Somerset's New Zealand Journey

[Somerset]

Three Day Friendly vs Singha
Opportunity for some match practice against Singha.
The side is: Fulton, Fleming, Sinclair, McMillan, Oram, McCullum, Weston, Franklin, Bond, Martin, Gillespie
Weston is looking for a test spot but McCullum holds the box seat for the wicket keeping position at the moment. Vettori is out injured for a week so Martin gets a chance.

Day One
New Zealand 340/7
B.McCullum 86*
S.Fleming 61
M.Ranasinghe 5/92

Mixed day for the New Zealanders with McCullum and Fleming the only batsmen to pass 50. Bowlers will no doubt have their role to play tomorrow.

Day Two
New Zealand 490 all out
B.McCullum 114
S.Bond 64
S.Fleming 61
M.Ranasinghe 6/140

Singha 220/7
F.Wijetinge 53
B.Martin 5/55

The New Zealand tail added more runs with Bond passing 50 and Martin and Gillespie making 40s. Bruce Martin then proved his usefulness with five wickets in Singha's first innings.

Day Three
Singha 285 all out
F.Wijetinge 53
B.Martin 7/106

New Zealand 111/5 declared
M.Ranasinghe 3/36

Singhe 123/2
J.Samanrtha 80

Martin took two further wickets to secure a bag of 7 and Singha were dismissed just short of the follow on. New Zealand opted for more batting practice but with conditions not suiting, declared and Franklin and Martin picked up a further wicket each in the last session.

Match Drawn

 

[Somerset]

How good is Gareth Hopkins? Can't be much cop if Weston is a better player than him.

Never really considering him to be honest - Weston was averaging 44 in First Class cricket so far that season as well.

 

[Perm]

Good practice outing for New Zealand, McCullum continues on his fine form.

 

[Somerset]

1st Test vs Sri Lanka
First test match under the new coach. Surprising to find conditions expecting to be suiting pace bowlers rather than spinners.
Vincent replaces Weston in an otherwise unchanged lineup from the practice match. Martin's 8 wickets mean he starts ahead of a recovering Vettori.

Day One
Sri Lanka 350/3
K.Sangakkara 204*
M.Jayawardene 57
S.Jayasuriya 57

Sri Lanka completely dominated the opening day, scoring off the New Zealand bowlers at ease. Sangakkara scored a magnificent double century, sharing partnerships of 186 with Jayawardene (broken by Craig McMillan) and 115 with Jayasuriya. New Zealand will need early wickets on day two to stand any chance in the test match.

Day Two
Sri Lanka 605/9 declared
K.Sangakkara 204
R.Arnold 139*
G.Wijekoon 63
M.Jayawardene 57
S.Jayasuriya 57
J.Franklin 3/114
S.Bond 3/163

New Zealand 95/5
M.Muralitharan 3/34

A promising start to the day with Bond capturing three quick wickets turned ugly with Arnold scoring a century and a tea-time declaration leaving New Zealand to lose five wickets in the last session of the day. Fulton on 34 holds the key to any chance at getting close to avoiding the follow-on.

Day Three
New Zealand 185 all out
P.Fulton 50
M.Muralitharan 4/75
T.Samaraweera 3/56

New Zealand 196 all out
J.Franklin 65
M.Muralitharan 5/65
T.Samaraweera 3/82

A massively disappointing day for New Zealand. Little fight was shown in either innings as Murali took 9/ and Samaraweera 6/ to complete the victory within three days. A much better effort needs to be shown for the remainder of the series.

Sri Lanka win by an innings and 224 runs

 

[Perm]

Wow, dominated. Great performances by Sangakkara and Muralitharan.

 

[Kweek]

good stuff somers!
enjoy seeing your results
and Kiwi's did great at the WC
pitty you are so severly beaten by the lankans...but eh **** happens

 

[Somerset]

2nd Test vs Sri Lanka
After the massive first test defeat, a much better performance needs to be seen in the second test match.
Taylor, Mills, Weston (playing as a batsman) and Vettori replace McMillan, Vincent, Martin and Gillespie.

Day One
New Zealand 243 all out
P.Fulton 54
C.Vaas 3/68
M.Muralitharan 3/75

Sri Lanka 42/0

Average day for New Zealand. A better batting effort than in the first test but at 1/108, a bigger total was expected. Again the Sri Lankan bowlers were found to be difficult to score from.

Day Two
Sri Lanka 389/7
M.Atapattu 116
K.Sangakkara 75
S.Jayasuriya 68
M.Jayawardene 64
S.Bond 3/87

A tough day for New Zealand but five wickets in the last session was reward for spirited bowling. Atapattu was in great touch and Sangakkara added another half century to back up his 200 from the first test.

Day Three
Sri Lanka 415 all out
M.Atapattu 116
K.Sangakkara 75
S.Jayasuriya 68
M.Jayawardene 64
S.Bond 5/92
J.Franklin 3/116

New Zealand 269/8
J.Oram 57
T.Samaraweera 3/60

Bond and Franklin quickly managed to bowl Sri Lanka out on the third morning. New Zealand found themselves at 2/139 before yet another collapse saw them to 6/160 but Oram with help from Franklin and Mills saw the team to a more respectable position. Currently with a lead of 97 runs, if that can be pushed to 150-200, there may just be a game on.

Day Four
New Zealand 286 all out
J.Oram 57
H.Boteju 3/56
C.Vaas 3/59
T.Samaraweera 3/60

Sri Lanka 115/1
M.Jayawardene 65*

Sri Lanka completed the victory just after lunch on day four. Vaas and Boteju did the damage with the ball, before Jayawardene and Atapattu saw off any more New Zealand attacks after Sangakkara went for 1. Back to the drawing board for New Zealand before the ODI series.

Sri Lanka win by 9 wickets and win the series 2-0

 

[Somerset]

Good practice outing for New Zealand, McCullum continues on his fine form.

Ironically in the four test matches innings he scored 4, 0, 0 and 5!

 

[Somerset]

good stuff somers!
enjoy seeing your results
and Kiwi's did great at the WC
pitty you are so severly beaten by the lankans...but eh **** happens

Haha thanks for that Tarrick (one or two r's? lol, can never remember). Test match form needs some work though!

 

[Graham]

Sri Lanka win by 9 wickets and win the series 2-0

Tough luck there. It's not an easy tour.

 

[Somerset]

1st ODI vs Sri Lanka
With our impressive World Cup showing, a good result in the ODI series was still expected even after the disappointing test match performances.
First ODI side was: P.Fulton, S.Fleming, M.Sinclair, C.McMillan, T.Weston (debut), J.Oram, B.McCullum, J.Franklin, K.Mills, S.Bond, B.Martin (debut)

New Zealand 202/9 (50 overs)
J.Franklin 51*
B.McCullum 48
M.Muralitharan 3/27
C.Vaas 3/38

Sri Lanka 203/1 (39.4 overs)
K.Sangakkara 89*
M.Jayawardene 52*
M.Atapattu 52

Sri Lanka win by 9 wickets

New Zealand batted first and slumped to 5/71 before Franklin with assistance from McCullum rescued the innings to post 202. Sri Lanka, however, made light work of the total, winning convincingly with 9 wickets and more than 10 overs to spare.

 

[Somerset]

2nd ODI vs Sri Lanka
Must win match to stay in the series.
Ryder makes his ODI debut and replaces Sinclair, Taylor replaces Weston and Vettori replaces Mills.

New Zealand 201 all out (41.5 overs)
S.Fleming 62
J.Oram 48
P.Fulton 47
S.Indrasiri 3/41

Sri Lanka 202/2 (39.5 overs)
M.Atapattu 107*
M.Jayawardene 47

Sri Lanka win by 8 wickets

New Zealand made a great start and were 0/90 in the 18th over. Once Fulton and Fleming went, only Oram showed resistance as Sri Lanka inflicted yet another collapse upon the New Zealanders. Atapattu scored a near chanceless century in reply as Sri Lanka posted another comfortable victory.

 

[Somerset]

3rd ODI vs Sri Lanka
Weston takes over the gloves from McCullum and Gillespie comes into the side for Martin.

Sri Lanka 231/6 (50 overs)
K.Sangakkara 71
S.Jayasuriya 59
D.Vettori 3/53

New Zealand 210 all out (46.5 overs)
S.Fleming 45
M.Muralitharan 3/51

Sri Lanka win by 21 runs and win the series 3-0

A better bowling display saw the New Zealanders with a real chance at a victory but again the Sri Lankans were the more determined side as New Zealand lost wickets at crucial stages. Only captain Fleming passed 30.

 

[Somerset]

We then travel to Bangladesh at the start of October 2007. The same squad that toured Sri Lanka was selected with one change being Daryl Tuffey's inclusion ahead of Jeetan Patel. The coach maintained confidence in the Sri Lanka squad and insisted that the team be maintained to rectify the results against the Bangladeshis.

 

[Graham]

We then travel to Bangladesh at the start of October 2007. The same squad that toured Sri Lanka was selected with one change being Daryl Tuffey's inclusion ahead of Jeetan Patel. The coach maintained confidence in the Sri Lanka squad and insisted that the team be maintained to rectify the results against the Bangladeshis.

Looking forward to seeing how you fare against those Bangladeshi spinners!

 

[Somerset]

Three Day Friendly vs Dhaka
Important practice match to regain form from the majority of the side.
The side selected was: P.Fulton, S.Fleming, M.Sinclair, R.Taylor, J.Oram, T.Weston, J.Franklin, D.Vettori, S.Bond, D.Tuffey, M.Gillespie

Day One
Dhaka 273 all out
A.Sunny 94
J.Franklin 4/73
S.Bond 4/74

New Zealand 89/2

A reasonable performance with the ball, although both Tuffey and Vettori failed to pick up a wicket each. Plans are to bat the entire day tomorrow.

Day Two
New Zealand 345 all out
T.Weston 83
A.Sunny 4/74
M.Sharif 3/79

Dhaka 85/2

The batsmen again failed to make their opportunities count with only Weston passing 50, although Fulton, Franklin and Vettori all made 40s.

Day Three
Dhaka 239 all out
M.Hossain 86
S.Bond 4/45
D.Vettori 3/39

New Zealand 129/9
A.Sunny 3/30
M.Sharif 3/33
M.Rafique 3/39

A dramatic last session saw New Zealand, needing 168 to win, fold under helpful bowling conditions. Bond and Gillespie needed to bat out four overs in the dying light as Dhaka's attack of Sunny, Sharif and Rafique almost stole an improbable victory.

Match Drawn

 

[Somerset]

1st Test vs Bangladesh
Important opening test in a short two-test series.
Mills came in for Gillespie, but the remainder of the side was retained from the Dhaka practice.

Day One
New Zealand 301/4
P.Fulton 150*
J.Oram 112
K.Arafat 3/85

New Zealand, after electing to bat first, were reduced to 3/54 but a magnificent 233 run partnership from Fulton and Oram saw the team through to a commanding 301/4 at close. With Weston in and the allrounders to come, the Kiwis look to be in the box seat so far.

Day Two
New Zealand 603/8
P.Fulton 299*
J.Franklin 113
J.Oram 112
K.Arafat 4/166

Unexpected rain washed out much of the first session but New Zealand still passed 600 runs by the end of day two, with Peter Fulton finishing on 299* and equalling Martin Crowe's New Zealand record. Fleming allowed Fulton to carry on batting and indicated that a declaration will happen as soon as Fulton passes the 300. Franklin and Fulton added 227 for the sixth wicket as Bangladesh struggled in their own conditions.

Day Three
New Zealand 610/8 declared
P.Fulton 300*
J.Franklin 113
J.Oram 112
K.Arafat 4/167

Bangladesh 211 all out
S.Nafees 58
M.Rahman 58
D.Tuffey 5/55
D.Vettori 3/66

Bangladesh 12/1

A fantastic performance from New Zealand to bowl the Bangladeshis out on a pitch not offering a huge amount of assistance to the bowlers. Fulton calmly reached his triple century before Tuffey ripped through the home side to record figures of 5/55. Following on, Bond removed Hossain in the final over of the day.

Day Four
Bangladesh 316/5
Q.Islam 79
Q.Bashar 64
S.Nafees 59

Bangladesh batted patiently but well throughout the day to extend the test to its fifth day - New Zealand will want wickets in the first session to avoid any repeats of the Dhaka mishap.

Day Five
Bangladesh 383 all out
Q.Islam 79
Q.Bashar 64
S.Nafees 59
E.Haque 52
J.Franklin 4/82
S.Bond 3/83

Franklin took three wickets in the first hour and Bond picked up the final two in the last over before lunch as New Zealand completely the victory on the morning of day five. A massive relief for the Kiwis after their disaster in Sri Lanka and a confidence booster for the entire team.

New Zealand win by an innings and 16 runs

 

[Somerset]

Looking forward to seeing how you fare against those Bangladeshi spinners!

Well Peter Fulton didn't have too many problems during the first test!

 

[Graham]

Well Peter Fulton didn't have too many problems during the first test!

No he didn't. A fantastic knock from Fulton.
Well done on the win!

 

[Somerset]

2nd Test vs Bangladesh
1-0 up in the series, the New Zealanders were keen to secure a second test match win over Bangladesh.
New Zealand kept the same side that won by an innings in the first test.

Day One
Bangladesh 316 all out
E.Haque 70*
Q.Islam 66
F.Hossain 51 retired hurt
J.Franklin 5/75

New Zealand 10/0

An up and down day with neither side able to completely dominate. Franklin bowled wonderfully throughout the day to record a deserved five wicket bag.

Day Two
New Zealand 343/7
J.Oram 101*
S.Fleming 79
M.Haque 3/88

Slow progress was made early on (just 67 runs from the first session) but after lunch the runs flowed more easily. Oram passed three figures in the last over of the day in a powerful but often streaky innings with his hundred coming from just 101 deliveries.

Day Three
New Zealand 496 all out
J.Oram 214
S.Fleming 79
K.Arafat 5/172
M.Haque 3/140

Bangladesh 179/4
S.Nafees 56

Oram, with the help of the New Zealand tail, saw the side through to a most respectable total of 496. The last four wickets added 253 runs through Oram's partnerships of 60 (Vettori), 98 (Mills), 39 (Bond) and 56 (Tuffey). Oram's 214 included 37 fours and came from 237 balls. Bangladesh lost wickets at key moments and ended day three on 179/4, though effectively five wickets down.

Day Four
Bangladesh 272 all out
Q.Islam 86
S.Nafees 56
S.Bond 3/76

New Zealand 93/2
P.Fulton 63*

New Zealand wrapped up the Bangladeshi innings and the victory comfortably, with the winning runs coming 10 minutes after the tea break.

New Zealand win by 8 wickets and win the series 2-0

All in all, a very successful test series given the performance against the Sri Lankans.