**Official** Pakistan v New Zealand in the UAE 2014

[Blocky]

@Kippax: You're right that it's a 'test of character' etc etc and I would expect none of the NZ players to indulge the feeling that fate had been mean and nasty to them. However I as a spectator can. I can even pretend that it's purely because I want a good spectacle and not just because my team is on the receiving end.

In these conditions the away side should be awarded the toss in the first match and every second subsequent toss .

Just give the visiting team the option of what they want to do first, you'd stop seeing home manufactured wickets in a real hurry.

 

[hendrix]

Or allow teams to change their composition after the toss.

 

[straw man]

Didn't realise Watling had dropped Hafeez in the final session. That hurts.

 

[Prince EWS]

Just give the visiting team the option of what they want to do first, you'd stop seeing home manufactured wickets in a real hurry.

Home manufactured wickets are good, and I'm sure you'd still see them.

I do actually agree with your suggestion though. If the away side gets the choice then curators will be instructed to make pitches as little toss-reliant as possible, and that certainly would be a good thing.

 

[Kippax]

@Kippax: You're right that it's a 'test of character' etc etc and I would expect none of the NZ players to indulge the feeling that fate had been mean and nasty to them. However I as a spectator can. I can even pretend that it's purely because I want a good spectacle and not just because my team is on the receiving end.

Yeah I'm different from the spectacle angle because I tend to look for "a classic", I'd say. Ayrton Senna getting into his full valour mode and coming from the back of the grid to win in wet weather would obviously constitute a classic. The less fairness and equanimity involved, the higher the possibility of a memorable sporting spectacle for me.

 

[Days of Grace]

All sport should challenge the best athletes whilst still allowing them to win the majority of the time. We don't want cricket to turn into NASCAR.

However, the suggestion of the away team deciding what to do first seems a good one.

 

[Kippax]

.

due to the tragic news earlier, the start of day two of the game against Pakistan has been delayed an hour (at this stage)

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah I'm different from the spectacle angle because I tend to look for "a classic", I'd say. Ayrton Senna getting into his full valour mode and coming from the back of the grid to win in wet weather would obviously constitute a classic. The less fairness and equanimity involved, the higher the possibility of a memorable sporting spectacle for me.

This is definitely the most kippaxy post I've ever seen. It only needed a reference to a player's Myers-Briggs result to achieve the illustrious status of full kippax.

 

[Blocky]

Highly surprised that they've suspended play in this test match... I don't want to come across as heartless considering the incident, but this is an international game already in flight that is not directly impacted by the death of Phil Hughes.... it just seems a little too reserved for mine.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Highly surprised that they've suspended play in this test match... I don't want to come across as heartless considering the incident, but this is an international game already in flight that is not directly impacted by the death of Phil Hughes.... it just seems a little too reserved for mine.

I assume they've done it after consulting the players, and if some of them feel they need a bit of time, it's the right deicsion.

 

[hendrix]

It's not heartless or anything.

I just can't bring myself to care about sport right now and I imagine the players feel the same. I know people die every day but cricketers across the world very much make up a community in that they readily relate to each other.

 

[Prince EWS]

It's not heartless or anything.

I just can't bring myself to care about sport right now and I imagine the players feel the same. I know people die every day but cricketers across the world very much make up a community in that they readily relate to each other.

It's not just that current cricketer died either; he (effectively) died playing a professional cricket match.

I certainly couldn't stomach watching this Test right now, and the players would presumably feel a lot closer to the situation than I do. Some of them probably even knew Hughes. It's the right call.

 

[Blocky]

I assume they've done it after consulting the players, and if some of them feel they need a bit of time, it's the right deicsion.

Yeah - that must be the only reason for it, that players themselves have requested that it is suspended.. I know that sport pales in comparison to a young mans life but Hughes himself batted in a game only a couple of days after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankans where Samaweera was shot. There have also been examples of the actual game in which a critical injury occured, the game continued

 

[Blocky]

It's not just that current cricketer died either; he (effectively) died playing a professional cricket match.

I certainly couldn't stomach watching this Test right now, and the players would presumably feel a lot closer to the situation than I do. Some of them probably even knew Hughes. It's the right call.

I'm just surprised, in the day and age of the mass market entertainment model that cricket has now succombed to. I honestly thought that the Australia vs India test would go as planned, let alone NZ vs Pak

 

[Blocky]

For instance, a meaningless Georgie Pie Super Smash game (including an Australian) is continuing

 

[Mike5181]

I don't think there should be any play at all today. Just wouldn't feel right looking at blokes jumping up and down after scoring a century, taking a wicket etc on the day Hughes lost his life.

 

[Blocky]

According to the latest report, play is suspended for the first hour and will resume afterward, although they're still awaiting official word from the cricketing boards, at the moment it's team management who have made that shared call.

 

[Blocky]

Update - Day two has been called off.

 

[Dan]

I don't think there should be any play at all today. Just wouldn't feel right looking at blokes jumping up and down after scoring a century, taking a wicket etc on the day Hughes lost his life.

If they did play, I suspect it would all have been rather subdued.

 

[Grasshopper]

Update - Day two has been called off.

Good.