wasn't on tv...

 

[Bahnz]

With Bangladesh playing at home, against sides that don't have the opportunity to adjust to the conditions, I could easily see them making it to the quarters.

As I suspected, Bennett is cannon fodder on the sub continent, with the lower bounce and slower pace of the wickets. Southee has to be in front of him. More disappointing was Nathan McCullum, who continues to look eminently hittable at the international level, despite all his hitting ability down th order.

 

[BeeGee]

majestic performance with the bat by nz today

No, it wasn't. Guptill batted well, the rest were ordinary or worse.

nathan mccullum 0/23 in 3 overs why is this guy constantly picked over patel?

Because McCullum's a better ODI bowler than Patel and many times better as a batsman, perhaps?
Patel isn't even the best limited over spin bowler in the Wellington team, hence Woodcock was picked ahead of him for the NZ squad.