NZ under GrahamB (ICC3)

[Graham]

SRI LANKA V NZ (2ND TEST AFTER DAY FOUR)

New Zealand - 283

M.Sinclair - 63
S.Fleming - 55
T.Weston - 55
D.Fernando - 5/102

Sri Lanka - 259

T.Dilshan - 84
M.Atapattu - 57
C.Silva - 53
S.Bond - 6/63

New Zealand - 400/5 decl.

P.Fulton - 186no
J.Ryder -57
S.Fleming - 45
C.McMillan - 44no
D.Fernando - 3/99

Sri Lanka - 125/4


We set the Sri Lankans an imposing 425 to win, leaving ourselves the best part of five sessions to bowl them out on a dodgy pitch.
The last day promises to be interesting!

 

[Graham]

SRI LANKA V NZ (2ND TEST - NZ LEVEL THE SERIES)

New Zealand - 283

M.Sinclair - 63
S.Fleming - 55
T.Weston - 55
D.Fernando - 5/102

Sri Lanka - 259

T.Dilshan - 84
M.Atapattu - 57
C.Silva - 53
S.Bond - 6/63

New Zealand - 400/5 decl.

P.Fulton - 186no
J.Ryder -57
S.Fleming - 45
C.McMillan - 44no
D.Fernando - 3/99

Sri Lanka - 190

T.Dilshan - 62
M.Mason - 3/20
M.Gillespie - 3/48
S.Bond - 3/49

Win to New Zealand by 234 runs


The second new ball proved to be the undoing of the Sri Lankans as we wrapped up the victory in the first over after tea.
The series levelled at 1-1.

 

[Perm]

Good comeback win for the Kiwis.

 

[Graham]

Good comeback win for the Kiwis.

Yes - a face-saving win for sure!

 

[Graham]

After their failure to make the Super 8 in the World Cup, the Sri Lankan team were out for blood in front of their home fans in the upcoming ODIs.

Teams for the first ODI:

New Zealand

S.Fleming (captain)
P.Fulton
M.Sinclair
C.McMillan
.Ryder
T.Weston (wk)
J.Oram
T.Canning
S.Bond
D.Tuffey
M.Mason

Sri Lanka

K.Sangakkara
M.Atapattu
M.Jayawardene
T.Dilshan
C.Silva
S.Jayasuriya
T.Samaraweera
H.Fernando
H.Boteju
C.Vaas
M.Murilitharan

 

[Graham]

SRI LANKA v NZ (1st ODI)

Sri Lanka - 266/3

M.Jayawardene - 94no
C.Silva - 48no
K.Sangakkara - 46
M.Atapattu - 46

New Zealand - 235

S.Fleming - 89
P.Fulton - 45
H.Fernando - 3/39


The Sri Lankans chose to bat first and their big score was always going to difficult to chase down, and so it proved.
The only bright spots for us were the good knocks from or two openers.
Sri Lanka 1-0 up in the best of three.

 

[Graham]

Two changes to our side for the second ODI with Chris Nevin taking over the keeping duties and Daniel Vettori replacing Darryl Tuffey.
The pitch looks dicey, so big scores are unlikely.


SRI LANKA v NZ (2nd ODI)

New Zealand - 220/9

J.Oram - 49
M.Murilitharan - 3/34
C.Vaas - 3/40

Sri Lanka - 221/5

C.Silva - 71
J.Oram - 3/43


It was one of those days!
The ball was moving around wickedly and Chaminder Vaas was just the type of bowler to excel in those conditions.
Reeling at 68/5, we were always pushing the barrow uphill and we did well to put together a competive score. We had Ryder and Oram to thank for that with a little help from Vettori and Bond also.
With Sri Lanka at 128/4, we were in with a sniff, but Silva and Jayasuriya recovered the situation and set their side up for the win.

2-0 down with some pride to salvage in the remaining game.

 

[Graham]

A change of strategy and personnel for the final ODI.
Jesse Ryder is developing into a useful part time bowler and the decision was made to use him as a fifth bowler.
This meant that Tama Canning could be taken out and replaced by another batsman, Lou Vincent.
Bruce Martin was also preferred over Daniel Vettori for this game.


SRI LANKA v NZ (3rd ODI)

Sri Lanka - 181/8

M.Atapattu - 57
T.Dilshan - 42
S.Bond - 4/32

New Zealand - 182/4

S.Fleming - 88no
P.Fulton - 48


The strategy paid off as Ryder returned 0/38 off his 10 overs.
The Sri Lankans were always on the backfoot on a difficult pitch and their score was never going to be enough as we overhauled it with 8 overs to spare.
Again our openers, Stephen Fleming and Peter Fulton were impressive.

So the test series drawn at 1-1 and the ODI series lost 2-1.

 

[Perm]

Good effort in the end to avoid a whitewash, but the selectors need to take a look at themselves if they want to win a few more matches.

 

[Graham]

Good effort in the end to avoid a whitewash, but the selectors need to take a look at themselves if they want to win a few more matches.

Yeah - the biggest problem with our pool of players is there's no decent spinner.
Give us one and we'd be looking a good all round side.

 

[Graham]

NZ SQUAD to tour BANGLADESH (2007)

Openers
Peter Fulton
Stephen Fleming (captain)
James Marshall

Batsmen
Jesse Ryder (also RM in OD)
Matthew Sinclair
Timothy Weston (wk)
Craig McMillan
Lou Vincent
Jacob Oram (all rounder RM)
Christopher Nevin (wk)

All Rounders
Nicholas Horsley (OS)
Daniel Vettori (SLA)
Jeff Wilson (RFM)

Pace Bowlers
Michael Mason (RFM)
Shane Bond (RF)
Mark Gillespie (RFM)
Warren McSkimming (RM)

Spinners
Bruce Martin (SLA)


With spin bowling being our weakest area, I've taken a gamble in including Nicholas Horsley so that I can try him out in the warm up match.
If he comes off - great! If he doesn't, then no harm done as we've enough players in the squad to cover both FC and OD selections.
Kyle Mills was unavailable for selection due to a long term injury.

 

[Perm]

Yeah - the biggest problem with our pool of players is there's no decent spinner.
Give us one and we'd be looking a good all round side.

Vettori is the best spinner in the country. How about Nathan McCullum? Doesn't usually go for too many in OD stuff.

 

[Graham]

Vettori is the best spinner in the country. How about Nathan McCullum? Doesn't usually go for too many in OD stuff.

Vettori is pretty useless in ICC3.
Haven't seen Nathan McCullum in the database.

Bruce Martin is the best, but that's not saying a lot as that's not much better than Vettori.

Horsley seems a useful part time spinner, but nothing more. His figures in the match against Dhaka are 18-0-90-4.

 

[Perm]

Vettori is pretty useless in ICC3.
Haven't seen Nathan McCullum in the database.

Bruce Martin is the best, but that's not saying a lot as that's not much better than Vettori.

Horsley seems a useful part time spinner, but nothing more. His figures in the match against Dhaka are 18-0-90-4.

I see, I don't actually have ICC3 so wasn't too sure whether it was accurate in regards to players abilities.

EDIT: Do you have MSN Graham?

 

[Graham]

I see, I don't actually have ICC3 so wasn't too sure whether it was accurate in regards to players abilities.

EDIT: Do you have MSN Graham?

Yes - gbanks at xtra.co.nz

 

[Perm]

Yes - gbanks at xtra.co.nz

Added, thanks

 

[Graham]

In the three day friendly against a strong Dhaka side, I gave Nick Horsley the chance to show whether or not he could be classed as a true spinner.
Although he gained man of the match by taking 7 wickets, his figures of 20-0-97-4 and 21-1-126-3 show that he is very expensive!
Therefore he is more of a part timer to my way of thinking.
The unfortunate thing though was that Bruce Martin only took 3 wickets with figures of 20-4-53-2 and 25-2-93-1, hardly inspiring when I regard him as having the edge over Vettori and taking the turning pitch into account!
On the positive side, Lou Vincent put himself into test contention with a fine century and skipper Fleming showed some good form also.

Dhaka v New Zealand

Dhaka - 283

M.Omar - 93
M.Islam - 46
M.Hossain - 42no
N.Horsley - 4/97

New Zealand - 368

L.Vincent - 107
S.Fleming - 51
B.Martin - 48
N.Horsley - 42
M.Hossain - 5/66

Dhaka - 293/6 declared

M.Hossain - 88
M.Sahariar - 49
N.Horsley - 3/126

New Zealand - 77/1

Match drawn

 

[Perm]

Wow, Horsley was expensive. Good ton for Vincent.

 

[Graham]

Good ton for Vincent.

Vincent's form has earned him a call up for the 1st Test.

 

[Graham]

BANGLADESH v NEW ZEALAND (1ST TEST)

Lou Vincent's good form with the bat convinced me that he would be better suited to playing on the sub-continent than Craig McMillan.
Also, because the pitch looks likely to take late turn, Bruce Martin has been included.

The Bangladeshi side has four young players making their debut - 20 year old opening batsman Mehrab Hossain, 18 year old all rounder Marshall Ayub, 20 year old off spinner Yasin Arafat and 21 year old slow left armer Nabil Samad.
35 year old Bashar and 27 year old Rahman are the only players over the age of 23 in a side that shows a lot of talent and promise.
I'd be surprised if they didn't put up one hell of a fight!


New Zealand

P.Fulton
S.Fleming (capt)
J.Ryder
M.Sinclair
T.Weston (wk)
L.Vincent
J.Oram
B.Martin
S.Bond
M.Gillespie
M.Mason

Bangladesh

S.Nafees
M.Hossain
Q.Bashar
K.Saleh
Q.Islam
M.Ayub
M.Rahim
M.Rahman
K.Arafat
M.Sharif
N.Samad


Bangladesh have won the toss and elected to bat first.