***Official*** India in New Zealand 2013/14

[Daemon]

From that highlights package it looks like NZ's catching was the difference in the end

 

[Kippax]

Yeah you might like vault access for this tour, Daemon. I'm wall 8657 on Cricsim for a PM (PEWS may drop in and help), to hook you up with that.

 

[Shri]

From that highlights package it looks like NZ's catching was the difference in the end

Room for improvement too. Two skiers dropped in the end - Kohli and Ashwin.

 

[Energetic]

New Zealand played good Cricket today. Have to admit that this Corey Anderson is a highly talented youngster. Looks like a replica of Shane Watson but the difference is that Anderson is the cooler and calm guy and will flourish. A good genuine all-rounder.

 

[Jassy]

No-one can ever be unhappy with a NZ win. They are a very likeable team, have a wonderful country (and I say this as a half-Aussie!) and have beautiful cricket grounds and women! Well played to them, thoroughly deserved. Sets the series up nicely. Reckon India will take it 3-2.

 

[Daemon]

Yeah you might like vault access for this tour, Daemon. I'm wall 8657 on Cricsim for a PM (PEWS may drop in and help), to hook you up with that.

Dropped you a VM

 

[BeeGee]

Now Prior's ****ed and Bairstow has screwed up his chance I wondered if he might fancy the England gig - I'm bored of Saffers clogging up our Test team - 'tis about time the Kiwis had a shot, on which subject wasn't Martin Crowe talking about coming out of retirement? We've got a vacancy or three in the middle order as well

Well, you already have Stokes, but it's important to note that Ronchi won't play in NZ's test team. Watling is a far better test keeper/batsman.

 

[hendrix]

The difference between players like Anderson and Neesham and the old ring-ins Franklin, Ellis, Nicol etc is the difference between the blackcaps being a very competitive one day team and a team that will struggle to beat Bangladesh.

Also, Guptill's really struggling, isn't he. Someone needs to tell him just to slog. He's not good enough to see out good bowling. He looks best when hitting.

 

[Arjun]

Mitchell McClenaghan is a good find for the Kiwis. Already 19 matches old and he's got 47 wickets. I wonder what to make of Adam Milne (2 wickets in 7 games) and Corey Anderson's bowling.

The Indian team, though, is still in welfare mode, trying to prolong the careers of a few duds.

 

[RxGM]

I don't know how serious Milne's injury is but if he is out for a couple of games I think Bennett deserves a call up to the squad.
Especially if they continue the tactic of winning through taking wickets.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

The Indian team, though, is still in welfare mode, trying to prolong the careers of a few duds.

Just Ishant Sharma, isn't it really? Or are you thinking of Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina too?

 

[hendrix]

Rohit's off the back of a good series against Aus so I can't see how his place would be in contention.

Raina, probably. But it wasn't so long ago that he was an exceptional ODI batsman.

Ishant definitely. It's getting ridiculous.

 

[Jono]

Virat.

 

[hendrix]

Feel like NZ didn't quite get out of gear in that innings. 292 was very much par, and realistically well below par against India.

The game plan was right with Williamson and Taylor laying the foundations, but they needed to push on.

Will also need more from Guptill and Ryder. Ryder in particular I feel is only a matter of time.

 

[Blain]

Hopefully Milne hasn't done a side strain, would put him out for 4-8 weeks most likely. I got one snow boarding this year, painful to do anything for the first few weeks.

 

[_Ed_]

Tickets purchased for Eden Park on Saturday. But fear not - pretty sure my legendary jinx has been broken. I was at the West Indies T20.

 

[Blocky]

Wow, watching India make this chase is surreal. The ease and confidence with which India is playing. Fantastic to watch.

Meanwhile WASP continues to make an arse of itself. Commentator chimes in with, "WASP does not know of Dhoni and Kholi's ability to chase down totals".

Although ironically, WASP from about 30 overs out had NZ in the clear ascendancy and that never changed through the entire innings, so ultimately its long term prediction rate seems pretty sound and it took some exceptional play by Kohli and Dhoni to make WASP move - which it did. WASP doesn't have variables to take into account current batsman, their form and their ability to take a chase to the wire. It also doesn't even take current innings into account. For WASP, when a team is 180 for 3, it doesn't vary based on whether both batsmen are new to the crease and have scores of 0, versus one batsman being at the crease with a score of 120 - so it's only meant to give weighted average against all of the laws in history and for that purpose, it is pretty damn accurate

Milne - bowled straight, bowled fast, but too easy to hit for class players. McCleneghan continues to exhibit a golden arm, Southee and Anderson bowled some boss overs but I have no clue why McCullum isn't using Williamson and Ryder more. Ryder especially.

 

[Blocky]

Guptill will bat well once every six occasions and **** for the rest. He's a horrible player with no plan B and has to be in the peak of confidence and form to put together an innings. Such a headcase, NZ should never pick him.

Ryder showed a lot more patience and I think this will be key, if he plays to his strengths, teams will struggle to restrict him and/or get him out while he's batting well. He just needs to realise that hitting aerial cover shots isn't for him when he can easily keep it along the ground. The moment they bowl at his pads, he has so many options for six, I'd also like to see him return to hitting the ball straighter like he used to.

Taylor starting to show some signs that he can bat time and innings, but he needs to study some of the Indians for how they create scoring options, he's still a bit too one dimensional as a player and his off side scoring against spin in particular needs to improve.

Williamson showed that he's still flakey, still likely to get himself out for a weak Mark Waugh style dismissal even when well set. Anderson showed that he's got power in the masses, a calm head on his shoulders and should only get better with time. I'm also liking McCullum down the order, he may not be hitting big scores yet, but he's providing great momentum at the end. I'd almost consider opening with Williamson and Ryder, dropping Guptill completely (flakey ****er) and alternating either with Munro,Latham or Neesham depending on need in the middle order. Watling could come into that mix too as a bat.

Bowling wise, Milne still isn't the finished product, none of the bowlers seemed to be able to find the yorker length on demand (unlike Kumar, who bowled exceptionally) and for some reason, McCullum needs to be reminded that Ryder and Williamson not only provide some very decent middle overs, but they generally get wickets while doing it too.

 

[Flem274*]

lol the Guptill haters are kidding themselves. It's bizarre. When he was a terrible 4 day batsman for Auckland and the king of the flashy 40s in odis half the country was convinced he should get one more series because talent for years. Now he's a contender for being one of our ODI greats and is scoring 4 day runs he's a flake who should be dropped forever.

 

[_Ed_]

lol the Guptill haters are kidding themselves. It's bizarre. When he was a terrible 4 day batsman for Auckland and the king of the flashy 40s in odis half the country was convinced he should get one more series because talent for years. Now he's a contender for being one of our ODI greats and is scoring 4 day runs he's a flake who should be dropped forever.

Exactly! He's averaging 44.34 in ODIs since the start of 2011, and over 50 in his last 13 games. I'd take that any day of the week.

His weight of 4-day runs is pleasing too, but still wouldn't want him in the Test team at this stage. Hopefully he might go and play county again this winter and start to produce results there as well.