***Official*** West Indies in New Zealand 2013/14

[OverratedSanity]

Okay, NZ deserved to win and all that. Bravo what an innings under fire and all that. Taylor, good on you for scoring a massive 200 and all that........

But what the hell were NZ thinking not chasing down the 112 they had to as quickly as possible. RR of 2.63!! They didn't know rain was coming??! Seriously, with the technology around. What were they trying to pull?? You had 30 overs. ****s, get the 112. Hell, you have 20 overs, you get the 112. Idiots.

I don't know... Batting wasn't all that easy tbh... But yeah, they shouldve batted a tad quicker than 2.6 rpo

 

[Flametree]

You lose four quick wickets and suddenly losing the match becomes a very real prospect. Taylor and Anderson made sure that wasn't going to happen, but the rain arrived an hour too early.

 

[Flem274*]

McCullum doesn't enforce the follow on against england with a massive lead. We draw. gets blamed for not enforcing the follow on.

McCullum enforces the follow on against WI with a massive lead. We draw. He gets blamed for enforcing the follow on.

TBH we just need to learn to ****ing win either way, I don't think the follow on was the most important decision in the match. We had plenty of chances to win it and still blew it.

Pretty sure I was all for batting again then too. I did criticise baz for batting on and on and on in another game though. There are extremes.

some **** will probably dig it up now and find i blazed him.

but i agree learning not to get flustered when about to win is a big priority. bravo gave some chances and unlike deonarine he punished us.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

You know what caused our draw? SOMETHING UNCONTROLLABLE BY EITHER TEAM!

If we had this rain on day one I don't think the same criticisms would be launched. How can you curtail your actions based on something that may or may not happen? Can't we agree that New Zealand played very well and the WIndies didn't to begin with but fought hard and that actually a draw is not a bad result?

I don't think we blew it.

Multiple dropped chances throughout the WI second innings, an awful start to our chase of a low total - yes we definitely did blow it

Doesn't detract at all from an incredible effort from WI, Bravo and Shilly in particular.

 

[vandem]

McCullum's shot to get out wasn't awful. The slog sweep was on.

Rutherford's was just bad. Dreadful, in fact.

This. You could hear several of the WI team laughing after Rutherford's dismissal.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the pitch. The ball seamed on the first couple of days and the wicket was abrasive enough later on to get significant reverse swing. The spinners were getting turn from day three (even late day two iirc). The game turned out as you would expect from this pitch, the seamers were capable of running through sides with a good spell, and batsmen who were prepared to knuckle down prospered. Other than a few key partnerships wickets fell pretty regularly throughout the match.

I suspect that if WI had better bowlers we would have really struggled one day one. I remember the first ball moving significantly and going oh **** this is going to be a disaster. As chance would have it, that was pretty much the only ball that the opening bowlers\ landed on the seam and we prospered as a result. Sammy was getting a decent amount of seam movement as well, our batsmen were just well enough settled by then. My guess would be that Southee+Boult would have had WI six down by lunch if they had elected to bat first.

The reason the match ended in a draw is that Wagner was rubbish and Sodhi was expensive, which you can't afford to be when the third seamer is leaking runs. If we want an attacking spinner we NEED an economical third seamer. Enforcing the follow on was a massive mistake, and its not just hindsight. Southee and Boult had each bowled 17 overs each, most of which were on that third day. If they had bowled 10 each then it would be a different story. Its the kind of captaincy which cancels out all the aggressive field placements that come of

 

[Maximas]

I don't know how you NZ fans do it, this would be the death of me after England last season and Bangladesh

 

[Hurricane]

The reason the match ended in a draw is that Wagner was rubbish and Sodhi was expensive, which you can't afford to be when the third seamer is leaking runs. If we want an attacking spinner we NEED an economical third seamer. f

who would you recommend as an economical third seamer

 

[ohnoitsyou]

I don't know how you NZ fans do it, this would be the death of me after England last season and Bangladesh

We have these nice long breaks between test series. It really does help

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah blaming the pitch is ridiculous. I thought it offered decent help to the seamers sporadically , then flattened out and then took turn later on. The reason New Zealand didn't win was because they didn't bowl well enough in the second innings and dropped the few opportunities they created. When Taylor was piling it on, none of you complained... But when Bravo did the same, you say the pitch is too flat... That's just laughable... It was a fantastic test match and if not for the weather, we'd have had a result. I see no real reason to complain

 

[ohnoitsyou]

who would you recommend as an economical third seamer

Butler if available. Henry, but realistically he wont and shouldn't get a selection. Probably Bennet, even if he isn't economical, because his ability to threaten isn't as reliant on rhythm.

 

[Flem274*]

Fulton
Rutherford
Williamson
Taylor
McCullum
Anderson
OPWB
Sodhi or (if a green top (har)) Wagner or some other quick who I cbf naming right now
Southee
Milne (fast inswwwwiiinng)
Boult

Blatant favouritism from me yes. He's our boy. Has the most potential of any New Zealand bowler since Bond debuted. He has the action, the inswing, the pace, the mentor. He is so obviously the deal and I've been raving about him since CD went to the CL. Get him in against some good players of pace so he has overs under his belt to destroy the Indians, who will go home when they see the ball bounce above knee height.

 

[Flem274*]

I don't know how you NZ fans do it, this would be the death of me after England last season and Bangladesh

A mixture of alcohol, going outside to do something else and stupidity. We're basically the monkeys who can't figure out why we're getting kicked in the nuts so we keep pressing this big red button in front of us.

 

[Athlai]

WI got that draw through the whims of the weather Gods, the skill of Darren Bravo and the heart of Darren Sammy.

 

[centurymaker]

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the pitch. The ball seamed on the first couple of days and the wicket was abrasive enough later on to get significant reverse swing. The spinners were getting turn from day three (even late day two iirc). The game turned out as you would expect from this pitch, the seamers were capable of running through sides with a good spell, and batsmen who were prepared to knuckle down prospered. Other than a few key partnerships wickets fell pretty regularly throughout the match.

True, the conditions were very conducive to swing, seam and even spin. So the batsmen did extremely well to post a huge total in two of the innings. imo more pitches like that one should be produced

 

[JBH001]

McCullum doesn't enforce the follow on against england with a massive lead. We draw. gets blamed for not enforcing the follow on.

McCullum enforces the follow on against WI with a massive lead. We draw. He gets blamed for enforcing the follow on.

TBH we just need to learn to ****ing win either way, I don't think the follow on was the most important decision in the match. We had plenty of chances to win it and still blew it.

Pretty much. All this speculation about the follow on is just that, speculation. It also takes away from Bravo's wonderful knock and the backbone shown by the WI batting order. That's what tired out the NZ bowlers, not enforcing the follow-on.

I think a draw was a fair result. As while WI did not deserve to win, neither did NZ.

 

[harsh.ag]

WI got that draw through the whims of the weather Gods, the skill of Darren Bravo and the heart of Darren Sammy.

And the refusal of the NZ team to make use of the 30 overs they were given.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Pretty much. All this speculation about the follow on is just that, speculation. It also takes away from Bravo's wonderful knock and the backbone shown by the WI batting order. That's what tired out the NZ bowlers, not enforcing the follow-on.

The bowlers were taking of quickly cause they were tired already. Then the change bowlers bowled rubbish, meaning that when Southee and Boult came back in they were facing settled batsmen who weren't troubled by the small amount of movement available. Thats what really exhausted them

 

[WindieWeathers]

Well what can i say? feel a little for my kiwi friends but as you can imagine we're absolutely delighted with the end result. It seemed everything was going against us at first!!..half our side coming in cold with no warm up match to get used to the conditions, and the selectors not using their imagination and contriving to pick the same feeble attack that embarrassed us against India just didn't give me any confidence either, the first innings was a fine example of a team complete low on confidence with both bat and ball...Best was Best, Gabriel was a shadow of the kid who ran in hard at lords on his debut and Shilly clearly had his recent bowling action tests on his mind, so we were behind the ball from the off.

In the batting department we had opening pair consisting of one bloke who had to face his own demons having failed so badly in similar conditions and against the moving ball a year ago, and a kid who is hot and cold..while our probably our best batsman over the last 18 months (Samuels) is going through a lean spell...everything was in NZ's favor to take advantage of and boy they done just that in the first half of the piece!!..but as they say in football "it turned out to be a game of two halfs"..because young Darren really was inspirational in dragging us back into the contest and the kiwi bowlers just had no answer on that crucial fouth day.

Looking at things moving forward now i think we can only get better from here..all our batsmen got a knock and young Brathwaite has arrived in NZ now aswell so he should be added to the line-up!!...while our attack will no doubt be changed!!..Shilly looked his old self again in that second innings and i fully expect Narine to partner him!!...just on a mental level he will have an effect on the NZ batsmen due to what he done to them in the Caribbean...if Shilly is in the groove and then you've got Narine at the other end confusing you it's gonna create serious pressure!!..something we've missed all through the india tour and in this first test.

With Sammy now gone i totally agree with Beamer and would hope Holder gets the call!!..he's a class act just waiting to burst onto the test scene and this would be the perfect opportunity imo.

Brathwaite
Powell
Edwards
Darren Bravo
Samuels
Chanderpaul
Ramdin (wk) (c)
Holder
Narine
Shillingford
Best

Would be my team in the next test but if Holder isn't there then Cotterrell!!..

In closing i think this draw sets up the series perfectly..the next game our boys should be brimming with confidence while i suspect the kiwis will feel determined to get the win they'll feel was stolen from them today!!..well see what happens.

 

[hendrix]

I wouldn't mind my idea of picking Neesham as the third seamer. Might mean Anderson has to bowl more, but between the two of them we're getting more wickets than Wagner, and certainly more runs.