Cricket Thread

[Amobokoboko]

A real shame NZ didn't win this one, the other games might be a bit more tricky to win.

 

[Darwin]

Looks like Aussie cricket is in disarray at the moment. Not only are they getting thrashed by India in the test series, but 4 players (Watson, Khawaja, Pattinson, and Johnson) have been ruled out of the 3rd test for disciplinary reasons (not completing a 'homework assignment' :lol. I would have thought all four would have been involved had they been available. Watson has subsequently left the tour to be home with his pregnant wife, though has threatened to quit test cricket. The Ashes could be a walk-over this year unless Australian cricket sorts itself out very quickly!

Meanwhile the 2nd NZ vs England test is set to start at the basin tomorrow - hopefully there is a bit more life in this pitch! We look set to field the same 11, though I'm a bit concerned about our pace bowlers, who had a big workload in the second innings of the first test.

 

[powerfulduck]

Looks like Aussie cricket is in disarray at the moment. Not only are they getting thrashed by India in the test series, but 4 players (Watson, Khawaja, Pattinson, and Johnson) have been ruled out of the 3rd test for disciplinary reasons (not completing a 'homework assignment' :lol. I would have thought all four would have been involved had they been available. Watson has subsequently left the tour to be home with his pregnant wife, though has threatened to quit test cricket. The Ashes could be a walk-over this year unless Australian cricket sorts itself out very quickly!

Meanwhile the 2nd NZ vs England test is set to start at the basin tomorrow - hopefully there is a bit more life in this pitch! We look set to field the same 11, though I'm a bit concerned about our pace bowlers, who had a big workload in the second innings of the first test.

As if that wasn't a nailed on certainty anyway :lol:

 

[SelimNiai]

Looks like Aussie cricket is in disarray at the moment. Not only are they getting thrashed by India in the test series, but 4 players (Watson, Khawaja, Pattinson, and Johnson) have been ruled out of the 3rd test for disciplinary reasons (not completing a 'homework assignment' :lol. I would have thought all four would have been involved had they been available. Watson has subsequently left the tour to be home with his pregnant wife, though has threatened to quit test cricket. The Ashes could be a walk-over this year unless Australian cricket sorts itself out very quickly!
.

Thats astounding, I'm surprised at Watson & Johnson, they've been around international cricket and the coach and captain long enough to know this sort of thing happens from time to time, especially when theyre not doing well. I assume they felt it was an unnecessary thing to do or felt they were being made examples of.

I just hope this test brings a result and hope the pitch makes for a good, even 5 days. Does the Basin do that normally?

 

[Darwin]

The Basin pitch doesn't tend to do a lot, but it is usually one of the quicker pitches in the country (though that isn't saying much). I expect there will be a bit of pace and bounce for the first couple of days then it will slow down. There usually isn't much in the pitch for the spinners, but there could be a bit of variable bounce late in the game.

The biggest thing bowlers have to deal with at the basin is the wind that usually goes straight along the pitch - I hope England have some 'into the wind' bowlers...

Anyways the match is about to start - England to bat.

 

[SelimNiai]

Thought this started tomorrow meaning a mad scramble when I saw its started to the TV.

Decent start from our lads, the bowling hasn't been that threatening to be honest, Cook mistimed his shot to get out.

 

[Darwin]

England looking pretty comfortable at 131/1. The NZ bowlers have been pretty tidy, but haven't really looked like taking wickets..

 

[admartian]

Another display of McCullum's low cricket IQ and lack of respect to situations and foresight. You see it in his batting, now you can see it in his captaincy.

idiot.

 

[Darwin]

Another display of McCullum's low cricket IQ and lack of respect to situations and foresight. You see it in his batting, now you can see it in his captaincy.

idiot.

:blink:

That seems like a rather harsh attack on McCullum - what exactly has he done wrong today? You could argue in hindsight that NZ should have batted first, but I think bowling was the correct decision. It worked well for us in Dunedin, and this pitch looked to have at least as much (if not more) movement early on as we saw in Dunedin - the difference today is that England have batted pretty well. Though we haven't taken wickets at least England haven't got away on us (yet...) - we need to continue to bowl accurately in the final session, otherwise the may be able to exploit our tiring bowlers.

If I recall correctly the last time we won the toss and batted first we were all out for 45

 

[SelimNiai]

Another display of McCullum's low cricket IQ and lack of respect to situations and foresight. You see it in his batting, now you can see it in his captaincy.

idiot.

I really can't see your angle here, I assume you are referring to the decision to put us in. At face value it looked a good one but as Darwin has said, we've batted far better than we did in Dunedin.

As for the batting, I can't think of (m)any keeper batsmen better than him. He's got 3 consecutive scores of 70 or more vs England on this tour.

 

[Darwin]

England's day today - 267/2 at the close of play. Trott and Compton both deserved their centuries. The only good thing from a NZ perspective is that we didn't let England get away in the final session (though they threatened to at one stage). We need some quick wickets tomorrow morning, otherwise it looks like it will be another long day in the field for New Zealand tomorrow....

 

[admartian]

:blink:

That seems like a rather harsh attack on McCullum - what exactly has he done wrong today? You could argue in hindsight that NZ should have batted first, but I think bowling was the correct decision. It worked well for us in Dunedin, and this pitch looked to have at least as much (if not more) movement early on as we saw in Dunedin - the difference today is that England have batted pretty well. Though we haven't taken wickets at least England haven't got away on us (yet...) - we need to continue to bowl accurately in the final session, otherwise the may be able to exploit our tiring bowlers.

If I recall correctly the last time we won the toss and batted first we were all out for 45

Not necessarily just today.

But most captains wouldn't risk a game for a very small chance f the pitch doing only a little something.

I really can't see your angle here, I assume you are referring to the decision to put us in. At face value it looked a good one but as Darwin has said, we've batted far better than we did in Dunedin.

As for the batting, I can't think of (m)any keeper batsmen better than him. He's got 3 consecutive scores of 70 or more vs England on this tour.

Regarding his batting and keeping- I've never questioned his athletic skill. In fact, he's probably has been one opf the better athletes to hit the game.

But his mental skill (not only him mind you, this has been systematic of NZ cricket since pretty much forever - Jess Ryder, Ross Taylor from time to time, Martin Guptill in patches; to name a few recent examples) in batting, especially is lacking. He won't have an appreciation for the situation, and only really has one speed. His shots are marginal, and when they come off, they look spectacular, but they're not "cricket shots".

To me, he lacks the tactical and strategic mind that Flem and Vettori had; and pretty much most other Captains in world cricket.

I don't see the problem there - you can't be the best at everything. And it certainly shouldn't be a knock on the guy to tell him, in a profession where he shares the field with other equally talented if not more so people - to label him as 'not the best'... Or am I missing something?

 

[Darwin]

Not necessarily just today.

But most captains wouldn't risk a game for a very small chance f the pitch doing only a little something.

How exactly did McCullum 'risk the game' by bowling first?

It looked like there would be some movement in the pitch early, so I think he made the correct decision. Indeed Alastair Cook admitted England themselves would have bowled first if they won the toss! I didn't hear anyone criticize McCullum after they won the toss and bowled first in Dunedin (on what looked like a far less seamer friendly wicket than the Basin pitch..).

Bowling first in New Zealand conditions should be the default choice for any captain. New Zealand pitches tend to offer something for the bowlers in the first morning, then flatten out and become very easy to bat on - batting on day 5 is usually much easier than batting on day 1. This is backed up by the stats from the Plunket Shield season. Of the 23 matches that didn't finish in a draw, 16 were won by the team bowling first (70%). This suggest that batting first in New Zealand conditions is far more of a gamble than bowling first!

Anyways, a good start to the morning for New Zealand, with Trott removed without adding to his score. Pietersen and Bell seem to be going along pretty comfortably now though...

 

[admartian]

^lol ok, I can see people are getting REALLY defensive about this. Not gonna get into that whole internet thing of breaking down each post line by line to go back and forth pertaining to a tiny little comment about my opinion.

My point simply was, he isn't the guy I'd want to be captain, nor a guy I would trust an innings on. Is he good to try and get the tempo going? Sure. But I can't trust him when an innings is on the line or to pace himself and to set a platform etc etc. Better said, he's best for 20/20.

Not a personal attack on the guy.

Sheesh! You'd think I'd taken out his mother for a nice meal, and never called her again...

 

[Darwin]

^lol ok, I can see people are getting REALLY defensive about this. Not gonna get into that whole internet thing of breaking down each post line by line to go back and forth pertaining to a tiny little comment about my opinion.

My point simply was, he isn't the guy I'd want to be captain, nor a guy I would trust an innings on. Is he good to try and get the tempo going? Sure. But I can't trust him when an innings is on the line or to pace himself and to set a platform etc etc. Better said, he's best for 20/20.

Not a personal attack on the guy.

Sheesh! You'd think I'd taken out his mother for a nice meal, and never called her again...

:lol: I'm not getting the least bit defensive. You made a strong statement suggesting McCullum 'risked the game by choosing to bowl first'. I simply wanted to clarify why you thought this was the case, and showed why I believed bowling first was the correct decision (and backed it up with evidence....). I don't know how you could possibly construe that as being 'defensive' .

If you truly believe McCullum 'risked the game by bowling first' please explain why! It is pretty clear you don't like McCullum's captaincy, which is fine, but if people do rate McCullum's captaincy they aren't being 'defensive' any more than you being 'attacking'. The strange thing in this situation is that no-one has actually defended McCullum's captaincy skills (apart from suggesting he made the correct call at the toss), yet you suggest people are getting 'REALLY defensive'. Bizarre.

Anyways, England finally out for 465. Not a bad score, but I think they would have wanted another 30-40 runs at the end to take the follow on total to 300+. New Zealand now need to get stuck in and bat for the next couple of days, though losing Fulton early isn't going to help us....

Meanwhile in Mohali, Australia have won the toss and are batting. The only positive thing from a Aussie perspective is that the first day was rained out, so they may be able to eek out a draw this match....

 

[SelimNiai]

I made it through the whole days play which was good, decent days play too.

465 will be enough, I saw enough from Anderson, Finn and Broad to suggest we should be in position to threaten the win.

If you are going to be watching, give Testmatchsofa.com a listen, they're currently into a 38 hour marathon broadcast incorporating the England, Australia and currently the SA game, all raising money for Comic Relief (so far they've raised £2680, they're good to listen to, informal but they know what they are talking about.

 

[Darwin]

England certainly on to at the moment - McCullum and Watling have a massive job to do here. We need another 130-odd to avoid the follow-on, and these are our last two established batsmen - I don't want to be relying on Southee, Wagner, Martin, and Boult to slog us past the follow-on....

A bit of rain (or perhaps a lot of rain) would be nice about now.....

 

[Wilko's left boot]

McCullum looks very well set. He always, always seems to score big against us!

 

[Darwin]

Looks like we may be saved by the rain - doesn't look like we will get any more cricket today, and it is forecast to rain all tomorrow....

Australia are being taught a bit of a cricketing lesson in India (again...). After making a respectable 408 (with Mitch Starc top scoring with 99), India have raced along to 283/0... after only 58 overs. Dhawan (on debut) is 185* overnight of only 168 balls.

 

[sigesige00]

Could you tell me why there is no Wales national team? And why do Ireland not join YB40?