*Official* Sri Lanka v New Zealand in Lauderhill, Florida

[Howsie]

Anyone know what the crowd was like?

It was pretty sparse, I doubt there would have been anymore then 6000 (and the talk before the match was that they were expecting 8000). There were a heap of Sri Lankan fans though.

 

[trapol]

Scaly - Is this the same Styris who average 8 at 5 runs per over at the T20 World Cup? Or the guy who got the MVP for the NZ comp with everyone available (vettori/Taylor/McCullum?Bopara/Shah/Arafat/Oram/Guptill) so why is this a Styris wicket?

 

[Jono]

New Zealand are 4/8

 

[Jono]

5/13

 

[SilentOne]

I'm glad I didn't get up to watch that...

 

[Days of Grace]

Who was the local hack in charge of preparing those pitches?

 

[Howsie]

It was a New Zealander who prepared that pitch actually, forgot the name however.

 

[NZ Guy]

Its more to do with the fact its a relatively new square isnt it, but yeah those were two shocking games

 

[Athlai]

Hate to agree with Scaly but he was spot on tbh.

 

[GGG]

Hate to agree with Scaly but he was spot on tbh.

Same, Styris is one of the best bowlers in the world in slow low wickets.

 

[Migara]

Same, Styris is one of the best bowlers in the world in slow low wickets.

He'll have tough competition from Nuwan Kulasekara.

Kulasekara is deadly when the ball does not travel over the stumps. He's able to get some big seam movement. On a bouncing pitch he has to pitch it up more to hit the sumps, hence the amount of deviation near the bat gets lesser. On lower wickets (especially on ones that the ball skids) he can get monumental amounts of deviation by pitching it on a good length (and pitch will make sure the ball will hit the stumps even from there).

 

[Sir Alex]

Pathetic T20 pitches. Dire.

 

[Migara]

Disagree. I enjoyed it more than some 200+ flat beds where bowlers become cannon fodder. Perera showed that there can be room for big hitters, and Vettori andMcCullum showed that you can play orthodox as well. I thouroghly enjoy a 120 -130 chase on a difficult pitch than a 200+ on on a flat bed weher FTB can swing their eyes closed and still score sixes.

 

[Himannv]

Agree with the above view. Rather see a battle between bat and ball as opposed to bat and bat.

 

[Sir Alex]

Disagree. I enjoyed it more than some 200+ flat beds where bowlers become cannon fodder. Perera showed that there can be room for big hitters, and Vettori andMcCullum showed that you can play orthodox as well. I thouroghly enjoy a 120 -130 chase on a difficult pitch than a 200+ on on a flat bed weher FTB can swing their eyes closed and still score sixes.

I don't mind the odd 130 plays 130, but double figures is taking it too far.

 

[DingDong]

yucky series

 

[Scaly piscine]

Disagree. I enjoyed it more than some 200+ flat beds where bowlers become cannon fodder. Perera showed that there can be room for big hitters, and Vettori andMcCullum showed that you can play orthodox as well. I thouroghly enjoy a 120 -130 chase on a difficult pitch than a 200+ on on a flat bed weher FTB can swing their eyes closed and still score sixes.

Even if you were on a 200+ flat pitch you'll still find guys like Bollinger can be a game-breaker.

Anyway these games were entirely about taking the game to a new market. In which case you want a 200+ flat pitch because that's what is likely to be the most entertaining to people who will not really appreciate the nuances and the depth until they've gotten into cricket.

 

[Migara]

For the new market yes.

But for the entertaintmnt factor I would like to see lively pitches, let it be seam or spin.

And I agree, Bolliger is a good bowler. If T20 started a decade back, we would ahve seen players like Murali making batsmen look much more stupid.

 

[Himannv]

Anyway these games were entirely about taking the game to a new market. In which case you want a 200+ flat pitch because that's what is likely to be the most entertaining to people who will not really appreciate the nuances and the depth until they've gotten into cricket.

Agree about the marketing standpoint. Certainly a high scoring game as such would help the game to grow in the US. Somewhat debatable if there is any market there to peruse though. The fanbase mainly included those who had migrated abroad anyway.

I don't mind the odd 130 plays 130, but double figures is taking it too far.

I think they were 120 - 130 pitches, just that both sides took a while to adjust to the requirements. In the case of the second game, being 5 wickets down for 8 runs will certainly change the mindset and the speed of scoring I reckon.