***Official*** West Indies in New Zealand 2013/14

[wellAlbidarned]

Roach, Rampaul, Best, Shillingford/narine would be formidable

 

[Prensel]

How long would you keep Powell or Deonarine?

Brathwaite
Powell
Edwards
Bravo
Chanderpaul
Samuels

or

Brathwaite
Edwards
Bravo
Chanderpaul
Samuels
Deonarine

 

[Flem274*]

At least Deonarine can bowl.

 

[hendrix]

Sammy admitted in the presser they were bowling too short, so that will be one change to look for in Hamilton. They need to give the ball a chance to swing.

yeah.

West Indies had the best of the bowling conditions, as Sammy was prepared to admit, and they completely wasted them. 300 was par, max on this wicket. An excellent batting team would get 400. NZ is not an excellent batting team and really should've been shot out for around 250, which still would've been enough to win the test.

 

[straw man]

Man, still happy, great win.

Should probably be mentioned that McCullum's decision to enforce the follow-on today was completely vindicated. Well done him.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Man, still happy, great win.

Should probably be mentioned that McCullum's decision to enforce the follow-on today was completely vindicated. Well done him.

His management of our valuable strike bowlers probably needs a bit more credit too. If any of us were captain they'd be dead within the day. He seems to have a good grasp of when it's not worth pushing them.

 

[Flem274*]

Well it sort of was, sort of wasn't. We did lose valuable new ball overs from Southee and Boult which another side might have punished us for, but after a brief resistance we did manage to kick them down once Southee returned and maybe if the West Indian batsmen had had time to mentally regroup during a new NZ innings they would have fought better. Who knows. With the commitment the West Indians showed and the tenacity Southee, Boult and Anderson (and today Wagner) bowled with though I suspect we would have won no matter what we chose to do. The main thing is we won.

 

[hendrix]

yeah look it was the right decision in Dunedin and it was the wrong decision here.

400 ahead? enforce. The most you'll be chasing is 100 odd.

248 ahead? probably not. Could end up chasing 200.

Pretty simple for me.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

I think I understand what he was getting at with the very short opening spells. Both Southee and Boult bowled a whole lot of tripe in those overs. It was clear they weren't feeling at their best, and bowling more overs would've just reduced their confidence and fatigued them further no matter how new the ball was. Taking them off and letting them regain their cutting edge before too much damage was done definitely contributed to the breakthroughs.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

yeah look it was the right decision in Dunedin and it was the wrong decision here.

400 ahead? enforce. The most you'll be chasing is 100 odd.

248 ahead? probably not. Could end up chasing 200.

Pretty simple for me.

this just sums up that it really doesn't matter and the game is 99% won by outplaying the opposition

 

[hendrix]

I suppose McCullum had just seen that the ball was still swinging into the 50th over in the Windies' first innings so he knew it was relatively safe to bring S&B back after a big rest and they'd still find the movement they need to be dangerous.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Yeah that's a good point too.

 

[Flem274*]

yeah look it was the right decision in Dunedin and it was the wrong decision here.

400 ahead? enforce. The most you'll be chasing is 100 odd.

248 ahead? probably not. Could end up chasing 200.

Pretty simple for me.

Nah you have to take overs bowled and the time of day into account. NZ had spent barely two sessions in the field with an overnight break in between here. In Dunedin they had nearly 70 overs under the belt and iirc they enforced in the afternoon. In Dunners giving the bowlers the afternoon off to freshen up and have a cheeky bat 4 million ahead was what I would have done, then come back either just before close or in the morning with fresh bowlers and a new ball.

 

[Days of Grace]

I would always bat again unless the weather forecast was particularly ****e.

We were lucky today that the West Indies just rolled over after the first wicket partnership. Wagner had a lot to do with that.

 

[Bahnz]

As I said earlier, this is one of those rare occasions where enforcing the follow on was, due to the pitch, the swiftness with which WI fell over and the weather conditions, probably fine. Good point about the swing too Hendrix.

 

[James]

Didn't manage to catch anything today, but luckily enough Fox did a 2 hour highlights show this evening.

Superb work from our bowling attack, but seriously, how loose were the West Indies batsmen? So many false shots and playing at deliveries they shouldn't have. They looked all at sea, and appeared as though they simply didn't want to be there.

Interesting how someone else in this thread mentioned the comparison between Anderson and Oram. Been thinking that myself as well.

Surely the West Indies will go with Narine in the third Test in Hamilton. Anyone predicting any other changes to either lineup?

 

[Prince EWS]

At least Deonarine can bowl.

Yeah, given Samuels has basically "retired" from bowling, I wouldn't want to be going into a Test with Chanderpaul as the fifth bowler. Deonarine probably isn't quite there as a Test batsman but they have bigger problems; he's still contributing.

 

[Bahnz]

What do people think of Southee's pace in this series? Obviously I'm thrilled with the swing and accuracy he's producing. But I still think that when he's truly fully fit and firing he should be hitting the same kinda speeds as Boult, and maybe be even a little faster (as he was in SL in 2012). It's not something I care hugely about, but ideally he'd be a bit sharper than the high 120's bowler he was for most of today.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Is Boult the best left-armer in the world atm?

I think he is. Can swing and seam the ball both ways!!

 

[Hurricane]

What do people think of Southee's pace in this series? Obviously I'm thrilled with the swing and accuracy he's producing. But I still think that when he's truly fully fit and firing he should be hitting the same kinda speeds as Boult, and maybe be even a little faster (as he was in SL in 2012). It's not something I care hugely about, but ideally he'd be a bit sharper than the high 120's bowler he was for most of today.

1 Some people think the gun was a bit off in Dunners, and maybe he was still a bit fatigued yesterday from Dunners..lets see how he goes in the tron.

2 Flem is right about the follow on. The freshness of the bowlers is the critical factor to how other teams decide it. And other teams do enforce the follow on in some occassions. So there isn't a no follow on rule amongst successful teams.