New Zealand in West Indies 2014

New Zealand's tour of West Indies comprising of 3 tests and 2 T-20Is is getting into the act today as the first test gets underway today.
The West Indies are going in with a new captain in Denesh Ramdin after Daren Sammy was sacked as captain following which he retired from test cricket. For New Zealand, they are slowly getting their act together in test after Brendon McCullum's captaincy first year was largely disappointing.
As far as the squads go, West Indies have recalled fast bowler Jerome Taylor after 4 years since he played a test. Taylor can form a pretty decent opening attack with a fit again Kemar Roach, and Jason Holder is added to the squad in case they need more seam bowling cover. Suliman Ben is also recalled to the test squad, and Shane Shillingford is making a comeback after a suspect action suspension. Sunil Narine is banned for the series after he decided to prioritise the IPL over West Indies cricket as he missed a deadline for a West Indies training camp. Chris Gayle, who is playing his 100th test, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels and Daren Bravo form the backborn of the batting unit. The other remaining positions have to be worked out between Kieran Powell, Kraigg Brathwaite and Kirk Edwards.
As for New Zealand, Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford who both struggled for consistency last season, face competition from Tom Latham for a top order position. But in Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and skipper McCullum, they have a settled middle order to be backed up by wicketkeeper BJ Watling. Corey Anderson's injury before the first test is a setback and it is interesting to see who they would go in with at 6 for the first game. It could be Jimmy Neesham who scored a ton in his debut test, or it could be reserve wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi who has shown greater consistency with the bat in ODIs last year, or it could be Tom Latham down the order. The advantage with Neesham is that he can add to the depth of the bowling unit and is more of a like-for-like replacement for Anderson. . Daniel Vetori's test career seems to be finished as he yet again failed to regain fitness, and so Ish Sodhi will be leading the spin attack to be backed up by debutant Mark Craig. But Trent Boult and Tim Southee form a potent new ball attack to be backed by the ever persisting Neil Wagner.
It is not a high profile series, but it should be an interesting one with 2 closely matched sides fighting it out.

First test in over 3 months! The last was the 3rd test between SA and Aus in the first week of March. Really looking forward to this battle of equals. NZ obviously had the better of the exchanges at home but with re-inforcements in the form of Kemar Roach and after a long hiatus, Sulieman Benn and Jerome Taylor, the Windies are a distinctly improved outfit as compared to the last series thanks to the enforced retirement of their serial passenger captain, in whose presence they were never able to field a proper 4 man bowling attack for nearly 4 years! 4 years, would you believe it?

Congratulations to Chris Gayle on his 100th Test! I hope to see the return in this series of the determined yet explosive test opener that I used to admire and not the T20 slogger that he has sadly descended into over the last 18 months.

From a team perspective though, I'll be supporting the Kiwis. Bring it On!

I'm hoping for :

Latham
Rutherford
Williamson
Taylor
B Mac
Watling
Neesham
Sodhi
Southee
Craig
Boult

both team playing 2 spinners each.......Benn and Shillingford both SLAs......Narine should have played.

Ish sodhi and Mark Craig are two spinners.....the latter averaging 43

NZ have a 5th bowler in Neesham and WI should have played Dwayne Bravo

the pitch and the square looks like a cake brown with a coating of orange on it.....amidst a lush green outfield

and the ball is not deviating a millimeter off the pitch........off course there is nothing in the air.

unless someone finds some reverse seamers will have little to do and the windies spinners are markedly superior
actually their part timers Gayle and Samuel are at Par with NZ main spinners

NZ has first crawled and then inched to about a 100 runs in 45 over for a wicket.
the problem with this slow scoring is 2 wickets fall and suddenly a good score looks like a moderate score.

didn't watch much but can't say if it is all pitch OR NZ's lack of initiative.

dead boring game

KPF, Bravo is still injured and so he isn't playing though he was selected in the test squad after 4 years. Sunil Narine was banned due to him not reaching a training camp in time as he was busy playing the IPL final and the mighty thugs at the BCCI didn't take up his case!.

New Zealand are playing Neesham for the injured Anderson, and Tom Latham is getting a game in place of Hamish Rutherford and not Peter Fulton. Fulton yet again failed as he was out early to the returning Jerome Taylor. Williamson and Latham inching along at the moment, 107-1 at just about 2 an over.
With Gayle and Samuels in there, perhaps the West Indies could have played Jason Holder. Then perhaps not, as the pitch is offering nothing for the quick bowlers.

Williamson and Latham are now taking it away from the West Indies, 158-1 now with both batsmen in the 70s. Latham survived a chance when he was caught of a Taylor and also successfully reviewed an umpiring call and survived a West Indies review too, but he has played well so far. KW has not given the West Indies bowlers much of a chance really, and apart from a couple of airy shots, he has been in complete control.
The West Indies bowlers have bowled OK without much reward. The pitch has no life for the seamer, and though there is turn available for the spinner, it is slow and the batsmen are able to pick it of the pitch. The outfield is painfully slow. So there is not much value for any effort for the batsman's shots or the efforts of the quick bowler. Looks like a grinding down type of pitch. A couple of decent batting units, there won't be a result. But the 2 sides are known for their batting inconsistencies, and perhaps the spinners could extract more life from the track as the game progresses.
As such, New Zeland have managed a very good platform.

Latham falls just short of his hundred, well played by the youngster

54 overs (out of 84) already bowled by spinners on the first day of the match.

New Zealand ended day 1 at 240-2 with Kane Williamson going on to an unbeaten hundred (105 not out) with Ross Taylor batting on 34. They didn't score 2 quickly, but with only 2 wickets down, it clearly was NZ's day. The West Indies bowlers bowled OK throughout, well at times, but they couldn't make much inroads. NZ should stick with Tom Latham, he does seem to have a pretty good temperament.......

Playing Roach was a big mistake...he hasn't played a competitive match in God knows how long! He should've been relegated to the A team to work his way back to his best. He was picked on reputation alone....

As for Shilly, I watched him bowling for the Windwards this season, and he looked a shadow of the bowler he was before he remodelled his action. Another player picked on reputation alone....

It looks like Taylor and Benn may have to shoulder the majority of the attack today.

well they are 5 down for 285 and as I said with slow scoring rates...you bat forever...but runs are not on the board and suddenly wickets crash.........and game evens.

seamers have nothing in the pitch......and if NZ are bowled out for 350ish.......WI would have done well.

On their part WI would have to bat faster...to get a very gettable 500ish against the friendliest of spin "attacks" of Ish sodhi and the other averaging 43 spinner

After losing 3 wickets in the morning session, New Zealand are recovering through BJ Watling and Jimmy Neesham. They are 353-5 with both batsmen set and batting in the 30s.

New Zealand marching on. 408-5 with both Neesham and Watling going pass their half-centuries. Ramdin using Gayle and Samuels now, NZ look well set for 500+ with the lower order comprising of Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi capable of scoring a few.

Only 7 overs of Jerome Taylor today????

Gotta be an injury surely?

Neesham gets anotehr hundred....2 in a row on debut....NZ is blessed to have allrounders of the quality of Neesham and Anderson

Olly wrote:Only 7 overs of Jerome Taylor today????

Gotta be an injury surely?

There was no life whatsoever for Taylor or Roach from the track, particularly after the ball lost its newishness. So the spinners bowled the bulk of the overs as expected.

sounds like another superb pitch for cricket all around

There was an interesting article before the series with NZ saying they would seek clarification on how the umpires would police Shillingford's doosra and Samuels's quicker ball, which have both been deemed illegal deliveries by the ICC. It can't be that easy for umpires to spot when a bowler has bowled a doosra?

as for the match, NZ batted well, but unless WI bat very badly it's hard to see how there's enough time for NZ to force a result here...

Powell and Gayle not able to get going as yet. Its been a very slow first half-hour from the West Indies so far. They are 23-0, and into the 16th over. Review against Gayle here of Tim Southee. Umpire gave not out of a shout for caught behind and NZ are reviewing, and the big man survives!.

Gayle is absolutely at sea against Tim South, hardly able to put bat to ball. Has been a real struggle for Gayle so far, and he has not been able to rotate strike and face up to Boult either, and Powell at the other end isn't able to help him out as well.

West Indies 36 without loss. Jimmy Neesham and Mark Craig have taken over from Tim Southee and Trent Boult after the opening bowlers delivered an intense 40 minutes burst that troubled Chris Gayle in particular. But they were not able to separate the West Indies openers who are making rather slow progress.

From 60 without loss, West Indies finding themselves in familiar position as they lost 3 wickets for 1 run. Kieran Powell, Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo went one after the other. Mark Craig took out Powell and Edwards in one over. Ish Sodhi took the other wicket.
West Indies now 72-3. Gayle and Chanderpaul with the damage control job.

After struggling a lot against Tim Southee early on, Chris Gayled got going against the 2nd line of NZ bowling, and despite the loss of 3 quick wickets, picked up the tempo of his innings and has helped stabilize the innings along with Shivnarine Chanderpaul. They took their side to lunch at 97-3 with Gayle on 59 and Chanderpaul on 10.

Craig looks like he could do a decent job in tests, sort of a Nathan Lyon-esque bowler who can hold up an end and pick up the odd wicket whilst the more potent seam line up will take the majority of wickets

Another double wicket over!!. Tim Southee it is!. He gets Gayle to edge behind for a well made 64, and then gets Marlon Samuels 2nd ball for no score, that is the 3rd duck for the West Indies in this innings. It may not be too far before Gayle gets a 2ned chance to try and score a hundred in his 100th test if things go at this rate!.

West Indies go to tea just about alive in their first innings at 176-6. Chanderpaul as every so often, is the last man standing between an outright calamity and signs of a fight. He's on 43 at the moment. Skipper Denesh Ramdin made 39 before he was caught of the bat and body by the wicketkeeper of an extremely impressive Tim Southee who somehow has managed to find something out of this otherwise dead track for seamers. Ramdin went at the stroke of tea after he helped Chanderpaul engineer a mini recovery, putting together 72 after Southee's earlier doublestrike.

In the eighties when i was a youngster, i could never have imagined that a cricket team of invincibles were one day reduced to this.

Life, as taught me one thing. Take the rough with the smooth.

How on earth did England ever let Peter Fulton score a century against them

Someone needs to tell Kane Williamson you're meant to hit the straight ones

New Zealand lead by 260 with 8 2nd innings wicketws remaining. They would be looking to set a target around 450, but with the West Indies batting has been performing in recent, even 260 might be a bit too much. Apart from Gayle and the evergreen Shiv Chanderpaul, their batting has been awful for a long time. Marlon Samuels did look the part after his comeback, but after his glory moment in the World T-20 in Sri Lanka, old inconsistencies have come back with vengeance. Kieran Powell shouldn't have been playing this game Kraigg Brathwaite may not have a huge range of shots, but he doesn't mind staying at the wicket and batting long. Perhaps Brathwaite should have come in for Powell at the top. And when Dwayne Bravo returns from injury, Kirk Edwards' and Samuels' positions need to be looked into. All the 3 will have to stand up and be counted in the 2nd innings.
By batting a 2nd time in the game, McCullum has given the West Indies a small chance to save this game.......

West Indies bowlers had a very good morning session where they reduced New Zealand to 14-4 and then 55-5. But young Tom Latham, playing only his 2nd test, is playing a fine innings, 72 not out so far, to guide his team to a position of safety. They are now 140-6 in the 2nd innings, an overall lead of 386.

NZ declared their 2nd innings closed at 156-8 with Latham making 73. West Indies have a very difficult task of scoring 403 to win the game or bat out almost 130 overs on a track that is increasingly offering some help for the bowlers. And the West Indies have a pretty average batting unit.

And Kieran Powell opens West Indies duck spree in the 2nd innings. Southee gets him, and WI are 8-1.

Southee on fire, gets Gayle now. West Indies 11-2. Will it go into the 5th day?!

well as I said before and often times....WI do not care for test cricket
they are also missing Sammy   

KP_fan wrote:well as I said before and often times....WI do not care for test cricket
they are also missing Sammy   

Horrible performance from the WI for sure!!. but why was Sammy who can't make the side as batsman or bowler missed? The elder Bravo in for Edwards if the former is fit, otherwise bring Brathwaite in.

msp wrote:but why was Sammy who can't make the side as batsman or bowler missed?

because he played as a captain and used to beat NZ 3-0

msp83 wrote:

KP_fan wrote:well as I said before and often times....WI do not care for test cricket
they are also missing Sammy   

Horrible performance from the WI for sure!!. but why was Sammy who can't make the side as batsman or bowler missed? The elder Bravo in for Edwards if the former is fit, otherwise bring Brathwaite in.

Dwayne Bravo in Test Cricket? How is any better than Sammy? He is not even consistent in limited overs cricket. I'd pick Deonarine.

KP_fan wrote:

msp wrote:but why was Sammy who can't make the side as batsman or bowler missed?

because he played as a captain and used to beat NZ 3-0

Lost 2-0 in NZ under his captaincy late last year. Would've been 3-0 had it not been for the rain.

Bravo can't be any worse than any of the batsmen other than Chanderpaul and Gayle in that lineup. He fields well, and offers a credible 5th bowling option. Besides, they have 2 good spin option in Ben and Shillingford, with the banned Narine waiting outside. And then there are Samuels and Gayle, though the former is struggling to buy a run these days!. And Deonarine has shown no consistency with bat in a good number of opportunities he got, and his bowling though better than parttime, is nothing special......

A shocking display of batting from Powell, Kirk, Lil Bravo and Samuels....

Someone has to make way for Kraigg Brathwaite in the second Test, surely.

shivfan wrote:A shocking display of batting from Powell, Kirk, Lil Bravo and Samuels....

Someone has to make way for Kraigg Brathwaite in the second Test, surely.

It has to be one of Edwards and Powell who should go. Powell is averaging 27 after 21 tests, that is pathetic for a attest opener. His technique isn't sound and his recent record has been pretty poor. As for Edwards, his record is better than that of Powell, but not by much, and he too hasn't done much to make a case for continued retention in the side. Actually they both should go. Brathwaite can come in, but who could be another potential batting choice with some class?
Younger Bravo is a serious talent and I am sure he'll come good in this series at some point. Samuels is a more difficult case, he was superb in his comeback year, even outshined Chanders at times!....... But the last year or so, it has been a regressive move back to Samuels 1.0. But he has he experience, and hopefully he can find his touch soon, and he offers a bowling option that is a bit more than parttime. So Marlon and Bravo to stay, Brathwaite to come in. What is the situation with elder Bravo? Is he likely to play the 2nd game? In that case, he should come in for Edwards.
Gayle
Brathwaite
Bravo
Samuels
Chanderpaul
Dwayne Bravo
Ramdin
Taylor
Roach
Benn
Shillingford.
If the pitch does not have a lot for spin, then Holder in for Ben.

Dwayne Bravo averages 31 with the bat in Test and 40 with the ball in Test cricket. His ODI batting average is 26. Clearly test material     

Narsingh Deonarine averages 25 in tests and 26 in ODIs!.

Marlon Samuels and Kieran Powell are dropped from the test squad for the 2nd game as sustained poor form eventually catches up with them. Leon Johnson, a regular face in the A side who played a couple of ODIs earlier is brought in, and uncapped batsman Jermaine Blackwood is the other addition.

ShankyCricket wrote:Dwayne Bravo averages 31 with the bat in Test and 40 with the ball in Test cricket.  His ODI batting average is 26. Clearly test material     

I have similar doubts about Big Bravo's Test credentials, but the WICB were clearly considering him, until he aggravated his hammy in training this weekend....

Both Blackwood and Johnson made runs for Jamaica and Guyana respectively in the domestic four-day competition, before making runs for the A team against the Bangladeshis. So, reward for good performances, but I wouldn't call them Laras-in-waiting. Such is the emptiness of the cupboard....

Kirk and Lil Bravo get a stay of execution....

Leon Johnson has a First Class average of 33. Nothing exciting there, really. Blackwood at least evrages 40 in FC cricket........ Which one is likely to play? Brathwaite should open along with Gayle, will it be Johnson or Blackwood who would take Marlon's place?